I had a dream about Sonora Technology #2 : Haruko MINAMI, Advisor
01/16/2025
In fact, on the night I finished writing “Founder’s passion and vision for overseas business development”, my third article here firstly uploaded on the 19th of Dec. 2024, I had Sonora Technology in my dream again.
I, living in Osaka, visited Sonora in Tokyo for the first time in a while.
Then I found a spacious factory had been newly built right next to the head office in Seijo, Setagaya-ward.
Surprisingly as many as 10 new employees had joined such a small company, and I saw they were split into groups of five to undergo the on-site training at the factory.
As the number of employees increased, A beautiful white corporate apartment was also newly built.
I was told that Mr. T and Mr. C in charge of sales, as well as accounting and general affairs staff, stayed there when they got home late. I ended up staying there too during my visit.
Then Sonora’s founder & CEO came up to me and asked me a sharp question.
“What is a key message in your third article? Do you think this will really be able to attract the number of job applicants to Sonora?”
Sonora has already recruited 10 employees; however, it doesn’t seem to be enough for him.
To be honest here, when I submitted the third article, I actually wasn’t confident whether it was well-elaborated or not. However, as such a deeper feeling coming over me was seen through by him in my dream, I couldn’t find any words to reply to him.
The founder & CEO didn’t question me any further, he started explaining the cleaning process of some materials used for the anechoic chamber in the manufacturing plant, instead.
“Actually, we use xxx Soap for cleaning.”
Speaking of xxx Soap corporation, it is one of the famous local industries in Osaka. I was so impressed by Sonora’s initiative to achieve “all-made-in-Japan products” not only materials for the anechoic chamber but also products used during the manufacturing process.
I thought this would also fulfill the purpose of my articles, oriented to “support small and medium-sized enterprises,” so I made up my mind in my dream that my next article should be “Sonora and XX Soap.”
That night, when I was upset as I forgot to bring my pajamas to sleep over at the corporate apartment, Mr. C came up to me. And he started revealing his concerns about the company getting bigger and bigger.
According to him, one of the former employees had already rebelled and set up his own company, with exactly the same type of business, right next door to Sonora. The company name is “Y-Cone.”
Mr. C was also motivated by that person and started thinking to switch his careers. Despite everyone being in front of us, he showed me the website of a potential new company. The company name is “K xx Industries”.
“This company’s financial portfolio is not so good though unfortunately,” Mr. C tweeted. It sounded me like a reminiscent, nostalgic feeling of him for the small-scale but high-profit Sonora Technology in the past days.
This is just a story of my incoherent dream I had during one night; however, I feel I have seen the reality in the future of any small and medium-sized enterprises.
You may think that everything is going well – as the company grows, it enables making large capital investments, recruiting more people, and providing attractive employee benefits.
On the other hand, organizational challenges will also emerge such as employees quitting in opposition to company policies, factions and conflicts coming out, and a large gap developing between employees and upper management.
I remember some of management executives in European venture companies I worked as an advisor, stated impressive words.
“Our goal is not to make the company bigger. We want to increase our profit margins while maintaining our current company size, and give back to our small but elite team of valued members, who are currently contributing to us.”
Perhaps I was given a hint in my dream as to how Sonora will move forward in the future.
And I myself have a feeling that my next article would be “Sonora and XX company.”
(End)
Haruko MINAMI (she/her), Advisor
Sonora Technology Co., Ltd.
<Bio> After graduating from Kwansei Gakuin University, B.A. in French linguistics, Minami worked in the commercial section of the Consulate General of Belgium in Osaka. Then she started her own business as a corporate advisor and consultant. While supporting mainly European companies to enter the Japanese market, she met many wonderful small and medium sized Monozukuri companies in Japan and started to support them to expand their business field from Japan to the world. Minami is currently in charge of developing European market in Sonora Technology.