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back to article Sorry, Toshiba, speak up ... What was that? A $6bn loss amid an accounting scandal?

Life isn’t getting any easier for Toshiba: the accountancy-scandal-hit Japanese conglomerate has forecasted a wider net loss of ¥710bn ($6bn) for its fiscal year, which ends in March. The worst set of losses in the company's history – it was founded in 1875 – are being blamed on restructuring costs, and amortisation of the …

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  1. Youngone Silver badge

    Culture

    I'm lead to believe that corporate cultures that dissuade staff from calling out execs on their crappy decisions is a Japanese thing, but the company I work for is not Japanese and it is pretty career limiting to point out mistakes to our PHB's, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

    11 1 Reply
    1. Fatman
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: Culture ... pointing out mistakes

      <quote>... it is pretty career limiting to point out mistakes to our PHB's</quote>

      Agreed!!

      They don't wan to hear that shit because it will affect their bonus.

      That being said....

      when you hear a jet engine start up...

      and you see a septic tank cleaning truck arrive on site...

      you better hide, and seriously hope the C suite is standing in the way to stop the flow.

      6 0 Reply
    2. The little voice inside my head
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      Re: Culture

      Japan's strength comes from its people, values that used to be there for generations got eroded with the modern "American way of life": freedom for the young, women working and the little kids growing in places like herds, both parents working till late at night, these kids grow without family values that used to be the ground for the Japanese society.

      There used to be loyalty from employees to their company, not anymore, with all the lay offs of people getting close to their retirement age, leaving them disappointed, and showing the younger generations how the company is going to treat them as they get older. Knowledge would stay along with experience, now it's become hunting for the best opportunities and " screw it" mentality if something doesn't go the way it was expected. There was a time that they would commit suicide for their big mistakes and because of shame it would cause to their workplace. Now it's "I resign" and leave with huge bonuses or other "goodbye" packages.

      The young used to be stressed about being the very best and smart and then in the 90's the Japanese government relaxed the education laws, making the young Japanese lazy and lacking good education. South Korea, on the other hand, stresses education and look how they are overly better in technology development than the Japanese. It's all from within, and starts with family valse

      You can probably remember how good Japanese products were in the past and even now the Chinese pay extra for that Japanese quality that they don't get in their country, when they travel to Japan. So, in some sense there still is that "pride" of making good quality stuff but it is a sad to see how these changes in culture are.driving Japan into mediocrity.

      6 1 Reply
      1. x 7
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        Re: Culture

        so, you mean the Japanese have become westernised? Could have said all that in one sentence

        4 0 Reply
      2. Notas Badoff
        Reply Icon
        WTF?

        Re: Culture

        I think you skipped a few steps in your "slide" diatribe.

        "There used to be loyalty from employees to their company, not anymore, with all the lay offs of people getting close to their retirement age, ..."

        There used to be loyalty from the companies to their employees. As I see it, the entire 'miracle' after the war was built on the superhuman efforts of Japan's people working towards a common purpose. There was the expectation that they were building up the country while building the individual companies. All these would be stronger than ever and the people would be taken care of by the several paternal authorities.

        That bubble was popped when the largest and strongest companies laid off salarymen to repair balance books when management/government missteps caused problems. The companies preserved the very strengths that so many had built for them, though many workers were now cast off and unemployable.

        And now you say it was the 'westernization' of the people that caused the problems? The "screw it" mentality was never seen at all until demonstrated so ruinously by the companies. All these things you blame on westernization of the people... aren't they the to-be-expected response of people betrayed by "the system"?

        Oh the Japanese are lazy, lacking good education, no quality, mediocre, "screw it" mentality... and it's their own fault. Gah, this is a perverted backwards view.

        This wouldn't have happened in the 40s, 50s, 60s when the government actively feared the Communists and quite paternally said none of that agitation was needed to protect the people and then worked steadily against labor organization.

        Japan is a very good example of what happens when industry and government both turn their backs against their own citizens. You get the country you deserve, government and voters alike.

