Subject Introduction / Business Systems Design Engineering Course

Our goal is for students to motivate themselves towards a concrete path of future learning by taking this class, which will systematically overview the contents of this course of study. In order to understand the “business innovators” that the Business Systems Design Engineering Course seeks to cultivate, our full-time faculty members and guest speakers discuss “business innovators” in the context of their field of expertise in order to establish accurate profiles of “business innovators.”

Students understand the activities for starting a company or new business to achieve continuous growth. Students gain the systematic comprehension of the flow of activities by studying business planning, fund management such as procurement and cash flow, resource management for human resources and intellectual properties, and the management of branding. The lecture organizes and helps students understand the terms of general business strategies and corporate management, and some case study of starting business by watching videos to provide explanations of their experience and expert knowledge for starting a business. Subsequently, students hold discussions with instructors and students about each case study topic.

The importance of financial knowledge is increasing with an increase in corporate reorganizations and shareholder-oriented management etc. The study of finance is a field that targets fund related aspects of corporate management, such as fundraising and management etc. Specifically, what kind of means to raise funds the companies has? And in which of the multiple potential investments should be invested by the fund raised? We will look at the issue of decision-making. This class will cover issues related to funds in corporate management, such as deciding where to invest, deciding where to procure funds, and dividend policy decisions etc. We will then consider how to master the theoretical thinking behind economics and business administration, and how this can be applied to case studies. As a result, students will aim to learn the ability to seek and solve problems.

Innovations are representative phenomena of economic development based on discontinuous elements and offer possibilities rooted in changes in technology, markets, and organizations. In recent years, Japanese corporations have no prospects for progress using a conventional management approach and suffer from a sense of stagnation. On the other hand, there is certainly a trend for manifesting a sense of anticipation from the possibility of innovation.

In this class, students will learn and understand structures and processes that support innovation as well as constraining factors of innovation in the technical and market environments through referencing actual use cases, so that students themselves can innovate in the future. By understanding these concepts, we believe that we can give direction to students that is applicable to their everyday social activities.

The course will also explore the customer loyalty cycle and how to improve worker motivation in service profit chains, as well as the customer experience and understanding of markets.

In this class, we will examine irrationality in human decision-making, consumer behaviors, and industrial psychology. We will also explore cases of these phenomena and identify the characteristics of each one. Presently, services and markets where customer satisfaction is the objective are in demand, while service provider satisfaction is not a priority. In the first part of the class, we will investigate services and consumer behaviors that have been receiving attention over the past few years, as well as with service science, service economics, service marketing, and service management. Building on these studies, students will go through individual- and group-based training exercises.

This class explains the necessary concepts of leaning business administration and business strategy theory, focusing on students’ basic understanding. Among basic concepts related to business administration, elemental ways of thinking on market, organizations and regions are centered in this class. In the second half of the term, lecture would be developed reflecting the lecturer’s experience in a business school in USA, comparing with the traditional concepts at MBA.

To explain objectively by taking actual cases into the account, the functions of business administration and business strategy theory in the real society are understood concretely.

In this class, we will review modes of thinking necessary for learning management, and then explore concepts related to international management, regional businesses, innovation, and digital transformation. Regarding regional businesses, we will also be considering the point of view of regional value chains. This class corresponds to each topic in the Basic Management Systems.

The objective of this class is to learn the basics of econometrics. Econometrics is a field that uses statistical methods to infer a mechanism of occurrence from observable economic data based on economic theory. By mathematically and quantitatively analyzing economic phenomena, understanding of real social phenomena can be deepened. Moreover, in various fields in modern society, econometrics can be applied to solve policy challenges and practical issues. Consequently, knowledge of econometrics is invaluable in social science. In this class, building on the basis of knowledge of statistics, students will learn methods of empirical analysis using statistical data on actual economics and management. More specifically, we will explain methods of aggregating observation data and aim to be able to examine the relationships between multiple variables using concepts such as regression and correlation.

Contemporary economic theory can be divided into microeconomic theory, which conducts analysis focusing on the behavior of individual economic entities; and macroeconomic theory, which conducts analysis on the entire economy of a country as a whole. Microeconomic theory analyzes the behavioral principles of individual economic entities such as consumers and producers, and then clarifies the nature of resource allocation achieved by market mechanisms. On the other hand, macroeconomic theory focuses on the aggregate amounts of the entire economy of a country such as investment, consumption, and employment, and then analyzes the interrelationship of these elements. In this class, we will focus more on the basic theory of microeconomics. In doing so, we will proceed flexibly while intermingling economic theory and quantitative analysis techniques. In this class, we will reinforce the ability of students to take action through practicing data analysis, while confirming the understanding of the students.

