India, a Country of Future Growth; Hoping to Understand Information and Market Needs

Q.Why did your company decide to take on interns? What did you aim to achieve?

Our company, which was founded in 1918 and which has developed in the field of cutting-edge technology according to the times, has raised the expansion of business to overseas market and the employment of superior global personnel as issues for the company to continue to grow for the next 100 years. The question of how to develop in India, which among our 12 overseas locations had been a location of sluggish growth, is the target of our mid-term strategy. When considering future problems such as the discovery and use of personnel in India and surveys and analysis of the Indian market, we thought we would begin with first accepting Indian interns into the company and so we decided to apply. At the pre-training before taking on the interns, we listened to the hopes of the interns and then discussed the system for taking them on while reconciling their hopes with our goals. As a consequence of this, we considered it indispensable to have exchanges between people in order to understand the Indian market, established a rotation for employees in charge of guiding interns, and prepared a system for broad communication between the interns and our employees.

Studying Technology and Business Methods Firsthand; Connecting Study to a Business Proposal in India

Q.What kind of internship did you run? What difficulties did you face and how did you resolve them?

On the interns' first day we discussed the activities and goals for the next three months and created a schedule. Because our goals were to absorb India's values, customs, culture, and economic conditions and tie this to business and because the interns were hoping to have a hand in Japanese business, we established a shared final goal of "proposing business development in India." In the first half of the internship interns had hands-on practice in a number of our departments, came into contact with our products and technological knowledge, and obtained the knowledge necessary to make a proposal. Because these were interns who specialized in physics and engineering, they absorbed and understood things amazingly quickly. In the second half of the internship we allocated time to the interns for creating a proposal while they also studied business and analysis methods. During the internship, meetings were held every morning without fail where the rotating individual in charge of the interns or the individual in charge of the relevant department discussed that day's activities and objectives in order to get the interns to clarify their understanding of their goals and to deepen their communication with employees. In this way employees who felt themselves to be poor in English were also able to actively seek to communicate.

Internship Tied to India Hub Stimulation Through Highly Achievable Business Proposal

Q.Comparing before and after the internship, what effects did it have on you, your employees, or your organization?

The "proposal for business development in India" made by the interns included novel surveys and analysis of markets and competition as well as information obtained from engineering connections. The proposal was well received within the company. The senior management for corporate planning also attended the mid-term presentation and because senior management even felt this to be a proposal for a viable business we issued requests and questions and had the interns make a final proposal. As a consequence of this, the proposal was deemed to be highly achievable and it was decided to propose the project to the Indian hub. Further surveys and adjustments are necessary for implementation, but the proposal will stimulate the Indian hub, which had been experiencing slow growth, and will provide an opportunity for the birth of a new way forward. By taking on interns, we expanded our business possibilities and also clarified problems for development in India. Furthermore, the internship was a major success in that, because the interns created connections for us with their universities and with engineers, going forward we will be able to obtain superior personnel. By taking on these interns, we experienced how skilled personnel have a grasp of the global, understand things quickly even if their field of specialty is different, and have a logical way of thinking.