Chapter 197
There wasn't a day that I didn't see the commercial for "If you want to sell a car, Big Motor♫", but now there's not a day that I don't see the news about the Big Motor scandal. Mr. Yukichi Fukuzawa, the founder of Keio University, wrote in his “Gakumon no Susume”, “Heaven(God?) does not create people above people, nor does it create people below people.” All people are equal, and the difference between rich and poor and social status is caused by the difference in learning. Therefore, it is interpreted that learning is important to be rich or social status. It's a convenient interpretation for educators, but I think that he preaches that learning is more important for human beings than mundane things such as wealth and social status. In general, it is said that you don't need to study to do business. Rather than going to school, it is better to go to apprenticeship early to learn the principles of business. If you have time to think about difficult theories, it would be better to go to a customer and ask for a favor. Big Motor, a used car sales business, does not have much room for differentiation from other shops in the business of purchasing and selling used cars. When I watched a TV commercial that says, "Buy at a high price," there are no cases where they actually bought it at a high price. The market price of used cars is determined by model, year, color, conditions, repair history, etc., and the purchase price is determined based on the transaction data at the auction. Therefore, those who go to Big Motor to sell cars without knowing such things will lose money. It is at times like these that learning comes in handy. First of all, TV commercials cost a lot of money. We also ran nationwide TV commercials to promote our home appliance brand LEDPURE, but sales did not increase, and we were only billed for advertising expenses. Based on that experience, I was very interested in the management of Big Motor, which had become No. 1 in the industry with that much commercial exposure. However, the reality was full of illegal acts, and unfortunately it made sense. In the future, these illegal acts should be thoroughly pursued, but even so, I am disgusted with the witch-hunting coverage of the media. The media has no right to judge individuals or companies. As Mr. Yukichi taught, former presidents, employees, and people involved in insurance companies are still in the process of learning. Through these experiences, I think they've learned in their bones that these kinds of ending are possible. Success in business is not easy. Much more like a retail business, the products they sell are the same as other stores. What do they differentiate? Then, give a strict quota, and in return, if they will achieve them, they will be promoted, rewarded as usual. It is easy to imagine illegal acts to achieve the quota. In a society where family service and child-rearing are prioritized over working at a job in the government's work style reform, the Big Motor Incident provided a lesson for companies. Case studies of innovative products such as SONY WALKMAN, NINTENDO game consoles, and APPLE iPhone are popular in business school classes. In fact, it is not uncommon for even products they are said to be innovative to have competing similar products. Business is based on satisfying people's greed with money. The historical background, design, operability, product promotion methods, sales channels, and various other factors that are not taught in business schools overlap to achieve success. The study that Mr. Yukichi preaches is the study of a noble spirit unrelated to greed.
The article of President Muramoto is introduced on the Newsweek magazine Aug. 15th 2023.
Aug.8th 2023
Learning from others
