Dankzij de economische crisis zijn er al een aantal bedrijven in de problemen gekomen ze ontslaan personeel of moesten zelfs de deuren sluiten (zoals THQ). In tegenstelling tot wat ieder commercieel bedrijf zou doen zodra de verkopen tegenvallen (zoals nu ook met de Wii U is) wilt Satoru Iwata geen personeel ontslaan.
“Regarding why we have not reduced the number of the personnel, it is true that our business has its ups and downs every few years, and of course, our ideal situation is to make a profit even in the low periods, return these profits to investors and maintain a high share price. I believe we should continue working toward this ideal. If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, however, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world. I believe we can become profitable with the current business structure in consideration of exchange rate trends and popularization of our platforms in the future. We should of course cut unnecessary costs and pursue efficient business operations. I also know that some employers publicize their restructuring plan to improve their financial performance by letting a number of their employees go, but at Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo’s business in the long run. Our current policy is to achieve favorable results by continuously cutting unnecessary expenses and increasing business efficiency.”
Wat je ook mag vinden van Iwata’s stijl voor Nintendo je kan zeker niet zeggen dat hij niet het beste voor heeft met het personeel. Toen de 3DS niet goed ging heeft hij 50% van zijn salaris afgestaan. Ieder ander bedrijf had werknemers ontslagen.
