“Amoeba Management” Guru’s Compelling Story
Japan Airlines has picked one of its country’s most revered
entrepreneurs as new CEO, to lead its restructuring. Kazuo Inamori,
78, is well known in Japan for a rags-to-riches story that includes
the founding of two blue-chip Japanese companies: electronics
component maker Kyocera Corporation, and telecommunications carrier
KDDI Corporation.
Inamori broke the mold of the typical Japanese salaried-man, when
upon retirement at 65 he became a Zen Buddhist monk. An author of
eleven books about his life and executive experience, Inamori
champions a management philosophy that blends religious teachings (Respect
The Divine And Love People) with business clichés (Maximize
Revenues And Minimize Expenses).
He advocates a management philosophy known as “amoeba management,” a
method of dividing the company into small, self-contained units all
working toward common goals. Each “amoeba” (unit) makes its own
plans and must be fiscally self-sustaining with definable revenue.
What makes Inamori’s story so compelling in Japanese business
circles, is that he managed to be successful without many of the
connections and family ties that helped many of Japan’s postwar
entrepreneurs. He was born into poverty; his family home and his
father’s printing shop were destroyed in World War II air raids. In
that year, at 13, he contracted tuberculosis, which was considered a
death sentence at the time.
Inamori ranks 28th on Forbes’ “40 Richest Japanese” list,
with an estimated net worth of $920 million.
