Sophia Magazine vol.3 / SUMMER 2016

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Prof. Sugimura (S): We are very grateful to the Volvo Group for sending us lecturers to develop classes jointly and for providing the opportunity for students to participate in your internship program. The students are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn through direct experience how a large-scale global company like the Volvo Group operates. Could you begin by sharing your company’s values underpinning the development of your business worldwide?Mr. Murakami (M): The Volvo Group originated in Sweden with three core values: safety, quality and environmental care. As for values in global development, there are five: Customer success, Trust, Passion, Change and Performance. These val-ues together provide a basis for diversity that lets each local organization secure its profit and develop its own future. S: Marvelous. Our educational institution is also being re-quired to globalize in many ways, and such values are some-thing we would like to embrace. I would say that at present, “passion” is our strength, but we may need to work more on the other four values.M: Well, when I walk around Sophia University, I see the words, “Men and Women for Others, with Others” on signs in many places; I think that is great.S: We, not only the students, but also Sophia as an institution, have learned much from the jointly developed lectures that started last year. Were there any challenges in conducting this program?M: Yes, there were. Because the course counted as units to-ward students’ graduation, we felt a great responsibility to provide truly meaningful content. And, since the instructors were our employees, with little or no experience in teaching at educational institutions, after each lecture was given, it was rigorously evaluated. Results and feedback were shared with the next instructor for the purpose of making constant improvement. Notwithstanding those challenges, the themes and content of all lectures were related to all aspects of man-agement, thus linking to various faculties such as the Facul-ties of Science and Technology, Economics, and Liberal Arts. Moreover, when you consider the fact that many graduates will be working in the corporate world, the program has great significance. It is something we would like to continue.S: We are very much honored to hear that you would like to continue the program. I consider the mission of a university to be not just giving knowledge to students, but to sending out into the world human resources who can contribute to society. In this regard, we need “Industry-University Coop-eration” to be not just words, but to be executed in a practical and meaningful way. Speaking of practicality, let me ask you to talk about the benefits of this partnership to your company.M: First, there is a social contribution that extends both to conducting the jointly developed lectures and the internship program. As both the Volvo Group and UD Trucks are global businesses, it is our mission to create opportunities for young people or the next generation to learn about global business. With such a mission in mind, we teach the processes of the vehicle business, specifically the development of vehicles, manufacturing, sales and support, and how they relate to our management strategy. Second, we are aware that young peo-ple in recent years have become less interested in owning cars, so we hope to imbue in them the fun of creating vehicles and a fascination with the dynamics of commercial vehicles. In this regard, at our headquarters in Japan, students in the intern-ship program can experience a truly global working environ-ment since the employees come from 23 countries around the world. S: Fantastic! What were the challenges for you in implement-ing the internship program?M: The uniqueness of the program lies in how it is designed. It requires students to reach specified goals when completing their assignments during the four-week period. In real busi-ness, delivering results is always expected. For us, it is chal-lenging to provide assignments with appropriate goals. S: I see. Many of our students come from abroad, including those from developing countries, so we value diversity and learn how to accept cultural and value differences. In this re-gard, it is very significant that they learn at university about both the severity of business and different cultures. As a top manager at a global company, what advice would you give to Japanese students?M: First, I would wish them to be happy. To this end, they should maintain their health through regular exercise, thereby gaining more physical strength while working off stress. Through one’s career, it is important to be prepared, to maintain physical and mental strength, to gain intellectual knowledge and experiences, and to develop leadership skills with experience in overcoming difficult situations. As global-ization rapidly advances, there will be more opportunities to work and compete with people who have different cultural backgrounds and values, so mutual understanding and re-spect will be needed. Learning from the past, from history, contributes to having good judgment, making good decisions, selecting appropriate resources, and smoothing communica-tion.S: It struck me that you emphasized physical strength. Do you play any sports?M: I played American football in junior high and high school. Experience in sports is a precious asset when I strive to over-come difficulties. S: Wonderful. We also hope the students from abroad will Sophia students’ APP internship at UD Trucks27Cooperation

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