The every class constitutes lecture and exercise (extended case study). In recent years, especially after a high growth period in Japan, the importance of leadership together with of cooperativeness is discussed and the aggressiveness as the main factor of them has been highly praised in Japanese industrial society. On the other hand, since around 15 years ago in Europe and USA, the importance of assertiveness has been drawing attention. It is said to be the important factor of power of leadership. This is not the new discovery, it has been extensively trained as the power of followership, especially in the navy of USA since World War II period. The same textbook is also used for training of cadets of National Defense Academy in Japan. This class aims to help students acquire the power of leadership with high social utility based on followership, from stand-point of basic leadership.

Presently, regarding companies that produce tangible and intangible products, it has not been deeply discussed what kind of characteristics their organizational capabilities have and how they are utilized.

In this class, while providing students with knowledge about established organizational theory and focusing on the characteristics of companies that create tangible and intangible products, students will learn ideas that can be applied to practical corporate activities and organizational activities in society.

As a consequence of the period of high economic growth, Japan has become a world leader in various fields of technology. However, in recent years, there has been a growing sense of obstruction in performance and future direction in the manufacturing industries. In this class, we will explain the strategic thinking necessary to actually create products and services in society while having a technical foundation. In particular, we will focus on the activities of companies and organizations related to tangible and intangible products that have been successful so far, and explain strategies for successful product development.

In this class, using a panoramic view, we will survey the information regarding changes in basic technology and applied technology, and will analyze the strategies of companies that warrant close attention. Students will gain insight, mainly through training exercises, on how to capture technological changes that may have a great impact at the societal level.

In this class, students will deepen their understanding of the theory of strategic planning support for entrepreneurship and founding as well as developing new businesses in companies. Students will also become familiar with the necessary analysis and discussion processes, and will gain critical insight by putting their knowledge into practice through training exercises.

The purpose of this class is to learn the theory of strategic planning support for entrepreneurship and founding as well as developing new businesses in companies. This knowledge will be built upon an understanding of the interrelationship of changes in society, markets, technology, and management resources and their potential to hugely impact products, services, and systems which may be created in the future. Specifically, to deepen the understanding of road-mapping and to learn its methodology through training exercises.

In this workshop, students will reinforce their familiarity with design methods that are necessary to implement road-mapping in a manner that supports the visualization of strategy. This will make it possible to use the practical theory of road-mapping in various circumstances and real-life social situations.

The purpose of this workshop is to learn how to design for the implementation of road-mapping through group exercises. Specifically, it is to understand road-mapping as it is actually practiced in real-world scenarios and to learn its role and position, as well as to learn design methods for implementing road-mapping and develop that knowledge through training exercises. Through group exercises, students will gain comprehensive insight on road-mapping, especially regarding the importance of promoting communication inside and outside the organization, supporting the creation of the organizational structure, and demonstrating the results both inside and outside the organization.

Economic activities using computers and the Internet have dramatically increased the efficiency of service provision as well as the convenience of business. In this class, we will introduce success factor analysis and characterization of business strategies based on various management theories for cases related to businesses utilizing networks. Following this, we will discuss service models in industries that provide online services, use cases and effects of in-house information systems, and use cases of IT and Internet utilization in growing fields such as logistics, tourism, medical care, and welfare.

In business decision-making, it is essential to a successful business that there is success in two types of decision-making, managerial decision-making by management and practical decision making by practitioners in the field. This class will discuss the theory and practical methods of these kinds of decisions. More specifically, decision-making exercises will be used, based on business cases where there have been successful or failed management and practical decision-making.

With the evolution of mobile terminals and the development of AI technology, remarkable growth is recognized in industries such as financial services and e-commerce. The growth of these industries is due to rising international economic activity as a result of factors such as digitalization of payments using digital money and utilization of virtual currencies. In this class, students will cultivate an understanding of the basic technologies that form the basis of FinTech (financial technology) and IT solutions that contribute to the development of these industries, and acquire the knowledge necessary for examining innovation. Based on this knowledge, we will discuss the applicability of IT technology, represented by blockchain, to various fields such as supply chains, electronic government, medical care, welfare, and tourism, as well as the challenges, and we will examine concrete introduction methods.

