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What More You Would Do If You Were The Decision Maker?
What More You Would Do If You Were The Decision Maker?
maker?
Michael C. Woodford shocked his colleagues by leapfrogging scores of executives to become the
company’s first non-Japanese president.
Tsuyoshi Kikukawa was an Olympus hand of almost half a century, with a decade at the
company’s helm, credited with kick-starting its digital camera business, and long a witness to its
ups — and downs. But when the English president, Michael C. Woodford, confronted the
Japanese chairman, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, over $1 billion in murky payouts and questionable
acquisitions Olympus had made during Mr. Kikukawa’s tenure, their worlds clashed.
And so began a boardroom battle that has cost both men their jobs, wiped out over half the
company’s stock market value, and once against cast a harsh spotlight on seemingly grave lapses
of corporate governance at a top-tier Japanese company.Now we will discuss what we could do
if we were the decision maker: