An Extraordinary Visit by an Unassuming Man
On the 7th of August, 2006 the students of Amrita School of Business were to have an extraordinary experience with a unique individual; Mr. Yoshiro Ito. My first encounter with Mr. Ito was before the workshops that he conducted. He has a surreal calm and humble outlook, which one would not associate with a person of his stature. Mr. Ito has worked with a lot of top companies during his illustrious career, including Sony, IBM, and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Ito has also obtained his graduation degree in science from the University of Tokyo. Post this he moved to the United States of America for further studies at Harvard Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and John F Kennedy School.
If there was a key learning from the sessions with Mr. Ito it was that “Theory is just a guideline, but applicability of these theories in business is an art.” Mr. Ito conducted workshops for us on a variety of topics on 8th, 9th and 10th of August. The workshops were very well structured and there was a definite flow that assured continuity between any two sessions. The topics of the workshops were varied, a brief account of them are as follows:
Initially Mr Ito took us through how to do financial projections for the valuation of companies as an investment option. He also took us through certain methods of valuing a firm such as DCF using NPV, Trading Comps, etc.
Next Mr Ito talked about how to value non profit organizations. He then analyzed a case and helped us understand why Mergers and Acquisitions happen in the business world and also how important it is to value a company post the acquisition. The focus of the case was on how LBOs (Leverage Buy Outs) can be used as an effective tool in acquiring companies.
Mr. Ito also spoke about Real estate market in the US, Japan and India. He shared with us his point of view that the Real Estate market is cyclical in nature, and even predicted a slow down in the real estate industry in India. He analyzed another case in this regard to help us comprehend his point of view.
Finally Mr. Ito also addressed both the batches of ASB and spoke of his experiences around the globe in the corporate world. He touched upon the capital markets in Japan and the USA, and attempted to draw up some sort of a comparison about the two.
In life there are some experiences which are so enriching that it is hard to explain. Mr. Ito’s visit was one such experience. He opened our eyes, and helped us get beyond the realm of theories and made us understand the significance of the applicability of these theories. This experience was definitely much more than what we expected and we do hope to cross paths with Mr. Ito at the earliest in the future.
Contributed By
Arjun GK
MBA 2005-2007
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