Revival of Hitachi the Company Is a Detriment to Hitachi the City
January 01, 2013
HITACHI, Japan — The biggest annual loss
on record by a Japanese manufacturer jolted executives into action at
the Hitachi Corporation, the century-old electronics and engineering
behemoth that takes its name from this wind-swept industrial city on the
Pacific Coast.
Since its 787 billion yen, or $9.2 billion, loss in 2009, Hitachi has staged an impressive turnaround, booking a record 347 billion yen ($4 billion) in net profit in the year through March 2012, while rivals like Sony, Sharp and Panasonic continue to struggle.
But in Hitachi, a city of 190,000 and the company’s longtime
production hub, there is little celebrating. Instead, the deserted
streets and shuttered workshops speak of the heavy toll levied by the
aggressive streamlining, cost-cutting and offshoring that has
underpinned Hitachi’s recovery.
The divergent fortunes of Hitachi and its home city highlight an uncomfortable reality: The bold steps that could revive Japan’s ailing electronics giants are unlikely to bring back the jobs, opportunities and growth that the country desperately needs to revive its economy.
The way forward for Japan’s embattled electronics sector, for now, is a globalization strategy that shifts production and procurement from high-cost Japan to more competitive locations overseas. As Japan’s manufacturing giants become truly global, a country that has so depended on its manufacturers for growth must look to other sources of jobs and opportunity, like its nascent entrepreneurs — a transformation far more easily said than done.
“Closing plants in Japan is a big deal, and we don’t take cutbacks lightly,” Hiroaki Nakanishi, Hitachi’s president and chief executive, said in a year-end interview in Tokyo. “But to return to growth, we have to cut loose what doesn’t bring profit. We have to be decisive.”
Japan is still grappling with the fallout from a decade-long, seemingly unstoppable decline of its electronics sector, once a driver of growth and a bedrock of its economy. Japan’s two biggest electronics companies, Hitachi and Panasonic, each have more in sales than the country’s entire agricultural sector, and other big electronics firms come close.
But for more than a decade, these technology companies have experienced little growth. Annual sales growth over the last 15 years at Japan’s top eight tech companies averages around zero, according to Eurotechnology Japan, a research and consulting company in Tokyo.
To blame are plunging prices across the board for their products, brought about by intense competition from rivals in South Korea and Taiwan as electronics increasingly become widely interchangeable. Overstretched and unfocused, Japan’s tech giants also ceded much of their cutting edge to more innovative companies like Apple. Japan’s failure to keep up with a shift in the industry to software and services has compounded those woes.
Above all, the high costs of operating in Japan, made worse by a strong yen, weighs heavily on exporters’ finances. In the year through March 2012, Panasonic, Sony and Sharp lost a combined $19 billion — more than the gross domestic product of Jamaica.
Still, even among its peers, Hitachi stood out for the depth of its losses. After a decade of little or negative growth, Hitachi fell first and hardest, booking its big loss at the height of the global financial crisis because of large write-downs and losses in its electronics businesses.
Hitachi’s appraisal of its operations since then, and its willingness to wield the ax to money-losing businesses, has surprised even the most dismissive of analysts.
Hitachi once had almost 400,000 employees at a thousand often overlapping and competing groups, making products as diverse as televisions, hard disk drives, chips, heated toilet seats, elevators and nuclear reactors. Under the leadership of Mr. Nakanishi, who took the helm in 2010, the company has substantially shrunk or sold money-losing businesses, including those making chips, flat-panel TVs, liquid crystal displays, mobile handsets and personal computers.
The streamlining was unsparing. Hitachi turned around its unit making hard disk drives, only to sell it to an American company last year after deeming the business still too volatile. Hitachi has now pared its sprawling empire to 939 companies, and Mr. Nakanishi says he is far from done.
That has meant dwindling job opportunities at Hitachi and in Japan. Since 2008, the number of workers at Hitachi has fallen 17 percent to 323,500 — and a third of those workers are now overseas. As Hitachi outsources more parts and materials, a whole matrix of suppliers is fading at home.
The pain is felt here in Hitachi city. It was once a bustling industrial hub, but the number of manufacturing jobs has fallen by almost 20 percent over the last decade, mirroring a similar drop in the city’s population.
