Shigenobu nagamori and nidec corporation-realize No. 1 motor company through developing a knowledge-creating company

Abstract

Nidec Corporation, established by Shigenobu Nagamori, became a remarkable example of successful entrepreneurship in the Japanese manufacturing industry. Nidec was started by just four people in 1973 as a motor technology company and currently employs over 100,000 people globally. How could Nidec grow successfully? There are several reasons for its success. Nidec focused on small precision motors for HDDs (hard disk drives) in information equipment such as PCs, which big companies did not notice initially. Therefore, Nidec could rapidly develop alongside the international growth of business for PCs and data storage. Moreover, the Nidec Group has expanded their motor business from information devices to various applications such as cars and robots through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This shows Nagamori’s excellent ability to forecast business trends. An important factor to his success is that he has considered the global market since the beginning of Nidec. We feel that the essence of Nidec’s growth is “Nagamori-ism,” which is his philosophy and methodology of managing his company.