§ 01    ABOUT

The seminar, in full.

i. MISSION

Strategy, at the centre.

IBER-Kotosaka is a research seminar at Keio University SFC. Strategic management is our home discipline, and we study how it meets international business and entrepreneurship.

What IBER stands for

IBER is short for International Business and Entrepreneurship Research. Strategic management anchors our work, while our empirical scope spans the full firm life-cycle — from early-stage startups to multinationals expanding across borders. We accumulate knowledge across founding, growth, and internationalisation, and return what we learn to society.

Where we sit

Based at Shonan Fujisawa Campus — a place founded to produce future leaders — we inherit the tradition Yukichi Fukuzawa started: modern management, introduced and renewed for each generation.

ii. PRINCIPLES

Three principles.

The seminar inherits three principles from Keio's founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa. They are not decoration — they are the working ethic of the community.

i. — 第一

Jitsugaku

Knowledge that connects to the real world. We prize students who don't just receive learning, but return it as original insight.

ii. — 第二

Hangaku-Hankyō

Everyone is both student and teacher. Seniors learn from juniors; faculty learn from researchers. A seminar community, not a lecture hall.

iii. — 第三

Dokuritsu-Jison

Think for yourself, act for yourself, respect yourself and others. The discipline that lets a seminar member lead, not follow.

iii. ETHOS

Comrades, ten years out.

The principles tell you what we believe. This section tells you how we recognise each other over the years that follow.

What we share is a single value: to become comrades, ten years from now. It guides our weekly sessions and our retreats — and it is the criterion we apply when admitting new members. The shared mission that turns members from many fields and backgrounds into "comrades" is the very phrase inscribed in our logo: Navigating the world.
Shared value · 共有価値
To become comrades, ten years from now.
Shared mission · 共有ミッション
Navigating the world.
iv. PROFESSOR

Masahiro Kotosaka

Masahiro Kotosaka

Professor at Keio University and an Associate Fellow of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. An expert in internationalisation strategy and early-stage business development; advisor to several global startups and multinational companies.

Before Keio: Associate Professor of Multinational Management at Ritsumeikan University; Teaching & Research Associate at the University of Oxford; Consultant at McKinsey & Company, based in Frankfurt and Tokyo. Prior to McKinsey, ran three profitable IT / Retail businesses over four years.

D.Phil.
Management Studies, University of Oxford
MSc
Management Research (Distinction), Oxford
Fields
Strategic Management / International Business / Entrepreneurship
Advisor
Multiple global startups & multinationals
I look forward to advancing our research together with you. — Masahiro Kotosaka · 琴坂将広
v. RESEARCH

Research focus.

Six areas currently at the centre of the seminar's agenda. Each sits on the strategic-management axis; most are pursued through longitudinal or multi-country studies.

Across these six areas, our work engages directly with the four contemporary currents of strategic-management theory mapped out in The Evolution of Strategic Management: Theory (Kotosaka, Toyo Keizai, 2026): strategy-as-practice and -action, multi-layered boundary strategy, non-market and institutional strategy, and the algorithmic and robotic era. The six topics on the right are how those currents take empirical form in the seminar.

Method-wise, we lean toward close-to-practice, multi-year fieldwork — interviews with founders, executives, and middle managers, paired with archival records and, where relevant, cross-country comparison. Strategy, as we see it, is best understood as it unfolds, not only after the fact. Each project is designed as a multi-year programme that yields peer-reviewed articles, teaching cases for the graduate classroom, and practitioner reports for the firms and policymakers we work alongside.

i.
Strategic Management & Corporate Transformation

How firms that systematically compose and execute emergent strategy — corporate value alignment, middle-manager-led change.

Strategy-as-practice & action
ii.
Entrepreneurship in Mature Ecosystems

Japan's maturing startup ecosystem, its emerging logic, societal legitimacy, and government support.

Non-market & institutional · Multi-layered boundary
iii.
Agile Business Development & Scalability

Reconciling iterative product development with the strategic discipline of scaling.

Algorithmic & robotic era · Strategy-as-practice
iv.
Platforms, Communities, Ecosystems

Organisations that draw their boundary through an ecosystem rather than an org chart.

Multi-layered boundary strategy
v.
Dynamic Capabilities & Use of the Past

How long-standing firms temporally mobilize their past to advance present strategy.

Strategy-as-practice & action
vi.
Cross-Country Entrepreneurial Orientation

EO and new technology-based firm performance across Japan, China, South Korea.

Multi-layered boundary · Non-market & institutional
vi. SELECTED WORK

Publications, articles & projects.

A selection of recent peer-reviewed papers, books, and joint-research projects. Full list available on Google Scholar.

2026
Unleashing Innovation the East Asian Way: Startup Ecosystems in Japan, South Korea and ChinaCheng, Cross, Hemmert, Kapturkiewicz, Kotosaka & Waldenberger · Springer, Mar 2026 · 253 pp.
Book
2024
Middle managers and the use of the past: Temporal mobility, socialization, and coalescing.Sasaki, Kotosaka & De Massis · Organization Studies 45(6)
Peer-reviewed
2024
How can we create the inflection point? Findings from the initial research of "tipping points".Kotosaka, Wajima, Asai & Ikeda · VEC Year Book 2024
Article
2023
Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of new technology-based firms in East Asia.Hemmert, Cross, Cheng, Kim, Kotosaka, Waldenberger & Zheng · Asian Business & Management 22(4)
Peer-reviewed
2021
Nurturing entrepreneurs: The value of mentoring for entrepreneurs.Kotosaka, Yamamoto, Yachi & Yamamoto · VEC Year Book 2021
Article
ongoing
Japan–Germany joint research on the strategic management of technology-intensive startups.With the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ)
Project