"Do not disturb good trees; build around them."

This is what Mr. Namihei Odaira (1874-1951), the founder of Hitachi, Ltd., said when he established the Central Research Laboratory in Tokyo back in 1943, long before the impact of business activities on the environment becomes a global concern.

Mr. Odaira had worked for several mining companies as an engineer when he was young. At that time, Japan had begun to emerge from its feudal legacy and industry was 50~100 years behind that of Europe. He regretted that virtually all spphisticated equipment had to be imported. With a dream that Japan would one day develop and promote its own technology, he and some colleagues built their first 5hp electric motor in a small workshop, and from there, Hitachi was born.

This pioneering and challenger spirit（開拓者精神）, together with "和"(harmony, trust, respect), and "誠"(sincerity, fairness, honesty, integrity) are the founding concepts of Hitachi. "Contributing to society through the development of superior, original technology and products" and moral concerns are its basic credos. Mr. Odaira always emphasized that the company was not in business simply to make money, and selling imperfect products was one of the worst things a company could do. He would not get angry with an employee who simply made a mistake, only if that employee tried to cover that up.

These stories about Mr. Odaira were first made known to me from a recent internal training named "Hitachi Basics". "True entrepreneur" was the first word popped up in my mind to describe this gentleman. In fact, at the start of the training, I secretly thought that this kind of program should be part of the orientation program for new staffs but not for senior staffs. But after the course, I now understand why it was included in a management training course. It is important to clarify the company's expectations on its management staffs in order to implement the company's believes and values. I'm so glad that I'm working in a company on which values and direction I can agree on and am willing to follow. I sincerely hope that Hitachi will continue to grow without compromising these wonderful values.

Interesting facts about Hitachi...

Founding Year: 1910
1st product: motor
1st export: electric fan
1st export year: 1926
1st export country: US

To many's surprise, home appliances and TVs actually only constitute 13% of the company's total revenue. The biggest part comes from power & industrial products (26%, such as elevators. power plant units, bullet trains, construction machineries), followed with information & telecom products (21%, such as HDD, server). Hitachi also possesses advanced technologies in ATM, finger vein authentication, IC, etc.