According to the Japan Broadcasting Association on August 30, the famous Japanese industrialist and honorary president of Kyocera Company Kazuo Inamori died in a private home in Kyoto on August 24 at the age of 90. Before this, most people heard Kazuo Inamori's name probably stayed in "Airport Success Science", but few people knew that he was also the only one who founded two Fortune 500 companies.
Kazuo Inamori's life of ups and downs is also a life of Japan's economy taking off and recession. As one of Japan's "Four Saints of Management", Kazuo Inamori has experienced a complete process from the post-war recovery to the creation of miracles, until the bubble bursts. The business world has been ups and downs for decades, what exactly does it depend on for stable and continuous success? "According to my observations over the past seventy or eighty years, people who are both entrepreneurs and philosophers are rare, and some of them start from Mr. Kazuo Inamori." Ji Xianlin said so.
"Inamori Myth"
Like most great men, Kazuo Inamori's life did not start well. Kazuo Inamori was born in Kagoshima, Japan in 1932. When he was young, he showed no sign of becoming a business genius. On the contrary, his hopes were repeatedly failed and nothing went smoothly.
He was in poor health since childhood and suffered from tuberculosis , which was called terminal illness at the time. He also encountered many walls on his way to study, and failed the middle school, university, and inaugural exams one after another. I finally graduated from college, but it happened to be the Great Depression and I lost my job after graduating from college.
He felt that he seemed to be tricked by fate. He once thought about joining the underworld and even actually made a field investigation. With the help of a university professor, he eventually entered a job in an insulated porcelain bottle factory in Kyoto. But this company is facing a crisis of bankruptcy, and the management is constantly fighting, and it is common for late payrolls.
In most people's eyes, staying in the company is like holding a hot potato in hand. Kazuo Inamori also had the idea of leaving, but due to the poor family's financial situation, Kazuo Inamori only had one way before: continue to stay in the company.
has no way out, so Kazuo Inamori could only force himself to accept the status quo. He moved the pots and pans into the laboratory and devoted himself to the research.
Kazuo Inamori's research has achieved results, achieving the first successful synthesis of magnesium steridine in Japan. This breakthrough brought a glimmer of hope to the company that was about to go bankrupt, and Songfeng Club received a large number of orders.
This inspired Kazuo Inamori's entrepreneurial mentality. After leaving Matsufeng, he founded Kyocera . At that time, Kazuo Inamori was only 27 years old. Ten years later, Kyocera became a Fortune 500 company in the world and created a miracle that had never lost in decades.
turns the tide and turns
Inamori Kazuo did not stop at Kyocera. In the 1980s, the Japanese government decided to implement communication liberalization and allow new companies to join the communications field. However, Japanese companies cannot easily enter the market because the risk is too great to decide the outcome with the giant NTTh, which monopolizes the communications industry.
But Kazuo Inamori stood up. "Since that's the case, let me try it!" So Kazuo Inamori began to set up DDI, which was later KDDI . In June 1984, DDI and two other companies joined the communications competition. Public opinion believes that among the three companies, DDI has the worst conditions because they lack the experience and technology in the communications industry, and the network construction of sales agents must also start from scratch.
However, DDI quickly stood out. Later, Second Telecom grew into Japan's second-ranked comprehensive electronic communications company and the top ten in the world. So far, Kazuo Inamori has founded two Fortune 500 companies. He started from scratch and eventually enabled the two companies to achieve an output value of about 5 trillion yen. A similar story in
was staged again when Kazuo Inamori was 78 years old. In 2010, Japanese Airlines was burdened with a debt of 2322.1 billion yuan and declared bankruptcy and reconstruction. At that time, public opinion was generally not optimistic about reconstruction and believed that no one could save Japan Airlines, and Japan Airlines would eventually go bankrupt again.
The Japanese government decided to ask an excellent entrepreneur to save the company. At that time, Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio thought of Kazuo Inamori. At this time, Kazuo Inamori had already retreated to the second line and was reclining in a temple in Kyoto. After receiving the invitation, he immediately returned to the front line of business.
