TOKYO -- When Ricoh's newly appointed President and CEO Yoshinori Yamashita gathered his leadership team in his office in April, the executives quickly understood that more than the nameplate had changed. They found themselves huddling over a meeting table with no chairs -- Yamashita's way of promoting faster decision-making.
The office equipment maker had built its business on five strategic pillars: pursuing market share at all costs, even by sacrificing profit; expanding the overall number of machines in the field; providing a full lineup of products across all price ranges; in-house manufacturing as opposed to outsourcing; and deploying its own huge direct sales team.
