The "7th Japanese Management Conference" was successfully held at A.John F. Kennedy University.

Conference/Presentation

In Person

Date: May 8, 2008

Time: 8:30 a.m.

I am pleased to inform you, in my capacity as Director of the Free Chair of Japan at the JOHN F. KENNEDY ARGENTINE UNIVERSITY, that on May 8, 2008, the "VII Conference on Japanese Management" was successfully held, organized jointly with AOTS Argentina. The opening of the VII Conference was done by the General Director of JETRO in Argentina, Mr. Takahiro Shidara, and the closing was done by the Rector of Kennedy University, Dr. María Elisa Herren. Enclosed Opening Speech, Closing Speech and Detailed Program of the "VII Conference on Japanese Management. Application Cases in Argentina". Fraternal greetings to all. Prof. Horacio Taró Seno Díaz __________________ OPENING SPEECH BY MR. TAKAHIRO SHIDARA, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF JETRO IN ARGENTINA, AT THE “7TH JAPANESE MANAGEMENT SESSION: APPLICATION CASES IN ARGENTINA” AT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY OF ARGENTINA.(8-5-2008). Authorities of the Kennedy University, Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. As I have been introduced, my name is Takahiro Shidara, and I am the General Director of the JETRO office in Buenos Aires, an agency of the Japanese government for the promotion of bilateral trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. It is a great honor for me to be here before you today for the opening of this distinguished session, which is celebrating its seventh edition this year. I would like to give special thanks to my great friend Mr. Horacio Seno Díaz for his invitation to this session. I would like to make a few comments about Japan and its economy to begin today’s topic. After the lost decade of the 1990s, Japan is experiencing the highest consecutive growth in its history since 2002. Although the US mortgage crisis, the weak dollar, and rising oil and food prices have been worrying in recent months, we believe that the fundamentals of the Japanese economy are stable. They are stable because the three excesses that were a burden on the growth of the Japanese economy have been dissolved, and the bad debts of the banks have been reduced, thanks to the efforts of the private sector to restructure its finances and its management. The percentage of outstanding debts has fallen sharply, from 49% in 1993 to 32.7% in 2007. And the non-performing loan ratio of Japan's major banks has dropped from 8.4% in 2002 to 1.5% in 2007. And as for deflation, the CPI is leveling off with previous years' figures, and stock and real estate values have improved since 2005. With improved corporate performance, Japanese companies have shifted their business strategy from defensive to offensive. Profits have increased for four consecutive years, and on the back of these gains, capital investment has also shown a steady increase, mainly in manufacturing. As I mentioned, all of this is due to the restructuring effort, but also to the fact that Japanese companies have created a profitable model of production and sales in the East Asian region. For example, for products such as digital cameras and cell phones, the parent company in Japan is responsible for the development of added value in terms of issues such as design and development process. Components are supplied by Japanese companies, or by American or European companies based in China. And then, both the production process and assembly are also carried out in plants in China, from where they are shipped to sales outlets in Japan and the rest of the world. Thus, companies have created a profitable business model by reinvesting profits earned in the East Asian region, either in the same region or in Japan. In Japan, the largest publicly traded companies with operations abroad earn 30% of their profits from abroad, and 30% of these foreign profits come from the Asian region. Although we can see an increase in profits in Europe as well, where the percentage of profits has increased from 5.4% in 1997 to 6.9% in 2006. Since 2005, profits from investments abroad have exceeded the trade surplus. Therefore, we can say that Japan has gone from being just a trading country to an investing country. Although there are differences in distance and costs, this profitable business model is also applicable and is being applied in some sectors in Latin America, such as the automotive industry. You will have heard that, in addition to Toyota, companies such as Honda and Yamaha are also establishing themselves in Argentina to produce cars and motorcycles. And I think that this is a great opportunity for the Argentine auto parts