“AOTS E-Newsletter” is published by the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS).
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1. Establishment of the AOTS Alumni Society in Guatemala.
2. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies.
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1. Establishment of the AOTS Alumni Society in Guatemala.
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We are happy to announce that Asociacion de Ex-Becarios de AOTS Guatemala – Japon, who is the AOTS Alumni Society (AAS) in Guatemala, has been newly established.
The representative of the AAS-Guatemala is Mr. Lenin Rolando Velasquez Rosales, who has participated in an AOTS program in Japan for several times.
All Guatemalan ex-participants of AOTS training program are encouraged to join the AAS-Guatemala.
Contact address: [email protected]
Now, network of AAS currently extends to 46 countries and 75 locations in the world.
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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 – November 2024
During the time Eiichi Shibusawa spent in the West (1867-1868), he was surprised by the advanced industry and civilization he found in Paris and Europe, but what made an even deeper impression was their egalitarian society with no class discrimination.
As mediators, the Japanese delegation was escorted by the Parisian banker Paul Flury-Herard, who also represented the shogunate, and Colonel Leopold Villette, who was dispatched by Napoleon III.
One day, Shibusawa was startled when he saw the two of them in conversation.
According to Shibusawa’s understanding based upon Japan’s feudal class system, the colonel was a member of the “warrior” class, while the banker belonged to the “merchant” class.
In Japan at that time, the relationship between warriors and merchants was one of dominance and obedience.
When speaking to warriors, merchants would only speak in a deferential manner, saying “Yes, of course” and the like.
But as Flury-Herard and Colonel Villette were talking, it appeared instead that the banker was more highly respected.
When he said, “It would be more beneficial to do this,” the colonel replied, as if it were quite normal, “I understand. Let’s do that, then.”
The delegation also visited Belgium, where they had an audience with King Leopold II.
The king began by telling Shibusawa and his companions, “Japan will need iron for its future development.
At that time, I want you to use Belgian iron, which is high quality and which we can supply in large quantities.”
Shibusawa was taken aback by the sight of a king trying to pitch his country’s products like a merchant.
In Japan, trading was considered vulgar, and it would have been shameful for the shogun, as the head of the warrior class, to act like a low-class shopkeeper.
Shibusawa admired the fact that in Europe, the status of businesspeople and their relationship with government officials and soldiers were completely different from Japan, with everyone on an equal level, as seen in the above interactions.
He was surprised by the fact that a society with no class discrimination based on factors such as occupation had been achieved in Europe and thought that Japan should be like that.
He therefore studied Europe’s social systems and mechanisms, and based on his own personal interpretation of them, imagined a new blueprint for Japan.
To be continued in the next edition.
Stay tuned for the next AOTS E-Newsletter.
