Mickey’s Voice
Insights from our CEO
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The drone economy
Look! Up in the sky! It’s our future. And it’s spectacular. Drones are a new technology that have a lot of people talking. Android co-founder Andy Rubin was talking about them here in Japan at NEST 2016. Of course, we are still in the very early stages of applying this technology in the real world, and there is a lot to learn about how drones can be deployed in commercial delivery. But there is no…
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Why do we climb mountains?
We have talked a lot at Rakuten recently about mountain climbing, especially since I replaced golf with a climb up Mt. Tanigawa in the Japanese Alps for our annual executive management camp. So, I want to take a moment to talk about mountains because I think they can play an important role in our lives. Typically, people think of the mountain summit as the goal and the act of climbing as the proce…
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A funny thing about Rakuten: Behind-the-scenes at work
Every spring when we welcome new graduates, or after we’ve acquired a company, I hear comments about this funny thing I do every Tuesday. I hear even more about it when new employees, who I like to call Rakutenians, learn that they too must do this funny thing. What is this funny thing? I clean my desk! I’ve written about this before. I always receive questions in the comments about this task. Som…
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Watching Science Fiction Become Science Fact
Discovering more about what the future might hold was what got together global leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators earlier this month at the New Economy Summit Tokyo. I was excited to join the event, also known as NEST, along with 3000 people also keen on doing just that. Hosted by the Japan Association of New Economy that I helped found in 2010, this year’s annual global meeting sparked lively…
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Questioning the status quo: Japan innovation
In 2010, a group of e-business executives looking to drive meaningful change in Japan formed a professional association. Our original goal was to advocate for issues relevant to our emerging tech-related industry. But by 2012 we realized there was far more at stake than just e-commerce. We changed our name and broadened our goal: we became JANE, the Japan Association of New Economy. What are JANE’…
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Hiroshi Mikitani on Global Expansion
Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani on global expansion and how Viber and Ebates fit into the future of the Rakuten ecosystem. From his appearance onstage in New York at Business Insider IGNITION 2015.
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The Priceless Value of Quality
In 2016, Rakuten will enter our 20th year. We’ve come a long way since we started with a team of six and 13 merchants and that makes it even more important to focus on what makes our marketplace unique. We have developed into Japan’s leading online shopping mall and we are a highly trusted platform with high quality service because of our ability to collaborate closely with the merchants on…
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Vision 2020: Rakuten
As Rakuten recently announced financial results for 2015, we also launched Vision 2020, a new mid-term strategy map for the future. Let me set out the key points here. Going forward, Rakuten is going to focus on 3 types of businesses: Strong, Smart, and Speed. Here is an outline of each: 1) Strong Businesses These are the businesses where we are strong enough to defend our turf and keep growing 10…
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Hiroshi Mikitani on Englishnization and Diversity at Rakuten
Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani recently spoke to an audience of business leaders at Business Insider IGNITION 2015 in New York. Mickey discussed the importance of diversity and culture when building a global business. He highlighted unique programs at Rakuten, including Englishnization and climbing Mount Tanagawa for team building.
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Super Bowl 50 Disruptors
Disruptors get a lot of attention. Disruptors can be individuals, companies, or even economies. I’m passionate about driving innovation at our company to disrupt the status quo, whether it’s in our existing markets or industries that are completely new to us. But by its very nature, disruption is not a force within our control. Just as we look for ways to disrupt and innovate, we must…
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