Newsfrom Japan
Osaka, Aug. 3 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. will accelerate efforts to reform its corporate culture marked by workers’ reliance on top management, Chairman Yoshihito Ota has said.
A major problem the drug and supplement maker must address is the “strong tendency to depend on top management,” seen among its employees, Ota said in a recent interview.
Ota took office in March after being invited from outside the Osaka-based company, following a massive health hazard caused by supplements containing “beni koji” red yeast rice ingredients that came to light early last year.
Led by top executives mainly from the founding family, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical achieved net profit growth for over 20 years from its stock market listing in 1999, until the beni koji scandal emerged.
For many employees, “it was easier to work if they depended on someone rather than asserting themselves” during the period of strong growth, Ota said.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]