industry. Being or not being a supplier to these companies depends on the seriousness and perfectionist attitude of the auto parts company. To do this, you have to understand the topic that will be discussed today. Many people tell me that Japanese businessmen are very demanding. This is not the case. The demanding one is the Japanese consumer. Japanese businessmen know that they have to sell to a client who has seen many options and still continues looking for the best. It is a continuous competition for improvement and perfection. Whether or not to face this challenge is up to you. But it is a challenge worth facing if you want to make a profitable business. With these words I open today's session. I would like to reiterate my gratitude for today's invitation and for the attention of all of you. Thank you very much. _____________________________ CLOSING SPEECH BY THE RECTOR OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY UNIVERSITY OF ARGENTINA, DR. MARIA ELISA HERREN AT THE "VII Japanese Management Conference: Application Cases in Argentina" (May 8, 2008). I am very pleased to close the VII Japanese Management Conference that our University has the great pleasure of being able to co-organize, stimulate and develop year after year. This is undoubtedly an effort that has its most worthy and distinguished representative in Dr. Ogawa, president of AOTS Argentina, with her creative spirit and enthusiasm that never ceases to stimulate its members and make every effort to accompany and help us in the organization of this Conference. I also thank Professor Seno Díaz of our University who is in charge of the Japan Free Chair, and of course the Rectoral Delegate Dr. Risso Patrón and his entire team for their efforts. And the most important, interesting and juicy part of this Conference are the experiences, models and testimonies of life that each of the speakers bring us with their great erudition year after year. From this point of view, I believe that you will agree with me that this is an educational experience of another kind, which we as a university are extremely pleased to carry out. These are not book classes, they are not theoretical classes, but rather testimonies from people who believe, who work, who think and who apply what you are studying, and who come here with great intellectual honesty and with great human presence and value to tell the realities of life, which I believe are enormously necessary for young people who permanently need not only theory but practice and testimonies of life. I think that the last speaker, Engineer Kohanoff, has given us a master class in creativity, strength and optimism, which is really what we need every day in our country. I think that in these times, if we could characterize them, I would say that they are the times in which the conception of time and space have been totally altered; and where the characteristics of a new time and space, together with the permanent presence of uncertainty, are the signs of the times that you have to live and that you will surely have to face when you become professionals. This dimension of time and space, where geographic and physical space seems to have disappeared, because what prevails is virtual space, inevitably leads us to a situation in which distances and differences become ever smaller. Therefore, it is absolutely logical that this Day of Reflection is a moment in which two worlds that seem geographically so distant meet through life experiences: Argentina and Japan. Two worlds so distant not only geographically but culturally. However, I believe that the experience of Japan, and this is undoubtedly one of the reasons why we repeat this Day year after year, is an exceptional model experience of a people and a country that, with a tremendous cultural wealth dating back many centuries, is unique in the world in its capacity for reception, porosity and plasticity in order to have received the cultural influence of other peoples in a non-violent way. But at the same time, and in this Japan is unique, it is perhaps the country that, having received an enormous amount of influences from all kinds of different latitudes, has managed to maintain its cultural heritage, its traditions and, fundamentally, its values. And I believe, as you have been able to appreciate during all the presentations this morning, that Japanese Management is a clear example of this synthesis that responds to a principle and a fundamental value of Japanese culture, which is the search for harmony. Where what is sought is precisely the quality of life that respects others by creating relationships of coexistence and interaction that are fundamentally centered on harmony. Harmony that always