Keio Business School

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KBS develops leaders who can envision and materialize original business concepts. Here, scholars and students of diverse backgrounds find enjoyment in learning together, delivering world-class research, and integrating academic theory with business experience.
KBS is Japan's oldest business school, founded in 1962. The business school has been referred to as "KBS" from its founding. Today, KBS encompasses the Keio University Graduate School of Business Administration, which confers MBA and Ph.D. degrees, and the Keio Business School, which provides short-term, open-enrollment executive programs. The school has been known as KBS since its founding. Today, KBS encompasses the Keio University Graduate School of Business Administration (conferring MBA and Ph.D. degrees) and the Keio Business School (providing short-term executive seminars).
The acceleration of globalization, widespread adoption of information technology, demographic change, and the growth of emerging economies have fueled a rapid change in economic society globally. More than ever before, a company's growth and survival depend on smart decision-making from a management perspective. Today's business challenges include managing overseas business sites from a global perspective and collaborating with and acquiring companies and organizations in new business fields. These dynamic situations cannot be effectively managed by personnel with experience in only one area of business or trained in-house through OJT. Instead, companies face a growing need for managers equipped with systematic management knowledge and practical management skills. Hence, the role of business schools is becoming increasingly important as economic society changes.
KBS programs have several distinctive advantages. One is the case method for practical management study. Cases describe actual management issues companies and organizations have faced. Students read the cases before class, and under the leadership of faculty, discuss their analyses, the critical management decisions made in the case, and the reasons behind the decisions. Traditionally, Japanese higher education has been characterized by a passive approach to knowledge acquisition in which students attend lectures. The interactive teaching style used for the case method is handy for acquiring practical management skills. It is equally essential for the class to have students with diverse experiences and backgrounds. The diversity of a group facilitates the creation and sharing of new knowledge. In this way, the case method is also useful for fostering leadership and a sense of management mission, not only for acquiring knowledge, as students grow through the daily process of explaining their ideas and debating views on cases among diverse people.
In addition to being practical, the case method promotes the systemization of knowledge across business fields. For example, executing strategy requires applying knowledge across a broad range of fields, including organizational change, dealing with uncertainty, a detailed operations plan, and management environment analysis. Changing organizations and human resources will require funds, which in turn will impact a company's finances. These complex management challenges require the ability to quickly and accurately apply systemized knowledge derived from many different fields.
Advanced knowledge in specialized fields is also critical. KBS boasts a dedicated faculty with advanced research experience in each of the significant fields of management. Our professors write cases based on research in their specialized fields and lead class discussions about them, ensuring that our cases are scholarly and systematic, backed by well-researched theory. This approach distinguishes KBS from other programs that teach collections of past management practices not backed by thorough academic research.
The KBS curriculum asks students to focus on the study of management for a given period. Most Japanese business schools operate part-time, weekday evening programs. The case method approach requires a total commitment, from morning to evening, to prepare, discuss, reflect, and systemize the knowledge derived from the cases. Even with our EMBA program, we offer courses primarily on Saturdays to prevent overburdening students after their workday. Executive seminars are generally held through retreats for a fixed time.
Another distinguishing feature of KBS is internationalization. Economic society is rapidly globalizing. This global society requires people with superior English language skills and an international sensibility who are willing to listen to other viewpoints and have the confidence to express their views in intercultural settings with different cultures and customs.
KBS maintains exchange programs with leading business schools worldwide, not only in Europe and the United States, but also in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We participate in international exchange programs, double degree programs, and collaborative projects with these schools. The international exchange program allows KBS students to study abroad and transfer credits from any of the world's top 50 business schools (September 2014). Conversely, through this program, we accept many visiting exchange students from overseas schools to promote the KBS campus's internationalization.

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