概要及び教育体系 主要講義科目 ワークショップ 課題研究・修了論文演習 課外活動

2003年度（2003.4～2004.3）　ワークショップ講演

目次へ戻る

12th Workshop (June 26, 2003) Entrepreneurship Study, Graduate School for Creative Cities, Osaka City University, Guest Speaker: Mr. Takuro Inoue, Founder of USAC SYSTEM Co., Ltd.

Key Words: “Human resources are the most important things of management” Nurturing of HRs, Osaka, System development, Nurturing entrepreneurs

Managing a company for long in Osaka helped by people, luck, efforts and support from employees, and starting to nurture new entrepreneurs

1. Lecturer Profile
After graduation from Doshisha University in 1963, Mr. Inoue worked for Yamada Shoji Company, a stationery wholesaler in Osaka, and then in 1971 established USAC SYSTEM in Osaka. For many years, he took all the responsibility for the operation of this system development company, whose primary business has been the development of original software products, such as business accounting tools, mostly intended for niche markets. The company has recently sharpened its focus on niche field products, such as a system for veterinary hospitals. Having retired 18 months ago, he acts now as an advisor for the company. Taking up the enormous mission of nurturing entrepreneurs, he has been working to recruit people with an ambition to run their own companies in the future. Some young former employees from his company have already made their dreams come true.

2. Mr.Inoue's Personal History and Entrepreneurial Background
(1) Leaving his hometown in Ehime for university in Kyoto
Mr. Inoue was born in the countryside of Ehime Prefecture, and spent his youth there with his three younger sisters and parents, who were both teachers, until he was 18. When he was in the sixth grade, his mother became seriously ill, and this experience altered the dream he used to have of becoming a teacher. Now wanting to be a doctor, he spent two years in Kyoto studying to take the entrance exams for medical school, but ended up failing. In the end, he was accepted by Doshisha University, but financial pressure and long work hours kept him from attending classes for two years. Nevertheless, inspired by his job-seeking classmates, he swiftly accumulated academic credits and was able to graduate. Since he was three years older than usual on graduating, there were few job possibilities for him along the ordinary company route, but the landlord of his boarding house had some connections with a small stationery wholesaler, and managed to arrange an interview. As Mr. Inoue approached the wholesaler’s offices, he was so taken aback by the small, two-storey tile-roofed building that housed the company that he actually considered canceling the interview. Nonetheless, he braced himself, opened the well-worn sliding door, and so began his fateful encounter with the wholesaler’s president & CEO, Mr. Eizo Yamada, who would later teach Mr. Inoue how to run a business.

