A question of character

Face value

Aug 7th 2008
From The Economist print edition

What Kosaku Shima, Japan’s most popular salaryman, says about Japanese business

JAPANESE bosses are mostly an elderly lot. So it seemed that a newgeneration had taken the reins of corporate Japan when Kosaku Shima wasappointed president of Hatsushiba Goyo, a conglomerate, in June. Atjust 60, Mr Shima is the best known and most beloved businessman inJapan. His ascent from lowly salaryman to lofty shacho (president)traces corporate Japan’s rise in the 1980s, its descent into the “lostdecade” of the 1990s and its subsequent tentative recovery. News of MrShima’s appointment was broadcast on television and splashed across thecountry’s newspapers, and the bosses of Japan’s biggest firms lined upto lavish praise on him. “He is a man of principle,” said TsunehisaKatsumata, president of Tokyo Electric Power

Part of Mr Shima’s appeal, in addition to his timelessly youthfullooks, is his respect for the Japanese virtues of hard work,self-sacrifice, loyalty and modesty. “My position is a result of thesupport of the people around me,” he said when he was named to thepost. Despite his modesty, Mr Shima has been the subject of twotelevision series and a film. He endorses snacks and beer, so thatpictures of him, perpetually raising a glass, are plastered acrossJapan. Ladies cannot help but throw themselves before him. He is ratherlike a Japanese James Bond who swapped 007 for an MBA. And Mr Shimaresembles Mr Bond in another respect: he is a fictional character.

To be precise, Mr Shima is a manga (or cartoon) character. Thecomic books that have chronicled his career, drawn and written byKenshi Hirokane since 1983, are hugely popular. Alongside improbableexploits and gratuitous sex, the books deal with serious themes andprovide an unvarnished, realistic portrait of Japanese business. Middlemanagers are pushed into early retirement for daring to question theboss in a meeting; workers do not see their families for weeks as theyare forced to remain at the office; managers are so wedded to theirjobs that their wives divorce them; nasty office politics abound.

Yet in many ways Mr Shima is an unlikely choice to lead thefictional Hatsushiba. He made his reputation by taking risks, actingdecisively, ruffling feathers and staying outside the factions vyingfor power. Such independent-minded individuals are anathema tocorporate Japan and do not usually last long. During a stint managingHatsushiba’s record label, for example, Mr Shima pushed out stuffymanagers who squandered money and obstructed his reforms. When runningoverseas affiliates, he criticised the way in which Japanese firms liketo send in Japanese managers; he promoted local staff instead, withmuch success. Mr Shima is, in other words, the antithesis of a Japaneseexecutive. He is direct in his dealings, meritocratic, comes to his ownconclusions, takes responsibility and embraces change. He is a leaderin an environment hostile to leadership.

“Shima is influential—business people want to be like him butcan’t,” says Yuko Kawamoto, a management professor at Waseda Universitywho also sits on several company boards. But Mr Shima’s popularity is apositive sign, she believes. “Maybe there is hope for Japanese society.We want to change, but do not have the courage,” she says. For MrHirokane, the artist and author of the books, Mr Shima’s adventures area way to inform as much as entertain. “Japan is really behind the restof the world,” he says. “I want readers to know the critical situationof Japanese business in the world, and ask: 'What shall we do aboutit?'”

Mr Hirokane, with his silver cufflinks and gleaming wristwatch, isas dapper as the businessman he depicts. And he is cut from the samecloth. After earning a law degree, Mr Hirokane spent four years atMatsushita, a giant conglomerate, before becoming a manga artist—aradical career shift, particularly in Japan. But his success meant thatlife imitated art, and he emerged as a business savant. Mr Hirokanesits on government committees, interviews the bosses of big Japanesefirms and spent a year as a professor of business ethics. Salaryman manga has been popular since the 1960s, but “Shima Kosaku” is the most adored, selling some 30m books. In Japan manga is a mainstream medium, with annual sales of Ұ470 billion (about $4.5 billion).

Not on the curriculum vitae

Some of Mr Shima’s exploits raise questions about his suitabilityfor his new role. He divorced his wife and all but ignored his family.He fathered an illegitimate child. In his 40s, as a rising executive,he had an affair with a subordinate 20 years his junior (who happenedto be the daughter of the firm’s founder). More controversially, in2002 Mr Shima solicited the help of the Chinese underworld to aid acolleague seeking revenge against a corrupt businessman, which resultedin that man’s torture and death.

In the 1990s the president of Hatsushiba sought to defend a formerfriend’s company that was under threat of a hostile takeover, anddispatched Mr Shima to spare no expense and buy up its shares. Mr Shimawas venerated for his success. Yet his actions represented a blatantconflict of interest and a misuse of corporate funds. In the West, thepair would have faced shareholder lawsuits and possibly criminalcharges. When confronted with this, a wide-eyed Mr Hirokane can onlystammer that Mr Shima’s actions were probably allowed in Japan at thetime.

As president, Mr Shima’s first message to his employees was “ThinkGlobal!” It was meant to set the tone of his tenure. But his verypresence in the boss’s chair is improbable. His career has been definedby a willingness to break the rules of Japanese business, rather thanplay the game. His story is popular because it juxtaposes a dashinglifestyle with the unflattering reality of corporate Japan. It wouldhave been more realistic if Mr Shima had been forced to end his careerparked at an obscure affiliate company in the hinterland. With theascension of the archetypal corporate rebel to the top job, Mr Shima’sstory has gone from smart social realism to being just another fairytale.

출처 : The Economist

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