Improving leadership capabilities for young employers at Kirin

Abstract

My employer, Kirin Holding Company (Kirin), turned 100 years old in 2007. At the same year, Kirin changed its company structure into a holding company from Kirin Brewery Company Limited. As the former company name indicates, the beer business is Kirin's core business, generating over 70% of Kirin's operating income in 2006. In 2006, Kirin announced its long-term business framework, Kirin Group Vision (KV2015). Under KV2015, Kirin aims for a quantum leap in growth to become a leading food and health company in Asia and Oceania. Kirin aims to boost its sales to [Yen]3 trillion by 2015, compared to [Yen]1.67 trillion in 2006, and also aims to generate 30% of its sales and profits from overseas operations by 2015, compared to 18% in 2006. To achieve this target, Kirin must act and manage differently than it did in the past. Consequently, in 2007 Kirin made the largest acquisition it has ever undertaken when it acquired National Foods, one of Australia's largest food companies. In the dramatically changing the environment within the company, required capabilities for leaders have also changed. In order to nurture new leaders, Kirin's Personnel Department has continually improved the training and education programs for its managers and employees since 2002. In this thesis, I research the concept of "leadership" using the MIT leadership model, then examine the leader development system at General Electric. Through the research, I found that leadership experience at an early stage for young employees at Kirin is one way to improve their leadership abilities. I believe using Kirin's subsidiaries as a leadership platform would be one of the approaches.