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Divide and Prosper: An Asian Concept for Successful Business Growth
Sakai, Kunuyasu
176 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2003
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November 6, 2013
Originally written in 1985, during the height of the "Bubble Economy" boom in Japan, Divide and Prosper is a rare "business" book that is as valid and useful today as when it was written. In fact, as a critique of what is wrong with business as usual in our world and as a prescription for a better way, it is perhaps even more poignant today.
The ICG Muse edition I read was published in 2003, under economic circumstances quite different from when the book was first published. Yet, authors Kuniyasu Sakai and Hiroshi Sekiyama are as fervent in their prescription for success in business and life, that we should divide our companies into smaller, flexible, and hungry units. While the book was a small wave going against the massive tide of Japan Inc. during the Bubble Era, by the early 21st Century and after 20 "lost" years of economic stagnation in Japan, Sakai and Sekiyama's business philosophy had started to catch something of a big wave.
But despite the attention and accolades, there seems to be no end in sight to the adoration of BIG in contemporary world. BIG business, BIG companies, BIG entertainment, and BIG stars dominate the marketplace and mind.
It may take many more years for Sakai and Sekiyama's words really sink in and take root in our world. It may only be as an afterthought, after our fetish with size causes the majority of the people to extinguish and perish, much as the dinosaurs described in the book. This would be tragic.
Divide and Proper, I hope, does not end up being but a footnote in books written later in this Century, quoted like Nostradamus for its prophecies. Thankfully, the authors focus on the opportunities from healthy division, competition, and innovation, and spare us of the consequences of the relentless pursuit of humongous mediocrity (which is what we have now). Like the business managers they aspire to, Sakai and Sekiyama maintain a positive and optimistic outlook.
There is one section, however, that the authors show glimpses of their anger and disgust for the economic superpowers in Japan. In the section, "Big Business, Small Companies," Sakai and Sekiyama write a detailed description of the subcontractor system in Japan. While they hint upon the tremendous power of the major firms dominating the economic landscape in earlier sections, here, Sakai and Sekiyama carefully describe how they manipulate the vast majority of the Japanese economy.
Rather than spreading wealth thinly and evenly across the majority of the nation - as is the "common knowledge" explanation for the Japanese economy - the subcontracting system enslaves the majority of people. The big companies are not much more that a system of installing a small cadre of mediocre administrators to threaten, cajole, and pacify the masses, while pooling the wealth into the hands of a few wealthy and powerful elites, who hide anonymously behind the veils of their organizations.
This scathing analysis is really at the heart of the book. The authors try to maintain optimism and push an agenda that is clearly about good business. But ultimately, if the purpose of your biggest competitors is to enslave you, then your purpose must be to defeat and destroy your opposition. The war is raging.
The ICG Muse edition I read was published in 2003, under economic circumstances quite different from when the book was first published. Yet, authors Kuniyasu Sakai and Hiroshi Sekiyama are as fervent in their prescription for success in business and life, that we should divide our companies into smaller, flexible, and hungry units. While the book was a small wave going against the massive tide of Japan Inc. during the Bubble Era, by the early 21st Century and after 20 "lost" years of economic stagnation in Japan, Sakai and Sekiyama's business philosophy had started to catch something of a big wave.
But despite the attention and accolades, there seems to be no end in sight to the adoration of BIG in contemporary world. BIG business, BIG companies, BIG entertainment, and BIG stars dominate the marketplace and mind.
It may take many more years for Sakai and Sekiyama's words really sink in and take root in our world. It may only be as an afterthought, after our fetish with size causes the majority of the people to extinguish and perish, much as the dinosaurs described in the book. This would be tragic.
Divide and Proper, I hope, does not end up being but a footnote in books written later in this Century, quoted like Nostradamus for its prophecies. Thankfully, the authors focus on the opportunities from healthy division, competition, and innovation, and spare us of the consequences of the relentless pursuit of humongous mediocrity (which is what we have now). Like the business managers they aspire to, Sakai and Sekiyama maintain a positive and optimistic outlook.
There is one section, however, that the authors show glimpses of their anger and disgust for the economic superpowers in Japan. In the section, "Big Business, Small Companies," Sakai and Sekiyama write a detailed description of the subcontractor system in Japan. While they hint upon the tremendous power of the major firms dominating the economic landscape in earlier sections, here, Sakai and Sekiyama carefully describe how they manipulate the vast majority of the Japanese economy.
Rather than spreading wealth thinly and evenly across the majority of the nation - as is the "common knowledge" explanation for the Japanese economy - the subcontracting system enslaves the majority of people. The big companies are not much more that a system of installing a small cadre of mediocre administrators to threaten, cajole, and pacify the masses, while pooling the wealth into the hands of a few wealthy and powerful elites, who hide anonymously behind the veils of their organizations.
This scathing analysis is really at the heart of the book. The authors try to maintain optimism and push an agenda that is clearly about good business. But ultimately, if the purpose of your biggest competitors is to enslave you, then your purpose must be to defeat and destroy your opposition. The war is raging.
Displaying 1 of 1 review