Management philosophy - Keieirinen (English spelling) management philosophy

It refers to values ​​such as beliefs, creeds, ideals, and ideologies that managers strive to realize through their business activities. It can be considered almost synonymous with business creeds and business philosophy. Business philosophies, together with management goals, make up the management objectives. A business objective is a desirable state that business activities aim to reach, while business philosophies are their value expressions, and business goals are their factual expressions (profit rates, etc.). Business philosophies are often expressed objectively in the form of a company creed, motto, charter, guidelines, or song. In order to deepen the penetration of business activities, such codification is extremely effective. Until now, Japanese companies have often inherited the founder's business philosophies as they were, positioned the company within the nation and society, preached the social function of the company as a noble mission, and called for cooperation, dedication, diligence, and courtesy in the performance of business operations. This tendency is thought to be deeply influenced by the environmental factors of national policies since the Meiji era, such as enriching the country and strengthening the military, and building an industrial nation, as well as the Confucian way of managing the country and rescuing the people from difficulties, which preached Confucianism in the principles of rites, music, and punishment (rites = world order, music = music = harmony between people, and punishment = punishment and good governance). Confucian principles of righteousness and collectivism were at the core of this approach. Since the 1980s, there has been a rapid increase in cases where companies have adopted philosophies that are in line with modern corporate views, such as customer-centricity, maximizing corporate value, and creativity and progress, in addition to or instead of these traditional ideals.

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

経営者が経営活動を通じて実現しようとして抱懐している信念、信条、理想、イデオロギーなどの価値をいう。経営信条、経営哲学などとほぼ同義とみてよい。経営理念は、経営目標management goalとともに、経営目的management objectiveを構成する。経営目的とは、経営活動の目ざす望ましい到達状態であるが、経営理念はその価値的表現であり、経営目標はその事実的表現（利潤率など）である。経営理念は多くの場合、社是、社訓、綱領、指針、社歌のような形で客観的に表現されている。経営活動への浸透をより深めるためには、このような成文化はきわめて有効である。日本の企業では、これまで創業者の経営理念をそのまま継承し、国家社会のなかに企業を位置づけ、企業の社会的機能を崇高な使命として説き、業務の遂行にあたっては協力、献身、勤勉、礼節などを呼びかけるものが非常に多かった。このような傾向は、明治以来の富国強兵、産業立国を柱にした国策という環境要因と、さらにそれ以前からあった儒教的な礼楽刑政（礼＝世の秩序、楽＝音楽＝人心の融和、刑政＝刑罰と善政）を説いた経国済民（国家を経営し、人民の難儀を救う）の道に深く影響されたものと考えられる。そこでは、儒教的仁義と集団主義がその根幹になっていた。1980年代以降、こうした伝統的理念に加え、あるいはそれらにかえて、顧客中心、企業価値最大化、創造と前進のような現代的企業観に即した理念を掲げる事例が急速に増えつつある。

［森本三男］

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