Management Control in Japan
This course is offered to MBA and CEMS program students at Keio University. In 2023, the course was online with the following program:
Introduction: Yamato Transport case
Yamato Transport is a famous case delivery service in Japan. Along with the basics of management control, this case is focused on the use of financial and non-financial performance indicators in management. For example, time, service quality, and logistics rationalization are monitored equally with costs, market share and profits.
Three short cases about Key Performance Indicators and the Balanced Scorecard
Management control uses several tools for planning, reporting, and taking corrective actions. In this process, Key Performance Indicators are usually customized based on the objectives pursued. Calbee, a family-owned food company, uses operating profit margin as a KPI, consistently with its main objective to improve profitability. Kao, a large cosmetics and home care company, has chosen Economic Value Added (EVA) in order to allocate resources efficiently among its numerous investments. Kirin, one of the largest breweries in Japan, has chosen to adopt a balanced scorecard approach with several KPIs in order to increase its market share.
Information-based business: Recruit case
Recruit is the Japanese leader in recruitment and various other e-commerce-related services. Their business model is called the "ribbon model" because they provide services as an intermediary between individual users and corporate customers. The case is about the Key Performance Indicators used by Recruit and how they fit the diversification strategy. In this session, we also compare Recruit with Vector, another innovative services company in Japan.
International M&As: Jim Beam and Suntory case
Suntory is a family-owned brewery, also known as a leader on the whiskey market. In 2015, they purchased Jim Beam, a large US whiskey maker in order to increase their market share in the US. What were the main issues in the merger? How did Suntory and Jim Beam solve the control issues related with the integration of their businesses? This cases addresses a wide range of issues regarding decision-making and internal reporting in a multicultural setting.
Long-Term Planning: Toyota case
Toyota is a classic case of lean management. This session focuses on the tools used at Toyoto for long-term planning and optimal allocation of resources. Students will also learn and discuss how the original Toyota production system has evolved in the last fifty years.
Decentralized Management: Kyocera case
Kyocera is another classic case of Japanese management. The company started with developing ceramics products; it later diversified successfully in other technologies and even became the parent company of a large telecommunication company, KDDI. Kyocera has a very decentralized control system, with small decision-making units called "Amoebas". This system is built on internal transfer pricing among units and some original performance indicators.
Fraud: Toshiba case
This session reviews various types of frauds by Japanese companies. The Toshiba case is used to introduce and discuss the relationship between management control systems and accounting fraud. Why are there so many large-scale frauds in Japan? How can they last for decades? What can managers do to prevent fraud?