Profits are leftovers

Profits are leftovers” is a quote from Ina Food Industries Chairman Tsukagoshi.

Profits are leftovers. Labor costs are not a cost, but the original purpose of the company

• https://twitter.com/aono/status/1078184434837245952

• 3749 words that should be read by job hunters who are hesitant to enter Cybozu, saying “I’m interested in Cybozu, but I’m worried because it’s an elusive company…“. |Kohei Tsunashima |note

• uchan_nos >“The president agrees with the statement “Profits are the leftovers. Hmm?” Awww, that blows.

• nishio Just recently, a mid-level engineer at another company told a young engineer that “money comes first when you are in a for-profit company,” and I told him, “That’s an old-fashioned way of thinking from about 20 years ago. I told him that this was an old-fashioned way of thinking that was adopted about 20 years ago, but I don’t think he understood my point of view. It is deep-rooted.

  • kur There are quite a few people who still believe this. How can this be conveyed? kur
  • nishio
    • I’ve thought about this a bit, and first of all, the “not making ends meet phase” and the “making ends meet phase” should be considered separately, and while the former requires money promptly to survive, there is no basis for extending the thinking in that phase to the latter.
    • In the latter phase, for example, when retained earnings increase from 500 billion to 1 trillion, neither the stability of the company nor the happiness of its employees will change much, and a little thought will show that the value of money will slow down out of proportion to its face value.
    • Since the relative value of non-monetary capital is higher, it is more advantageous to steer directly toward acquiring it rather than converting it to money and then acquiring other capital. Such as.
  • kur I understand roughly, but if you divide it into two phases, the phase where you earn money and the phase where you don’t have to earn money, it’s difficult to define the phase where you don’t have to earn money in the first place…
    • Uh, I don’t think it’s a good idea to cut it into “phases” because it sounds like it’s going to be cut into time frames. Maybe we should just divide it into “enough to live on” and “more than enough to live on.”
      • kur If I say the amount necessary to go on, it seems that I will not be able to make new investments, so I feel that it is something different. I’m not sure, but if you think about it, there is a possibility that even Nishio-san and I are thinking differently.
  • kur Modern companies have a mission, vision, and values, and their first priority is to contribute to society by achieving these values. In order to make this sustainable, they must earn money, and by investing the money they earn, they deliver even more value to society as a whole. In this trend, I don’t think that money comes first.
    • I understand. It’s not that “money is the goal.” It’s that “achieving the vision is the goal and money is the means.”
    • In other words, it’s a watercooler because you say, “The value of money first is old-fashioned,” and then you ask, “What is your company’s vision? Oh, no? Money comes first?” It is better to separate the fact that the situation is “money first” from the value of “I think such a way of thinking is old-fashioned. - A vision where money comes first.
    • I hadn’t thought of the “vision or no vision” angle, but it sounds very useful. I guess the question of whether or not one is earning enough money to survive is, in essence, if one’s desire for survival and security is threatened, then one’s desire for vision and fulfillment is less important.
      • kur I think it is normal for individuals to prioritize their desire for survival, but if we take it to the extreme, I think the future of the company is to say that if they do not strive to achieve their vision, they are not worth living for. Kotler and others have said that the Maslow pyramid is the opposite.
        • Drucker also said, “Profit is a condition for the survival of a company, not its purpose. On the other hand, I think the idea that “survival is not an objective” is still difficult for many people to accept (because it affects their personal lives as well).

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