No. 10: Do not try to be a John Wayne (November 20, 2011)

The current headline news in the Japanese baseball world is not a battle between baseball teams on the ground but an internal battle between owner and manager of a baseball team in the office over the team’s future lineup. In the sports business, you can find this kind of battle quite easily. George Steinbrenner of New York Yankees may be the most famous figure. The Japanese manager in question seems to be too proud to succumb to the owner and try to be a hero. Most Japanese understand the manager and have some uncomfortable feeling about the attitude taken by the owner. But that is the way the world goes. “Rio Bravo”starring John Wayne is a movie. The reality is what you see in “High Noon” starring Gary Cooper. Do not try to be a John Wayne. The manager had better keep in mind what Gary Cooper said in the movie. He said, “It’s crazy!”  

No. 9: Who is the real winner in the long run? (November 3, 2011)

The price of a residential photovoltaic generation system has been decreasing in Japan because of the inflow of low-priced products from Europe and China. The industry sources are much concerned about the decreasing profit of domestic makers. They say that the average price of a system dropped to 529,000 yen per kW lately, an 8.5% decrease from the previous year. Because a solar battery module accounts for 50% of a photovoltaic generation system in cost, countries capable of building solar modules cheap naturally have a strong competitive edge. However, you need to think about the background of the inflow of foreign products. European countries including Germany reduced the support for the introduction of a photovoltaic generation system. Actually, the world market is estimated to decrease 20% in 2011 from 2010. Then, Japan is a rather promising market because it will enact the system to buy whole amount of renewable energy next year. In a word, the policy to enhance the happiness of Japanese people ends up with the decreasing profit of Japanese makers and makes the domestic economy even worse. What an irony this is.