...วันที่ 20 ธันวาคม 2554 โดย : กรุงเทพธุรกิจออนไลน์ แกะรอยแผนซุกขาดทุน20ปี “โอลิมปัส” สร้างความตื่นตะลึงให้กับแวดวงธุรกิจโลกไม่น้อย เมื่อปรากฏข่าวฉาวของ “โอลิมปัส” บริษัทญี่ปุ่นยักษ์ใหญ่ที่ถูกแฉพฤติกรรมฉ้อโกง เพื่อปกปิดตัวเลขขาดทุนที่ดำเนินมายาวนานร่วม 20 ปี ว่ากันว่า มูลค่าการฉ้อโกงทางบัญชีที่สร้างขึ้นมาตบตาภาวะขาดทุนจากการลงทุนหลักทรัพย์ของบริษัทแห่งนี้อยู่ที่ราว 1.7 พันล้านดอลลาร์ พฤติกรรมฉาวของโอลิมปัสแดงขึ้นมา เพราะนายไมเคิล วู้ดฟอร์ด หัวหน้าคณะเจ้าหน้าที่บริหาร (ซีอีโอ )ชาวอังกฤษของโอลิมปัส ออกมาแฉถึงความไม่ชอบมาพากลของการทำข้อตกลงซื้อกิจการ ที่มีราคาแพงเกินไป และเรียกร้องให้มีการตรวจสอบหาข้อเท็จจริง จนเป็นเหตุให้บริษัทปลดเขาออกจากตำแหน่ง แรงกดดันเรื่องนี้ ทำให้โอลิมปัส ตั้งคณะกรรมการอิสระ เพื่อตรวจสอบเรื่องนี้ ซึ่งแม้จะไม่มีใครค้นพบว่า ความเสียหายแท้จริงอยู่ที่เท่าไร แต่เม็ดเงินดังกล่าวถูกนำไปใช้เพื่อปิดบังการขาดทุนจากการลงทุนที่เกิดขึ้นมานานแล้ว สิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของการล่มสลายของฟองสบู่เศรษฐกิจญี่ปุ่นในยุค 1980 ซึ่งวัฒนธรรมองค์กรที่เก็บงำความลับยิ่งทำให้มีการปกปิดข้อมูลมานานหลายปี แกนกลางของเรื่องนี้ อยู่ที่บรรดาผู้บริหารวงใน ที่ต้องการยื้อความผิดพลาดที่ทำไว้ เช่นเดียวกับบริษัทญี่ปุ่นอีกหลายแห่ง โดยบริษัทเหล่านี้ ได้รับความช่วยเหลือจากกลุ่มนายธนาคารที่สัญญาจะช่วยซื้อเวลาออกไปก่อน ซึ่งหนึ่งในนั้น รวมถึงนายอากิโอะ นาคากาวา ผู้เล่นรายสำคัญของเรื่องนี้ ที่รับบทวาณิชธนกร ตามที่ตัวเองเชี่ยวชาญเกี่ยวกับวิศวกรรมทางการเงินใหม่ๆ หรือที่เรียกว่า zaitech ซึ่งเป็นแนวทางในยุคฟองสบู่ ที่ชวนให้บริษัทผู้ผลิตลงมาเล่นในตลาดทุน เมื่อฟองสบู่แตก นายนาคากาวา และหุ้นส่วนที่มีชื่อว่า...
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...American Journal Of Business Education –Fourth Quarter 2014 Volume 7, Number 4 Olympus Imaging Fraud Scandal: A Case Study Dennis Elam, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, USA Marion Madrigal, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, USA Maura Jackson, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, USA ABSTRACT This case examines the two decade long tobashi scheme by Olympus Imaging Executives to hide $1.7 billion in losses. In the 1980s, a soaring yen and falling dollar caused bottom line income problems for many Japanese companies. Some companies sought to offset the declining revenue with zaiteku, a form of speculative investment. While early activities generated profits in 1987, by 1991 Olympus recorded 2.1 billion losses in yen. Rumors circulated that by the late 1990s, losses had grown larger. Rather than come clean and admit the losses, management continued to ‘double down’ with riskier investments. Olympus created a tobashi scheme to shift losses off the Olympus balance sheet. Olympus created a tobashi scheme to shift losses off the Olympus balance sheet. Companies located in the Cayman Islands were purchased via exorbitant Management and Acquisition Fees. When the first Western President, Michael Woodford, questioned these practices, he was fired after two weeks on the job. Woodford became perhaps the first CEO ever to blow the whistle on his own firm. The subsequent scandal brought arrests of the executive team, an 80% decline in share price, the threat of de-listing on the Tokyo...
