Visit by Mr Kazunori Takeda, Special Senior Advisor to Rakuten Group, Inc.

On March 5, Mr Kazunori Takeda, former Group Executive Vice President and currently Special Senior Advisor to Rakuten Group, visited ABS. During the visit, he held a meeting and luncheon discussion with Dean Takamichi Hosoda, where they exchanged views on business education and potential areas of collaboration. Professor Kenichi Kuroiwa and Associate Professor Yuta Hirose also attended the meeting and luncheon.

Prior to joining Rakuten Group, Mr Takeda spent many years at Toyota Motor Corporation, where he was deeply involved in international business operations and corporate strategy, playing a key role in supporting the company’s global expansion. In particular, he demonstrated strong leadership in production management at overseas manufacturing sites, contributing to the development of Toyota’s global production system and the enhancement of local operational capabilities.

He later joined Rakuten Group, where he served as Executive Vice President and member of the board, leading the company’s growth particularly in the areas of commerce and marketing. He made significant contributions to the development of Rakuten’s ecosystem and to the promotion of customer value creation and capture through the integration of data and marketing.

Mr Takeda has also shown strong interest in regional revitalisation through collaboration with local governments and communities. Drawing on his extensive management experience and broad perspective, her has been actively engaged initiatives that foster co-creation with society, including regional partnership as well as regional development through tourism and sports.

Rakuten Group is an internet services company that operates a wide range of businesses domestically and internationally, including e-commerce, telecommunications, financial services, real estate and sports. This visit is expected to lead to further opportunities for collaboration in education and research, such as guest lectures by Mr Takeda and interactions with current students and alumni of ABS.