Stories
Stories
Empowering Japan through e-commerce
The 1995 earthquake that devastated his native Kobe, Japan, was a turning point for Hiroshi Mikitani (MBA 1993). “It made me realize that I wanted to revitalize Japan’s economy,” says Mikitani, who also sponsored relief efforts during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. To aid small-business owners, he developed a web-based shopping mall—Rakuten, which roughly means “optimism”—often called the Amazon.com of Japan.
“We created an online marketplace where customers can interact with shop owners, and we empower our merchants to build relationships with customers,” says Rakuten’s chairman and CEO. To further Rakuten’s global presence, Mikitani established English as the official language for the company’s 10,000 employees worldwide. His “Englishnization” initiative became the subject of an HBS case study.
Mikitani barely knew the word entrepreneur when he arrived in Boston in 1991, but after hundreds of cases, a light clicked on. “It was in an HBS classroom that I first considered starting my own company,” he says. Rakuten operates e-commerce businesses in 13 countries, spearheaded a $100 million investment in Pinterest, and recently acquired eReader Kobo, global video site Viki, and messaging platform Viber. Rakuten also owns a championship baseball team in the city of Sendai.
(Published April 2014)
Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift nowPost a Comment
Related Stories
-
- 25 Aug 2022
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
Case Study: Sound Check
Re: Joshua Hoffman-Senn (MBA 2019); Bill Mirbach (MBA 1976) -
- 20 Dec 2019
- HBS Alumni Bulletin
The 19 Musts of 2019
-
- 25 Mar 2019
- Forbes
Rent The Runway Joins the Unicorn Club
Re: Jenn Hyman (MBA 2009) -
- 19 Mar 2019
- HBS News
A Quick Study
Re: Shiv Gaglani (MBA 2016)
Stories Featuring Mickey Mikitani
-
- 10 Apr 2019
- Forbes
Rakuten’s Mikitani Bets $5.5 Billion To Shake Up Japan’s Telecom Industry
Re: Mickey Mikitani (MBA 1993) -
- 24 Apr 2014
- Making A Difference
Leading by example at a global company
Re: Mickey Mikitani (MBA 1993) -
- 15 Feb 2014
- New York Times
Mikitani's Rakuten Buys Viber for $900M
Re: Mickey Mikitani (MBA 1993)