Yoshimasa | MBA Alumni Interview

We interviewed, alumnus Yoshimasa from the MBA Class of 2014, who was a Company Sponsored student, to share his experience during and after hist time at Hitotsubashi ICS.

Yoshimasa Nakamura

Yoshimasa joined the one-year MBA program back in 2014. Prior to starting his MBA at Hitotsubashi ICS, he worked at Sony for 8 years in the e-commerce field, where he was responsible for direct sales, merchandising and website management. After graduating Hitotsubashi ICS, he has been working at Sony as a Marketing Manager in charge of the digital transformation area of marketing.

First of all, why did you decide to apply to ICS?

As I approached the 10th year of my career, I had many opportunities to reflect on myself, and I began to feel stuck, wondering if I was contributing to the company. I needed to change my way of thinking and decided to pursue an MBA to learn about business theory as a whole, including accounting and human resources.

What made me choose Hitotsubashi ICS above any other school was that it is a Western-style global MBA program. Since I was planning to work in a global position after graduation, I thought that studying together with students from diverse backgrounds would lead to my future career.

What was the hardest part about the admission process, and do you have any tips for future applicants?

The hardest part was earning high scores on the TOEFL and GMAT exams.
TOEFL and GMAT are special exams, so if you decide to take them, I recommend that you immediately take a prep course.
For interviews, I practiced with several instructors, which helped me handle the actual interview very well.

What was your most memorable experience in the MBA program?

While my days at Hitotsubashi ICS were physically demanding, I was amazed at how fast I was able to absorb what I learned. The MBA curriculum is organized for students to take multiple courses simultaneously, but they were all tied to business. I was very surprised to learn how each corporate activity affects management indicators in a short period of time and how they are linked to each other.

I was also impressed by the fact that the curriculum at Hitotsubashi ICS is structured in English, and there are many students from overseas, so I was exposed to a wide variety of cultures.

There are many other things that I have learned at Hitotsubashi ICS, and I have a great sense that I have been able to apply them in practice. In retrospect, this may be because the professors had both academic and practical experience, and they taught me in a way that made it easy to implement these principles in practice.

How has the above experience influenced your career?

After earning my MBA, I returned to work in digital marketing. I had the option of switching careers and starting over from scratch, but I thought I could contribute to the business more effectively by using the knowledge I gained from the MBA program in addition to my previous experience.

When I actually went back, I did not feel stuck, as I did before. I think this is because I now have the ability to look at events from a holistic perspective and make decisions.

I have to study whether the proposal I came up with is in line with the company's policy, check whether the numbers I calculated are in line with the company's goals, and think it through until I am convinced that my proposal is effective enough. In this way, I can feel that putting my proposal into practice has contributed to the success of the company, and this gives me strength for the next step.

Please give some advice to future candidates.

I strongly recommend joining the MBA program at Hitotsubashi ICS.

Here you can systematically learn business theories that enable you to understand how each corporate activity has an impact on the other.

I believe that this is the kind of learning that can only come from participating in the Hitotsubashi ICS MBA program, and I am still grateful for this experience more than five years after graduation.

Do you have any word of advice for our current students?

I think the time you spend in the MBA program is very tough, both mentally and physically. Do your best.
After completing my MBA, I saw the world completely differently than before, and there were many positive changes. I hope that you too will study hard without regrets.

Byline ICS

Yoshimasa | MBA Alumni Interview

First of all, why did you decide to apply to ICS?

What was the hardest part about the admission process, and do you have any tips for future applicants?

How has the above experience influenced your career?

Please give some advice to future candidates.

Byline ICS, our official blog

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