Panel B: Marketing & Competitive Strategy

Several companies face challenges in marketing/corporate strategies in Asia because of regulatory constraints, fragmented distribution and other several factors. In this panel we focus following topics and draw insights about the challenges from panelists.

- How did your company adapt your corporate and/or marketing strategy to cater to differences found in the Asian/Western market?

- Were there any failures regarding distribution strategy in your company for the Asian market? What could possibly have been done to prevent it?

Panelists:

Loring W. Knoblauch Former President, Honeywell Asia Pacific Former President & CEO, Underwriters Laboratories

	Born October 31, 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graduated Cum Laude from Yale University in 1964 (A.B., American Studies) and from Harvard Law School in 1967(J.D.). Practiced law for five years (Gray, Plant, Mooty, Mooty, and Bennett). Graduated from Stanford Business School in 1973 (Sloan School of International Management). Worked for Honeywell Inc. for twenty years in a variety of General Management positions (Marine Systems Division, Visitronic Auto Focus, Consumer Products Division, Mobile Control Center, Traffic Control Center, Ceramic Center, Solid State Electronics Center, Test Instruments Division) Final operating job was as President, Honeywell Asia Pacific ($2B in Revenue, 8000 employees), based for six years in Hong Kong. Spent three years as President, International for Hubbell Incorporated (NYSE, $3B) and three years as President and CEO of Talon Automated Equipment Company based in Detroit, Michigan. Last executive position was as President and CEO, Underwriters Laboratories, a global public safety testing and certification organization with 6000 employees. Mr. Knoblauch was brought in as a change agent to completely overhaul and restructure an 110 year old company. Mr. Knoblauch retired in 2004, but still works as an International Consultant. Mr. Knoblauch has created and/or run 10 international Joint Ventures (China, Japan, India, Malaysia, Korea, Brazil), acquired businesses in Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa and the US, and run businesses located in 28 countries. He has sat on eight corporate Boards, including Underwriters Laboratories and the Bemis Company (NYSE, $3B) and on eight not-for-profit Boards including the Honeywell Foundation, Opera Colorado, and The Ravinia Festival, the National Institute for Music Theater, the Minnesota International Center, the Ordway Theatre, the Japan America Society of Chicago, and the Minnesota Science Museum. Mr. Knoblauch has been a Board member of the US Japan Business Council, the US China Business Council, the US India Business Council, the US Asean Business Council, and the US Vietnam Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Knoblauch has been married for 42 years and he and his wife Carol have lived in 17 houses in 10 cities. Mr. Knoblauch was once fluent in both Spanish and Japanese. Current interests include duplicate bridge, crossword puzzle construction, paddle tennis, grandchildren, golf, and travel.

Ken Kabira Executive Vice President, Lipman Hearne, Inc. Former Chief Marketing Officer, McDonalds Japan

	Mr. Ken G Kabira is a veteran consumer marketing executive with a background in leading large marketing teams as a chief marketing officer both domestically and abroad. Mr. Kabira currently serves as Lipman Hearne¡¯s Executive Vice President, Branding and Marketing Consulting Services. With offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., Lipman Hearne is the nation¡¯s leading communication and strategy consulting firm which specializes in the nonprofit sector. The firm¡¯s mission is to help nonprofit institutions of all types and sizes achieve their goals through market research and planning, strategic positioning, and compelling communications. Prior to Lipman Hearn, Mr. Kabira served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for National-Louis University in Chicago, Illinois. He led all University-wide planning, marketing and enrollment initiatives, ensuring strong University exposure and meeting enrollment, growth, and retention goals. Mr. Kabira's first full-time job was serving as a nurse's aid at a psychiatric hospital in rural Kansas after graduating from Hesston College, a junior college affiliated with the Mennonite Church. After a first-rate introduction to life by his patients, he then moved to Chicago to complete his college education in 1985 at the University of Chicago in behavioral sciences. He later completed his MBA at the University of Chicago in 1992. Prior to joining National-Louis University, he was McDonald's Corporation's Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for its operation in Japan, the company's second largest market after the US with over 3,700 restaurants and $3.8 billion in system-wide sales. Mr. Kabira's scope of responsibilities included marketing strategy, brand management, advertising, sales promotion, in-store merchandising, field marketing and product development. At McDonald's Japan, his team implemented a turnaround plan centered on the critical 5 P's in retail: People, Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. His creative team won the Best Advertiser Award for the service category in Japan in 2003. In 2004, the team received the prestigious Silver Award in the annual Advertising Festival sponsored by the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation. The team also won the McDonald's Global Creative Excellence award in two categories in 2004. Married with two children, Mr. Kabira and his family live in Naperville, IL. His private passions are bicycle racing and soccer. He raced his bicycle with the University of Chicago Velo Club for many years until his overseas career began. He still says "the worst day racin' is better than the best day workin'." He prefers to be called by his nickname "Kenji," which is his Japanese name although he spells it "Ken G."

