Japanese Disease - Evading Responsibility ruins Sharp Corporation

        

               Frank  Feb. 22, 2016, in Waterloo, On. Ca.

This is the translation of the writings of Japan scholar Mr. Kondo Daisuke about the decline of Sharp Corporation, which was cited in my Aug. 24, 2014 article Overheated real estate market is ruining Canadian economy from Japan mirroring Canada. In which we can see that how low quality of Japanese people to have damaged Japan economy.

       Hard-working and responsible citizen is the foundation of national economy. Also, it is the foundation that Keynesian macroeconomics can play its role. Otherwise, extremely easing monetary policy or even negative interest rates all cannot play positive role, but to make the country into the abyss.

Special Note: In consideration of, in this topic, I have cited some weakness of some people as example, which may cause some displeasure, I specially wrote the article Kondo Daisuke, A Rational Man of Japan to introduce the good quality of I admired Japanese man to show my good will and with no any bad intention in citing those weakness. I hope that what I talked here can help to improve the wrongful ideology in corporate management.

Sharp Corporation founded in Sep. 1912, Headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It is a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products with around 55,580 employees worldwide as of June 2011, with ranking as the fifth-largest television manufacturer in the world, after Samsung, LG, Sony, and Panasonic.

But, in recent years, Sharp Corporation declines as same as that of many other Japanese companies.

Sep. 11, 2012, Daisuke Kondo who published a Mandarin article Angry Gou Tai-ming on Economic Observer Online of China, in which he criticized the “Japanese Disease” that harms Japanese companies. I excerpt and translate some as follow.

A hundred years glorious Sharp Corporation has suffered “Japanese disease.” It is not only the Sharp, but the Sony, Panasonic, NEC, Sanyo, Olympus, and great many Japanese companies are the serious patients in “Japanese disease”.

The nature of the “Japanese disease” is the manner of “evading responsibility” that evolved rigid organizational structure and Inward Oriented Conservative of the Japanese Companies. The direct result of the “Illness” is that illed-companies will increasingly debilitate and ultimately collapse.

For example, a Japanese company planned to develop a new product. The product development department produced a “plan book”, with depicting the grand blueprint of best market potential.

However, when the “plan book” spreading in other departments of the company, this new product would face with dozens or even hundreds of blames, in the end, it did not get any support. The reason is simple: For the heads of departments, the most important thing is not how to bring new products to market, to improve the turnover, but, how to avoid the risk-taking of affecting own career in case of the sales of the new products is not good as expected.

Because of the whole company have infected the disease of “evading responsibility”, a lot of great new product plans have been put into the limbo. Meanwhile, in the process of this “bad model” iterative, the staff for new products’ R & D has gradually lost enthusiasm and morale, thus, resulting in the number of the plan for new products’ dropped. Nevertheless, the whole company still does not repent for that, keeping on its own way.

In the March 2012, Sharp’s financial accounts (The fiscal year starts in April in Japanese companies) exposed huge losses. It shows that the decline of Sharp continuously with accelerating and doomed to bankrupt within one year.

At this point, dying Sharp ushered in a Savior, after mutual consultation, the founder and chairman of Foxconn, Gou Tai-Ming is willing to pay for acquiring 9.9% stake in Sharp Corporation.

However, 5 months later, in the afternoon Aug. 30, 2012, in Sakai City factory of Sharp Corporation located in Osaka, came out an angry voice: “why do you Japanese take so long time to make a decision? Are you really going to rebuild the company? ”

Face the raps, Sharp president Takashi Okuda and his management team heads down and keeps in silence as that of the pupils being reprimanded by their teacher. “Finally, I am again, to accept our request or not, you are better hurry to consider clear!”

After that, Guo immediately takes a private plane to leave Japan. For his sudden departure, more than 100 media reporters look at each others; and do not know what to do.

Once cooperation with a Japanese business that suffers “Japanese disease”, I believe, regardless, which leaders of China’s company will be angry as same as that of Gou Tai-Ming.

Assuming, a Chinese company raised an advantageous cooperation projects for both sides to a Japanese company, the local subsidiary of the Japanese company will immediately report to the International Department of the Japanese parent company. At this time, the International Department will require the local subsidiary to present a “plan book” as long as hundreds of pages. Just for completing this “plan book” will be going to spend a few months of time.

Then, after the negotiations with various departments in the head office, which cost more than six months usually, luckily, the “plan book” may finally appear on the meeting of the Board of directors once a month in the head office. However, most probably it will suffer the fate of being sentenced to death, because of all the directors are not concerns the plan book from its feasible or not, but, from the “how to use the plan, for their personal interest, rather than the interest of the company.

If, some directors believe that the implementation of the plan was no benefit for them selves, or own competitors in the company can get more benefits, they would oppose without hesitation and then put forward some reason to postpone the decision and ultimately to make the plan was dismissed or forced to ‘another day another meeting’, without the rational sense of caring about the interest of gaining or losing for the company.”

It is not only Gou Tai-Ming, but, there no any boss will patiently wait for so long. When asking Japanese side a result, the answer is “still under studying.” So, facing the brink of bankruptcy, the Sharp is still in the long “studying”, the angry of Gou Tai-Ming is natural and reasonable.