Prof. Hiroshi MORITA, new MBA co-director, talks about VJU-MBA course

Prof. Hiroshi MORITA, a new co-director of MBA program, is working at Yokohama National University (YNU). He has been worked with MBA students at VJU in Corporate Finance course. Let’s have a small talk with him now to see how the courses are designed and what is special about MBA at VJU.

1. You are delivering Corporate Finance course for MBA students at VJU. Can you tell us main objectives of the courses?

This course provides basic ideas about the current price of future corporate incomes. This course provides, for instance, how to calculate the price of a target firm in Mergers and Acquisitions which is one of the current typical methods for starting a new business. Business Transfer is also a possible transaction between firms. In that case, the price of some business units must be calculated. Accounting and Finance are always necessary for business transactions and can be said as a “common language”. In this course, students learn the economic intuition and ideas behind these practices as well as practical calculation methods in cases.

2. What are the advantages of an MBA offered by VJU? 

It is easy for students of VJU/MBA can learn about custom and/or corporate culture in Japan through cases and data used in courses. Learning expression in the Japanese language used by businesspersons in courses and internships is also a distinguished feature of VJU

The contents of each course are based on recent world-wide development in social science. However, the professors from YNU bring students many things commonly shared in Japanese society: from pedagogy to thoughts and feelings of Japanese people. Many things must be completely new to students and could not be encountered in other MBA courses.

3. How are Japanese standards applied in VJU’s MBA?

As explained above about my course, students must think about issues by themselves until something hits their mind. The teachers may guide students towards proper direction but wait patiently but gently until students reach a sensible answer by themselves. This learning process is quite important for getting new intuition and idea.

4. How do Japanese lecturers make a contribution to the MBA?

Japanese lecturers will support students to create and develop their ideas. It is not easy to create and develop new ideas, and lecturers will not give students ideas of their own but will guide students to learn how to create and develop new ideas in the context of academic research. What is important is knowing how to create and develop new ideas rather than knowing new ideas.

5. What is the trend of an MBA in the world in the next 5 years?

It is not clear, but it seems that a new era of harmony of digital technology and humanities is coming next. Social science has a mission of make a lot of scientific contribution in this trend.

6. What are your impressions about MBA students?

From my teaching experience in Japan and VJU, Vietnamese students are open-minded, and we do not spend much time to get close and share many things. However, it is always that students are polite and nice for professors in YNU to work with. It is apparent that VJU’s MBA students have potential and bright futures are waiting for them on one condition that they make a huge effort.

In the mid-break of my classes, I talk about my personal hobby or experience in my life. Some Japanese words which are useful in daily conversation are also introduced. In that time, students show me a good smile and seem to enjoy that moment. Naturally, in the next moment,  they tell me about themselves. It works as a time for mutual understanding, not just as a break. It works even in the class after the break.

My favorite saying is “never too late to learn”. Definitely, it is always fun to learn something new. We can learn and must learn something new at any age. VJU promises students an opportunity for learning a lot of new things that works for developing career of their own.