Ryuta Fujii, President and CEO of Ryukakusan Co., Ltd.

Focusing on the company's strengths, the company went from 40 billion yen in debt to a 200 billion yen company

■ Profile

Born in Tokyo in 1959. After graduating from the Faculty of Music at Toho Gakuen School of Music in 1984, he joined Kobayashi Pharmaceutical. After working at Mitsubishi Kasei Industries (now Mitsubishi Chemical), he joined Ryukakusan in 1994 and became its president and representative director in 1995.

He wiped out the accumulated deficit by developing the world's first medication aid jelly, and by introducing "Ryukakusan Direct" and "Ryukakusan Throat Refreshing Lozenges." He increased sales to five times the level at the time of his appointment. He also performs in concerts as a flute player and teaches the next generation of flute players.

Ryuta Fujii, CEO of Ryukakusan Co., Ltd., is well known for his catchphrase, "When you say 'cough!', it's Ryukakusan." We spoke with President Fujii, known as a skilled businessman who has increased sales fivefold in the roughly 20 years since he became president, about a wide range of topics, from his career from his student days to the present, to the kind of company he wants to be in the future.

■ My student days were spent solely focused on music

Influenced by my parents' love of music, I started playing the violin at the age of three during my childhood. I switched to the flute in high school, and went on to study at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in college to pursue music to the fullest. Ryukakusan is an owner-operated company, so I think people around me assumed that I would take over the business. However, when I entered college, my father told me, "You don't have to run the company. Just immerse yourself in music. But I won't allow you to slack off."

At Toho Gakuen, I was extremely busy, not only taking general studies classes, but also music-related classes, practical lessons, ensemble and orchestra classes, but also actively taking on performance assignments given to me by my seniors and teachers. I felt a great sense of urgency that I had to somehow become able to make a living as a professional while I was still a student, since there were no companies that would hire me even if I graduated from a music college.

However, even though my father told me that I didn't have to take over the company, I began to feel more and more that there were many different jobs out there during my university years. For example, if you hold a concert, you have to sell tickets. But selling tickets wasn't easy, and I began to think about marketing, like "how can you sell tickets when there's a mismatch between supply and demand?" This experience made me want to learn about jobs outside of music.

During my studies in France, I was reminded that music is "a cultural, artistic, and literary medium that expresses one's outlook on life." After that, I worked at Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and Mitsubishi Chemical Industries (now Mitsubishi Chemical). During that time, my father, the company president, became ill, and I finally decided to join Ryukakusan.

■ The business situation at the time was so bad that I thought, "We should give up on reconstruction."

When I joined the company, sales of Ryukakusan were falling and the company was in a very precarious financial position. Sales were 4 billion yen, but debts were also 4 billion yen. Costs were only rising, and it was unclear whether the company would survive for the next three years. The more I looked into it, the worse the situation became than I had imagined, and I don't know how many times I thought about giving up on the business. However, while it is difficult to keep a company going, it is also extremely difficult to let it go under. So I began to think about paying off my debts little by little and quitting without causing any trouble to those around me. That's when my wife said to me:

"I don't want to be the president's wife, so it's okay if I run away. But don't I have to repay the kindness of the people and customers who have helped me so far?" When I heard that, I made up my mind, "I don't mind spending the rest of my life paying off debts, but I'll do it," and decided to take over the management of the company.

■ Developing strengths leads to the development of hit products

The first thing we did in our reforms was to understand the strengths of Ryukakusan. In order to understand the strengths of Ryukakusan, we conducted group interviews with loyal users to delve into their individual needs. We discovered that Ryukakusan was popular among pregnant women who cannot take strong medicines, as well as obstetricians and gynecologists, who saw it as "a medicine derived from herbal medicine that can be taken safely when you have a slight sore throat."

We decided that "it's more important to develop our strengths than to cover our weaknesses," and instead of focusing on our weaknesses, we changed direction to leverage our strengths: specializing in herbal medicines and Chinese medicines, and being strong on the throat. As a manufacturer specializing in throat care, we focused on product development and marketing, and as a result, we increased our sales fivefold and became a debt-free 20 billion yen company. There is probably no other company in Japan that specializes in throat care to this extent. This is also one of our strengths. That's why we're happy and rewarded when we hear from people who use our products that they are satisfied.

Just because a company is big doesn't mean it's strong

I'm often asked, "Why don't you make your company bigger?" However, I think that large organizations are not good at trying new things.

　On the other hand, the strengths of small and medium-sized enterprises are their innovation and speed. Small does not necessarily mean weak, and getting bigger does not necessarily mean better. Also, the key to management decisions is "whether our business activities can help our customers be at least a little healthier, rather than profits." That's why we've never even considered going public. We feel that our current size of around 100 employees is just right.

　Furthermore, looking into the future, I feel that if society no longer needs us, there's no need for us to continue as a company for the next 100 or 200 years. The environment around us is constantly changing, but if our company is unable to evolve and fulfill its social mission, there's no point in continuing, so at that point we can just exit the market. That's it. Conversely, I want to continue striving to be a company that can evolve and always contribute to society.

■Message to university students

People who have experienced setbacks in life are strong. Furthermore, those who continue to work hard despite experiencing setbacks are also different. Ryukakusan does not regularly hire new graduates, but we are attracted to people who have the drive to "change society on their own!"

I also want all university students to be more aware that "you must create your own health." Your parents have bestowed upon you a body, so don't forget to be grateful for it and use it carefully. "You must create your own health." No matter how much health insurance you have, no one wants to suffer from a serious illness or become bedridden. I hope that from a young age you will be conscious of your future self and practice "self-medication," maintain your health for a long time, and enjoy life to the fullest.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on May 27, 2022 by Saeki Sakurayu, a fourth-year student at Hosei University