Powering Good - A True Hitachi Story

Even though more and more companies are conscious of their responsibility to contribute to global issues like climate change, resource shortages, changing demography and extreme poverty, they often struggle to develop new business models and value propositions that help to guide and accelerate transitions to a sustainable economy and society.

"Contribute to society through the development of superior, original technologies and products". A very present-day statement, you would think. What would you say if I tell you this statement is 109 years old? It is the founding belief of a Japanese man named Namihei Odaira and the starting point for the company he created, the Hitachi Group.

When people ask me where I work and I tell them 'at Hitachi', a very common response is: 'O, the audio-something-company, don't you guys make DVD players or is it hard-drives or TVs maybe..?' And then my response: 'Actually, Hitachi is one of the largest companies in the world. We make sure trains run on schedule, we help to battle cancer in a less-invasive way, we store renewable energy, we have one of the safest technologies to withdraw cash or make payments, we can predict when something will brake down or when emergency services are needed. We help farmers to increase their harvests, and we produce safe drinking water, and that's just a few examples.' Silence...

How come almost nobody knows us...? I think this mainly has to do with two things. Firstly the Japanese culture. Modesty or 'Kenson' is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and that constitutes a remarkable point of difference with our western culture. Being modest means that you'd never boast yourself about anything. For a very long time the idea was that our technology was great and it would sell itself. Why would we need flashy global advertising campaigns and a big marketing department?

Secondly, Hitachi is huge. With over 900 group companies creating technologies and products, over the years Hitachi became a little bit of everything. We made great things, but nothing stuck in people's minds... Besides from TVs. Although our founding principle of contributing to society was very modern for its time, technology and products took the lead and took off in many different directions addressing many societal and business challenges but there was a lack of synergy.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I deeply feel that you should know about Hitachi. And because I think we arrived at a crucial point in this fantastic company. We have a man with a vision and a mission and his name is Toshiaki Higashihara, President and CEO of Hitachi. A few weeks ago Higashihara-san presented the 2021 mid-term management plan. OK, great, so another company presenting a management plan, what's new?

Over the past few years, Hitachi started to realise that we have something very unique. Something very few companies have. We have a remarkable history, a history with building and creating things. Technology, machines, products, or more formally Operational Technology. More than a century of experience.

That's not all. We also happen to have over 50 years under our belt of Information Technology, that is computer-based information systems. Software applications, computer hardware, data systems. Can you name a company with this combined expertise?

Higashihara-san and his team restructured the Hitachi organisation to focus on five key areas: Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy, and IT. Why these particular areas? Because they will combine the power of over 900 group companies, the experience of OT, IT and Products to help resolve issues faced by society and customers - on a global scale. These five areas represent 'social infrastructures' that Hitachi aims to put in place. We call this Social Innovation.

Social Innovation is our mission to address the world’s social and environmental needs. And we're very serious about it. It requires businesses and the entire society to work together toward a common goal. So, if we can make what is "Good" for the world and leverage the "Power" of the Hitachi Group and partners to achieve this, we have something that is truly fantastic. Something to share with the world. At Hitachi we sum up Social Innovation in two words: Powering Good. This is not something we just made up - it has been in our DNA for 109 years.

Are you keen to make this world a better place and help us shape the future - join us! We're always looking for great people that want to make a difference.