Table Of ContentTimeless Ventures
32 Japanese Companies that Imbibed
8 Principles of Longevity
Timeless Ventures
32 Japanese Companies that Imbibed
8 Principles of Longevity
Haruo Funabashi
Visiting Professor, Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of
International Corporate Strategy, Tokyo
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To
the young entrepreneurs
Praise for
Timeless Ventures
“Prof. Haruo Funabashi’s book is based on research into the long-lived
companies in Japan. What this book suggests, is the application of
philosophy to daily work life, which is not only valid but also useful in
today’s world. The principles…distilled from it, for instance, respect for
people, continuous improvement, long-term vision and so on, are essential
and indispensable to building sustainable businesses, the economy and
society at large”.
Hiroshi Okuda
Senior Advisor and Member of the Board,
Toyota Motor Corporation,
Former Chairman of Japan Business Federation
“The business world needs an insight into the reasons why centuries old
companies survive in Japan in marked contrast to the demise of their
much younger counterparts in the western world. This book seeks to
investigate this phenomenon, and provides some answers. It is obvious
that long-surviving companies must integrate with the communities in
which they are set up and in which they operate. There is a lesson here
that one can learn from Japan. In India also, we are now realizing the
importance of the company-community integration for the well being of
both”.
Jamshed J. Irani
Director, Tata Sons
“Business for people or people for business is a dilemma often faced by those
in business. It is not rare to see people subscribing to the former but actually
practising the latter. Prof. Funabashi’s book, replete with considerable
data and insightful research, establishes without doubt the attributes that
make a business survive and prosper for decades and even for centuries,
and it is the business for people precept that clearly comes out as the anchor
for longevity and prosperity”.
Kishor A. Chaukar
Managing Director, Tata Industries
viii Praise for Timeless Ventures
“…In recent times, we talk more about building big businesses than on
how to make them last. Prof. Funabashi’s attempt to draw out elements
of longevity from different types and sizes of institutions in Japan is
interesting. On one hand, it reminds us about long-lived movements in
India like the over twelve hundred year old Sringeri math of Karnataka or
the Warkari and Nath Sampraday in Maharashtra, and so on. On the
other, it is about a subtle synthesis and the influence such movements
could have on the day-to-day running of our businesses and institutions.
I was inspired by the book”.
Jitendra B. Divgi
CEO, Divgi-Warner
Foreword
In India, we generally do not equate a family-run business with longevity.
The impression that many of us have is that family-run organizations are
not “professionally” managed, whatever that is supposed to mean, and
therefore tend to break up or fail by the time the second or at best the
third generation of the family is at the helm. Professor Funabashi’s very
incisive and relevant study of long-lived Japanese organizations, most of
which are family-run, tends to refute this argument and points to a far
more meaningful cause for the malaise that faces our family-run
organizations.
If the term “professional management” is supposed to mean
management of an organization by people who are well-qualified in
management, there are enough examples of family-run organizations which
have been managed by highly qualified family members and which have
still disintegrated. It would seem, therefore, that the answer lies elsewhere.
Professor Funabashi has equated the longevity and sustainability of
organizations with a certain set of organizational objectives. He has also
shown that in long-lived Japanese companies, these objectives have been
long term and aimed at benefiting the society rather than individuals.
These two approaches, to me, are at the heart of the success in sustaining
organizations and contributing to their longevity.
Individual benefit and organizational sustainability make incompatible
bed fellows. The business environment is replete with examples of this
incompatibility. Western culture has emphasized the importance of the
individual over that of the society whereas Eastern philosophy emphasizes
the importance of society. Unfortunately, Indian business practices have
been modeled largely on western philosophy even though in so many
other aspects of our lives, we replicate eastern thought. This, to my mind,
is the reason for the lack of sustainability of our business enterprises.
On the other hand, if one needs any example of a sustainable enterprise,
all we need to do is look at the house of Tatas. Jamsetji Tata’s business
philosophy was: “thus the cycle is complete, what came from the people
has gone back to the people many times over”. This became the objective
x Foreword
of all Tata companies. To ensure that this happened, Jamsetji structured
the ownership of his enterprises in such a way that eighty percent of the
equity of the original company, Tata and Sons, was owned by charitable
trusts, and so eighty percent of their profits would go back to the people
in form of developmental programs created by the trusts. Even today,
over sixty percent of the equity of Tata Sons, the parent company of the
Tata group, is owned by the various Tata trusts, which gives back
generously to society. For instance, the Tata trusts have been responsible
for the creation of pioneering institutions of national significance—The
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; The Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore; The Meherbai Tata Cancer Research Hospital,
Mumbai; the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai and
hundreds of other projects for the benefit of Indian community.
Most importantly, the individual profit motive has been removed by
an exemplary leadership and its impact at all levels is that the officers
leading and governing Tata companies are able to concentrate on building
institutions and the nation. Uncompromising business ethics and
adherance to the objectives of their organizations have enabled the house
of Tatas to lead for over 130 years and still grow!!
If Indian industrial organizations are to be sustainable, they need to
clearly define their objectives and ensure that these aim at contributing to
society rather than any individual or group of individuals, while also
addressing the future goals of the society at large.
I believe that Funabashi’s book rightly emphasizes on how business
with principles and vision of the future helps all types and sizes of businesses
to overcome obstacles to endure and grow for centuries.
Sarosh J. Ghandy
Regional Director
Caux Initiatives for Business, Bangalore
