Kikkoman’s Enduring Legacy
With his upright stance and his trademark double-breasted pinstripe suit, Yuzaburo Mogi, Honorary CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kikkoman Corporation exudes the confidence of a successful corporate warrior. He has fought long and hard to bring soy sauce to dinner tables around the world but shows no signs of slowing down. He is a work-in-progress.
Mogi leveraged his 1961 MBA from Columbia University—the first earned by a Japanese—to play a pivotal role in Kikkoman’s overseas expansion, including the launch of shipments from Kikkoman’s pioneering U.S. plant in 1973. Today, Kikkoman operates eight overseas soy sauce production plants, selling the popular condiment in over 100 countries.
But while other 80-odd-year-olds may be content to sit on their laurels, Mogi wants to make companies more socially responsible, nudge corporate leaders to take on more calculated risk and bring the people of the world together to enjoy soy sauce.
Social Responsibility and Sustainability
The Kikkoman tradition of working closely with society can be traced back to its origins over 300 years ago, and the commitment to maintaining socially and environmentally friendly relationships was formalized as a basic management principle in 1928.
“Companies cannot just pursue profits,” Mogi says. “They must contribute to society.”
Kikkoman selected Walworth, Wisconsin to set up its production facility in the early 1970s—the first U.S.-based food production plant run by a Japanese company—based on its access to high-quality water, soybeans, wheat and the presence of a diligent local workforce.
“We are committed to doing our utmost to ensure these resources are used responsibly and sustainably,” Mogi said during a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the soy sauce plant in June 2023.
Mogi also announced that Kikkoman would donate a total of US$5 million to the University of Wisconsin to fund environmental research.
“This is based on the principle that Kikkoman, having deeply engaged with nature and continuously grown with local communities, should invest in the future of those communities. Kikkoman will continue to be a good corporate citizen and work together with the local communities for the long term,” he said.
The company pledged US$3 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to aid research into sustainable crop cultivation, including soybeans and wheat.
A further US$2 million was awarded to the School of Fresh Water Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the construction of a research vessel to advance studies on the environmental conditions of the Great Lakes water system.
Take on More Calculated Risk
The entrepreneurial spirit that led Kikkoman’s overseas expansion is not as strong in presentday Japan. During the period of asset-inflation in the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, known as Japan’s “bubble economy,” several Japanese companies made unwise investments that later collapsed.
Some companies have never recovered, and Mogi laments that this has led to an insular stance among some firms. “Japan hasn’t seen real growth since the collapse of ‘the bubble’ because managers will no longer take on risk. They remain afraid in the wake of a series of unwise investments. There is now a tendency to avoid taking on risk, and this has impeded corporate growth,” he says.
Mogi urges younger Japanese managers to be bold and plan a way forward for their companies, while avoiding the mistakes of the past. “Managers should have a clear outlook and actively invest in the future based on a calculated risk, without engaging in speculative ventures. They need to make proper forecasts, come up with growth strategies that match those forecasts and manage their businesses wisely,” he says.
The Exchange of Food Culture
Perhaps in his most ambitious move, Mogi wants to promote the international exchange of food culture through soy sauce.
“In Japan we have the saying, ‘Onaji kama no meshi wo kuu.’ The literal meaning is ‘to eat from the same pot,’ but the implication is that if we share the same food, we can all get along,” Mogi says.
It is no exaggeration to say that Mogi has spent his life preparing the table for the people of the world to enjoy Kikkoman soy sauce, and remains a work-in-progress while steering his company into the future.
“Companies cannot just pursue profits. They must contribute to society. We have been putting this idea into practice for over 100 years since the 1917 establishment of the company that became the modern-day Kikkoman.”