Unfriendly Environment - Sanyo and CEO Nonaka

Below is my comment on the article of "Unfriendly Environment", TIME dated on April 23, 2007.

As you pointed out in your article, Nonaka’s sudden resignation as CEO of Sanyo did show us the precious lesson that her long-term strategy of eco-friendly image building did not solve the company’s short-term problem of red ink.

However, it also seems to have some grave implications behind the scenes. Namely there is a spreading rumor that the founding family made much use of Nonaka for her fame as journalist to keep the founder’s offspring as president when she was appointed as CEO to support him.

The more globalization spreads, the fewer family managed corporations similar to that giant electronic maker once flourished under the founding family rule can survive without open human resources unrelated to narrow family ties.

As you pointed out in your article, Nonaka’s sudden resignation as CEO of Sanyo did show us the precious lesson that her long-term strategy of eco-friendly image building did not solve the company’s short-term problem of red ink.

However, it also seems to have some grave implications behind the scenes. Namely there is a spreading rumor that the founding family made much use of Nonaka for her fame as journalist to keep the founder’s offspring as president when she was appointed as CEO to support him.

The more globalization spreads, the fewer family managed corporations similar to that giant electronic maker once flourished under the founding family rule can survive without open human resources unrelated to narrow family ties.