Visiting Professor

Mitsuhiro Kataoka

GiaAN, LLC

Career History

Area of Expertise

• Ph.D., Engineering – Composite Materials
• M.B.A. – Factory Business Management
• Supervisor, X-Ray work
• Real Estate Notary
• Hobby: D.I.Y

Message

I was born in March 1970. I have four sons, for whom I’m grateful to my wife. People often say to me, “You must have been slacking off on your experiments!”

When we reflect on the business environment we face today, we realize that Japan—which once developed by mass-producing higher-quality, lower-cost products than Western countries—can no longer compete with Asian countries simply by using its own technology to mass produce and sell products. Furthermore, monozukuri in Japan is shifting away from producing physical products toward producing intangible products, so the trend to make and sell large quantities is already disappearing.

In the midst of such changes in the business environment, I realized the importance of marketing products that incorporate the market’s quality, price, and delivery needs. This led me to develop business overseas by building partnerships with companies abroad. In the past few years, I have also felt changes to the market firsthand. I have come to believe that there is a need for a startup company that specializes in raw material preparation, product planning and design, and that develops business based on university-based intellectual property management. Naturally, this includes a need to develop more students with a business management perspective.

My role at MaSC is to connect professors’ intangible assets to monzukuri. Even in markets which have already emerged, I believe that by making full use of the knowledge and techniques that professors possess, it is possible to draw up unconventional strategies for differentiating oneself from all competitors.
If you are at all interested, please feel free reach out to me, both inside and outside the university.