, which had been losing money before, made a operating profit of 188.4 billion yen in the second year after the reconstruction began, turning into the world's most profitable company in the aviation field. In September 2012, Japan Airlines re-listed after announcing bankruptcy.
In addition to working, Kazuo Inamori is happy to export his experience to the outside world. During his lifetime, he published more than 20 books, and discussed business ways and business insights in books such as "Heart: Kazuo Inamori's Lifetime Instructions", " Dry Methods ", "Kai Inamori's Autobiography", " Passion of Success ", etc. In 2020, Kazuo Inamori, 88, published his final work "Heart: Kazuo Inamori's Lifetime Instructions".
It is worth mentioning that Kazuo Inamori was committed to Japan-China friendship during his lifetime. Kazuo Inamori, Kyocera Company has donated funds to establish a Western Development Scholarship Fund through the China-Japan Friendship Association to promote the development of education in western China. Qi Haishen, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, said that as a Japanese business operator, he can be called the first overseas person to practice Chinese traditional culture , and is a "foreigner" who integrates philosophy and business practice. He can combine Chinese traditional culture Yangming Heart learning and Buddhist culture into business management and practice it, and even exports Chinese-style business philosophy culture to the United States, Brazil, South Korea and other countries.
The cycle of traveling through the economy
With Kazuo Inamori's death, all the "Four Saints of Management" in Japan passed away. Japan's "Four Saints of Management" refers to four outstanding entrepreneurs who created the "economic miracle" era in Japan. In addition to Kazuo Inamori, there are also Matsushita Konosuke , Honda's Honda Soichiro , and Sony's Morita Akio .
At the same time, the "golden age" of the Japanese economy seems to be gone forever.
Once Japan, it firmly grasped the high-end manufacturing industry and swept the world with "Made in Japan". Products made in Japan are flooding the world and are also the main buyer of luxury store products around the world. Sony bought the American entertainment giant Columbia company , Panasonic bought the American film industry's flag Universal Pictures, Mitsubishi even bought the symbol of the United States' country Rockefeller Center .
However, the resurgence of the new crown epidemic, the uncontrollable debt crisis and the increasingly aging status have all pushed the local economy to the forefront. Higashio Osaka City, located southwest of Honshu Island, Japan, has experienced the most prosperous time in Japan's manufacturing industry as a key manufacturing site. But now, the companies here are in a difficult situation and are exploring the path of transformation.
According to Reuters , Higao Osaka currently has about 6,000 companies, of which 87% of them employ less than 20 employees. For decades, these companies have produced metal parts for a variety of products such as train seats and ballpoint pen refills, relying on orders from big brands such as Sharp and Panasonic. In recent years, many big Japanese brands have begun to decline, and the business of small businesses in Higashi Osaka City, which produces parts for them, has been depressed.
Since the beginning of this year, Japan's debt crisis has become increasingly serious. With the yen depreciating by more than 20%, as of May 2022, Japan has experienced a trade deficit of for 10 consecutive months. The deficit means imports consume a lot of US dollar foreign exchange. Industry insiders predict that if this situation cannot be effectively reversed, no surprise, Japan's foreign exchange reserves are expected to dry up in 5-7 years. Under the dilemma of
, people seem to need some "chicken soup". Financial commentator Zhang Xuefeng said that Kazuo Inamori is the belief of many entrepreneurs. When he was young, Japan's economy was in the Great Depression. Later, his "cheating" life experience undoubtedly gave many people incentives and encouragement. The current global economic situation is also relatively severe. The economic and life difficulties faced by young people who are at their 26 or 27 years old are very similar to those faced by Kazuo Inamori in that era. His mood when facing difficulties and his experience will bring hope to many people.
Economic depression is one of the most difficult tests for enterprises, but Kazuo Inamori put forward the view that "depression is a good opportunity for enterprises to develop." In fact, Kazuo Inamori takes every economic depression as a driving force, promoting the company's growth and development. In oil crisis , when orders decreased and production decreased, he made every effort to develop technology, and all employees carried out marketing activities, and worked hard to reduce funds in all aspects, using depression as a jumping platform for leap.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Tao Feng Zhao Tianshu
