Shuhei Inada: From Administrative Engineering to Business Administration

2025/01/21

It has been nearly three years since I moved from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University to my current affiliation. Originally, I spent many years researching methodologies to improve factory productivity. My acquaintances often ask me why I moved from the Faculty of Science and Technology to a business school, but I usually give a vague answer like, "Because it seemed interesting." In truth, I decided to move because I wanted to broadly explore concepts and methodologies for the sustainable growth of Japanese manufacturing companies, transcending the boundaries between the humanities and sciences.

It is said that the average lifespan of Japanese manufacturing companies is just under 40 years. While the lifespan of manufacturing companies is longer compared to other business sectors such as wholesaling, insurance, and finance, it still remains at around 40 years. It is that difficult for a company to survive over the long term.

Fortunately, since moving to the Graduate School of Business Administration, my opportunities to visit factories and speak with business owners and management have increased significantly. Among these, some companies are steadily improving their performance, while others are struggling. In the field of business administration, a management theory called "Ambidextrous Management" has long been proposed. Regardless of whether the business owners knew of this theory, I strongly feel that the former companies are practicing a good balance of "exploitation" and "exploration," which are the core of the ambidexterity theory. Another characteristic is that corporate operating policies, including management philosophies, have permeated the manufacturing floor, and the entire company is working together to create a workplace that aligns with them. In any case, they do not get caught up in short-term management ups and downs, but rather manage with a long-term perspective, which seems to be the driving force behind their high level of management.

My current focus is on how to apply the insights from these successful companies to others and link them to improvements in management quality. From a researcher's perspective, I want to find a path for more manufacturing companies to achieve sustainable growth by constructing a theoretical framework based on the actual conditions of companies. Moving to a new base of operations has greatly expanded my research horizons, but at the same time, the amount I need to study has also increased significantly. I intend to steadily explore methodologies that will allow more manufacturing companies to achieve sustainable growth.