[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2196-E2197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE TO AN INDISPENSABLE VISION NOVEMBER 5, 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 1997

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, on previous occasions I have applauded 
President Clinton's assertion that this is an indispensable Nation. It 
is important, however, that this belief go forward with great humility. 
The United States is not the only indispensable Nation, and we are not 
the only people whose leaders have an indispensable vision. Dr. 
Tadahiro Sekimoto, the chairman of the board of NEC Corp., has

[[Page E2197]]

demonstrated that he also has a unique and profound vision of the 
leadership needed for a new century of global peace, progress, and 
prosperity. I am submitting for the Record a portion of a speech made 
by Dr. Sekimoto calling for a world leadership summit:

     Calling World Leaders to Action to Address the New Roles and 
     Responsibilities of the Global Corporation in the New Century

       As we approach the start of a new millennium, it is--I 
     believe--time for those of us in positions of global 
     stewardship to help illuminate the way to a new century of 
     peace, progress, and prosperity for all.


                              Great Chance

       During the half century that I have been in the information 
     technology industry, I have been privileged to be an eye-
     witness to its creation of astounding change, perhaps the 
     most dramatic of which has been the world's rapid advance 
     toward a global society characterized by the accelerated 
     movement of labor, goods, technology and capital across 
     frontiers.
       Some call this new episode the ``Information Age''. It is 
     dramatically transforming--largely for the better--most 
     aspects of daily life in most parts of the world. But perhaps 
     even more important, it is leading to a new society that will 
     be based on an ability to understand and respond to the need 
     and wishes of individuals everywhere in the world.


                         Also great challenges

       With the expansion of this new global information economy 
     and society will come radically new roles for our world 
     institutions, including companies like mine. But what are 
     these new roles going to be? How will they transform our 
     multinational giants, the successful management of which 
     challenges us greatly even today? What will this 
     enterprise be like in the future? What should it be like?
       By no means do I believe that I have a crystal-clear vision 
     of the future. But I have begun trying to understand it and 
     its urgent demands. And in my mind, the most compelling new 
     responsibility of the 21st century global corporation is 
     balancing economic growth--necessary in order to extend peace 
     and prosperity throughout the world--with the protection of 
     planet Earth's very fragile ecosystem.
       More effective management of competition's chaotic 
     expansion is the second most serious new responsibility that 
     globalization is requiring us to asume. And I believe that 
     cooperation at all levels--including those of global, 
     regional, national, local and corporate--is the essential 
     element here. World institutions will simply have to invent 
     and engage in novel forms of collaboration at the same time 
     they compete. In the business world we refer to this more 
     contemporary and useful way of operating as the 
     ``complementarian'' model where sometimes we compete, 
     sometimes we cooperate, and more often we do both.
       The third most serious challenge at the start of the next 
     millennium is, in my view, figuring out how world 
     institutions--including corporations--can most effectively 
     manage their new roles and work together for the betterment 
     of the global village. The perceptive business executive 
     knows what his organization's ``global citizenship'' 
     responsibilities are today. But who will they be in the 
     decade ahead as globalization broadens and informs more and 
     more aspects of our lives?
       One answer is that the 21st century global corporation can 
     no longer be parochial; its mission of service must encompass 
     its entire community because to paraphrase Adam Smith, it 
     too--just like other world institutions--exists to serve and 
     strengthen it societies.
       So the multinational's notion of corporate stewardship will 
     have to change--as it already has in some more enlightened 
     U.S. companies. Increasingly, all of us business leaders are 
     going to have to expand our philanthropy considerably beyond 
     where we are accustomed to giving. If, for instance, our 
     contributions have been exclusively economic, we might need 
     to move into social, technical, and cultural spheres as well.
       We may also have to shift the emphases of our corporate 
     good-citizenship efforts in terms of both geography and 
     services provided. Instead of staying inside our comfortable 
     local communities and simply continuing our work to support 
     disabled people, the arts, sports, and the like, we might 
     have to look at transferring some of our attention to the 
     globe's poorest nations and help them build farms and 
     highways as well. The World Bank, with its recently-begun 
     metamorphosis, may be showing us the way.


                New Management Strategies Are Essential

       Despite these and other seriously demanding challenges--to 
     which I have given decades of thought--I believe strongly in 
     mankind's ability to successfully manage globalization and 
     the resultant Information Age for the benefit of humanity, 
     both our generation and the generations that follow us. Some 
     multinational corporations have already started creating and 
     employing different, more suitable management strategies for 
     the future, and I am gratified to report that mine is one of 
     them.
       The highly complex nature of our business as a leading 
     international IT supplier and multi-media pioneer has 
     required us to learn how to operate much more efficiently and 
     effectively. For instance, in recent decades we have 
     successfully situated many corporate functions, including 
     R&D and manufacturing, in what we consider the optimum 
     location in the world. In like manner, we have bought and 
     sold in the world's most suitable markets--wherever they 
     are. And this concept, to which we refer simply as ``mesh 
     globalization'', has given us a strong competitive edge.
       In the process of deploying mesh globalization throughout 
     our company--and puzzling over what the 21st century might 
     require of us in terms of new management strategies--we were 
     struck by the growing need to recognize both the needs of the 
     group, or the whole, and the more personalized focus of the 
     new era. But how to join the two seemingly divergent 
     positions in compatible fashion. From the Greek words holos, 
     meaning ``whole'', and on, signifying ``individual'', I 
     coined the term ``holonic'' to indicate the need to harmonize 
     the two.
       So today we are successfully employing ``holonic'' 
     management to assure the prosperity of the corporation as a 
     whole while simultaneously respecting and honoring the 
     sovereignty of the individual--whether that individual is a 
     company subsidiary, a company employee, or a member of one of 
     the hundreds of communities around the globe in which we 
     operate. And this more sympathetic complementary strategy has 
     become another competitive advantage for us.
       Experience has taught us that one of the keys to employing 
     it profitably is the sharing of information. Another is 
     establishing and nurturing a culture--of the team or the 
     subsidiary of the corporation--so that members have a 
     meaningful concept around which to rally and with pride 
     produce something they consider significant.
       In fact these two notions--the sharing of information and 
     the development of mutually-engaging culture--have become so 
     important, at least from our observation, that we have added 
     them to the three resources we have historically identified 
     and valued: People, property, and money.


         My Call to Action--A New Dialogue for the New Century

       Now you know something of my thought about the expansion of 
     globalization and my efforts to position my company and my 
     country advantageously for it. This leads me to share with 
     you my great interest in building on the wisdom of world 
     leaders from essential disciplines by bringing us together to 
     identify vastly more creative ways to help all people achieve 
     their desired goals in the new century.
       It used to be that the complementary and productive 
     partnerships between and among business and financial 
     leaders, elected politicians, and government officials--
     Japan's ``Iron Triangle''--was sufficient to assure 
     prosperity and peace. The now seriously-outdated nature of 
     this limited collaboration has inspired us to consider an 
     expansion--actually a doubling of the size of the groups to 
     include distinguished heads of labor, academia, and the media 
     as well.
       I refer to this new alliance as the ``neo-hexagon''. And I 
     am issuing invitations to neo-hexagon leaders throughout the 
     world, in developing as well as developed countries, to join 
     me in a dialogue--a global conference--focused on identifying 
     best management practices for the 21st century and preparing 
     our organizations and our societies for the better tomorrow 
     that our grandchildren and their great grandchildren deserve. 
     I look forward to welcoming you there.

     

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