requires as an essential principle, on the one hand, the recognition and respect of others, but that also means seeking the integration of the most sublime and precious values, to achieve a better quality of life. From this point of view, I believe that, as the speaker said, Japanese Management can undoubtedly have an immediate application in business administration, in the business world, in the entrepreneurial world. But without a doubt it calls upon us and evokes a series of essential values, which can undoubtedly be explained, applied and lived through the different areas of human life. That is why this Conference is an experience focused on something that for you as business students has the purpose of illuminating, opening paths, giving recipes, facilitating instruments; and it goes much further, because it is assuming in some way aspects that have to do with primordial values of the human being. Today we have received once again, not only an instructive experience in the business world, but also a renewing experience of the central values of human life for which all of us, students, teachers, people from tertiary, university and professional areas, have the responsibility to reflect on them and fundamentally live with them. I hope that these experiences received today have been deeply instructive and inspiring for each one of you. May this go beyond a university class, a management course, may this be in some way a school of life. That has been our attempt. I greatly appreciate and acknowledge once again the efforts of those who permanently help us to materialize this process. I appreciate the presence of all of you, know that this is your home and that this type of reflection is the form of reflection that this university deeply appreciates because it basically responds to its basic philosophy, which is eminently humanistic. I thank you for your presence and we hope to see you next year. ________________________ 7TH JAPANESE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE JAPANESE MANAGEMENT. APPLICATION CASES IN ARGENTINA Thursday, May 8, 2008 08:30 to 13:30 hrs. Venue: Auditorium Hall Magnificent Rector Professor Dr. Miguel Herrera Figueroa John F. Kennedy University of Argentina . San Isidro Labrador . Edison 3243, 1st. floor, corner of Collector and Panamericana, Martinez, San Isidro Party, Province of Buenos Aires Sponsored by: Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Production of the RA Rotary Club of Villa Adelina Professional Council of Economic Sciences of the Province of Buenos Aires, San Isidro Delegation Chamber of Commerce of Martínez Oeste Association for Educational Quality Argentine Institute of Informatics Chamber of Commerce and Industry of San Isidro Chamber of Industries of the San Isidro Party Business Chamber of Vicente López SEPA Institute House of Culture of Villa Adelina House of Culture of San Isidro Popular Library of San Fernando PERNOD RICARD Wines NON-FEED ACTIVITY PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES 08:30 to 09:00 Accreditation. 09:00 to 09:15 Welcome remarks by Dr. Oscar Risso Patron Rectoral Delegate of the UAJFK San Isidro Labrador School. Opening by Dr. Takahiro Shidara General Director of JETRO. Japan External Trade Organization. 09:00 to 09:30 Training Courses on Japanese Management in Japan Dr. Olivia Ogawa. President of AOTS Argentina. 09:30 to 09:55 Process Improvement in the New Technologies Environment Application of Shigeo Shingo's Toyota Method to Office Tasks Speaker: Dr. Carlos Shapira. 10:00 to 10:25 Arch & Wine. Design, architecture and art in the Wine Industry Creating a new cultural niche in an existing market. From Choripán in Japan to Wine in Argentina. Speaker: Arq. Adriana Piastrelini. 10:30 to 10:55 El Ponja Malevo. Culture and Export The importance of adding symbolic value to exportable goods. Speaker: Dr. José María Kokubo. 11:00 to 11:20 Coffee Break. 11:25 to 12:15 Application of Kaizen as an improvement tool Speakers: Ventalum Team Attendees: Eng. Raúl J. Amil (President) (PMTC. 2004) Ctdor. Alejandro C. Amil (Vice President) (LACM. 2008) Eng. Guillermo A. Hourcades (Production and Logistics Manager) (PMTC. 2006) Mr. Alejandro J. Macri (Quality and Environment Manager) (PQMP. 2007) Eng. Guillermo G. Arias (Engineering Manager) (LACM. 2008) Mr. Pablo M. Fernández (Head of Kaize). 12:20 to 12:45 Japanese Management in Supplies. Elaboration process until start-up. What we did, what we do and what attitude we have today. Speaker: Dr. Daniel Delgado. 12:50 to 13:15 Quality Management and Social Problems Eng. Rafael Kohanoff. 13:15 to 13:30 Closing remarks by the Rector of the UAJFK, Dr. María Elisa Herren.

Taro Seno Díaz Updated Dec. 7, 2024