Takashi Shimamura is the Nike Japan HR Business Partner and Asia Talent Acquisition Director. He has extensive experience in talent planning and development for multinational operations. He moved into his new role to work beyond Japan in fast-growing Asian markets with underdeveloped talent pools. He believes Nike's brand is critical to employee engagement levels, as pride in working for Nike drives high engagement. Effective strategies for retaining and engaging staff include providing unlimited growth opportunities in some countries, while others focus on healthy work environments and team-oriented atmospheres. In general, career advancement and learning opportunities are top priorities for retaining future leadership talent.

1. InterviewwithTakashiShimamura
（“Shima”）
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lnterviewbyJulietNorton
akashiShimamura，NikeJapan HR Business Partner since2006，has abundant
干 experlenCeO＝alentplannlnganddevelopmentinmultinationaloperatlOnSaSWelEas
lnbridgEngJapanesebuslneSSWithglobalbusmessoperatEOn，BeforeN［kehewasa
PartOfthestartTuPOfUniversalStudIOSJapanandwithJupiterl切ecomasheadofHR，
Hisstrengthisinidentifyingfocused“people＆organlZatrOnaFagendas／st「ategLeS”tomeet
buslneSSlmPeratlVeSln reaEteams，aSOPPOSedtoJUStintheory，andimplementinglna
flexible manner．
Heh01dsBAinSociol0gyandGermanLlteratUrefromKeioUniversLty HISCareerbeganata
SteelpIPetradingcompanyandhemovedintoHRafterfouryears．HehasworkedwlthinHR
SlnCeJanuary2010，hehasbeenplaylngadualr01easAsialblentAcquISitionDlreCtOrfor
Nike，lnc■nadditiontoJapanHRBP
You’veret：entlymovedroleswithinNike，fromJapanHRDDirector，tOAsiaTalent
AcqulSitionDirector．Whatattractedyoutoyournewrole？
l wanted to do somethmg beyondJapan，ln PartLCUlarln the fastTgrOWmg business
environmentandwherethere’sunderdeve10PedtaLentmarket．
HowimportantdoyouthinkthebrandofNikeistoemp10yeeengagementlevels？
Doyouthinkthatstaffengagepositivelywiththebrand？
l’dsaythatltlSCrltlCal．NlkeasanempEoymentbrandESalmostequaltoNikeasaproduct
brand．PrideinworkingforNikeandtheexperienceofworkingforNikeisthemalnDNAof
Nlkeemployeeengagement，Whichdrivesupempl0yeeengagementrateSandatthesame
tlmeleveragesthebrandasanemployer・
WhataresomeofthestrategleSthatempl0yerSShouldadopttoretajnandengage
Staff？
lt really varies f「om country to country，In some countries，PrOViding unlimited growth
OPPOrtunLtleSinaglobalworkenvr「onmentisthemainstrategy；lnOthercountries，Creatinga
heaIthyworkenvironmentandag00dteam−OrIentedatmosphereisthekey．Butingeneral，
PrOVldLngCareeradvancementandprovidinglearnlng／growthopportunFtiestoemp10yeeSIS
thenumberlprlOrItytOretalnfutureIeadershiptalentandengagestaff
pAGE42lHUMANRES。URCEMANAGEMENT・NTERNATKMLD】GEST】voL18NO42010・PP42・43・⑥Emera・dGTOuPPubllShmgLmted，・SSNO967−07錮D。・10・1108′09670731011051568