Hitachi’s only department store closed in late 2008. The city lost all its movie theaters. Its drinking district, Saiwaicho — which translates to happy town — was largely deserted one recent weeknight. A tall Christmas tree — sponsored by Hitachi, according to its plaque — stood alone in an empty square.
Now locals are worrying about the planned merger, announced last month, of Hitachi’s thermal power business with that of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which could lead to more job losses at a turbine plant. Recent promises from the newly installed prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to weaken the yen have been met here with sighs that such policies are too little, too late.
“Hitachi might have recovered, but what are the rewards for the city, or for the country?” asked Toyohiko Baba, an engineer in information technology for 40 years at Hitachi who heads a companywide employees’ council that seeks to promote workers’ rights. “What is the point of Hitachi’s revival?”
Since its 787 billion yen, or $9.2 billion, loss in 2009, Hitachi has staged an impressive turnaround, booking a record 347 billion yen ($4 billion) in net profit in the year through March 2012, while rivals like Sony, Sharp and Panasonic continue to struggle.
按图放大
Everett Kennedy Brown/European Pressphoto Agency
A Hitachi-built train, part of a shift to infrastructure projects.
按图放大
Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Hiroaki Nakanishi, Hitachi’s president and chief executive.
按图放大
Bikas Das/Associated Press
A worker in India assembled an earth-moving vehicle for a joint venture, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company.
The divergent fortunes of Hitachi and its home city highlight an uncomfortable reality: The bold steps that could revive Japan’s ailing electronics giants are unlikely to bring back the jobs, opportunities and growth that the country desperately needs to revive its economy.
The way forward for Japan’s embattled electronics sector, for now, is a globalization strategy that shifts production and procurement from high-cost Japan to more competitive locations overseas. As Japan’s manufacturing giants become truly global, a country that has so depended on its manufacturers for growth must look to other sources of jobs and opportunity, like its nascent entrepreneurs — a transformation far more easily said than done.
“Closing plants in Japan is a big deal, and we don’t take cutbacks lightly,” Hiroaki Nakanishi, Hitachi’s president and chief executive, said in a year-end interview in Tokyo. “But to return to growth, we have to cut loose what doesn’t bring profit. We have to be decisive.”
Japan is still grappling with the fallout from a decade-long, seemingly unstoppable decline of its electronics sector, once a driver of growth and a bedrock of its economy. Japan’s two biggest electronics companies, Hitachi and Panasonic, each have more in sales than the country’s entire agricultural sector, and other big electronics firms come close.
But for more than a decade, these technology companies have experienced little growth. Annual sales growth over the last 15 years at Japan’s top eight tech companies averages around zero, according to Eurotechnology Japan, a research and consulting company in Tokyo.
To blame are plunging prices across the board for their products, brought about by intense competition from rivals in South Korea and Taiwan as electronics increasingly become widely interchangeable. Overstretched and unfocused, Japan’s tech giants also ceded much of their cutting edge to more innovative companies like Apple. Japan’s failure to keep up with a shift in the industry to software and services has compounded those woes.
Above all, the high costs of operating in Japan, made worse by a strong yen, weighs heavily on exporters’ finances. In the year through March 2012, Panasonic, Sony and Sharp lost a combined $19 billion — more than the gross domestic product of Jamaica.
Still, even among its peers, Hitachi stood out for the depth of its losses. After a decade of little or negative growth, Hitachi fell first and hardest, booking its big loss at the height of the global financial crisis because of large write-downs and losses in its electronics businesses.
Hitachi’s appraisal of its operations since then, and its willingness to wield the ax to money-losing businesses, has surprised even the most dismissive of analysts.
Hitachi once had almost 400,000 employees at a thousand often overlapping and competing groups, making products as diverse as televisions, hard disk drives, chips, heated toilet seats, elevators and nuclear reactors. Under the leadership of Mr. Nakanishi, who took the helm in 2010, the company has substantially shrunk or sold money-losing businesses, including those making chips, flat-panel TVs, liquid crystal displays, mobile handsets and personal computers.
The streamlining was unsparing. Hitachi turned around its unit making hard disk drives, only to sell it to an American company last year after deeming the business still too volatile. Hitachi has now pared its sprawling empire to 939 companies, and Mr. Nakanishi says he is far from done.
