Toshiba postponed its withdrawal from the nuclear power business, allowing losses to expand, while Honda invested in the Chinese market and EVs in the 2020s but swiftly revised its strategy in response to changing conditions, drawing on the former Japanese military’s “textbook on withdrawal.”
An examination of the Operational Duties Regulations shows that decisions should be made on the battlefield even when information is incomplete. The article applies this perspective to corporate management and points out that delays in decision-making lead to defeat.
The problem with Toshiba was said to lie not in entering the nuclear power business itself, but in postponing decisions to withdraw from or scale back the business. By missing the timing for course correction, the organization became locked in and the situation deteriorated, even though signs of enormous losses had emerged at an early stage.
Honda, meanwhile, made large-scale investments in the first half of the 2020s, but market conditions changed sharply as EV demand slowed, Chinese automakers gained ground and regulations were eased. In response, it did not adopt an attitude of “waiting to see what happens because we do not know whether it is right,” and instead moved swiftly to revise its strategy. It reviewed its EV plans for North America, halted the AFEELA plan, reorganized its China business and cut personnel. Although these measures entail significant short-term losses, they are viewed as redeployment to preserve its forces.