Exploring the Future Direction of Japan’s MBA Education

Authors

  • Kazuhito Isomura
  • Pei-Yuh Huang

Keywords:

Part-time, MBA, programmes, professional, graduate, school, system, practitioner, professor, practical, education, methods

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the future direction of Japan’s MBA education. First, we review literature discussing the problems in the US model of MBA education and then build a framework of analysis. Second, we review the history of MBA education in Japan. We divide its evolution into three stages, demonstrating how MBA education has developed since the first business school was established in Japan. Third, we examine the current situation and define the challenging issues on the basis of our survey of the Professional Graduate School System. Finally, we examine Japan’s case based on a framework of analysis and note some implications. The study clarifies that the main target market of MBA education in Japan has shifted from full-time students dispatched from companies to part-time self-sponsored students. Further, more than 60 percent of the teaching staff in Japan’s professional business schools are professional practitioners. The results suggest that Japan’s MBA education has developed differently than in other foreign countries because the business context of in-house human-resource development is dominant here.

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Published

2012-11-30

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Exploring the Future Direction of Japan’s MBA Education. (2012). Asia Pacific and Globalization Review, 2(1). https://journals.macewan.ca/apgr/article/view/71