There was a humorous article on the Japan Today website yesterday about what Sanyo Electric is doing in response to financial losses suffered this year:

Sanyo asks employees to buy company products to cut losses

OSAKA — Sanyo Electric Co has asked all domestic group employees to buy Sanyo products of up to 2 million yen per person by the end of March to help reduce losses stemming mainly from damage caused by earthquakes that struck Niigata Prefecture last year, company sources said Saturday.

Division chiefs at the home appliance maker were asked to buy up to 500,000 yen and rank-and-file employees 200,000 yen, they said. If each Sanyo group employee satisfies the company’s target, the group will boost its sales by about 16 billion yen, they said.

For anyone not hip to the foreign exchange market, the amount that Sanyo is “asking” (read: forcing) each employee to spend is roughly US$2000 ($5000 for managers). I can only imagine what it must be like to be a member of the Sanyo group right now. . . big posters up in every office declaring “Let’s buying Sanyo goods!,” daily reminders announced every morning, a chart on the wall tracking which employee has shown the most “dedication to the company” by dropping the most cash. . . madness.

Sure, it sounds like an incredibly ridiculous business plan, but is it really that crazy? I suppose the question is: would you rather be laid off, or receive what is effectively a two-grand salary cut? At least this way everyone gets to keep their jobs AND gets a houseful of new appliances to boot. Plus, they might even be able to make a little cash back by selling off their old appliances to the local Hard Off.