Each student will write an individual case report on the Harvard Business School Case “Language and Globalization: Englishnization at Rakuten (A)”.
Situation: You will assume the role of a consultant to Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO, Rakuten Group. Rakuten is aggressively expanding into global markets with the goal of becoming the No. 1 Internet service company. Fifteen months earlier, Mr. Mikitani announced “Englishnization”—a highly publicized aggressive two-year English proficiency mandate for all of Rakuten’s Japanese employees. Yet, only an estimated 10% of the Japanese staff could function in English. The stakes are high: those who do not reach their target score by the deadline risk being. The actions over the coming weeks/month will determine the future of Englishnization, Rakuten, and Japanese society.
Paper Guidelines: Please carefully read the case and focus on three key areas in your paper: (1) describe the global leadership issue, (2) conduct an analysis of the situation as laid out in the case, and (3) create recommendations for actions to be pursued next. As you prepare the paper, here are some guidelines for the three key areas of the paper:
1. Issue Statement: Using only information from the case, specify the strategic issue(s) the leader and the company is facing. Issues represent problems or emerging problems faced by a leader in the organization. Keep in mind there are many issues in any given case, but not all of them are equally important. Limit the strategic issues to a manageable set.
2. Strategic Analysis: Examine the issues in detail to diagnose the underlying causes of the issues. What causes produce the situation/issues described in the case? Use relevant information from the case (including figures or exhibits) and suitable management concepts, theories, or research.
3. Recommendations/Action Plan: What course of action do you recommend? Recommendations should respond to leadership issues effectively, efficiently, and feasibly. You can divide your recommendations into short-term “quick wins” and long-term actions. How would you implement your suggested actions? How would you ensure implementation? You want to be as concrete and realistic as possible.
Format:
Maximum 1,500 words (about 4-5 pages double spaced) (excl. title page, appendix, and references)
Make sure to deliver a document in essay format with professional and quality writing.
