JAL’s restructuring was achieved by instilling and inculcating a “New Corporate philosophy”!

When the Corporate Reorganization Law was applied to JAL and the company effectively went bankrupt, the amount of debt was 2.3221 trillion yen, the largest ever for a business company. Kazuo Inamori was entrusted with the restructuring of the company.

Mr. Inamori was surprised. Inamori was surprised to learn that the company culture from top to bottom did not understand the “basics” of a private company, namely, “Why should we make a profit? The reality was that the company had not yet lost the sense of “Oyakata Hinomaru” from its days as a national flag carrier and a state-run company. In the process, he established a new management philosophy.

During the three years that Mr. Inamori devoted to the restructuring, JAL’s corporate culture underwent a dramatic change. The statements and speeches of then Chairman Onishi and President Ueki have been uploaded on YouTube and other media, and what one senses when viewing them is the naturalistic way in which both top executives speak of their “love for employees. This is exactly the kind of ” heart-based management ” that Mr. Inamori instilled in JAL.

JAL, as a service company, values the behavior of its employees, and customers pay for the services they receive. Of course, the environment and comfort of the aircraft is also key, and this is also realized by the pilots, flight attendants, and even maintenance personnel.

Here is a comparison of the previous management philosophy and the new JAL management philosophy.

Former JAL Group Corporate Philosophy

As a comprehensive air transportation group, the JAL Group will contribute to the peace and prosperity of Japan and the world by connecting customers, cultures, and hearts.

  1. Thoroughly pursue safety and quality
  2. We think and act from the customer’s point of view.
  3. Maximize corporate value
  4. We fulfill our responsibilities as a corporate citizen.
  5. We value effort and challenge.

New JAL Group Corporate Philosophy

The JAL Group Will:
Pursue the material and intellectual growth of all our employees;

  • Deliver unparalleled service to our customers;
  • Increase corporate value and contribute to the betterment of society.

We believe that by setting forth a high purpose that is fair and just, and by sharing this purpose with all employees, all employees will be able to work together with a sense of unity toward this purpose.

We can approach the truth of the origin of internal marketing, that “the first customer is the employee” in the service industry, by studying the process of JAL’s restructuring.


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This article was written in Japanese and converted into English using a translation tool. We hope you will forgive us for any inadequacies.
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