We will introduce the Blue Ocean Strategy as one of the various strategies for creating a market. In creating a new market with the Blue Ocean Strategy, creation of a strategy canvas, de-segmentation analysis, group classification of non-customers, understanding the eight paths that achieve a product concept, business model restructuring, strategic pricing, and creation of an action matrix are required. Students will understand these through training exercises. Also, as specific markets, we will discuss the current situations of the casino and tourism industries.

In a world of uncertainty in recent years, the preferable strategies for eternal business continuity of the organizations draw public attention. The lecture mainly deal with following 2 topics. The first is about understanding of customers’ perception and decision making on business to realize offering high quality products or services and to maintain business continuity on stand-point of business sustainability. The second is about Business Continuity Planning (BCP), which is gaining attention to be the process of quickly collecting information of organizations and the surrounding environment and to use the information to develop a strategy for the resumption of business to ensure business continuity, in case of an unforeseen event.

To execute the project under the instruction of faculty members of Business Systems Design Engineering Course. Each project is offered in a Project-Based Learning (PBL) format led by a team of students and let them acquire the competency in the practical world. For details on each project, refer to the instructions for PBL projects, which are distributed separately.

Currently most countries around the world, including those in Asia and Africa, are experiencing rapid economic growth. On December 31, 2015 the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) was started. Steady economic growth continues, even in sub-Saharan Africa, which was known to have been “left behind” throughout the twentieth century (Japan is one of very few “clever” countries that has seen its per capita GNI lowered in the last quarter century.). The 21st century has been an era of rapid growth throughout the whole world. In the “Transforming our world:the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” statement, which was adopted by UN General assembly in 2015, there simply stated as “Leave No One Behind”, let all the countries and areas in the world take economic growth.

This class will provide students with the knowledge and capabilities they will need to become entrepreneurs and to develop businesses in Asia and Africa today. That is, this class forms part of an “entrepreneurial support class”, but has the following specific features.

First, it is premised on business being carried out in Asia/Africa, and not within Japan. There are many amazing business opportunities today in some of the fastest growing Asian/African countries. It would be disappointing to not take advantage of them. Of course, things are not done the same way as in Japan. There are likely to be many difficult and unpredictable issues. But standing tall to confront such issues is also noble human life. This class will give you the necessary knowledge and skills to do so.

Secondly, the class will focus on the finance side as a specific method of entrepreneurship. And, in Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0, the finance industry itself will be the source of leading this next generation of innovation. There are few choices for financing for entrepreneurs/businesses in Japan (in the end, we all bow our heads to the banks (indirect finance)). But if you take a step outside of Japan these days, there are many different people offering a variety of different finance options, and there are a lot of people that have seen explosive success. In other words, in today’s world business success hinges on whether you can get “good financing”. Financing should be given at least as much attention as considering methods of manufacturing and business content etc.

The creativity in financing includes not only creativity of finance itself, but also includes the expansion of business fields. For example, the idea of PPP (Public Private Partnership), which will be lectured in the class, is the method to do a business where ordinary business cannot be organized due to “market failure”, and well developed for infrastructure development in Asia/Africa countries in 21st century.

In this Class, we are forcusing to the method called "Development Finance". It is a concessional finance method in the field of, so called, "market failure". Because it is in market failure field, it was considered as the task of the government, and rarely the business object. But, in the 21st century, there are many explosive technical developments, and it is expected to become a big business oppotunity. On the other hand, untill now, there are still only few persons to be specialized to "Devolopment Finance" in the world. So, now is the time of good chance. After 10 years, or to say after 5 years, many persons may know about this fact, and you will not be able to get the early benifit.

The modern world itself is certainly undergoing a major transformation centered on nation states. In such circumstances, why should we limit the business that we spend our entire lives to build to Japan, where opportunities are narrow, and the growth rate of the national economy is “one of the lowest in the world”. We should look broadly at Asia/Africa. There are wonderful opportunities in this vast world. The keys to grasping these opportunities are first, to understand current trends in Asia and Africa, and second, to gain insights on financing ahead of the competition.

Development assistance (economic aid, international development) is various types of economic growth support which developed nations (generally a per capita GNI of $14,000 or more) provide to developing nations (per capita GNI of less than this). This class contains two main focuses regarding this. It will be wonderful to learn about both things in the one class (two birds with one stone…).