Yoshihiko Kawamura Senior Vice President, General Manager of Chicago Branch and Regional Head for the Midwest Block Mitsubishi International Corporation

	In 1979, Yoshihiko Kawamura joined Mitsubishi Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) soon after graduating from Keio University, and at Mitsubishi, he experienced the following: (I) human resources affairs; (II) telecommunications and information technologies business development; (III) corporate strategic planning; and, (IV) structured finance and private equity. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Kawamura was seconded from Mitsubishi Corporation to The World Bank (Washington, D.C, U.S.A.) as a private sector development economist. From 2000 to 2002, he was seconded from Mitsubishi Corporation to Mitsubishi International Corporation (New York, U.S.A.) as the General Manager of Corporate Planning Office. In 2003, Mr. Kawamura went back to Mitsubishi Corporation Tokyo Headquarters and took the position of the General Manager of IT, Electronics, Aerospace and Defense Business Group CEO Office. In 2004, Mr. Kawamura was appointed as General Manager and Executive Assistant to New Business Initiative Group CEO. In 2005, Mr. Kawamura became Senior Vice President, the General Manager of Chicago Branch and Regional Head for the Midwest Block, Mitsubishi International Corporation (Chicago, U.S.A.).

Bijoy E. Chacko Senior Retention Analyst Tribune Company

	Mr. Chacko is currently working as the Senior Retention Analyst in Tribune Company. He drives initiatives to improve Retention of Subscribers of the Chicago Tribune. Prior to joining Tribune Company, Mr. Chacko worked as the Statistical Analyst in Smith Hanley Consulting Group from 2005 to 2006. He analyzed the new customer acquisition campaigns through direct mail and telemarketing channels. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Chacko worked as the Procurement Information Analyst in Sears Holding Corp in Chicago. He provided financial, statistical and operational analysis for procurement projects involving various retail business units. Before joining Sears, Mr. Chacko worked in United Airlines as the Corporate Analyst in Research & Development division from 1999 to 2002. He designed decision support models that can be developed into business applications. Mr. Chacko graduated from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 2005 (MBA), from University of Cincinnati in 1999 (Master of Science, Industrial Engineering) and from University of Kerala in Trivandrum, Kerala, India in 1995 (Bachelor of Technology, Mechanical Engineering)

Moderator:

Neeraj Bharadwaj Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

	Dr. Neeraj Bharadwaj joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Business (GSB) at the University of Chicago as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing in 2006. He previously served on the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was recognized for teaching an MBA course on Marketing Channels, and at Babson College, where he was recognized for innovative use of technology in the classroom. Dr. Bharadwaj investigates important topics in marketing strategy in his research. An article from his primary research stream, which examines the affect of marketing initiatives on expected cash flows and shareholders¡¯ wealth, will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Marketing. His secondary research, which focuses on such topics as outsourcing, offshoring, and the drivers of customer loyalty in business-to-business relationships, appears in other leading peer-reviewed academic journals. Dr. Bharadwaj has designed and delivered Executive Education MBA courses, a customized marketing management course for research and development scientists and marketing managers at Dow Chemical Company, and an executive development program for officials of the Government of Singapore. Prior to earning his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he worked in product and price management at Miller Brewing Company.

Panel B: Marketing & Competitive Strategy

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