When Bold Strategy Becomes a Bet You Can’t Afford to Lose
Honda just announced its first net loss since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1957. The company cancelled three EV models it had been engineering for years — the Honda 0 SUV, the Honda 0 Saloon, and the Acura RSX — writing off up to ¥2.5 trillion in assets and supplier commitments in a single fiscal year.
That fact alone is worth sitting with. This is not a story about a company that failed to try.
It is a story about the difference between boldness and prudence — and what happens when a business has the first without the second.
インセンティブに効果はない
If I offered you more money for results, would you change anything that you are doing now? I have asked this very question to numerous successful CEOs, and invariably the answer is no. I suspect yours is as well.
説得力のある戦略とは
トップレベルの役員やマネージャーであれば、戦略を立ててそれをプレゼンする機会を与えられることがある筈です。彼らの多くは、自分の作った戦略が正しいことを証明するための長いプレゼンテーションを用意します。しかし、真に説得力のあるマネージャーであれば、逆に何故自分の戦略が間違っている可能性があるか、という理由を並べる筈です。
[:en]2018 Predictions [:ja]２０１８年を予測する[:]
[:en]I love making predictions, so here is my list of ten predictions for 2018.
[:en]Market Entry Manifesto[:ja]日本市場参入について[:]
[:en]Last week, a reporter from The Telegraph in the UK contacted me for my views on the challenges of market entry in Japan. My market entry manifesto is below:
[:en]Japan, Rotten to the Core? No.[:ja]日本の企業文化が芯まで腐敗しているというのは間違いである[:]
[:en]When you hear of malfeasance in American companies like Equifax, Wells Fargo, Valeant, Countrywide Financial and Washington Mutual of subprime mortgage crisis infamy, and even Enron, no one questions whether or not something is rotten in the whole of American corporate culture. So, why should we think differently when it comes to corporate malfeasance in Japan?
[:en]Big Consequences of Tolerating Small Infractions[:ja]たとえ小さくとも、違反は大きな影響を及ぼすもの[:]
[:en] Illicit and unethical behavior should never be tolerated, even if the impact is small. For example, if a manager is padding company expenses for personal gain, you really have no choice but to fire the manager, even if it is for less than a few hundred dollars per year. That can be a hard decision to make when the manager’s performance is high, such as a top salesperson, but it is the right decision. It is a matter of judgement and leadership of the manager rather than a cost-benefit analysis of the infraction.
[:en]Using R&D to Make a Sale is like Eating Your Young[:ja]研究開発部を利用して営業を上げるのは、リソースの無駄遣いである[:]
[:en]I often see sales people offer highly valuable expert services from an R&D division to a customer for free in order to make a product sale, even when the customer would likely have been happy to pay.
[:en]Kickstarter and Pebble Watch Success: Could this Work in Japan?[:ja]キックスターターとスマートウォッチ「ペブル」の成功例：果たして日本でも通用するか[:]
[:en]Some months back I spent around one hundred dollars for a watch that I had never seen, that did not yet exist, to be made and delivered by a bunch of people I had never heard of. Sound crazy? Well, I wasn’t alone. Over 69,000 people decided to do the same thing. That is the story of the Pebble smartwatch for which over $10 million dollars was raised through Kickstarter crowd funding, a record amount. (I read that the original funding target had been $100,000!) I received my Pebble last week, and I have to say I think it is a beautiful product, and very cool with its connectivity with […]
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