| Alumnus Shares Advice
with Current JEMBA and CHEMBA Students
HONOLULU — Alumnus, Chris
Lamatsch, relationship manager for Unisys Japan, Ltd., returned
to JAIMS on January 8 this year to share valuable insights garnered
as a graduate of the JEMBA program. He spoke on "Business in Japan"
to the current class of MBA students
(JEMBA-13 and CHEMBA-6) to prepare them for their upcoming internships.
Despite Japan's bleak financial situation, Lamatsch
shared his somewhat optimistic view with the students. He believes
that investors will slowly start returning to Japan and that the
current problems in its economy will eventually be dealt with over
time. As for his first-hand experience observing Japanese consumers,
Lamatsch said he was somewhat surprised that they didn't seem affected.
"You go into Tokyo and you don't see an indication that people are
panicking," he said, "In fact, you see them still buying big ticket
items as if nothing were going on."
Lamatsch was full of advice for the students preparing
for their internship later this year. "Look for a small company
where you can get good experience in something you're interested
in rather than a big name company where you could end up tucked
away in a cubicle somewhere,"
He also encouraged the students to make good use of
the network they are building and will continue to build when they
begin their internships. According to Lamatsch, one network that
should always be taken advantage of is the JAIMS alumni network.
"Make good use of alumni that you'll find all over
Asia and the U.S.," he said, "It's a great valuable network of contacts
and advice, so use it."
Lamatsch's class founded the JAIMS Bond alumni association
in Japan who meets regularly to network with new alumni and current
students. His class, JEMBA-5 was also responsible for implementing
the kaizen sessions where students provide input to the staff for
improving the curriculum.
Lamatsch is an entrepreneurial executive with over
14 years of general management experience. He started up and directed
the operations department for Tokyo-based systems integrator, Fusion
systems Japan, Inc. Later, he led human resource project teams in
Japan for PricewaterhousCoopers' Global HR Solutions Practice. Lamatsh
then became the founder and chief operating officer of IT consultancy,
ExStra K.K.
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