2004年度（2004.4～2005.3）　ワークショップ講演

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Record of Workshop/Lecture

Date: Thursday, June 17
Lecturer: Mr. Hiroyoshi Kobayashi, CEO(代表取締役) of KOUNAN Ticket Corporation
Theme: Expansion with scrap and build, joining the bandwagon
Recorded by: Sachiyo Hayashi, graduate student in charge of minutes

1. Biography of Mr Hiroyoshi Kobayashi
Graduated from School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University in 1960. Joined Kawasaki Aircraft Co., Ltd. in 1960. Graduated from the Night School of Faculty of Business Administration, Kobe University in 1965. Left Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. and established Kounan Bijutsu(甲南美術) in 1973. Currently, CEO of Kounan Fars Corporation and KOUNAN Ticket Corporation.

2. Summary of the lecture
(1) Lifecycle of merchandise
　 Mr. Kobayashi started selling craftwork pictures on the home furnishing floor of a Kobe department store in 1973. In 1975, he started selling handicraft articles. In 1977, he gave up selling craftwork pictures, the sales of which had slowed down, and started selling chintz drapery. He withdrew from handicraft articles in 1979, and started selling furniture made of Chinese lumber, taking advantage of the boom in upgraded furniture. Then he withdrew from chintz drapery and made inroads into the healthcare industry, while the sales of furniture made of Chinese lumber fell into the red.
　 From these experiences, he determined the lifecycle of merchandise to be about four years. The first year involves a push for sales growth, the second year is a peak, the third year is the downturn, and the fourth year is for withdrawal. It is best to launch a new business in the beginning of the third year, when one is in good financial and psychological shape.
(2) Partnership System (Proportional management and gain sharing system)
　 After withdrawing from the healthcare industry, Mr. Kobayashi also withdrew from sales in the department store, aiming to establish his own store and brand and to expand his business chain by handling merchandise with a long lifecycle. In 1986, he established My Sewing Kit (私のお針箱) (Kounan Fars Corporation), a clothes repair shop, requiring only a small facility paid for with cash advance, with no buying-in and no stock. In the beginning, debt piled up, due to rent and employment costs for craftsmen, so a partnership system was introduced (namely, rent was paid by the company and the employment and material costs by the store manager, with the profit shared by both parties), and positive profits were achieved. After that, the long-awaited chain stores were realized.
(3) Frequent turnover = Total funds * Turnover of funding
Mr. Kobayashi established KOUNAN Ticket Corporation in 1989, starting a new business selling discount tickets. This business is a typical business operating by total funds and turnover of funding, so it is important to have ample funding in order to avoid bad accounts. In order to increase the turnover of funding, it is essential to open a store in an area that competes with other similar businesses, and to manage stock every day so as not to run short of the best-selling products.

3. Impression of the lecture
Such an entrepreneur, capable of courageously deciding to drastically change his business, is rare. I have concluded that Mr Kobayashi employed his practical management knowledge acquired through the course at the Faculty of Business Administration, which he frequently attended on his way back from work. To the question from a student “What are some tips for climbing on the bandwagon?”, he answered that always maintaining a sense of crisis - believing that one’s current business will not last for a long time - allows us to see things that would otherwise be invisible, and to listen to things that we would have otherwise let pass.
　 Entrepreneurs of venture businesses who had known success in the past, but who had tumbled down past hope of recovery, might lack the sense of crisis and the courage to withdraw from businesses when necessary. Mr Kobayashi is an entrepreneur and corporate manager, possessing a balance of the abilities required for both. He has recently launched an angel business, to give funding and experience to energetic young people.
　 I hope our area of study will produce many who can satisfy the requirement of Mr. Kobayashi, who has repeatedly launched new businesses and then withdrawn from them.

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