Masaaki ‘Mike’ Kotabe, Ph.D., will be Bryant University’s next Grant Thornton Visiting Executive, and will be on campus from October 31 – November 2, speaking to students and meeting with Bryant faculty and leadership representatives.
A Visiting Executive is a senior-level executive or consultant whose experience, knowledge and skills – through a strategic set of engagement opportunities over a two-day campus visit – significantly contributes to the expansion of knowledge and success of key stakeholders at the University’s College of Business.
Sponsored by accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton, which has a longstanding partnership with Bryant University, this fall’s Visiting Executive will focus on the topic of international business.
Kotabe is recognized internationally as one of the most prolific and influential researchers in international business, marketing and strategic management today. His keynote talk on campus will address “Stark Contrasts in US-Japan Global Supply Chain Management During the Coronavirus Pandemic.” He will speak in the Stepan Grand Hall in the Bello Center on Monday, November 1 at 4:50 p.m.
“The Grant Thornton Visiting Executive is a wonderful opportunity for Bryant students, faculty and leadership to interact with leading minds in business today,” says Crystal Jiang, Bryant University Professor of Management, who worked under Dr. Kotabe's supervision for her doctoral program, and co-authored manuscripts with him. “Dr. Kotabe’s renowned expertise in international business will bring new perspective and insight, and provide our students with exposure to one of the field’s greatest thinkers.”
Kotabe holds a joint appointment at School of Commerce, Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan and at the Shidler College of Business at University of Hawaii at Manoa in the United States. Previously, he held the Washburn Chair Professorship at the Fox School of Business at Temple University in 1998-2021, and the Ambassador Edward Clark Centennial Endowed Fellow and Professorship in Marketing and International Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 1990-98. Dr. Kotabe also served as President of the Academy of International Business in 2016-17.
He received his Ph.D. in Marketing and International Business at Michigan State University. He has taught international marketing and global sourcing strategy at the undergraduate and MBA levels, and theories of international business at the Ph.D. level, among others. Kotabe has lectured widely at business schools in more than 20 countries.
For his research, Kotabe has worked closely with leading companies such as AT&T, Kohler, NEC, Nissan, Philips, Sony, and others, and has served as advisor to the United Nations’ and World Trade Organization’s Executive Forum on National Export Strategies. With more than 150 books and scholarly publications, he has well over 20,000 Google Scholar citations and has held editorial and editorial board posts at several different industry publications.
Kotabe was elected a Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 1998 and a Fellow of the Japan Academy of International Business Studies in 2017. He was the recipient of the 2002 Musser Award for Excellence in Research at Temple University, and most recently, he received a Gold Medalist award from the Academy of International Business as one of the most published researchers in the world over the past 50 years in the Journal of International Business Studies in 2019.
“We’re grateful to Grant Thornton for their consistent support and funding of the Grant Thornton Visiting Executive at Bryant,” says Madan Annavarjula, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Business. “The program allows us to bring outstanding researchers, executives, and consultants to campus to enrich the educational experiences of our students, and to help prepare them for success in today’s competitive and ever-changing business environment. Dr. Kotabe is a supreme example of the kind of leading thinkers and influencers who help Bryant students be prepared and inspired to excel.”
Kotabe will address classes in Bryant’s International Business major, and will meet with undergraduate and graduate students both individually and in small groups for specific career counseling discussions.
Members of the Bryant community can register for his Monday, November 1, 4:30 p.m. talk at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stark-contrasts-in-us-japan-global-supply-chain-management-pandemic-tickets-195340046337.
