History of the prize in Japan

Michael Porter's relationship with Hitotsubashi University dates back to the early 1980s, when he conducted joint research on Japan with a Hitotsubashi team as part of a larger study, which was published in the 1990 book The Competitive Advantage of Nations. The book Can Japan Compete?, which was selected as one of the top three non-fiction books of 2000 by The Economist, was co-authored by Michael Porter and Hirotaka Takeuchi of Hitotsubashi University and now Professor of Management at Harvard Business School.

Michael Porter was invited to be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of its newly established Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS) in 2000. He made two trips to Tokyo on behalf of Hitotsubashi University that year, once in April at the opening of ICS' evening programs taught in Japanese and in October at the opening of its day-time programs taught entirely in English.

Over the years, Michael Porter has donated his time for these speeches and for many other joint efforts. The Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University proposed to establish a new prize in appreciation of Professor Michael Porter's generosity and in support of his life-long dedication to the development of the theory and practice of competitive strategy.