English Education for Developing Global Professionals (A Marketing Framework Approach)

Abstract

It has been long since the development of “Global Professional” came into the attention of Japanese society. In fact, quite a few studies and analyses have been done to achieve this objective. This paper focuses on the task of developing the global professionals in Japan through a marketing framework approach, which is often used in the business world. The focus group is Japanese students studying at various colleges and universities. The future success of Japan clearly depends on those students’ global competencies. From the perspective of marketing, these students can be considered as the objects (or goods) of the marketing, and the goal is to successfully develop the so-called “Global Professionals” who will play an active role in the global society. In order to accomplish this goal, we must maximize the total impact of global education, which can be calculated by multiplying the skill growth rate of each individual by the head count of students involved. Segmentation and targeting is also an important strategy in marketing, in which this paper categorizes students into three different groups: the top layer, the middle layer and the bottom layer based on their English skills and motivation for acquiring global skills. The top layer carries the least head count, although they are highly proficient in English (or foreign languages) and are also highly motivated for global activities. The middle layer exceeds the top layer in number, but their English (foreign language) proficiency and motivation for global activities are rather moderate. The bottom layer has the most head count, although they are relatively poor in their English proficiency, and they are more often than not indifferent to the globalization of society. In order to maximize the effect of education, the middle layers should be set as the target group for they are expected to provide enough head count and skill growth ratio. Segmentation and targeting being fixed, a comparison of the effects of different educational methods can now be carried out including the cost-effectiveness analysis. This paper, from such perspectives, try to provide an actual timeline which targets to accomplish the globalization of young professionals in Japan by the year 2020 when Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo.