And what person would better embody the acceptable levels of narcissism than the highest-paid CEO in the US and a consistent fixture on the “40 under 40” lists? Most every article that was found discussing GoPro also seemed to be a feature story for Woodman himself. Now, this may be a function of having a single product, a good looking founder / CEO, and great story-arc combining the two; but the fact that Woodman doesn’t seem to focus any of the massive media attention on the company is nearly as telling as the pay scale. The future of the company is currently uncertain with a major dip in 2015 stock values, but the push for content creation and distribution still looks to be a strategic drive from the top. Woodman’s failed firm during the …show more content…
Interestingly, over this long history there have only been six people to be President of the organization, with the most recent, Fujio Mitarai, boasting the same last name as two people to hold the position previously (one cousin and the founding uncle). In what amounts to a multi-billion dollar, family-run business there is always bound to be a strong relationship between the strategic goals of the company, and the current leader of the organization. This is particularly true if the current leader is 80 years old, and has been the head of the company for two …show more content…
During the end of his time in the US, and upon his return to Japan he saw that the company was being run by the engineers, tinkers, and techies. Because of this the R&D budget ballooned and the company had become difficult to run with a number of high value divisions fighting over power. Once becoming the President, Mitarai quickly pulled the plug on some market losers, signaling that even though development was important; running the works on a tight budget was even more critical17. The major shift from the Asian culture of growth above all was getting converted into a slightly more American style with a profit-focused environment. Even with this major change though, Canon has been able to maintain a strong R&D presence, pacing just behind IBM for a string of years in overall patent reviews. Obviously, the company leadership has not only set, but also embodied the strategy of technology-driven growth of the bottom