Meet our faculty

• Visiting Professor, Hitotsubashi University Business School, School of International Corporate Strategy

• Professor, Waseda University Business School, Institute for Business and Finance
  
  

Prior to joining Waseda University Business School, Professor Tomonori Ito was a Professor at Hitotsubashi University Business School (ICS) for ten years during which he served as the EMBA Program Director for four years. Prior to joining ICS, Professor Ito spent 32 years in finance and investment banking. He worked for UBS as an investment banker, during which time he held the position of (co-) Head of Investment Banking for UBS in Japan. He maintains an extensive network of relationships, developed over the length of his career as an investment banker, incorporating a significant proportion of the senior management of major Japanese corporations. Before joining UBS in 1995, he worked for the Bank of Tokyo, including five years in New York.

Professor Ito has been actively providing consulting and executive training to a number of Japan’s leading companies. He also serves as an outside board member of Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (J-POWER), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company Limited, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, Inc.

Education

Professor Ito received his B.A. from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Economics and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Selected papers and publications

Professor Ito has written cases such as "Japan Tobacco: Domestic Giant Going Global (A)"(ICS-111-018-E), "Japan Tobacco: Domestic Giant Going Global (B)" (ICS-111-019-E), "ORIX Corporation: Surviving the Financial Crisis (A) "(ICS-112-005-E), and "ORIX Corporation: Surviving the Financial Crisis (B) "(ICS-112-006-E). He has also authored the article, "Cross-border M&A by Japanese Companies: 10 Lessons from Japan Tobacco’s Experience"(60-1 SUM 2012), and "Cross-border M&A and Management Strategy"(60-4 SPR 2013) in the Hitotsubashi Business Review.

Current research and activities

Professor Ito’s research interests include the following: (1) key determinants of successful and unsuccessful M&As in Japan; (2) the effect of capital structure on corporate value; and (3) Creating Shared Value and the capital markets.