While that might not impress some investors, the man himself sees no conflict. If staff are happy, they’ll work better and earnings will improve, he said. Companies shouldn’t be ashamed to make profits if they’re pursued in a way that benefits society, Inamori has said. He’s the second son in a family of seven children and grew up in Kagoshima, the birthplace of Japan’s last samurai rebellion.


Inamori Museum


If Inamori’s teachings don’t always follow the typical management grad-school script, there’s no shortage of people wanting to learn them. More than 4,500 business owners attended the annual convention of his Seiwajyuku school in Yokohama last quarter. Inamori said he volunteers his time to speak to attendees, as part of philanthropic activities that also include funding the Kyoto Prize, a Japanese version of the Nobel awards. Beside the Kyocera headquarters in Kyoto stands a five-floor museum dedicated to Inamori’s life and philosophies.

The companies Inamori has led are connected by more than their management approach. Kyocera was the largest shareholder in KDDI as of Sept. 30 with 13.7 percent of voting rights, according to the phone company’s website. The stake is worth $8.2 billion, almost half of Kyocera’s market value. Kyocera owns 2.1 percent of Japan Airlines, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Inamori and his family have a net worth of $1.1 billion, putting them 32nd in a list of Japan’s 50 richest people this year, according to Forbes.

Hong Kong-based Oasis Management is calling on the electronic equipment-maker to return cash to investors by selling its stake in the airline and “greatly” reducing holdings of KDDI. Through Wednesday, Kyocera’s shares had risen 48 percent since Abe’s government took power in 2012, compared with an 84 percent gain for the benchmark Topix index. Kyocera added 1.4 percent in Tokyo today, against a 1 percent gain for the Topix. Return on equity, a measure of the profit companies make from shareholders’ capital, stood at 5.8 percent at the end of September, against an average of 8.6 percent for the Topix.


Highest Returns


Investors “want to get the highest returns possible. I understand that,” said Inamori, talking about shareholders in general. He says the KDDI holding pays good dividends and serves as a buffer against hard times. “At times company management has to say no to shareholders’ selfish requests.”

Seth Fischer, chief investment officer at Oasis, says this is an outmoded way of thinking and ignores the risk that KDDI’s business may founder. His fund is part of an influx of activists encouraged by Japan’s efforts under Abe to make firms more accountable to stockholders.

“We are shareholders, not ‘selfish’ shareholders,” Fischer said by e-mail. “The view that management has a duty to protect the business from shareholders is exactly the behavior that Abenomics is designed to change.”