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发表于 2011-11-10 10:29:44
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VOX POPULI: Olympus scandal betrays proud history of company
Takachiho Seisakusho, the forerunner of Olympus Corp., was founded about 90 years ago during the middle of the Taisho Era (1912-1926). In Japanese mythology, Takachiho-no-Mine, a mountain that stands on the border between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, is said to be the home of Shinto gods. The brand name Olympus, which later became the company name, reflected the company's aspirations to create products that would be globally recognized.The name derives from Mount Olympus, the home of the gods in Greek mythology.
The recent scandal involving inappropriate spending by Olympus executives betrays the company's noble name and the ideals of their predecessors.The company admitted that the squandering of funds for corporate acquisitions was aimed at covering up latent losses generated after the collapse of the asset-inflated economy.Accounting fraud is a disgrace. The company deserves to be delisted.According to Olympus, it was none other than its former chairman--who was concurrently president, executive vice president and standing corporate auditor--who had a hand in irregular accounting practices.
The board fired the company's British president, who tried to get to the bottom of the problem.
The picture of the company's Japanese management, which patently lacked the ability to take remedial action, and a foreign national who tried to singlehandedly uncover corruption and wrongdoing is all the more pathetic because it is simple and clear.
Olympus is a top producer of endoscopic instruments. But the company overlooked, or rather turned a blind eye over a 20-year period, to an old wound caused by speculative investments until it grew into a serious lesion that could not be easily cured.Surgery required a single foreign scalpel, which proved to be powerful enough. This dismal development highlighted the laxness of Japanese corporate governance. The situation is so serious that the reputation of Japanese companies and markets as a whole may now be deemed questionable.
In the case of a former chairman of the Daio Paper Corp. who embezzled funds, critics cited the lax family management. What must be questioned with Olympus is the irresponsible attitude and defensiveness of hired executives.It is an easy job that allows them to climb the corporate ladder while looking the other way in the face of wrongdoing.
Olympus, which started out as a maker of microscopes and thermometers, became the world's first company to market gastric cameras soon after World War II. I feel very sorry for its development team, which, through its pioneering work with endoscopes, has been saving countless lives. What can we make of the absurdity that a proud optic maker blundered not in the area of technology but with illegal accounting practices?
--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 9 |
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