INTERVIEW: Embattled Nidec to Suspend Biz Acquisitions

Kyoto, May 31 (Jiji Press)–Nidec Corp. President Mitsuya Kishida has said the major Japanese motor maker will suspend business acquisitions for the time being to focus its efforts on reconstructing the firm rocked by accounting and product quality fraud. Business acquisitions have been a growth driver for Nidec, based in the western Japan city of Kyoto. “I will work on rebuilding our company’s governance system,” Kishida said in an interview Friday, showing a plan to spend 130 billion yen over five years on measures to prevent irregularities. A panel of outside experts that investigated the accounting fraud has concluded that excessive pressure from Nidec’s founder, Shigenobu Nagamori, on company staff to meet performance targets was among the factors behind the irregularities. Pointing out that Nidec had “a corporate culture to pursue short-term profits,” Kishida said, “We will build a system that makes it impossible to commit irregularities regarding accounting and product quality control.” On future business management, he said, “We will review our operations, including the possibility of ceding what we have in our group to partner entities,” suggesting that consolidating some of its existing operations could be an option. At the same time, Kishida said, “If we could regain trust, we want to consider strategies such as conducting business acquisitions in new sectors.” The president said that Nidec may put its efforts into data centers and humanoid robots, noting that artificial intelligence-related areas are expected to “grow tremendously.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]