Nova English School

Nova English School was at one time the largest eikawa in Japan before collapsing in October of 2007 in bankruptcy. The program, had employed more than 15,000 teachers from English speaking countries in its language schools throughout Japan. Before collapsing, Nova had 924 branches in Japan. Following its bankruptcy, the company was responsored by G Communication and now operates 30 branches.

History

Nova was founded in August of 1981 by Nozomu Sahashi in Osaka, Japan. The company quickly became the largest employer of foreign nationals in Japan with more than 7,000 foreign workers to start and around 2500 new hires each year to replace leaving teachers. New hires were not required to be accredited teachers but those who had their TEFL certificate or Masters Degree in Teaching would receive salary bonuses. The teachers were selected and admitted directly after graduation from universities in English speaking countries assuming they could acquire a work visa.

The first two tutors for the company where high school graduates from Sweden and Canada who he met while studying in Paris. They opened an initial classroom in Shisaibashi and later took the name of Nova to appeal to new students.

Nova initially made its public offering in November of 1996 to some degree of complaints and concern as multiple litigation suits and issues with unionizing workers caused concern in the Japanese market. The business continued to grow, with 239 schools in 1997 and 623 in 2004, and a more than 50% market share in the same year.

Following the collapse of Nova, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry asked for partial repayment of tuition to the 420,000 students that had already paid their tuition while other were admitted to existing language schools that were still operating.

The foreign teachers, of which there were 4500, were left without any resources after the collapse with many needing to rely on their embassies to get them out of Japan. Additionally, it led to a growth in response to the possibilities of unemployed foreign workers in Japan.

Advertising

In the years leading up to its collapse, Nova operated extensive advertising campaigns in print and television media sources to maintain its brand recognition. Its Nova Usagi (a pink rabbit) was the company mascot and was shown often during children’s and daytime programming with more than 250 million yen in revenue coming from Nova Usagi merchandising two weeks after its initial introduction.

In terms of company branding, Nova placed many of its branches near train stations and used this proximity to promote its services. Offering small class sizes, foreign teachers, and convenient class times, the program was very popular in Japan.

Issues and concerns

Leading up to its 2007 collapse, Nova had many issues that lead to a public relations and business nightmare for the company. Initially, there were steep losses for the company as their market share depreciated due to over-expansion.

Additionally, the company came under investigation for not paying wages on time or at all, including foreign workers who relied upon those wages to pay rent. The company additionally stopped paying rent for its employees and many were out of homes, causing an increasing housing crisis for foreign workers.

Lawsuits were filed in 2007 that also helped to cause the decreasing stock of the company with a 28 year old construction worker who committed suicide after being allegedly overworked by the company and a multiple refund related issues by students.

External Links

• Official English Website