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...Olympus cameras began business in 1919 as Takachiho Seisakusho, a thermometer and microscope manufacturing company in Tokyo. It was renamed Takachiho Optical Co. in 1942 and later Olympus Optical Co in 1949, taking its name from its trademark logo, and reflecting the fact that optical products had become the core of company. Today, Olympus’ key business segments include medical imaging equipment, consumer electronics, industrial imaging equipment and scientific devices, including microscopes. Olympus’ downfall began when new CEO Michael Woodford was fired just two weeks after being appointed to the position. He had voiced concerns over corruption in upper management at Olympus, which was later revealed to be a complex, 20-year long, cover-up of losses amounting to $1.5 billion (US) in unreported investment losses. Olympus had invested heavily in risky securities after slow sales and the devaluation of the yen had resulted in lower than expected revenues. These losses, while known to management, were hidden in the accounting of Olympus. Michael Woodford’s dismissal resulted in him leaking the fraud to the press, which began police and other law enforcement agencies’ investigation into the allegations. The company later admitted the fraud, and since then several board members have resigned, and a number of companies have filed suit against Olympus. What these executives had orchestrated was a complex funnelling of money through subsidiaries in order to bury investment losses...
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...Michel Faber Me and Dave and Mount Olympus (2006) I lived through the 1980s, but was not touched by them. They might as well have been the 1880s, for all the notice I took of the defining characteristics of the decade. I didn’t own a wide-shouldered jacket with rolled-up sleeves, a double-breasted suit, or indeed any item of clothing that cost more than a pot plant. I dressed myself from charity shops, right down to the socks and underpants. I didn’t own a watch or a television, got around by bicycle, cut my own hair, and was not acquainted with any person who owned albums by Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Sade or Spandau Ballet. (Maybe it was because the few friends I had were lesbians.) The prospect of buying that newfangled invention, a CD) player, was as remote as investing in a Picasso. A high-flying career in the corporate sphere, or a steady job of any kind, held no attraction for me. Who needs money when so much of the food in supermarkets is exactly the right shape to fit down the front of one’s trousers, hidden by a loose jumper? Who needs status when one is an Artist, already living on Mount Olympus? At the dawn of the 1980s, my first wife and I were in fact living in Fitzroy, a shabby inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Both of us were writers, misfits, snobs. In the grand intellectual tradition of Wyndham Lewis, Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot et al, we detested the common horde - lowbrow Philistines, the lot of them! We lurked in our tiny student flat, reading Four...
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...dressed myself from charity shops, right down to the socks and underpants. I didn’t own a watch or a television, got around by bicycle, cut my own hair, and was not acquainted with any person who owned albums by Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Sade or Spandau Ballet. (Maybe it was because the few friends I had were lesbians.) The prospect of buying that newfangled invention, a CD) player, was as remote as investing in a Picasso. A high-flying career in the corporate sphere, or a steady job of any kind, held no attraction for me. Who needs money when so much of the food in supermarkets is exactly the right shape to fit down the front of one’s trousers, hidden by a loose jumper? Who needs status when one is an Artist, already living on Mount Olympus? At the dawn of the 1980s, my first wife and I were in fact living in Fitzroy, a shabby inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Both of us were writers, misfits, snobs. In the grand intellectual tradition of Wyndham Lewis, Sylvia Plath, TS Eliot et al, we detested the common horde - lowbrow Philistines, the lot of them! We lurked in our tiny student flat, reading Four Quartets and In Memoriam, admiring shoplifted art books, discussing each other’s poems, and avoiding contact with the polluted sea of humanity around us. Eventually, my wife found herself hankering for Winchester, her childhood home, and we decided to emigrate. England, after all, was the epicentre of high culture. It was where Tennyson and Virginia Woolf were from. Sylvia...
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...Can one experience alter a person´s view on human equality? According to the successful and prominent author Michael Faber it can. In 2006 he wrote a personal essay named “Me and Dave and Mount Olympus”, in which he depicts a specific and life-changing incident with a homeless person, which changed many aspects of his own life. Until the meeting in the homeless shelter, Michael Faber is in an ivory tower and sees himself as “on top of Mount Olympus” looking down on the human race. His arrogance disappears after the intense meeting, where Michael Faber discovers, that both of them are equals in the eyes of the universe. Michael Faber´s reliability is strengthened by the fact that this is an authentic story, and he really did become a famous author later on in life. He can use the story as a foundation for his claims. Michael Faber´s main claim is to enlighten the readers and perhaps persuade and encourage the readers to review how they look at other human beings. It explains through intelligent language and use of metaphors, how his animalistic meeting with a bum named Dave taught him that everyone is equal. Even though “Me and Dave and Mount Olympus” is a personal essay, it still has the classic home-away-home structure. We hear about his life before, during and after his encounter with Dave. The reason why we hear about Michael Faber´s life before and after the incident is, because we need to get to know him in order to understand his mentality and his situation. Back in...