That has meant dwindling job opportunities at Hitachi and in Japan. Since 2008, the number of workers at Hitachi has fallen 17 percent to 323,500 — and a third of those workers are now overseas. As Hitachi outsources more parts and materials, a whole matrix of suppliers is fading at home.
The pain is felt here in Hitachi city. It was once a bustling industrial hub, but the number of manufacturing jobs has fallen by almost 20 percent over the last decade, mirroring a similar drop in the city’s population.
Hitachi’s only department store closed in late 2008. The city lost all its movie theaters. Its drinking district, Saiwaicho — which translates to happy town — was largely deserted one recent weeknight. A tall Christmas tree — sponsored by Hitachi, according to its plaque — stood alone in an empty square.
Now locals are worrying about the planned merger, announced last month, of Hitachi’s thermal power business with that of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which could lead to more job losses at a turbine plant. Recent promises from the newly installed prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to weaken the yen have been met here with sighs that such policies are too little, too late.
“Hitachi might have recovered, but what are the rewards for the city, or for the country?” asked Toyohiko Baba, an engineer in information technology for 40 years at Hitachi who heads a companywide employees’ council that seeks to promote workers’ rights. “What is the point of Hitachi’s revival?”
日立公司的復興，日立市的隕落
聯合報道 2013年01月01日
Hoang Dinh Nam/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
學生們參觀一座越南核電站的模型，該電站由日立和通用電氣(General Electric)聯合設計。
日本日立市——破紀錄的年度虧損記錄震動了日立公司(Hitachi Corporation)的管理層，迫使公司的高管們採取行動。這家擁有百年歷史的電子工程巨頭，名字就取自太平洋海岸大風肆虐的工業城市日立市。
自從2009年虧損了7870億日元（約合578.3億元人民幣）之後，日立一度扭轉了局面，令人刮目相看，到2012年3月，實現了創紀錄的 3470億日元（40億美元）年凈利潤。此時，其競爭對手索尼(Sony)、夏普(Sharp)和松下(Panasonic)還在苦苦掙扎。
不過，在公司的長期生產中心、人口19萬的日立市，幾乎聽不到慶賀之聲。空無一人的街道和關閉的車間顯示，企業大力精簡業務、削減支出、以及把曾支撐日立經濟復蘇的業務離岸外包的舉措讓本市經濟付出了沉重的代價。