First, we will focus on regular, orthodox development assistance theory. We will discuss the history of development assistance around the world from World War II to today’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the history of Japan’s experience from 1950s to 1990s as the world’s largest patronage of ODA (Official Development Assistance) development assistance, and neo-classical growth financing theory(development economics), which forms the theoretical basis for authentic development assistance theory. This provides essential knowledge and skills for students aiming to work in development assistance related fields in the future (government agencies, international organizations, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), NPOs etc.).

Second, we will look at content which cannot be heard anywhere other than an AIIT. That is, the knowledge and skills to take advantage of completely new business opportunities in development assistance, ahead of competitors around the world. Many people around the world see development assistance as “justice to save poor people in developing nations”, making them hesitant to make a business out of it. However, as you will learn in this class, the reality of development assistance is that it is a “flow of money” (from developed nations to developing nations).

Where there is a “flow of money”, there is business. And where there is business, there is a “flow of money”. Students will learn the ability to see development assistance as a “flow of money”. With this ability, they will have an overwhelming advantage over the few competitors in the world that understand this.

In addition, in relation to this second point, that is, an attitude of seeking business opportunities by seeing development assistance as a “flow of money”, we will take the position that the first theme, that of orthodox development assistance theory, is not a bad thing. Unlike in the 20th century, almost all developing nations have been successfully industrialized, and the promotion of economic growth is the core engine of proper business development in the 21st century, which is clearly captured in the SDGs (2016 to 2030), the successor to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000 to 2015). This is also expressed in the concepts of Private Public Partnerships (PPP) and Base of the Pyramid (BOP) explained in this class.

It is only natural to ask, “If this is so advantageous, why do universities other than AIIT not teach this?” The answer is simple. The flow of money for development assistance is so specific that it is difficult for anyone who has never experienced it firsthand to understand it, and even for those who have, there are few if any people that have been paying attention to its nature as a “treasure mountain” for businesses with keen perception.

12 of the 15 sessions will be lectures. In the final 3 sessions, students will conceptualize actual development assistance projects. Perhaps you have never conceived a development assistance project, but do not worry. Sufficient time has been set aside for the interim presentation and guidance for it.

Regarding the supporting methods for advancement of developing countries through business, students will acquire practical skills to contribute to economic growth and industrialization through a combination of lectures and exercises. Through the lectures, in addition to the principles of ordinary development economics such as the basic concept of development assistance and neoclassical economic growth theory, students will learn a wide variety of material such as viewpoints of international relations like developmentism and the influence of the Cold War. In the exercises, based on this knowledge, students will devise a development assistance project in a developing country, formulate a plan for the project, present it, and receive guidance. Since the planning of a development assistance project will be the basic training for business project planning, students will also acquire the knowledge necessary to start a business in a developing country.

This lecture series will provide students with an introductory knowledge of and practical exercises for writing logical compositions.

Things such as social media have grown in recent years, enabling anyone to share their thoughts and plans with the world while bringing people together more than ever before.

On the other hand, it is now accepted practice to publish writings without them first being checked by anyone else, which has led to a decline in people's ability to construct logical compositions.

With a focus on the fact that one's ability in a second language will not exceed that of one's native language, this lecture series will teach how to write logically in Japanese and will examine the differences between Japanese and European languages while showing how to write well in English.

In recent years Design Thinking has gained legitimacy and popularity as a method to develop design and business processes.

Design Thinking is based on few simple principles, such as learning by doing, learning by failing, collaborative thinking and solution-oriented approaches. Although in many cases Design Thinking has proved itself valuable, the design community has also raised doubts and objections to its unconditioned employment. This class investigates Design Thinking, but it also leaves space to critically reconsider and improve its principles

In this class, we will investigate various laws and regulations, guidelines, rules, manners, and etiquette all related to information engineers, using the question, “why do information engineers need ethics?” as a starting point. While we consider its importance and social background, students will examine how it should be applied to their own work. Also, the material explored in this class will pose various dilemmas for systems developers and promoters of information technology, placing these phenomena in conflict with business rules, in which the development of information technology has taken root. These conflicts should always be considered when seeking solutions.

Monozukuri architects need to make decisions without error. For this type of decision-making, students need to have a deep understanding of ethics issues to be able to make a judgmental decision about engineering ethics.

This class particularly simulates potential problems to obtain the problem-solving skills related to engineering ethics through training where the answers are provided in advance.

Students need to participate in debates and submit reports on the exercise assignments.