au
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
"A recent example would be SoftBank’s acquisition of “Vodafone Japan Corporation (now SoftBank Mobile)” in March 2006. At the time, Vodafone was constantly lagging behind NTT DoCoMo and au and had never experienced being “number one.” When Son spoke with the executives back then, he immediately felt that “their eyes were dead,” they “lacked confidence,” and they had a “habit of losing, thinking everything they do fails.” So, he told them: “Even if it’s just for a month, we will definitely achieve a net increase of being number one at least once.” It takes time to achieve cumulative number one. So, we take the challenge for one month. Son believed that even if it’s just for one month, experiencing a net increase in being number one would instill a “habit of winning” once they realize, “Oh, we can be number one.” What was the result? “Once we achieved a net increase of being number one, we’ve continued to achieve net increases of being number one almost every month since then, except for a few months. Once this position becomes the home position, it feels unsatisfactory and unpleasant not being number one.” A recent example is the catchphrase “No.1 in smartphone connection ease,” which reflects Masayoshi Son’s strong commitment to the “number one principle.”"
"A recent example would be SoftBank’s acquisition of “Vodafone Japan Corporation (now SoftBank Mobile)” in March 2006. At the time, Vodafone was constantly lagging behind NTT DoCoMo and au and had never experienced being “number one.” When Son spoke with the executives back then, he immediately felt that “their eyes were dead,” they “lacked confidence,” and they had a “habit of losing, thinking everything they do fails.” So, he told them:"