AOTS E-Newsletter: Insight
2025/12/26 (Fri) 10:30
◆◇ AOTS E-Newsletter ◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
26 December 2025
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"AOTS E-Newsletter" is published by the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS)
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<Index>
1. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
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1. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the previous edition, I talked about the lesson of “being content with what you have.” “What you have” is not just about financial indicators like sales and profit－it also includes having various things that are not visible to the eye. This refers to the happiness of employees, customers, suppliers, the local community, and lastly, managers themselves. Ultimately, it means the result you should aim for is to “benefit three parties.”
Two editions ago, I presented an example of a company with a management approach that pursued only its own financial interests and sacrificed the happiness of various stakeholders, ultimately leading to its own ruin. Now, I would like to share stories of people who took the opposite approach to management decisions, based on the philosophy of altruistic management and benefiting three parties. First, I will discuss an episode involving Konosuke Matsushita, who is already familiar to you from this column.
Around 1930, when radio broadcasting had just begun in Japan, radios were a cutting-edge technological product. With the technologies possessed by manufacturing companies at the time, product development was very difficult, and the products available on the market often malfunctioned. Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, put his heart and soul into development in an attempt to supply the general public with radios that would not malfunction. An obstacle to achieving this was an inventor of the time who monopolized patents for key radio technologies for his own profit. For various manufacturers, this was a major hindrance to making high-quality radios, and trouble occurred between the inventor and the manufacturers.
Concerned that the monopoly on one patent was impeding the spread of radio receivers in Japan, Matsushita bought it from the inventor with his own money and made it available to the radio industry free of charge. It was an era of fierce competition between manufacturers, so holding a monopoly on the patent would have given him an advantage over other companies, enabling him to make substantial profits. However, he decided to make the patent he had bought available free of charge to rival manufacturers based on his management philosophy of “co-existence and co-prosperity,” as he wanted more citizens to use high-quality radios that did not break.
As a result, the use of radios spread rapidly and expanded across Japan, and radio manufacturers in the country therefore prospered. Among them, Panasonic, which succeeded in producing the highest-quality radios, achieved the best results. Broadcasting became more widespread, making a great contribution to people’s happiness through improving national culture and accelerating economic development. Matsushita the business executive and his company earned the acclaim and trust of society.
To be continued in the next edition.
Rikio Suma, Author
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<Privacy Policy>
Your personal information is protected and is not made public. Any information you provide through AOTS website and email will only be used by us to provide you with AOTS E-newsletters, occasional information and related questionnaires.
Copyright 2016
The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS)
30-1, Senju-Azuma 1-chome, Adachi-ku, Tokyo 120-8534, JAPAN
26 December 2025
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"AOTS E-Newsletter" is published by the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This e-mail has been sent from a send-only address.
*There have been more and more cases of subscribers not receiving AOTS E-Newsletters via Yahoo address or Gmail address. If you are using Yahoo address or Gmail address and willing to continue to receive the AOTS E-Newsletters without fail, we recommend changing your email provider to another one. It may be possible to avoid such a case by unblocking "johochosa@aots.jp" if your email provider offers such a service.
<Index>
1. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Insight: Thoughts on the Management Philosophy of Various Japanese Companies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the previous edition, I talked about the lesson of “being content with what you have.” “What you have” is not just about financial indicators like sales and profit－it also includes having various things that are not visible to the eye. This refers to the happiness of employees, customers, suppliers, the local community, and lastly, managers themselves. Ultimately, it means the result you should aim for is to “benefit three parties.”
Two editions ago, I presented an example of a company with a management approach that pursued only its own financial interests and sacrificed the happiness of various stakeholders, ultimately leading to its own ruin. Now, I would like to share stories of people who took the opposite approach to management decisions, based on the philosophy of altruistic management and benefiting three parties. First, I will discuss an episode involving Konosuke Matsushita, who is already familiar to you from this column.
Around 1930, when radio broadcasting had just begun in Japan, radios were a cutting-edge technological product. With the technologies possessed by manufacturing companies at the time, product development was very difficult, and the products available on the market often malfunctioned. Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, put his heart and soul into development in an attempt to supply the general public with radios that would not malfunction. An obstacle to achieving this was an inventor of the time who monopolized patents for key radio technologies for his own profit. For various manufacturers, this was a major hindrance to making high-quality radios, and trouble occurred between the inventor and the manufacturers.
Concerned that the monopoly on one patent was impeding the spread of radio receivers in Japan, Matsushita bought it from the inventor with his own money and made it available to the radio industry free of charge. It was an era of fierce competition between manufacturers, so holding a monopoly on the patent would have given him an advantage over other companies, enabling him to make substantial profits. However, he decided to make the patent he had bought available free of charge to rival manufacturers based on his management philosophy of “co-existence and co-prosperity,” as he wanted more citizens to use high-quality radios that did not break.
As a result, the use of radios spread rapidly and expanded across Japan, and radio manufacturers in the country therefore prospered. Among them, Panasonic, which succeeded in producing the highest-quality radios, achieved the best results. Broadcasting became more widespread, making a great contribution to people’s happiness through improving national culture and accelerating economic development. Matsushita the business executive and his company earned the acclaim and trust of society.
To be continued in the next edition.
Rikio Suma, Author
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Others
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Inquiries>
https://www.aots.jp/en/contact/
<Past Issues>
https://h.bme.jp/bm/p/bn/list.php?i=hri_hida&no=all
<Unsubscribe or change your registered e-mail address>.
https://www.aots.jp/en/publications/newsletter/
*If you want to change your registered email address, please unsubscribe once with your old address and register your subscription with your new address at the above website.
<Privacy Policy>
Your personal information is protected and is not made public. Any information you provide through AOTS website and email will only be used by us to provide you with AOTS E-newsletters, occasional information and related questionnaires.
Copyright 2016
The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS)
30-1, Senju-Azuma 1-chome, Adachi-ku, Tokyo 120-8534, JAPAN