Rakuten CEO Mickey Mikitani tells IMD President Jean-François Manzoni how – by challenging conventional wisdom and encouraging all staff to tidy their own offices – he has grown his company from an...
Apple Google SpotifyTwenty-six years ago, Mickey Mikitani quit his position at the Industrial Bank of Japan – an unusual move in the traditional world of Japanese corporate culture. Even more surprisingly, he left not to join another large institution but to pursue an idea he had for an e-commerce startup.
Today, from humble beginnings with just six employees and a single server, his idea has mushroomed into Rakuten (meaning optimism in Japanese), a business ecosystem with 31,000 employees and revenues last year of about $15bn.
In conversation with IMD President Jean-François Manzoni, Mikitani describes his journey; and how an e-commerce startup grew into an online giant, spanning internet services, fintech, and mobile.
Cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field, critical for protecting our digital identities and data. In recent years, women have been making significant strides in this male-dominated industry, contributing their unique perspectives and...
What’s stopping more female entrepreneurs from setting up or scaling-up their businesses? It’s not ambition, but a lack of female investors – and a fear of taking control of the finances....
Mike & Amit discuss how AI has moved on from closed applications to solving complex context-less problems...
Low-income countries continue to struggle with substantial gender inequalities in education....
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