Takao Sakai — 'investors and MBAs often end up destroying businesses'

Takao Sakai — President of Global Lean Solutions and Global People Solutions, longtime authority on Toyota Production System — endorses Incorruptible and ties Eric's framework to Japan's JTC (Japanese Traditional Company) governance crisis, contrasting it with Toyota's Mikawa-style system.

“Now that the industrial structure has shifted to focus on product development, it is clear that we need new concepts for corporate governance. As Eric Ries points out, it is a common reality in the U.S. and Europe that companies — which once developed products with noble goals and high aspirations to provide value to customers — are being destroyed by investors and finance professionals who ignore the value to customers and society and pursue only short-term economic gains. What complicates matters is that all of these elements — including the product itself — are intangible. In other words, they cannot be accounted for on financial statements. That is why external investors and MBAs often end up destroying businesses. The problem common to both Japan and the U.S. is that the activities of well-intentioned people striving to provide excellent products that fulfill corporate objectives — products that offer higher satisfaction and greater economic value — are being hindered and destroyed by the old-style American capitalism and the corrupt, socialist-like mindset found in JTCs.” — Takao Sakai on LinkedIn