＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
In the past, many voices recommended and promoted “diversification of management,” and in fact, many companies have actually started to “diversify management” as their core business alone would be too much for them to keep their heads above water.
１．Failure of Lizap
However, Lizap, which recently became famous for its TV commercials with the catchphrase “Committed to Results” and has grown rapidly, announced in its financial results that it will fall into a “7 billion yen deficit” (*) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.
(*) Addendum dated 5/15/2019.
In the finalized financial results (International Accounting Standards) released on 5/15, the company reported a “loss of 19.3 billion yen. In the “Financial Results,” there is a note “Significant Events Regarding Assumption of Going Concern,” which is included when there is a situation that raises doubts about the company’s viability as a going concern but countermeasures are being taken.
Lizap was profitable in its core “gym business.
However, it was unable to commit to the results with regard to the restructuring of the companies it acquired through M&A.
Lizap has been growing rapidly by acquiring mainly poorly performing companies.
However, while some of these companies, such as “casual clothing stores,” have improved their performance, subsidiaries such as “CD and game software sales companies,” “free paper publishing companies,” and “correctional underwear sales companies” have been in the red, dragging down consolidated performance.
Takeshi Seto, president of Lizap, is not an expert in strength training, but he started this company because he recognized that many people with metabolic syndrome and lack of exercise could improve their physical condition by systematically using trainers who specialize in exercise and experts in dietary guidance.
The idea was brilliant, and it actually worked.
However, the president is 40 years young, and while he has a strong desire to expand his business, his ability to look at companies to be acquired may have been limited, and his outlook may have been naive.
２．Nidec’s Success
On the other hand, one successful example is Nidec Corporation. The company was founded by Shigenobu Nagamori, famous for his one-man chairman, and is the world’s number one comprehensive motor manufacturer.
He is such a workaholic manager that I have heard rumors that his executives come to work even on holidays to have lunch with the president.
Chairman Nagamori is 74 years old, but since the company’s establishment in 1973 (Showa 48), he has steadily grown the company through repeated mergers and acquisitions over a period of 45 years. He has been very strict in looking at the companies he has acquired and has also been demanding in his demands on his employees.
As a result, in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, it became a huge blue-chip company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange with consolidated sales of 1,488.1 billion yen, operating income of 167.6 billion yen, net income of 131.4 billion yen, and 107,554 employees.
The managers of fast-growing companies have big dreams of business expansion, and they inevitably tend to overstretch their reach. Expanding beyond one’s ability and control is a recipe for failure.
To digress from the topic of “diversification,” it is not only for companies, but for individuals as well, to take on work that is beyond one’s capacity. It is necessary to calmly assess one’s own processing capacity and refuse work that is impossible to handle. It would be a terrible mistake to die of overwork.