The Roosevelt Game

Aoshima Manufacturing is a medium-sized precision instrument maker with annual turnover of 50 billion yen in the outskirts of Tokyo. A board meeting is held at the company each week and it is the usual practice for each director to report on items on the agenda along with actual achievements and estimates. But on this day, there is a charged atmosphere at the board meeting. The angry voices of the directors fly about in front of company president Hosokawa Mitsuru in the meeting room. Shortly after Hosokawa assumed his post, the world was plunged into an economic downturn due to the financial crisis. Aoshima Manufacturing is no exception and starts suffering the aftereffects. On top of a demand from an important client for a significant markdown that will amount to more than 1 billion yen in losses, they are told that if the demand is not met, the client will switch to rival Itsuwa Electric. The directors argue heatedly before Hosokawa. As this is going on, managing director Sasai Kotaro, whose opinion was sought by Hosokawa, dumbfounds them with the sudden suggestion to close down the baseball club. Hosokawa reports to the directors that Aoshima Manufacturing’s main bank has suggested the possibility that it would put financing for the next quarter on hold. He says they will carry out more cost-cutting and closing down the baseball club will be one step to demonstrate to the bank that the company will get back into shape. Aoshima Manufacturing’s baseball club costs 300 million yen a year to maintain. It used to be famous baseball club for working adults, but it has followed a course of decline which seems to mirror the company’s sluggish corporate performance. Now that it cannot function as the company’s poster boy, it has been reduced to being treated as the company’s burden. Hosokawa’s decision is logical as a top executive and a portion of the directors voice support. However, in the midst of this, Hosokawa is asked again by Sasai if he will really be able to do away with the baseball club. This is because it is a company tradition established by Aoshima Tsuyoshi, the founder and now chairman of Aoshima Manufacturing, who has a great love for baseball. To close down the baseball club, Aoshima will have to be persuaded. In order to propose his intention, Hosokawa visits Aoshima with grim determination. But this is what Aoshima tells Hosokawa, “Let me say one thing. The company’s numbers consist of people and goods. If a lid is kept on the unit price of goods in stock, it doesn’t matter how much it is reduced. However, if you want to fire people, you need to have ‘ism’ as a company president. Do you have that?” The Hosokawa of today does not have this. Although he is momentarily stuck for an answer, he declares to Aoshima, “I’ll protect Aoshima Manufacturing no matter what it takes. This is my ‘ism’.” However, this time, Hosokawa gets a demand from another big client for a drastic adjustment in production that will result in a 7 billion yen loss per year for Aoshima Manufacturing … … (Source: TBS)