Japanese business giant Kazuo Inamori to take JAL's helm

Kazuo Inamori, one of Japan's most prominent business figures, yesterday accepted Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's offer to become CEO of Japan Airlines and guide the troubled carrier through its pending bankruptcy reorganization.

JAL's current head, President Haruka Nishimatsu, is expected to step down as soon as next week, when the airline reportedly plans to file for bankruptcy under Japan's Corporate Rehabilitation Law. Nishimatsu has expressed misgivings about a court-monitored bankruptcy proceeding, warning that negative connotations associated with bankruptcy could drive away passengers.

But he appears to have lost the argument, with the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan, which will oversee JAL's restructuring, mapping out a recovery strategy that will include bankruptcy (ATWOnline, Jan. 13). Nishimatsu has said that he and his management team bore some responsibility for the airline's fiscal troubles and indicated he would resign once a viable restructuring plan is in place.

Inamori, 77, founded Kyocera Corp. in 1959 and built it into a premier high-tech company manufacturing a range of products including cell phones and solar power equipment. In 1984 he founded KDDI, now Japan's second-largest telecommunications provider.

Though retired, the ordained Buddhist monk is a popular writer and lecturer in Japan and widely regarded as one the nation's leading business minds. "I don't know anything about the transportation industry, but I would like to make my best contribution," he told reporters yesterday. He acknowledged he would not work fulltime and would select a COO to handle day-to-day affairs. "I am old and a fulltime job is hard for me, so I would like to work three or four days a week and I will work for free," he said.

"I have great expectations for a man whose managerial skill built Kyocera and KDDI in a single lifetime," Hatoyama said.

On his official website, Inamori wrote that he has "struggled with many dead-end situations which caused me endless agony" throughout his career, but has achieved "amazing results" by adhering to management principles he dubs the "Kyocera Philosophy." Among the key tenets are "clearly stat[ing] the purpose and mission of your business" and working to "measure your inflow and control your outflow. Don't chase profit, but let it follow your effort." He added that "business management requires a persistent, 'rock-piercing' will" and "a more combative mentality than any martial art."