Mr. Takuro Inoue making a point

(2) Starting a New Life as a Businessman and Setting up an Enterprise
A few days after that momentous first interview, he was hired by the wholesaler and embarked on his new life as a businessman. It was a live-in position and he had to get up early. The job kept him busy and more than once he was tempted to change companies, but stuck things out because he did not want the discomfort of feeling like a quitter. Eventually, he was dealing with tasks that his seniors couldn’t do, and thereby made his mark in the company.
In 1964, learning that Hayakawa Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (currently Sharp Corporation) was marketing the world’s first solid-state electronic calculator at a price of 535,000 yen (equivalent to approximately five million yen today), he suggested to management that they become a dealer. Although there was general opposition to this idea, he kept after the company president & CEO until his enthusiasm earned him the okay to get technical training and launch sales of the calculator. The technical training gave him to understand that electronic calculators were simply a kind of computer, and this awakened in him a keen interest in computers.
(3) The Birth of USAC SYSTEM
On learning that Uchida Yako Co. Ltd., one of Yamada Shoji Company’s suppliers, had invested in Unoki Denshi, the Ishikawa Prefecture venture firm to start sales and service of USAC microcomputers, Mr. Inoue proposed becoming a dealership for these, too. His proposal was rejected, but he went ahead and started selling the products as a personal project. He soon began to feel weighed down by the limitations a stationery wholesaler faced in the area of computer sales. This led him to approach Mr. Eizo Yamada president & CEO of the company about establishing a computer sales company, using the results from the contracts he had received on his own to make his point. Mr. Inoue had realized the limits of what one person working alone could do, and had become convinced that they needed more personnel with capabilities different from those of a stationery wholesaler, specifically in computer-related fields. A separate company was necessary to be able to recruit young, capable human resources. It was around this time that he began to regard human resources as the tree of life. Receiving the final go ahead from president & CEO Yamada, he established USAC SYSTEM with Mr. Shizuo Ito, sent from Uchida Yoko, and two employees from Yamada Shoji Company. At the beginning, he took the post of senior managing director, but soon moved up to representative director and president & CEO. Initial capitalization was eight million yen: one million yen came from Uchida Yoko and all the rest-equivalent to about 100 million yen today-was generously contributed by President & CEO Eizo Yamada, who stayed on the sidelines encouraging Mr. Inoue, but never interfered in the management of the new company.
Soon after founding the new company with his partner Mr. Shizuo Ito, the current president & CEO of USAC SYSTEM Co., Ltd., with the original purpose of securing capable human resources, policy shifted to selling as many USAC microcomputers as possible. Six employees hired at the beginning quit the company because of the excessively harsh training. Taking a lesson from this, Mr. Inoue began to strive passionately to nurture his human resources, and the company, known today for its strong commitment to the well-being and growth of its people, whom it regards as its most important asset, started to lay the groundwork for its current corporate philosophy: “Human resources are the tree of life.”
(4) Setting up a Software Development Center and Creating a Hit Product
In 1982, Mr. Inoue set up a software development center so that the company could develop its own original products. He felt that just selling other’s products would never be enough to gain real customer satisfaction; the company must be based on its own R&D capabilities. After having established the R&D to produce software that not only satisfied the needs of its users but proved highly satisfactory, the company received an ardent request from an Osaka City firm to produce software that would allow the user to control 30 different kinds of recipient-specific forms via a single program. This was followed by similar requests from many other users. In 1986, the first recipient-specific form controlling software of its kind in Japan, Denpatsu Meijin (Receipt Master), was released. Priced at one million yen, it was a big hit, and revisions to the program remain a principal source of revenue for the company.

2. Overcoming Serious Illness and Grave Danger of Bankruptcy
In 1988, Mr. Inoue lost a major portion of his stomach to a combination of hepatitis B and stomach cancer, and resigned himself to a year of rest. His weight declined drastically from 83 kg to 60 kg, and his physical appearance changed dramatically. Japan’s economic bubble was entering its final days around the same time. After the bubble burst, USAC SYSTEM, like so many others, faced failing performance and worsening cash flow. The first personnel cuts since the company’s founding broke his heart, even as he appreciated that nearly all the departing employees had chosen to resign voluntarily. The company survived the risk of bankruptcy by dividing into four organizations. He was deeply grateful to his employees for their efforts for the company’s survival despite his one-year absence.

Mr. Takuro Inoue, recalling the period of serious illness and risk of bankruptcy

3. Retiring After 30 Years as President & CEO and Starting to Nurture Entrepreneurs
Mr. Inoue stepped down from the office of president & CEO of USAC SYSTEM in 1997 and took up the post of chairman, Mr. Ito, his partner since the company’s founding, succeeding him as president & CEO. Standing back from the frontlines of the business, he now serves as advisor.
Looking back over the last 30 years of his life, Mr. Inoue is filled with gratitude for all the help he received from such wonderful people as the old landlady of the boarding house he lived in as a poor student, Mr. Eizo Yamada, the president & CEO of a small firm, and all his supportive employees, in his passionate pursuit of his ambitious goals. He says his achievements were thanks not necessarily to his capability but to the generous support of his employees, which he deeply appreciates.
He intends to spend the rest of his life helping young people with a spirit of challenge to make their dreams of establishing their own businesses come true. He says that if you try to do what you believe in, and do not fear failure, there is no need to worry.

4. Osaka, the Place for Entrepreneurs
“I ran a business in Osaka for a long time, and grew strong in Osaka’s market from the days of the so-called first venture boom. Speaking from experience, I believe that if you can build a stable business in Osaka and meet the demands of its discerning people, you will have no trouble finding acceptance in Tokyo. I value Osaka’s corporate climate, full of the spirit of enterprise, and do not believe for a minute that we should consider Osaka second-rate compared to Tokyo.”

 

 

▲このページのトップへ