日立公司與它所在城市之間迥異的命運凸顯了一個不幸的事實：能夠重振日本疲軟的電子業巨頭的大膽措施不太可能帶回日本經濟復蘇迫切所需的就業崗位、就業機會和經濟增長。
此刻，能為身陷困境的日本電子行業解圍的途徑就是一個全球化的戰略布局，即把生產和採購流程從高成本的日本轉移到海外更具競爭力的地區。隨着日本製 造業巨頭的全球化，這個曾經如此依賴製造業推動經濟增長的國家必須尋找其他的就業資源和機會，就像這個國家新生代的企業家一樣；實現這個轉變說起來容易， 做起來要難得多。
日立公司總裁兼首席執行官中西宏明(Hiroaki Nakanishi)在東京接受年末採訪時說，“關閉工廠在日本是一件大事，我們不會輕率地裁員。可是，為了重新實現增長，我們必須擺脫不能獲利的業務。我們必須要堅決果斷。”
日本的電子行業曾是日本的經濟引擎和根基，但過去10年來，電子業持續下滑，幾乎無法遏止，日本至今未能擺脫產業凋敝帶來的困境。日本的兩大電子公司，日立和松下各自的銷售額要比日本整個農業部門的銷售額還高，其他大型電子公司的收益也與兩家接近。
然而，過去十多年裡，技術公司的增長微乎其微。根據東京的日本歐洲科技諮詢公司(Eurotechnology Japan)的數據，過去15年里，日本排名前八位的技術公司的年度平均銷售漲幅幾近於零。
隨着電子產品越來越多樣化，韓國和台灣後來居上，對日本構成了競爭，迫使電子產品價格整體下降，所以出現了這樣的局面。日本的技術巨頭布局過散、缺 乏重點，這也讓他們把優勢讓給了更具創新性的公司，如蘋果(Apple)。日本企業未能緊跟行業潮流，把重點轉向軟件和服務領域，更加重了上述危機。
尤其關鍵的是，日元的走強繼續推高日本的經營成本，給出口帶來沉重的財政壓力。到2012年3月為止的財政年，松下、索尼和夏普一共虧損了190億美元，虧損總額比牙買加的國內生產總值還要高。
儘管如此，就算在同類企業當中，日立的虧損程度也十分突出。在日本技術企業長達十年毫無增長、或負增長的情況下，日立首先跌到，而且損失最重，因為大量資產減值，以及電子產品業務衰退，日立在全球金融危機最嚴重的時刻經歷了大虧損。
此後，日立對自身經營的評估，以及它大刀闊斧地削減虧損業務的魄力，就連最不以為然的分析師也感到吃驚。
日立旗下的1000多個團隊往往有業務重複，互為競爭，其僱員人數達到了40萬，生產產品覆蓋了電視機、硬盤驅動器、芯片、電加熱馬桶座圈、電梯和 核反應堆等多個種類。在於2010年執掌公司的中西宏明的領導下，公司大舉收縮或變賣了虧損的業務，包括那些生產芯片、平板電視機、液晶顯示器、手機和家 用電腦的部門。
公司在精簡部門時毫不手軟。日立旗下的硬盤驅動器製造部門被扭虧為盈，但在去年，公司認定該業務依然不穩定，把它賣給了一家美國公司。現在，日立已經把它龐大的帝國剝離給了939家公司。中西宏明說，他還遠遠未達到目的。
公司的精簡意味着減少了日立和日本的就業機會。2008年之後，日立的員工人數已經下降了17%，只剩32.35萬人，其中三分之一的員工是在海外。隨着日立把更多零部件和原材料離岸外包，其在國內的整個供應商體系都在萎縮。
日立市感受到了這種陣痛。它曾是一個繁華的工業中心，然而，過去10年里，本市製造業就業崗位下降了近20%，該市人口也發生了類似的下降。
日立市唯一的一家百貨商店在2008年末關了門。市裡所有的電影院都關門了。近期的一個周末夜晚，本市的酒吧街幸町（意為快樂的市鎮）冷冷清清，門可羅雀。一棵高高的聖誕樹（牌子顯示是由日立公司贊助）孤零零地聳立在空蕩蕩的廣場上。
現在，當地人對計劃好的併購感到擔憂。上個月，日立宣布將旗下的火力發電業務與三菱重工(Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)合并，這可能會導致日立的渦輪機廠削減更多就業崗位。日本新任首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)最近承諾將使日元貶值。日立市人嘆氣，說這樣的政策來得太遲，不過是杯水車薪。
在日立公司工作了40年的信息技術工程師馬場豐彥(Toyohiko Baba)問道，“日立也許能復蘇，然而這對日立市，對國家有何好處？”馬場豐彥是一家企業員工委員會的負責人，該委員會力圖提升工人的權利，他說，“日立復興的意義在哪裡？”
自從2009年虧損了7870億日元（約合578.3億元人民幣）之後，日立一度扭轉了局面，令人刮目相看，到2012年3月，實現了創紀錄的 3470億日元（40億美元）年凈利潤。此時，其競爭對手索尼(Sony)、夏普(Sharp)和松下(Panasonic)還在苦苦掙扎。
不過，在公司的長期生產中心、人口19萬的日立市，幾乎聽不到慶賀之聲。空無一人的街道和關閉的車間顯示，企業大力精簡業務、削減支出、以及把曾支撐日立經濟復蘇的業務離岸外包的舉措讓本市經濟付出了沉重的代價。
