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 Hanae Kurokawa
Full-time general MBA, Aston Business School
University previously attended University of London, UK
Degree obtained Postgraduate Diploma in International Business and Media
Country of origin Japan
Age 36 years
Career history
Before joining the MBA, Hanae Kurokawa worked for 13 years in the information technology industry in Japan, specialising in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Systems) area. Her last position before joining the MBA at Aston was Principal System Consultant, Human Resource Management Systems, Oracle Corporation Japan.
'It was a wonderful experience to study on the Aston MBA and it became one of the high points of my life.'
Why Aston?
First of all, Aston has been recognised as one of the best research centres for organizational behaviour in the world.
I realised that Aston is the only university that can support having first-class strategic knowledge in the areas of both management in general and human resources. This was important to me as this would expand my future career opportunities.
Secondly, I considered the diversity of nationalities, gender and ages amongst the student body.While many full-time MBAs in the UK accept more Asian and young students, Aston assures diversity and support to create synergies in culturally diverse groups. In fact, I was the only Japanese student in the class of
2004/05, and experienced two culturally diverse syndicate groups. In these groups, I learned very precious things, which never can be learned from books. Although the experience is difficult to explain in a few words, it was a wonderful experience to study on the Aston MBA and it became one of the high points of my life.
The high rankings and excellent reputation of the Aston MBA was also an important factor to me.
International diversity
As I mentioned in the previous section, in the Aston MBA, students are required to work in a 'syndicate group', which is a culturally diverse group including five to six students. In the group, we learned the way to effectively create synergy and achieve high performance. In my group, to be honest, during the first three months, we experienced a lot of conflicts due to the differences in ways of thinking, and our group did not perform to its full potential.
However, after studying theoretical approaches for creating synergies in culturally diverse groups, we achieved the highest performance in the class, with very strong bonds of trust between the group members. Having such international experience was an extremely important part of the learning experience and I would say it even
outweighs the benefits of getting distinctions in exams! In fact, the things I learned through syndicate group work benefited me greatly in my current job at GE.
My MBA project/thesis and future plans
For me, the number of things I learned from conducting the Aston MBA project was huge. One is that having a clear and concrete plan is the key. The theme of my project was leadership competencies for today's business leaders.
I started the project with substantial discussions with my supervisor as to the research methodologies, plans and theories I needed to use. Then I created a very detailed plan for the project and agreed this with my supervisor. I think 80% of my success in the project was decided in this very first phase. Secondly,
effective time management is always important. As the full-time MBA course is very busy in general, students are required to practise very efficient time management.
During the third term of the Aston MBA, I got seven job offers from international companies that are operating in Japan. Finally, I decided to join GE in Japan as a human resources manager. In the company, I am required to always perform strategically, quickly and efficiently. All the skills and knowledge I learnt on the Aston MBA really help me to perform well in my current position. I strongly recommend the Aston MBA for an ambitious person who wishes to be successful
in an international business environment.
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