Canon
is the world's leading manufacturer of conventional and
digital camera, copying machine, computer peripherals
and optical products. Their net sale was 2940 billion
yen ($ 25 billion) in 2002 in which camera constituted
16.5%, copying machine 31.9%, computer peripherals 34.6%
and optical & other products 17%. The operating profit
was 346.4 billion yen ($ 3 billion). Net income was 191
billion yen ($ 1.6 billion) in 2002 and basic earnings
per share were 218 yen ($ 1.81). Canon had over 92,800
employees as on December 31, 2002 in 195 Group companies.
Canon was a technological giant with 1893 patents registered
in U S in 2002. Canon's development of new-products was
very fast and 60% of Canon's brand products were launched
in the last two years. Canon was truly a global company
with over 75% of sales outside Japan in 2002.
Ryuzaburo
Kaku introduced a concept of Kyosei in Canon's corporate
vision in 1987. Kyosei means "a spirit of cooperation"
in which individuals and organisations live and work together
for the common good. Canon has been practicing Kyosei
and established harmonious relationship with its customers,
its suppliers, the governments with which it deals and
natural environment.
There are five stages of Corporate Kyosei. In the first
stage under Kyosei Company should make profit for its
survival. In the second stage, cooperation between labour
and management, which is vital to the company's success,
should be established. In the third stage, the company
should cooperate with outside groups such as customers,
suppliers and community groups. In the fourth stage cooperation
and collaboration with foreign companies should be explored.
Company should see government as partners to protect environment
in the fifth stage.
These aspects are in the same spirit of Indian Management
ethos-- SAHAVIRYAM KARAWAVAHAI--Let us get strengthened
together by working together.
Every
employee made a commitment to live and work in harmony
with others in Canon. Canon considered everyone as sha-in,
which was translated as 'member of the company'. Canon
considered employees as an asset and invested in them
in terms of high salaries, extensive training programs
and generous vacation plans. Canon Tokyo had never in
its history fired a domestic employee and asked any employee
to take early retirement. Their vacation and bonus were
more liberal than those of other Japanese companies. The
average employee could take eight weeks of vacation each
year. Canon also allowed each employee to take a leave
of absence of up to one year and still could earn 20%
of his or her salary. Kaku said, "By caring for our
employees, they can care for the company". In its
60-year history, Canon Tokyo had never had a strike.
Fujio
Mitarai wanted to make Canon a global leader in digital
photography, inkjet printer, semi-conductor manufacturing
and copier machines when he took over charge as President
and CEO of Canon Inc in 1995. Mitarai's style was shaped
by his keen interest in technology. He was looking for
Canon's US operation for 23 years. However he was not
influenced by management practices followed by US. He
adhered to certain Japanese management principles such
as lifetime employment, a company board composed of Canon
executives only etc.
At
Canon, customer satisfaction plays an important role and
Canon formed a committee to understand the needs of the
customer. The R & D department interacted with customers
in the product development process. Canon sent their engineers
to suppliers' plant to help improve their technical skills
and quality of their products.
Canon
was concerned with environmental problems. It found ways
to reduce air and water pollution, to protect wilderness
areas and to cut back on energy consumption. They developed
lead-free glass for optical lenses, established copier
cartridge recycling in 21 countries and designing products
for lower consumption and long life. They set up cartridge
Recovery and Recycling System, which entailed collecting
and recycling used cartridge from copying machines and
printers worldwide. Canon collected about 20 million units
used copier cartridges from customers around the world
and shipped them to recycling plants located in China,
the United States and Europe in 1990. Canon could recycle
copier because of easy to pack and dissemble. In collaboration
with the U.S Start-up Company, Canon developed solar cell
energy. It marketed solar cell roofing in cooperation
with 500 construction companies around the world. It also
developed a new technology known as biore-mediation by
which microbes break down chemical pollutants in the soil
25 times faster than previously possible.
In
1993, Canon set up its Ecology Research and Development
Centre to conduct R & D in the field of ecology. Canon
adopted Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) program in the development
of i550, i850 Bubble Jet printers. In order to lower the
power consumption, it developed colour induction-heating
(IH) fixing technology. In addition, many parts of ELPH(IXUS)
camera, PowerShot DIGITAL ELPH Camera etc were made with
aluminum and stainless steel which were easy to recycle
and reuse.
Canon's future strategy was to create a resilient global
organisation and to make the company a leader in the imaging
industry. Canon would make further efforts to improve
products and increase profitability by raising the quality
of digital engineering systems, developing technologies
to enhance production efficiency and creating new key
components and devices.