日立公司與它所在城市之間迥異的命運凸顯了一個不幸的事實：能夠重振日本疲軟的電子業巨頭的大膽措施不太可能帶回日本經濟復蘇迫切所需的就業崗位、就業機會和經濟增長。
此刻，能為身陷困境的日本電子行業解圍的途徑就是一個全球化的戰略布局，即把生產和採購流程從高成本的日本轉移到海外更具競爭力的地區。隨着日本製 造業巨頭的全球化，這個曾經如此依賴製造業推動經濟增長的國家必須尋找其他的就業資源和機會，就像這個國家新生代的企業家一樣；實現這個轉變說起來容易， 做起來要難得多。
日立公司總裁兼首席執行官中西宏明(Hiroaki Nakanishi)在東京接受年末採訪時說，“關閉工廠在日本是一件大事，我們不會輕率地裁員。可是，為了重新實現增長，我們必須擺脫不能獲利的業務。我們必須要堅決果斷。”
日本的電子行業曾是日本的經濟引擎和根基，但過去10年來，電子業持續下滑，幾乎無法遏止，日本至今未能擺脫產業凋敝帶來的困境。日本的兩大電子公司，日立和松下各自的銷售額要比日本整個農業部門的銷售額還高，其他大型電子公司的收益也與兩家接近。
然而，過去十多年裡，技術公司的增長微乎其微。根據東京的日本歐洲科技諮詢公司(Eurotechnology Japan)的數據，過去15年里，日本排名前八位的技術公司的年度平均銷售漲幅幾近於零。
隨着電子產品越來越多樣化，韓國和台灣後來居上，對日本構成了競爭，迫使電子產品價格整體下降，所以出現了這樣的局面。日本的技術巨頭布局過散、缺 乏重點，這也讓他們把優勢讓給了更具創新性的公司，如蘋果(Apple)。日本企業未能緊跟行業潮流，把重點轉向軟件和服務領域，更加重了上述危機。
尤其關鍵的是，日元的走強繼續推高日本的經營成本，給出口帶來沉重的財政壓力。到2012年3月為止的財政年，松下、索尼和夏普一共虧損了190億美元，虧損總額比牙買加的國內生產總值還要高。
儘管如此，就算在同類企業當中，日立的虧損程度也十分突出。在日本技術企業長達十年毫無增長、或負增長的情況下，日立首先跌到，而且損失最重，因為大量資產減值，以及電子產品業務衰退，日立在全球金融危機最嚴重的時刻經歷了大虧損。
此後，日立對自身經營的評估，以及它大刀闊斧地削減虧損業務的魄力，就連最不以為然的分析師也感到吃驚。
日立旗下的1000多個團隊往往有業務重複，互為競爭，其僱員人數達到了40萬，生產產品覆蓋了電視機、硬盤驅動器、芯片、電加熱馬桶座圈、電梯和 核反應堆等多個種類。在於2010年執掌公司的中西宏明的領導下，公司大舉收縮或變賣了虧損的業務，包括那些生產芯片、平板電視機、液晶顯示器、手機和家 用電腦的部門。
公司在精簡部門時毫不手軟。日立旗下的硬盤驅動器製造部門被扭虧為盈，但在去年，公司認定該業務依然不穩定，把它賣給了一家美國公司。現在，日立已經把它龐大的帝國剝離給了939家公司。中西宏明說，他還遠遠未達到目的。
公司的精簡意味着減少了日立和日本的就業機會。2008年之後，日立的員工人數已經下降了17%，只剩32.35萬人，其中三分之一的員工是在海外。隨着日立把更多零部件和原材料離岸外包，其在國內的整個供應商體系都在萎縮。
日立市感受到了這種陣痛。它曾是一個繁華的工業中心，然而，過去10年里，本市製造業就業崗位下降了近20%，該市人口也發生了類似的下降。
日立市唯一的一家百貨商店在2008年末關了門。市裡所有的電影院都關門了。近期的一個周末夜晚，本市的酒吧街幸町（意為快樂的市鎮）冷冷清清，門可羅雀。一棵高高的聖誕樹（牌子顯示是由日立公司贊助）孤零零地聳立在空蕩蕩的廣場上。
現在，當地人對計劃好的併購感到擔憂。上個月，日立宣布將旗下的火力發電業務與三菱重工(Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)合并，這可能會導致日立的渦輪機廠削減更多就業崗位。日本新任首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)最近承諾將使日元貶值。日立市人嘆氣，說這樣的政策來得太遲，不過是杯水車薪。
在日立公司工作了40年的信息技術工程師馬場豐彥(Toyohiko Baba)問道，“日立也許能復蘇，然而這對日立市，對國家有何好處？”馬場豐彥是一家企業員工委員會的負責人，該委員會力圖提升工人的權利，他說，“日立復興的意義在哪裡？”
Chester Dawson/The Wall Street Journal
Sasa-kamaboko is a processed fish loaf made from pureed white fish
(e.g. flounder), which is baked into bamboo leaf (sasa) shaped loaves.
This delicacy will tease your appetite with its delicious fish taste and
pleasant aroma.
