The annual study tour to Japan, sponsored by AACSB and the Keizai Koho Center, a leading Japanese business organization, continues to reap reports that the experience has had a profound effect on those deans, associate deans, department chairs and faculty members selected to participate. The program aims to stimulate curricular change at institutions whose representatives participate in the tour and to provide opportunities to pursue comparative research activities.

The 1998 tour, themed "Understanding Japanese Business: Japan in Transition," brought 14 representatives from a variety of AACSB member schools to Japan in June where they spent 12 days visiting Japanese companies, holding discussions with top management and officials of the business community, attending seminars with Japanese academics, meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and engaging directly with government officials and university faculty. The breadth of activities, visits and presentations at companies such as Mazda Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Omron Kyoto Japan Sun Industries, as well as experiences with Japanese culture, tradition and people, proved to be tour highlights.

"The company visits were an excellent opportunity to meet a wide range of Japanese companies and learn about their strategy, corporate governance and practices," said John Kraft, business dean at the University of Florida and a tour participant. "The visits provided a solid understanding of Japanese management style and practice. We all obtained a keen appreciation of the Japanese management style, which is both cautious and deliberate."

A major focus of the 1998 tour was focusing on reforms of Japan and the issue of corporate governance, which is undergoing a transition there. "Traditional Japanese management policies include lifetime employment, in-house labor unions, the seniority system and quotas to maintain a share of the market," said John Doering, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. "These policies are inconsistent with global standards and Japanese management recognizes that it must be restructured to improve performance and become more globally responsive. There is evidence that Japanese companies are beginning to make the necessary changes," he said.

Doering said he believes changes in corporate governance will require widespread changes in other institutions in Japan, as well. "For example, without lifetime employment, employees will need portable skills that will make them attractive to other employers," he said. "Rather than a set of company-specific skills, workers will need a broader knowledge base that can be more easily transferred to other businesses. As a result, Japanese universities will need to develop business education and MBA programs to facilitate the transition of managers between industries." Doering pointed to the Japanese pension system as another area needing reform in order to accommodate the relocation of workers, stating "At the present time, pensions are not portable." These examples illustrate that the changes are systematic and are not merely confined to principles of corporate governance, said Doering.

"The Japanese business model has much to commend," said Frances L. Ayres, professor and director of the School of Accounting at the University of Oklahoma. "They have a stable, hard working work force, high quality products and well-developed manufacturing and distribution processes. At the same time, they are impaired by a structure that makes some types of change difficult. Hope- fully, in the long run, a new business model will evolve that combines the best of Japanese and Western business practices," she said.

Tour participants said they also learned about a number of social differences and trends. "The program reemphasized for me how relationship-based Japanese social interaction is," said Eric Abrahamson, associate professor in the School of Business at Columbia University. "It also sensitized me to how Japanese social relations can be simultaneously centralized and decentralized. I also was surprised by the Japanese fondness, as in the U.S., for all types of fads - including management fads and what was described as the corporate governance fad."

For some, visiting Japanese universities was valuable. "While some very productive research is conducted in Japan, language continues to be a big barrier in the spread of knowledge from Japan to the West," said Peggy Keiko Takahashi, assistant business professor at the University of San Francisco. "Moreover, Japanese research in business tends to have a more qualitative feel than U.S. research. My hope is that the tour will lead to some fruitful joint research projects in the future." Takahashi said that studying the curriculum at other universities also gave her a better sense of how the program at her school compares to international programs.

Institutions of the tour participants stand to benefit in numerous ways. "I believe I will be more effective in the classroom with executives and MBA students," said James R. Freeland, associate dean and business professor, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia. "My perspective has been broadened and I have gained more understanding of Japanese business. I certainly am a more informed observer of Japan." Others point to their plans for updating the curriculum, expanding student and faculty exchanges with Japan, establishing student internships, collaborating on programs or activities with area studies centers on their own campuses, and making presentations and writing articles about their trip. "The Japan Study Tour was a wonderful experience that will reap benefits for years to come in terms of teaching, research and curriculum development," said Oklahoma's Ayres. "I plan to continue to learn and to study more about Japan in the future and, hopefully, to return."

The 1998 study tour participants also included: Linda Delene, professor, Western Michigan University; Adele Curran Foley, associate dean and director of MBA programs, Saint Joseph's University; Taggart Frost, associate professor, University of Northern Iowa; Michele V.Gee, assistant professor, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; Diana Lawson, associate professor, University of Maine; Barbara H. Nemecek, dean, Montana State University at Billings; Aleda Marie Roth, associate professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and William L. Sartoris, professor and chair of international activities, Indiana University.

A brochure concerning the 1999 Study Tour, which begins June 6, 1999, and ends on June 17, 1999, was mailed to AACSB member deans in October. Program directors, associate deans, deans, department chairs and faculty who lead or influence curriculum development at AACSB member schools are encouraged to apply. An application form was included with the brochure and also is available on the AACSB Web site. Application deadline is December 30, 1998. A selection committee made up of representatives of AACSB and the Keizai Koho Center will choose the 1999 tour participants. Candidates will be advised of the results of the selection process no later than February 24, 1999.