Details of the Initiative
The KIKUCHI Kazuo seminar of the School of Commerce conducts research on marketing under the motto of “Putting understanding into practice.” In regular classes, students deliver presentations on marketing textbooks and deepen their understanding of marketing phenomena through Q&A sessions (understanding). They then move on to practical phases by participating in joint research projects with companies, where they analyze real-world marketing activities and present proposals. Furthermore, in recent years, many of the students’ activities have moved beyond proposal making and into actual implementation in society.
As one example, a proposal from a Kikuchi Seminar group to Kagome Co., Ltd. in June 2023 was highly praised, and in June 2024 the Tomato & Berry Smoothie was launched in cooperation with Cafe Pensee, operated by Meidai Support Corporation. The seminar participated in the entire process, from planning through sales, using non-standard tomatoes as part of an effort to reduce food loss.
In May 2025, the seminar took part as a shelf owner at 1000+1BOOKs (Senichi Books), a shared bookstore in Sengawa, where students cultivated their creativity by revising the shelf’s contents based on customer responses. At first, the books were just displayed as they were. However, the students later changed their strategy by wrapping the books so that customers could not see the contents and could read only the introductions written by the students, which drew positive reactions.
Through these activities that bridge understanding and practice, the KIKUCHI Seminar aims to cultivate students with strong marketing insight and practical skills.
