Professor Osono’s research focuses on competitive strategy, organizational capabilities in innovation and knowledge creation, and organizational capabilities to adapt and change, and she has published on the process of strategy development, competitive strategy vs. innovation, organizational creativity, and strategy-level innovation of Japanese companies.

Professor Osono leads the ICS-based Porter Prize award initiative, established to recognize Japanese companies that have achieved and maintained superior profitability in a particular industry by implementing unique strategies.

Her publications include Extreme Toyota: Radical Contradictions that Drive Success at the World’s Best Manufacturer (with N. Shimizu and H. Takeuchi, John Wiley and Sons, 2008); The Contradictions that Drive Toyota’s Success (with H. Takeuchi and N Shimizu, Harvard Business Review), Embedded Innovation (with H. Yachi, M. Kodama, and I. Nonaka, 2006, Hakuto Shobo, in Japanese). Professor Osono has written many cases on competitive strategy and innovation and conducts executive education in these fields.

She serves Tokyo Marine Holdings as a board member, Citigroup Japan Holdings G.K. as an advisory board member and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group as a global advisory board member. She also contributes to Bai Xian Asia Institute (Japan) Inc. as Board Governor, and The Value Creation Forum for the 21st Century as Director and Program Coordinator.

Emi Osono received her BA in Commerce from Hitotsubashi University, MBA from The George Washington University, and PhD in Commerce from Hitotsubashi University. She taught in the MBA program at Waseda University’s Business School (Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies) before joining ICS at its inauguration. Previously she worked for Sumitomo Bank.