Sanpo-yoshi Communication

President's Column] Goal Setting

Recently, Kazuo Inamori, founder of Kyocera Corporation, passed away. 27 years old, he not only founded Kyocera and led it to rapid growth, but in his 50s he also founded the current KDDI, and in his later years he led JAL, which had filed for reorganization proceedings, to go public again.

On the other hand, he runs Seiwajyuku, a volunteer program that provides management guidance to small and medium business owners, and has influenced more than 10,000 business owners in Japan and abroad.

In fact, I was a member for about 10 years. However, I rarely attended the regular meetings in Fukuoka and just listened to the CDs of his lectures. In his lectures, President Inamori always told us to aim for an operating profit margin of 10% or higher. He said that managers cannot achieve this because they think they cannot. This is too high a hurdle.

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Survey of Commerce and Industry, the national average for the manufacturing industry is 4%. In the wholesale and retail industries, it is less than this. When I was a student at Seiwajyuku, I thought that 10% was absolutely impossible for our company's type of business (wholesale + manufacturing), and I still think that 10% is probably not realistic.

However, I recently attended a seminar with a large company. This company is a manufacturing company known for being one of the most profitable in Japan, with an operating profit margin of over 50%. The company's objective, or rather culture, is to achieve high profitability, and if the operating profit margin of any one business falls below 40%, that business will be considered for withdrawal or sale. I was surprised. In his 12 Articles of Management, President Inamori taught his students how to manage their businesses. The following is an excerpt from the article. I would like to quote an excerpt.

We believe that "management is the manifestation of a manager's 'will. Once you have a desire to be this way, you must have a strong will to realize that goal, no matter what it takes. What is important then is to gain the sympathy of employees. Management goals are originally born from the will of the manager, but at the same time, these goals must be such that all employees are willing to "do it. In other words, it is necessary to transform the management's will, the management's goals, into the will of all employees.

I have been running the company believing that as long as we serve our customers, profits will naturally follow, but I have reflected once again on how I may have been somewhat naive. I would like to express my deepest condolences for your loss.