The Japanese Studies Centre

Mitsubishi Corporation Seminar Series

Building global human capital: the Japanese experience

Melbourne, Friday 9 March 2012

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the recent moves to enhance Japan’s competitiveness through the development of a more globally literate workforce. Responding to the realities of global business engagement, Japanese firms, supported by the national government and industry bodies, are moving to develop their employees’ skills in areas such as foreign languages and inter-cultural leadership, as well as undertaking organisational renovations to allow such skills to be mobilised more effectively. The many initiatives currently being debated and tested include adopting English as an official workplace language, incorporating more international experience into business training programs, and adopting pro-active strategies for the use of non-Japanese personnel. These moves have important implications not only for business practice, but also for social organisation, cultural identity and economic engagement in and around Japan. This seminar brings academics from a variety of disciplines together with businesspeople and government representatives to discuss these developments, with a particular emphasis on the Japan-Asia-Australia business interface.

Program

Seminar date: Friday 9 March 2012

1) 2:00-6:00 pm: Keynote session

Keynote presentations:

- Professor Mitsuhide Shiraki, Waseda University: Making Sense of Japan’s Global Human Capital Challenge

- Professor Emiko Magoshi, J.F. Oberlin University: Japanese Global Human ResourcesundefinedIllusion or Reality?

Panel discussions:

- The Glass Ceiling Challenge in Japanese Firms

- Building Global Human Capital in Practice: How and Why?

Panellists include academics and key executives from the public and private sector involved in international business development and intercultural education and training.

2) 6:00-7:00 pm: Dinner

Presenters will join attendees for a light buffet dinner and refreshments.

3) 7:00-8:30 pm: Workshop: Interactive strategies for global competitiveness

This workshop will allow seminar participants to share their own ideas and experiences in preparing workers and organisations for more effective interaction across borders. Discussion groups will be led by presenters from the afternoon session, and enable participants to share their experiences in areas such as language choices in the workplace, business across cultures, and training and career development .

All sessions will be conducted entirely in English.

Venue

Monash Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Attendance

This seminar is free of charge, but advance registration is required.

If you wish to register, please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the following information:

- Your name, title and affiliation

- Contact e-mail address

- Attendance preferences: whether you wish to attend the whole seminar, the afternoon keynote session (1 above) only, or the evening workshop session (3 above) only. In either case, please be sure to advise whether or not you require dinner and if so, any special dietary requirements.

Registration deadline: Friday 24 February, 2012

This seminar is part of a series of academic seminars sponsored by Mitsubishi Corporation and coordinated by the Japanese Studies Centre, Melbourne.

The Japanese Studies Centre also acknowledges the generous support of the Japan Foundation.