        8 0 Reply
      3. Gene Cash Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Culture

        > There used to be loyalty from employees to their company

        Yup, because there used to be loyalty from the company to their employees. People didn't get laid off at the drop of a hat to please the stock market.

        > You can probably remember how good Japanese products were in the past

        Actually, I'm old enough to remember before the '80s when Japanese products were considered complete tin-plated no-quality disposable shit, much like the modern attitude toward Chinese products. "Made in Japan" was a hugely derogatory slur, just like "Made in America" has become.

        10 0 Reply
      4. Charles 9
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        Re: Culture

        You may wish to note that extreme social pressure can have side effects: namely, a high SUICIDE rate (South Korea and Japan last I read are 1 and 2 among industrialized nations). Having a population increasingly swinging towards the elderly doesn't help matters.

        1 0 Reply
      5. asdf
        Reply Icon

        Re: Culture

        >South Korea, on the other hand, stresses education and look how they are overly better in technology development than the Japanese. It's all from within, and starts with family valse (values?)

        Education is important but too regimented and you actually can harm creativity. Check out who is making more off smartphones Apple or Samsung (granted both hire multinationally but culture matters as you say).

        >You can probably remember how good Japanese products were in the past.

        As said before Japan used to be the China of manufacturing and they climbed the ladder to making the best stuff to today more being a knowledge based economy and slightly less manufacturing. Korea is simply Japan 20 years behind.

        0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surprise? Not really

    What day is it?

    Oh, look, another corporate accounting scandal! Another JAPANESE corporate accounting scandal! So shocking!

    not

    4 0 Reply
  3. cirby

    Sad

    I've had great luck with Toshiba laptops. I work in conventions, and see (literally) a thousand or more laptops a year. The ones with the best reliability seem to be the Toshibas.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Efros
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      Re: Sad

      Once you clean all their crapware off.

      2 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sad

      My limited exposure to Toshiba laptops is about 15, all in the UK.

      They have all had catastrophic hard drive failure with no warning.

      1 0 Reply
      1. x 7
        Reply Icon

        Re: Sad

        A few years back I found it interesting that Toshiba switched to using Hitachi drives in many of their laptops and the reliability went up dramatically................the Tosh hard drives appeared to be a liability

        things may well have changed siince

        1 0 Reply
      2. jcitron
        Reply Icon

        Re: Sad

        Or a catastrophic meltdown due to constant overheating.

        I used to support about 100 of these at one organization, which was all that was left from a previous purchase. As soon as their warranty expired so did they!

        0 0 Reply
  4. x 7

    The Japs make good porno films. They also make good motorbikes. Perhaps they should give up on everything else and just do what they do well. Consumer electronics is obviously too hard for them

    Oh - and they should grow more rice

    2 8 Reply
    1. Charles 9
      Reply Icon

      Regarding pron, some would say it's less better and more just different. Their "tastes" are noted to be more exotic than in the west, so they tend to be more varied. Also, same sex relationships don't have the same taboos as in the west.

      2 0 Reply
  5. DanceMan

    My experience with Toshiba laptops has been that they're well made but poorly supported for DIY end users. Looking for drivers? Look elsewhere if they're for an OS the laptop was not sold with. I used to hang out at Hardware Central Forums. Their posts with the all-time highest number of views, in the hundreds of thousands, were for XP drivers for Vista laptops for Toshibas. Need a diagnositic for a Toshiba hdd? Use Seagate's Seatools -- Toshiba does not supply one. Need any kind of diagnostic or software help for a Toshiba? Take it to an official depot; no online help will be provided. Beyond that I know of two lower-end Toshiba laptops with a bios ram limit half the max of the chipset.

    I'd hate to see a major manufacturer disappear and lessen choice and competition, but I wouldn't cry many tears if it were Toshiba.

    4 0 Reply
  6. jms222

    Agreed. I've got two broken Tosh drives from Apple machines on my shelf.Replaced with Hitachi ones.

    0 0 Reply

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