IMD Annual Report 2021

Regional spotlight 106

Professor Ginka Toegel featured in Nikkei’s influential Keizai Kyoshitsu column.

Strengthening a leading brand IMD accelerated its outreach in Japan in 2021, further enhancing its market-leading brand. Nikkei Global Management Forum In 2021, building on a 20-year relationship with one of the world’s leading economic media groups, IMD continued to support the Nikkei Global Management Forum, which convenes top global CEOs for two days of knowledge sharing and networking. A session exploring how policymakers and business can accelerate decarbonization, led by IMD President Jean-François Manzoni and Professor Kazuo Ichijo proved popular, underlining the important role IMD plays in promoting international and cross-sectorial collaboration. As part of its partnership with Nikkei to share IMD thought leadership with business leaders in Japan, faculty published content in Nikkei’s most influential column “Keizai Kyoshitsu (Economic Classroom)”. For example, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership Ginka Toegel argued for the importance of allyship in diversity and inclusion to promote the

advancement of female leaders (above). In addition, IMD and Nikkei have collaborated on the publication of Japanese versions of IMD faculty books. The 4th Switzerland Japan Economic Forum Co-hosted by the Embassy of Switzerland, the Swiss Chamber of Commerce and IMD, the forum explored the theme “Mobilizing Our Capital Towards Sustainability” with Swiss and Japanese experts from government, finance, business and academia. IMD’s representative in the region, Naoshi Takatsu, curated the forum and provided closing remarks for an event that attracted hundreds of participants in a virtual format and featured Swiss Sustainable Finance President Patrick Odier, Swiss Deputy State Secretary for International Finance Stefan Flückiger and Chief Sustainable Finance Officer at Japan’s Financial Services Agency, Satoshi Ikeda. Takatsu also delivered a presentation on the decarbonization and digital transformation initiatives of Japanese companies to Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin at a working dinner at the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo during the Olympics.