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...Olympus Accounting Fraud ACTG 6100 Professor Mark Jobe Feb. 18, 2014 Inhwa Kim M01243678 The Olympus has a pretty strong position in the camera market. This company is popular because they made the world’s first DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex). Many camera users who are located in all around the world prefer the Olympus. Also, the Olympus is popular because the company made the medical devices, endoscope which is able to watch inside the organ of human body. The Olympus, which is one of the popular camera and medical devices companies, had been troubled due to a financial scandal. On August 2011, Michael Woodford, the formal president, was separated from the Olympus because of the difference in business line despite thirty years at the company. He expressed concern about possible inappropriate acquisitions and large payments to financial advisors with the chairman of Olympus and an executive vice president. He claimed that the Olympus paid an unusual fee abnormally while buying Gyrus, which is a maker of the British medical devices. After arguing this problem, he was dismissed on Oct 14, 2011. Also, in the same year, the Olympus spent about 687 million dollars as advisory fee to the Cayman Islands and another in New York. These two companies are unknown. Thomson Reuters reported that the fee of 687 million dollars, equal to 31 percent of the Gyrus acquisition price, was paid to a middle-man, whereas this is usually 1 or 2 percent. The Olympus...
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...region known for geysers (jets of hot water/steam) in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho (USA). A gorgeous National Park to visit. 3) Olympus Mons on Mars. All of these volcanoes have similarities and differences. As with any analysis of volcanism, it generally comes down to crustal chemistry and the sources of the magma that erupts. Compare the volcanoes using these questions. Perhaps make up a table... a) How did these volcanoes form? Plate tectonics? Plume? How do we know? Reunion | •This was formed from a mantle hot spot. •3 calderas formed 250,000, 65000, and 5000 years ago by slumping of the volcano. | Yellowstone | It all started with a hot spot beneath Yellowstone. Approximately, 600 thousand years ago the hot spot released hot magma towards the surface and pushing the earth’s crust upwards thus creating a large chamber which was filled with magma. Cracks formed over time due to the large pressure inside the dome and a huge eruption expelled magma, emptying the top part of the chamber. Earth’s crust collapsed and formed a caldera. Magma kept flowing into the caldera for the next 500 thousand years. | Olympus Mons | Olympus mons formed by hot spot plume. - no tectonic plate movement Unlike earth with tectonic movement where the hot spot moves from one area to another, causing creation of multiple volcanoes ( Hawaii). The hotpsot on Olympus mon is stagnant, when lava flows to the surface, it continues to pile up in a...
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...give me the ability to advance my career with Olympus America. As a father, I feel it is my responsibility to set a good example. This year I finished my dream of becoming a college graduate and setting a standard for my children to follow. My children and I have talked about furthering my education and how important it is to get the right education. Another aspect of being a parent is making sure my children understand that it is never too late to follow your heart. Ever since I have had children when I need to be inspired I look towards my kids. My oldest son has Crohns and I have never really seen him down. He has been dealing with the effects of Crohns since he was 12. He has to have a Remicade Infusions every two months and I have never heard him complain. He the strongest person I know. Now that he is in college I want to make sure he keeps succeeding in his life. I have been able to use his success to motivate me. When I started back in college I wanted to show him no matter what is happening in your life he can obtain a degree. I finished with a GPA of 3.8996. In 2009 I was selected to go to Japan because I had the highest increase in service contract in all of Olympus. While I was in Japan I was able to watch and learn how they interacted with each other. I also was able to explain how I interact with my customers. e has neve My career goals are to be able to advance my career within Olympus America or to be able to attain a career where...
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...numerous products within the Olympus Corporation. In order to help benefit the company I believe it would be in their best interest to have at least two separate mission statements: the one shown above and one specifically regarding their electronics. When navigating throughout the company’s website I initially thought I was looking up the wrong ‘Olympus’ due to their lack of product line display. I had to reroute to a website within their electronics, which lacked a mission statement. It would be beneficial for consumers to read about exactly what they are looking for within the company, such as a camera. 1. Target Market The target market I hope to reach is within an already existent electronics company. At this point it is unrealistic to reach consumers as individuals. It is extremely rare to find someone who carries around a camera AND a smart phone, with a camera already built in. My plan is to target those smart phone providers: Apple. The iPhone phase is rapidly diminishing. One of the contributing distributors is the inability to compete with other smartphone cameras. Since Olympus has been around 1030’s the company has flourished, inside and outside it’s electronics department. I strongly believe this goal is realistic and give their reputation the boost it needs to take on another year. 2. Brand Story Olympus contributes their tradition of quality manufacturing to the development of its microscope. Starting in 1934 Olympus continued this tradition by...
