If you read the recent post on Sony's Blu-Ray's recent victory over Toshiba in the HD-DVD space, you know Toshiba pulled out of the race the moment they calculated they couldn't win. In today's Wall Street Journal, Toshiba's CEO, Atsutoshi Nishida commented on the move:
"One has to take calculated risks in business, but it's also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong. We were doing this to win, and if we weren't going to win then we had to pull out, especially since consumers were already asking for a single standard."
Moving quickly on bad news is bold step, especially for Japanese CEO, many of whom might have postponed a decision even in the face of the inevitable, in order to save face. Building on this, the Wall Street Journal cited five management tips from the Toshiba CEO:
For those of you who are concerned about Toshiba's future, don't worry too much. CEO Nishida reminds us that HD DVD was one of 45 strategic business units or "areas of growth" and 44 still remain.
