Briton Scales Heights of Olympus

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Reuters: Japan's Olympus taps cost-cutting Briton as next CEO
Japanese camera and endoscope maker Olympus Corp (7733.T) said its next chief executive officer would be British-born Michael Woodford, 50, who oversaw a restructuring of the firm's European operations. In what could signal an overhaul at the firm...Olympus said on Thursday that Woodford would take the helm on April 1, joining a select band of non-Japanese citizens to lead a major listed Japanese corporation....Woodford said personnel changes and slashing back office costs had enabled him to turn Olympus's European operations around and make $200 million in profit, nine years after he took them over at break-even. But he said he would need the support of outgoing CEO Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who will become the company's chairman, to make similar changes in Japan. "One thing I think Japan is known for is that it is very good at managing and protecting the status quo," he told reporters. "Change in Japan can be difficult to implement. It can be done, it will be done, but I need a Japanese 'umbrella'," he said, referring to Kikukawa. 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...more...

[Yokohammer]

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

Um, is this perhaps one of the things that need to change?

Efforts to assimilate and instill conformity have already begun ...

[Mike Oxlong]

Does Carlos Ghosn golf?

[Mulboyne]

One of the first major Japanese companies to have senior foreign executives was Mitsubishi Motors when DaimlerChrysler ended up with a 34% stake in the firm. I recall reading an article which said the Mitsubishi Group golf clubs wouldn't approve them as full members so, if they wanted to play at them, they needed their Japanese board colleagues, who were alll members, to invite them. I don't think they were very impressed.

That was a slightly odd situation but you can't really exert authority when people who report to you have greater privileges than you do.

[Fullback]

I didn't know Mitsubishi owned any golf courses.

It isn't unusual for a private club in any country to require potential members to have a residence in the same country. It's unlikely that those DaimlerChrysler board members were Japan residents.

[legion]

Um, is this perhaps one of the things that need to change?

Efforts to assimilate and instill conformity have already begun ...

My thoughts exactly

For every Carlos there are 100 failures.

[Mulboyne]

For every Carlos there are 100 failures.

How did you arrive at that?

[Greji]

Efforts to assimilate and instill conformity have already begun ...

If putting my balls in a hole in Japan is all that's needed to assimilate and conform, I've made the grade....

[Mike Oxlong]

If putting my balls in a hole in Japan is all that's needed to assimilate and conform, I've made the grade....

You haven't been replacing your divots...

[legion]

How did you arrive at that?

casual observation

[matsuki]

If putting my balls in a hole in Japan is all that's needed to assimilate and conform, I've made the grade....

Uhh Greji, the hole is not for your balls, try using your head next time

[IkemenTommy]

Reuters: Japan's Olympus taps cost-cutting Briton as next CEO

That roughly translates to no more company-paid onsen trips with hired geishas and no-pan yakiniku nights at kabukicho..

I can already see the pure blood pro-Japan pride banner waivers going nuts over this.

Hey, I think Olympus is only following Sony's footsteps in hiring a foreigner to start producing crap that no one ever buys.

[Greji]

[quote="chokonen888"]Uhh Greji, the hole is not for your balls, try using your head next time ]
Lovely. I think everybody should give up some head...

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

He's been kicked out after six months

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.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111014-704930.html

[matsuki]

hahahaha, we never saw that one coming! I wonder how much of the disregard for their "unique management style" is fluff BS...

[legion]

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.

That's rich, one of the classic corporate issues gaijin management face here is a BOD neutered by the small cartel who really run the company.

[Dreamy_Peach]

"Change in Japan can be difficult to implement. It can be done, it will be done"

[Russell]

[legion]

Did he commit the cardinal sin of looking at the books too closely?

[IparryU]

Did he commit the cardinal sin of looking at the books too closely?

Well... besides trying to put some pep in the drone's step... it seems so.

[BigInJapan]

[Taro Toporific]

Fun interview video from theFinancial Times.

Click to watch the video on the FT.com website.

...

[IparryU]

I aint no psychic... but i foresee many deep bows and the shutter sound of many cameras...

[legion]

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.

Wooooo scary, legal action in Japan, we all know how long that will take.

[Coligny]

Wooooo scary, legal action in Japan, we all know how long that will take.

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...

[matsuki]

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.

Is there a word for whistleblower in Japanese or is this concept totally lost on them?

[IparryU]

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...

dont forget the time for negotiating that popcorn will be part of the deal and the actual time it takes for them to give you the popcorn...

[Dreamy_Peach]

I find this case really fascinating. The involvement of the SFO and Woodford's actions towards Olympus - I really wonder how it will pan out.

Looking at the BBC's website it says:

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".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15352799

I'm really not surprised at his going after them- this must really be a shock to the Japanese.

I wonder what will happen to his career - whether the publication of the information will forever tarnish him; or whether his hopes for the removal of the entire board and his return will see him return to Japan as a captain of industry. I very much doubt this. I have the impression that most whistle blowers either end up unemployed or in the stationery office.

More broadly, I wonder what this will do for corporate Japan. Whether it will lead to even greater reluctance to hire foreigners (especially Brits) and lead to an even more introverted monoculture; or it will highlight the need for broader systemic level changes in corporate governance to shake things up (I really doubt this).

Really very interesting to see how this will develop.

[matsuki]

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.

Ehhh, how do you own 51% of your flat? (and if that is even possible, is it legal for them to take his key?)