NUCB has been officially accepted as a member of EMBAC, The Executive MBA Council.
Among the top business schools from around the world, The NUCB Graduate School become the 218th member as well as the first and only in Japan.

The Executive MBA Council plays the role of strengthening the bonds among Executive MBA Programs throughout the world and contributes to the advancement of executive education.

Professor Masuda, NUCB's lecturer and an expert of energy policy, has contributed an article to The Daily Yomiuri.

In the article, Prof. Masuda points out that it is time for the world to seek for "harmonious survivability" instead of "sustainability". Addressing that Japan has the opportunity to become a "guiding light" for the world's new energy architecture, Prof. Masuda introduces three key actions that would enable Japan to overcome it's energy challenges.

Read the article online (English)

Almost week 5 of second term has ended to start next two stressful exam season. Like NUCB, Graziadio school also has 2 sessions (A & B), 7 week each. At the very beginning of session B, I enrolled two more courses than other exchange students with the support of assigned academic counselor. Each student at Pepperdine is designated with one academic counselor and one career counselor, they will be in charge of your entire 2 years here to help you which class you should take and which job/industry is suitable for you and give you different options for course/job selection. Session B kicked off with several events of Social Enterprise Week that I enjoyed the guest speakers from Wells Fargo Bank, Yahoo, Living Homes, Shiftalliance and University of Southern California. They discussed how their organizations could develop sustainably and support to their industries and communities such as in real estate, filming & entertainment, energy, architecture, consulting and they even advised us how to build our personal life sustainbly, as quoted from Gandhi " Be the change to the world you want to be". Along with these workshops, NAWMBA students also ran Pink Day which many students wore whole pink clothes to donate for cancer patients. Before ending Social Enterprise Week event this year, we also joined Dating Auction Talent where students bid for a romantic or memorable dating with their schoolmates. I really enjoyed and grasped my own theme for balanced work-life ahead. On Saint Patrick's Day, we celebrated in green outfit and accessories but on Bra day, more than 100 students wore Bra outside of their clothes regarless men or women to support breast cancer foundation. It was really successul and interesting event for NAWMBA.

Another credible part of every MBA course, we will have at least 3 guest speakers in related majors to the course we enroll. I found intense and valuable in Acquiring Wealth, Success, Power ethically as we had to read 6 different books, 2 articles and 1 written report every week but we had engaged with Professor from UCLA in meditation moments and a successful real estate businessman in California. I was impressed with Justin Paperny, an ethical USC baseball player and talent UBS financial broker but once in a lifetime he got caught by FBI and was sentenced 1.5 years in prison as a convicted felony. After his return to real life, he teaches about ethics and operates real estate business as well as contributes to his community, helping juveniles to prevent jail sentence. Before meeting him, we have read his book but I still feel uncomfortable, however after his talk, I realized that anyone of us or excellent MBA graduates can be resulted in a verdict even we have good foundation in family nurtured and ethically education background. That is no-charge lifetime lesson I need to remind me in every decision in life.
And in Brand Management class taught by former Vice President of Nestle, we know how to learn alone in 120 minutes, work in a group in 30mins and 45-minute in class presentation but ultimately get out of 10 minutes for our own reflection in every class. After first day lecture, 3 team members of group of 6 dropped the class, they feel intense and strictly class schedule. As a consequence, my team has only 3 persons in comparison with other groups of 6 or 7 but we had to present the first book " Winning with P&G 99" on the second lecture. Stressful but determined, my team didn't need the support from Professor to divide the groups again nor any exemption for one week delay of first presentation. Finally, three of us did good job and satisfied with our team work.

In Mar 11, Japan held nationwide marathon event and Nagoya organized Nagoya City Marathon Festival to support the victims and energized Eastern region, here we have Honda Marathon Festival in downtown Los Angeles with the participation of 20,000 runners in April 16. They ran for different causes and purposes but I volunteer to alleviate cancer cause for Susan Komen Foundation. If you don't find available time for charitable works, you can participate at Global Village where international students introduced their cultures and cuisines or you can perform at Pepperjam stage to show your talent in music, dancing, poem or plays. I like Japanese, French and German booths and enjoyed Madonna-like student singer on stage.

For the short time studying here, I can understand about politics, technology, real estate, entertainment, education, environment and gaming industry in the U.S, which widen my knowledge and accept the differences. I conclude my post here with the quote I gain for my own: "Your life is your message" and come back to next two exam-week and internship project.

Enjoy your Good Friday!!!

P.S: Photo 1: Main entrance of Graziadio School of Business and Management
Photo 2: Volleyball match with Harvard University : Pepperdine 3- Harvard 1
Photo 3: Baseball match with Columbia University: Yamaguchi powers win over Columbia

posted by Jane Thai Ngo

On this academic year, a new class "Lean Production System" by Professor Monden, has been added to the Global Leader Program.

Lean production, also known as the Toyota Production System or Just-in-Time Production, is an assembly-line methodology developed originally for Toyota and the manufacturing of automobiles.

Professor Monden is an expert in managerial accounting and production management and has currently revised his new edition of "TOYOTA Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time (4th Edition) ".

This class will provide students great chance to learn from Japanese manufacturing and Toyota method.

NUCB also offers a study tour to Toyota for GLP students to ensure better understanding of what they have learned in class.

On the 6th March 2012, NUCB had the honour of hosting Dean V. Vance Roley and Ms. Alice Li of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Shidler College of Business. Dean Roley and Ms. Li visited both the Graduate School’s downtown Fushimi campus, as well as the NUCB countryside campus in Nisshin.

In a meeting attended by President Hiroshi Kurimoto and other representatives of NUCB, the group discussed the various obstacles facing business education both in Japan and in the US given the current world financial situation, and the ways in which universities can respond to turn challenges into opportunities.

In what was a very wide ranging and friendly discussion, it was agreed that one of the most effective ways of offering greater opportunity and a better educational experience to today’s business students was through forging closer ties with partners internationally.

The Shidler College of Business in Hawaii has a number of Japanese-speaking faculty members and has strong links with Japan, including with NUCB, and so the two schools look forward to ever closer ties in the future.