Nobuko Kobayashi: News & Insights

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Nobuko Kobayashi

Nobuko Kobayashi

Nobuko Kobayashi is a partner with EY-Parthenon, the strategic consulting arm of EY Strategy and Transactions. Based in Tokyo, she specializes in the consumer sector with a special focus on multinational corporations operating in Japan.

Japanese convenience stores need empathy and entrepreneurs to thrive

Localization and personalization will help konbini stay relevant

Japan must modernize omotenashi while respecting its philosophy

Technology enables balancing of tradition and agility

Empress Masako can shine as a role model for Japanese women

Her curtailed career and personal pressures reflect real-world struggles

Japan should take lesson on immigration from Brave Blossoms

Rugby team shows rewards for helping foreign workers to properly integrate

Gender diversity in Japan Inc. must blast past tokenism

One in 10 female board members is nowhere near ambitious enough for culture change

Helping Japan's 'lost generation' is chance to change whole country

We need to acknowledge role of luck in shaping lives and be more inclusive

Japan Inc needs to pay attention to workers' mental health

Fight against workplace depression brings human and economic benefits

Open, welcoming Japan should be legacy of Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Country must focus on winning hearts and minds as well as medals

Japan's Convenience Store Woman has lessons for retail tech

Amazon Go and rivals need to see automation as a means not an end

Time for M&A to rationalize corporate Japan

Hardheaded post-bubble managers can make tough decisions that predecessors shirked

The hidden potential of Japan's older workers

Investment in experienced staff can revitalize industry in unexpected ways

Reiwa era yen bills -- a speed bump on the road to the cashless future

Japan's big chains lead on digital payment but many shoppers stick to notes and coins

Can Japan's trading companies remake themselves?

Only if they diversify management to boost global competitive advantages

Super-customization -- a lifeline for Japan Inc?

While companies elsewhere are also targeting 'only for you,' Japan has big advantages

Heisei Japan -- the center cannot hold

Beneath a stagnant surface, profound social change is taking place

Rethink METI's role in Japanese innovation

Forget about the government picking winners. Foster entrepreneurs

Japan must get a better grip on tourism

Manage the industry actively, instead of just reacting passively to surging inflows

Technology is the key to reforming the inefficient Japanese office

Labor shortages will finally force companies to automate white-collar jobs and dismantle hierarchies

How to revive Japanese innovation

Companies must cut middle management layers that block entrepreneurial ideas

Employers must help cut Japan's suicide rate

Companies should tackle overwork and boost in-house mental health care

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