Doctoral R&D and Business Strategies of Global Companies C

Academic unit or major

Entrepreneurship courses

Instructor(s)

Akira Izumi / Koji Wakayama / Hitoshi Okuyama / Yuki Shitanoki / Kazuyuki Ohmura / Manabu Yamanaka / Szabolcs Malomsoky / Katsutoshi Ohtsuki / Emil Aleksander Giza

Class Format

Lecture (Livestream)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

7-8 Wed

Class

C

Course Code

ENT.C663(LAC.C663)

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2024

Offered quarter

3Q

Syllabus updated

Mar 17, 2025

Language

English

※ Courses with parentheses in the course number have different subject codes depending on the student's year of admission.

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

This course provides classes by invited lecturers from managers and employees of Japanese subsidiaries of foreign affiliated companies or Japanese companies with international business operations in a variety of industries, on the business activities, approaches to business and R&D, philosophies, values, and business relationships between their overseas and Japanese offices. The lecturers also talk about their own career development to date, including why they chose the company.

The aim of this course is for students to find role models for their own future career development from the content of the classes, regardless of whether the lecturers' fields are related to the student's field of study or interest, and to find out what will be valuable or applicable for their future careers. In particular, the diversity of management in global companies is expected to broaden the career perspectives of students. Therefore, it is important for students to actively ask questions to the lecturers and have the conscious and motivation to utilize the contents of each class for their own future career development, not just to passively listen to the lectures.

This course is classified as a "livestream" with direct teaching by Zoom. Therefore, students are required to attend every lecture in real time. If you are unable to attend regularly due to other activities such as laboratory seminars or other lectures, do not take this course.

Prior to taking the course, please make sure that you have downloaded the latest version of the Zoom application. (Avoid connecting with browsers such as Chrome as it may be unstable or have limited functionality.) To maintain your concentration, the connected device is preferable to be the one with a larger display, such as a PC and tablet. A camera and a microphone should be available for interactive lectures.

In order to avoid being unable to attend lectures in real time once a class starts due to a poor communication environment, prior to taking the course, students must ensure an internet environment with a speed of 600 kbps/1.2 Mbps (upload/download) or higher, without worrying about data volume during lecture time.

This course will be offered in 3Q and 4Q respectively. The lecturers are different in 3Q and 4Q. Students are recommended to choose one according to their own study plans.

Course description and aims

By taking this course, students will acquire the following;
1)Understand what kind of role the Japanese subsidiaries of foreign-affiliated companies or Japanese companies with international business operations play in business and R&D, and how they relate to their overseas offices.
2)Understand career paths in global companies and how people working there, including the lecturers, are building their own careers.
3)Find role models as references and lessons, including 1) and 2) above, for students' future career development.

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

Managers and employees, who are at the forefront of companies that lead globally in various industries, introduce the philosophy, R&D and business of the company to which they belong based on their own experience, and how to build their own careers.

Keywords

Foreign-affiliated company, Global companies, R&D, Global business, Career development

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Omnibus-style classes will be provided by lecturers from leading global companies from a variety of industries that employ engineering professionals in Japan.

Classes will be on-line via Zoom. Students are required to participate in real time in principle, in order to make sure interactivity between the lecturers and students in the class.
In classes, PowerPoint presentations will be used, with many examples and charts to facilitate understanding. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the class by joining Zoom polling and asking questions.
An assignment will be given in each class, and students will be required to write and submit a report. The reports will be reflected in the evaluation and their contents should be something that students can refer back to in the future as they build their own careers.
Feedback on submitted reports that would be helpful for students to share will be provided at a later date, with comments from the lecturers when necessary.

The order of classes may be changed or the content of classes may be altered.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

None.

Evaluation methods and criteria

An assignment is given in each class and the students are required to attend it in real time, and write and submit a report on it. The reports submitted by the due date will be evaluated with the same weight for each class on how deeply they consider the assignment and how well they describe the results of their consideration.

Related courses

• ENT.C601(LAC.C601) ： Doctoral Career Design

Prerequisites

Prepare a device to connect to Zoom and use the latest version of the Zoom application to connect (avoid connecting using a browser such as Chrome, as it may be unstable and you may not be able to use Zoom's voting function).
Use of a PC, tablet, or other large-screen device is preferable, rather than a smartphone, in order to concentrate on the lecture material. A camera and a microphone should be available for interactive lectures.
Ensure an Internet environment with a speed of 600 kbps/1.2 Mbps (upload/download) or higher, without worrying about data volume, during lecture time.

Classes are delivered in English, so students should have English language skills enough to understand the content of the classes.
Students can write their reports in either English or Japanese.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

Regarding taking this course: Career Development Section, Center for Entrepreneurship Education
(former Innovator and Inventor Development Platform (IIDP)) 　　iidpinfo[at]jim.titech.ac.jp

Other

The corresponding GA for this course is GA1D.

For inquiries regarding Entrepreneurship Courses (for students enrolled in AY2024) ,and Career Development Courses (for students enrolled in or before AY2023), please contact us at: Center for Entrepreneurship Education (CEE) (e-mail: cee.info@jim.titech.ac.jp )