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Mulboyne wrote:Kikukawa's advice to his successor was simple: Take up golf. "I know he likes running and sailing and it's fine for him to continue with those, but it's really essential for Japanese executives to play golf," he said
Yokohammer wrote:Efforts to assimilate and instill conformity have already begun ...
Greji wrote:If putting my balls in a hole in Japan is all that's needed to assimilate and conform, I've made the grade....
Reuters: Japan's Olympus taps cost-cutting Briton as next CEO
In a rare case of tensions boiling over in one of Japan's typically staid boardrooms, Olympus said Friday it removed Michael C. Woodford from his role as president and executive officer after only six months in charge, citing clashes in management style with other senior executives. Woodford, a 51-year old U.K. citizen who was Olympus's first-ever non-Japanese president, has now become a director without representative rights, the company said in a statement, though it is unclear whether he will stay at the company. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa has taken over as president as of Friday.
Woodford "ignored our organizational structure and made decisions entirely on his own judgment," Kikukawa said at a press conference after the announcement, adding that Woodford would often bypass the head of one of the company's divisions to give orders directly to employees. "I told him repeatedly he couldn't do that, but he didn't listen," Kikukawa said.
The 70-year-old chairman said that one of the reasons behind appointing Woodford, who became president on April 1, was that he might bring changes that Japanese executives couldn't deliver. Still, "our management needs to draw on the company's culture, its unique management style that has been cultivated over the years, and more broadly, Japanese culture," he said. "He (Woodford) didn't spend much time in Japan, and he couldn't overcome various hurdles such as communication and culture," Kikukawa said.
Woodford "ignored our organizational structure and made decisions entirely on his own judgment," Kikukawa said at a press conference after the announcement, adding that Woodford would often bypass the head of one of the company's divisions to give orders directly to employees. "I told him repeatedly he couldn't do that, but he didn't listen," Kikukawa said.
"Change in Japan can be difficult to implement. It can be done, it will be done"
legion wrote:Did he commit the cardinal sin of looking at the books too closely?
However, an Olympus executive told investors the company might take legal action against Mr Woodford, accusing him of disclosing confidential information after he was sacked.
legion wrote:Wooooo scary, legal action in Japan, we all know how long that will take.
However, an Olympus executive told investors the company might take legal action against Mr Woodford, accusing him of disclosing confidential information after he was sacked.
Coligny wrote:no need to buy popcorm, enough time to buy a field, train as a farmer, grow corm for few years, get bought by Monsanto and ask for popcorm as part of the deal...
He says he was called into a board meeting on Friday at which the agenda had been changed. The only new item to discuss was his dismissal as chief executive with immediate effect, for which, he said, no reason was given.
After the board voted for his dismissal, he left the meeting and was followed to his office by a colleague.
He was asked for the key to his flat, 51% of which he owned, and was told to get the bus to the airport as they had taken away his car.
He told the BBC he felt his treatment at the hands of the board was "rude and gratuitous".
He was asked for the key to his flat, 51% of which he owned, and was told to get the bus to the airport as they had taken away his car.
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