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<Index>
1. Announcement: Change of AOTS President.
2. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies.
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1. Announcement: Change of AOTS President.
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This is to inform you that Mr. YOSHIDA Yasuhiko succeeded Mr. KUWAYAMA Shinya as the President of AOTS as of 18 June 2024.
We would like to thank you for your continued support and cooperation.
Full-Time Board Members.
https://www.aots.jp/en/about/b
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2. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies.
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Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies – June 2024
Starting in July 2024, Japan’s banknotes will feature new designs.
The person whose portrait will be depicted on the 10,000-yen bill, the banknote with the highest value, is Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931).
Are you familiar with this figure?
He was a 19th-century industrialist known as the “father of Japanese capitalism.”
It’s my belief that Shibusawa is the origin of the “altruistic management” shared by other figures I have introduced in this column, such as Konosuke Matsushita, Kazuo Inamori, and Hardlock Industry’s Katsuhiko Wakabayashi.
I think that Japan’s entrepreneurs possess the same DNA-and that DNA is the ideas of Eiichi Shibusawa.
He expressed his management philosophy in a book called The Analects and the Abacus.
In his book, the Analects, which record the teachings of Confucius (a Chinese thinker born around 550 BCE), mean “morals,” while the “abacus,” a tool that assists with calculation, means “selling” and “profit.”
Shibusawa believed that companies should balance the pursuit of profit with the public interest (morals) and advocated that it would be possible to achieve.
He also succeeded in achieving this balance himself.
He contributed to the founding of over 500 companies, including Japan’s first bank.
Covering a wide range of sectors, such as transportation (railways, etc.), gas, and food, these became the basis of Japanese industry.
He was also involved in around 600 educational, social, and public projects aimed at realizing a prosperous, equitable society.
Furthermore, with the aim of establishing peace through mutual understanding, he actively pursued civil diplomacy with other countries.
He was even twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Shibusawa was truly one of the figures who shaped today’s Japan.
He was born at a time when there were still samurai in Japan.
The class system still existed as well, but due to an unfortunate experience in his youth, he began to desire to create a society without class discrimination where everyone would be happy.
In the next column, we will learn about Shibusawa’s thinking while looking back at his life story.
