For this edition of the faculty interview, Charlie (Class of 2020) has interviewed Professor Satoshi (Toshi) Akutsu. Akutsu received his B.A. and M.A. from Hitotsubashi University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Prior to joining Hitotsubashi University as an assistant professor, he was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Management, Innovation, and Organization at the Haas School. Upon returning to Hitotsubashi, his alma mater, he was one of the starting members of Hitotsubashi ICS, where he has been involved not only in teaching but also research and the school administration. During the 2007-2008 academic year, he took a sabbatical at UC Berkeley where he was affiliated with both the Haas School and the Department of Psychology. He was also a member of the Culture and Cognition Laboratory and affiliated with IPSR at UC Berkeley. We sat with Akutsu to dive deeper into his roles as an educator, researcher, and administrator.
Charlie and Toshi at the open space of Hitotsubashi ICS Campus
Thank you so much for your time today. Could you tell us a little about your upbringing and your days at Hitotsubashi as an undergrad student?
Akutsu: I was born and raised in Tokyo. After graduating from a local elementary school, I went to an integrated prep school for junior high and high school. Ever since I entered junior high, I had aspirations to go to the United States, and in high school, I studied for one year in Illinois. Back then, there were very few foreign students, and the number of Asian students in that school could be counted on one hand. Although it was a fun experience, the environment was far from international – it was more like being thrown into a local school in the American suburbs. This experience made me want to further study in the U.S. at an international university. Later, I entered Hitotsubashi University where I was able to apply for a generous study abroad scholarship program.
What made you want to study at high school in the U.S. originally?
Akutsu: This has been true throughout my life, but I have always aimed for something that resonated with me, something that I intuitively thought was "cool. I'm more of an intuitive person than a thoughtful one (laughs). However, in reality, even if I think something is cool, I often find it hard to do. In the end, I have chosen what I think is cool and what suits me best. Well, you have to be thoughtful when you have to choose. In my junior high school days, American culture was cool to me, and I honestly thought that I wanted to live and study there. Luckily, I was able to do that in high school, college, graduate school, and even after I became a management scholar.
So you found something cool when you were studying as an exchange student at Berkeley?
Akutsu: Yes, I did. At Berkeley, I met many great scholars who would soon later go on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. I thought it was cool and inspiring to see them pioneering new research fields. I was also fascinated by the way they shed light and insight on the research of their students and other scholars. After I came back to Hitotsubashi University, I was again very fortunate to be surrounded by many “cool” professors, which allowed me to broaden my horizons and engage in research in multiple fields. This led me to be able to teach various topics at Hitotsubashi ICS.
One of the new fields of research you came across while studying at Berkeley was “brand management.” Could you talk a little about the branding strategy at ICS?
Akutsu: When Hitotsubashi ICS was founded under the strong leadership of Prof. Nonaka and Prof. Takeuchi 20 years ago, we focused on providing high-quality education, but also positioned ourselves as an excellent research institution. I believe that Prof. Nonaka and Prof. Takeuchi’s research, as well as Prof. Takeuchi’s achievements as an educator, have been recognized worldwide and have helped establish our brand.
I myself attend and receive a very passionate education here at Hitotsubashi ICS, and feel that this is the core strength of the Hitotsubashi ICS program.
Akutsu: Yes, if you come to Hitotsubashi ICS, you will understand the high quality of education. However, when we look at the trends of the education field that is going through a lot of changes due to globalization, as a researcher I understand the necessity to also improve our branding as a research institution. When we look upon the world, Singapore and China, for example, have always had their focus on the global market in their strategy, so they worked on improving their higher education institutions to become top-level research institutions. As a result, their universities are now very competitive even when you put them among Western universities in the world university rankings. I believe it is important to delve into this kind of competitive environment in order to take Hitotsubashi ICS to the next stage.
That ties into your work as the director of the DBA program.
Akutsu: Yes. As I mentioned, I believe it is crucial that we build our reputation as a research institution in order to enhance our brand globally. In that context, I believe that the role our DBA program has to play is an important one. Our DBA program places a stronger emphasis on practical implications compared to more academically focused Ph.D. programs. The Hitotsubashi ICS DBA program consciously supports business executives who want to theorize and validate their insights backed by rich practical experience, and provides them with the academic knowledge, skills, and experience they need. I believe that disseminating globally unique research from Hitotsubashi ICS in Tokyo and nurturing researchers who can conduct such research will enhance the reputation of Hitotsubashi ICS.
Now I’d like to ask you something from a student’s perspective. What do you think is the reason to pursue an MBA? I think MBA students tend to want to learn practical topics that can be used right away in their own business. What do you think is a good balance between academic learning and practicality?
Akutsu: I believe that what is easy and quick to use becomes obsolete relatively quickly. In contrast, while it may take time to learn the fundamental concepts and how to approach various situations in a comprehensive and systematic way, once learned, it can be used indefinitely. Of course, ready-to-use tools and practices are useful, and I don't mean to imply that there is no point in learning them at all. However, I believe that the significance of a full-time MBA program in particular is not to learn how to use easy tools, but rather to develop a fundamental management mindset and learn a versatile approach to analyzing situations and solving problems. This is because you can sit down and learn for at least one year, if not two years. If you have a solid foundation, you can apply what you learn to more complex situations. I believe that this will naturally lead to practicality.
Thank you for your time today. Do you have a message for us students?
Akutsu: When I look back my own graduate school student days, I remember I often overwhelmed by the amount of assignments and the difficulty of the contents, but somehow I managed to get through them just in time. However, I realized that as long as I could somehow survive without giving up, I would be able to do fine after graduation. The experience of surviving in graduate school without giving up has taught me many things. I think that the amount of study at Hitotsubashi ICS is not half-baked, but I would like to tell all the students, especially those who are struggling now, that if you can get through it, a fulfilling world will surely open up ahead of you. For those students who are just having fun leaning without difficulties, please keep going (laughs).
Thank you very much for your precious time, Toshi!!
Charlie (Ryosuke Koyama)
Charlie is a credit analyst with a long track record of working in the banking industry since 2012.
He is currently an MBA student studying the two-year program at Hitotsubashi ICS, doing a double degree program at PKU.
His areas of interest include corporate strategy and entrepreneurship.
Also, read Charlie's story of applying to PKU as a double degree program student.
