Red yeast rice malt supplement incident] Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical employee makes a dramatic confession: “The president and board of directors were not functioning.

When the problem occurred, I was not surprised. I wasn’t surprised when the problem occurred, because the working environment in the company was that bad.

Mr. A, a former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical employee who worked for the company until March of this year, sighed.

Although Mr. A was not directly involved with the red yeast rice malt supplement, he was troubled by the conditions within the company.

At the drafting meeting, if there is an opinion that differs from that of the directors, they yell at us. It’s commonplace for board members to raise their voices at employees in front of all the participants. But there is no one to stop them.

One of Ms. A’s colleagues, who could not stand the power harassment-like attitude of the directors, appealed directly to President Akihiro Kobayashi (52) for improvement last year, but the situation remained the same. Ms. A continued, “The transfers within the company were too frequent.

In the last year alone, the members and supervisors of the dozen or so teams I was involved with changed every few months. Furthermore, as far as I know, there is no established culture of handover. I teach my successor with the remaining members, but inevitably I cannot follow up to the professional information. I think this incident happened because of a buildup of such things. The president and board members, who are supposed to be creating an environment within the company to prevent this kind of thing from happening, are not functioning properly.

One of the factors that have contributed to this closed internal environment is the one-man management of the founding family. Kobayashi Kazumasa Kobayashi, 84, the father of Akihiro Kobayashi, the current sixth president and chairman of the board, is known as the “Emperor of Kobayashi Pharmaceuticals” and has held the top position for 48 years since becoming the fourth president in 1976.

The outflow of human resources has accelerated this old-fashioned environment within the company.

In the past, there were employees who could speak up to Chairman Kazumasa. Especially in the medical equipment field, where the chairman, who has a liberal arts background, said he lacked knowledge, he often heard from employees who had expertise in the field. However, after selling Kobayashi Medical, a subsidiary medical equipment manufacturer, in 2012, the company proceeded to liquidate affiliated companies and completely withdrew from the medical equipment business in 2003. In the process, excellent employees left one after another, further strengthening the dictatorship,” said another former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical employee.

Is it true that there were problems in the working environment, such as self-righteous behavior of the management team and ad hoc handovers? When we sent a letter of inquiry to Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the company responded, “We are making every effort to recall the red yeast rice-related products and respond to inquiries from customers who are feeling unwell, so we will refrain from responding.

If this scandal is the result of a distorted corporate structure, it cannot be forgiven.

From the April 26, 2024 issue of “FRIDAY