Handwriting Is in the Letter and on the Wall

Directors of Ricoh, the Japanese office equipment and camera maker, have been ordered to bring letters of resignation to work each morning as a reminder that they are personally responsible for hauling the company out of the red.

Ricoh President Hiroshi Hamada told the 23 directors, each of whom is directly responsible for a business division, to “have a resignation letter in your shirt pocket.”

Hamada’s order came after Ricoh announced that it will report a $45-million pretax loss for the year ending March 31, the first since it was listed in 1949.