Olympian depths

摘要

"T HIS is a referendum on modern-day corporate Japan," fumes Michael Woodford, a Brit cast down from the heights of Olympus, a Japanese camera maker. Mr Woodford was ousted as the company's president on October 14th, after barely six months in the job. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the 71-year-old chairman, blasted him for failing to hew to Japanese cultural practices. The board voted unanimously at a ten-minute meeting where Mr Woodford was not allowed to speak. Take a bus to the airport, he was told.