This case features a protagonist (Gen Isayama - GSB 2003) who established and runs a VC firm/incubator called World Innovation Lab (WiL) that is based in Palo Alto and focuses on Japanese companies. The case explores the state of entrepreneurship in Japan; the launch of the VC, and its novel approach to LP relationships. It provides examples of corporations who have undergone successful transformation after working with WiL and of joint ventures in which WiL has invested.

In 2020, NEC focused on providing advanced IT, network, and data solutions, including cloud computing, AI and machine learning, Internet-of-Things platforms, and 5G networks as well as communication equipment installations. An award-winning company, NEC ranked fifth in the world in AI-related patents. The case study describes NEC's pathway towards accelerating in-house innovation, and commercializing what its global labs had invented. In 2013, the company established a Business Innovation Unit (BIU) to boost in-house innovation, and tap into the sense of urgency, risk-taking, and promise of rewards that helped drive technology start-ups elsewhere. In 2018, the BIU formed a Silicon Valley subsidiary called NEC X to structure a new "inside-out" accelerator. By 2020, two start-ups had graduated from the program, and others were well underway. Could NEC X become a trailblazer, creating new standards and processes for "inside-out" accelerators?

Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. in 2014 was the world's largest glass company, but the company faced flat revenues and increased global competition. Several of its flagship businesses projected few prospects for growth unless the company could develop new products and identify competitive strengths to compete within the rapidly changing global economy. AGC held leading global market shares in four major products: architectural glass, automotive glass, quartz glass, as well as fluorinated resins. The case study details the new CEO's plans to revitalize the thinking and workforce at AGC, and shift to an outward-looking focus that embraced change and could lead the company forward into new areas of business.

In 2007, California-based Pannacotta Development had built iPort 12 near two active New Jersey shipping ports for $122 million. Now in 2011, with only one tenant, the property was losing $2.7 million at the operating level, and the project's $76.5 million construction loan was in default. The lender, Bank of America (BofA), had taken control of the property and decided to sell the buildings. The transaction market was at a standstill and BofA knew iPort 12 would certainly sell for less than the loan balance. KTR, one of only a few buyer prospects, was under contract to purchase the project for $53 million-less than half of Pannacotta $122 million cost. It was a heady time for KTR. The fully integrated real estate private equity fund manager specializing in industrial property was sitting on $375 million of uninvested capital from KTR's $700 million second fund, a 2008-vintage vehicle whose investment period was due to expire at the end of 2011. On the heels of the financial crisis, KTR's 2009 and 2010 investments were priced to deliver relatively safe 13 percent IRRs, with potential upside if the market recovered. But the investment market had begun to shift in late 2010. Prices for well-located, leased properties had firmed as the capital markets recovered. In sharp contrast, the market for properties with substantial vacancy was an entirely different story as leasing activity remained depressed. As debt service shortfalls mounted, lenders became impatient, seized control and began selling the distressed collateral for defaulted loans. Buying these properties meant considerably greater risk than KTR's 2009 and 2010 acquisitions. But, with more risk came the prospect of 20 percent or higher IRRs.

Describes the evolution and current situation of Germany's financial system. Based on a discussion of the German economy in the postwar period, the case highlights the impact of financial globalization and EU policies on Germany's domestic system of banking and finance, corporate governance, and banking regulation.

Describes the development of the Japanese financial system, from extensive regulation and fund allocation through administrative guidance in the 1950s to the banking crisis and legal and structural reorganization in the 1990s. Special emphasis is on the processes of regulation, the inherent logic of the early postwar system, and the forces that triggered change in the 1980s. Extensive data materials are provided.