Executive Foresight Tokyo 2017

Senior European and Japanese businesspeople meet in Tokyo for panel discussion on geopolitics and digital transformation

Tokyo, 27 September 2017 – Pablo Isla, Chairman & CEO of Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, and Shoei Yamana, President & CEO of Konica Minolta, joined senior Financial Times journalists and academics today in Tokyo to take part in a series of panel discussions on key issues concerning geopolitics, the current global outlook and the impact of digital transformation on business.

The event – hosted by Financial Times | IE Business School Corporate Learning Alliance and Nikkei at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo before an audience of senior business people from leading Japanese companies – was introduced by the FT’s CEO, John Ridding, and the President of IE University, Dr. Santiago Iñiguez.

Geopolitics

Introducing a discussion on geopolitics with Pablo Isla, CEO of Inditex, the world’s largest fashion retailer, the editor of the FT, Lionel Barber, said: ‘The election of Donald Trump in the US, China’s trade and geopolitical ambitions, North Korea’s aggressive posture and the start of the Brexit negotiations in the European Union have created more uncertainty than business leaders have seen for decades.’ The discussion was joined by Fernando Fernández, Professor of Economics at IE Business School, and Gillian Tett, the FT’s US Managing Editor.

Digital Transformation

In a second session on the topic of digital transformation, Shoei Yamana, President & CEO of Konica Minolta, was interviewed by Michael Skapinker, FT Contributing Editor and Executive Editor of FT | IE Corporate Learning Alliance, a world-leading custom executive education business.

Introducing the topic, Michael Skapinker asked: ‘How can companies manage the transition from traditional to digital ways of doing business? The key issues for discussion today are the importance of customer and user data in determining corporate priorities, ways to blend digital data with improved customer service and the education of employees in the best use of data.’ The discussion also looked at some of the best practices employed in top companies.

The discussion was joined by Fernando Fernández, Professor of Economics at IE Business School, and Gillian Tett, the FT’s US Managing Editor.

The sessions were concluded by Tsuneo Kita, Chairman & Group CEO of Nikkei.