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...Olympus – A time for change Melissa C. Figueroa Grand Canyon University Organizational Behavior and Management July 22, 2011 Olympus - A time for change. The company that I chose to write about, that I believe needs desperate change when it comes to not only to appeal to the consumer but as well to the employees of their company is; Olympus. Olympus has been around since 1919, and has paved the way for several things including their digital cameras, their microscopes, and their medical equipment (endoscopes). Olympus has such seniority over so many companies because of how long it’s been around, and has the potential to be one of the greatest camera companies if only they would just perfect their marketing strategy. It seems to most consumers as well as to their own employees that Olympus doesn’t even have a marketing strategy in that sense. They are failing because it seems as if there’s no plan. Olympus recently just laid off around 4,000 employees, and their total employees before that was 3.2 million worldwide. Now, tell me how is that possible to a company who is the world’s fourth largest digital camera industry? The answer to that question is simple; they have no marketing strategy! Olympus is laying people off because of the marketing department, however it’s not the camera departments fault for lack of sales. You can the most amazing products in the world but if you’re not marketing them properly, they’ll never sell and they’ll never be heard of. In Center...
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...Don’t Mess With Hera The goddess of strategic, wisdom, and honor of centered war, Athena. She rode through Mt. Olympus on her Rainbow Unicorn and would look for anyone nearby. She hated most of the Gods for they never wanted her nearby. Everyone feared her, especially woman. Everyone thought she was so different than everyone else that they banned her from ever coming near woman. You see, Athena hated woman. She thought that instead of woman being so nice and neat that they should honor war just like Athena did. Athena sworn revenge on Hera for she was the Goddess of marriage and woman’s life. One dark and misty day Hera bumped into Athena. Athena was not happy. She then got so mad that they began World War 12. Athena and Hera fought for...
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...Zeus has been the leader and king of Olympus for a very long time. He has bad characteristics like being unfaithful, having a bad temper, and always wanting revenge. The new leader should be Heracles. Heracles is strong, brave, and trustworthy. Zeus should be impeached and Heracles should be the new ruler. Zeus should be impeached because he is untrustworthy, short-tempered, and revengeful. One reason he should be impeached is because he is unfaithful to people. Hera is a person he is unfaithful to. “They were always quarreling. He angered her by his infidelities” (6). A leader should be trustworthy, but this shows that Zeus is not trustworthy. Another reason he should be impeached is because he cannot control his temper. “Zeus was full of rage. He seized his...
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...ordering the actions (the principal) and the party that is actively executing an agreement (the agent). To perform the contract, the principal entrusts control of your property agent but does not control his behavior fully. This raises the asymmetry of information and the possibility of conflict if the agent will act in their interests, using the resources of principal. The most common example is an employer-employee relationship or owner-management company. In some corporations dispersed owners or shareholders are not able to effectively monitor management actions because managers face the temptation to strive for rapid improvements in business performance and payment of wages at the expense of their development in future years Olympus Case Olympus story begins with the common problems we face the Japanese managers since the mid-eighties. The problems were related to the appreciating yen and maintaining profitability through offensive management of their financial assets. This "creative accounting" has turned out to be ineffective and caused huge losses after the economic breakdown in Japan in the early nineties. Some of these companies received compensation from brokerage firms, which carried out the...
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...Hera to Zeus This letter is from Hera, wife and queen of Olympus, to Zeus, husband and King of Olympus and the Gods. The material for this letter can be found in Metamorphoses by Ovid Jupiter and Europa, Anthology of Classical Myth by Apollodorus K1 Heracles, and Zeus in Power in Anthology of Classical Myth by Hesiod. I chose to use myths that depict Zeus cheating on Hera and one where he goes out of his way to rape other women. I avoided using Zeus’ triumphant battles because without knowing mythology, Zeus’ role as a powerful warrior using his lightning bolts overshadows his moral failings as a husband. I want to know am I not good enough for you Zeus, king of Olympus? Looking other places to satisfy your needs, but then you come back to me? If I wasn’t queen of Olympus I wouldn’t be with your sorry self. What are my flaws? What is wrong with me that you won’t be faithful? I give you all my love and affection, but you keep looking elsewhere. Why do I deserve this? What did I do to you? I loved you and took care of your children, Hebe, Eileithyia, and Ares. You egotistical bastard! You ran around sleeping with other women. Zeus you dumb bastard, you slept with Metis who was prophesized to give birth to a child even more powerful than you! After you slept with her, you ate her, but you still gave birth to the baby , adding a child that is not mine to the list of things you have messed up on. Don’t expect me to take care of her like she is my own baby because I won’t, you stupid...
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