Winners - Stop Press - Kyoji Takenaka of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd - Brief Article

Business Asia, Dec, 2001

When Kyoji Takenaka told his family he'd been promoted to president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd in April, they assumed he'd been named head of one of the carmaker's units. In the move that surprised Takenaka's own kin, President Takeshi Tanaka picked the 54-year-old engineer as his successor over 25 more senior executives, a rare departure from typical Japanese management practices.

Then again, Fuji Heavy is trying to become less typically Japanese after selling a 21 per cent stake to General Motors Corp in 2000. The maker of Subaru cars is following the lead of Nissan Motor Co and Mazda Motor Corp, where foreign shareholders are using their clout to rejuvenate struggling carmakers. "Subaru's appointment of a young executive to be president does help make the company more attractive," said Norihiko Kamada of Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co.