Good Risks: Discovering the Secrets to ORIX's 50 Years of Success

Chapter 4 Sydney, Plus Thoughts on India

The next day I boarded a Virgin Australia flight that took me from Dublin all the way across Europe, touching down briefly in Abu Dhabi, and then on to Sydney. My research showed that ORIX does indeed have several operations in Europe, but I decided that David Power’s advice made sense. ORIX seemed to have an innate radar for growth opportunities and, at least in the past decade, growth has become a four-letter word, spelled A-S-I-A.

The flight was much longer than I had imagined, and I arrived in Sydney’s international airport very tired. I’d emailed the CEO of the main ORIX office in Australia, and his response was an enthusiastic, “C’mon down!”

Little did I know that Sydney covers an area of 4,700 square miles, several times larger than metropolitan Tokyo, which is saying a lot. The airport is far to the east, near Sydney Harbor, and ORIX Australia is located well northwest and inland from the harbor, so far that I thought my taxi would need to stop once or twice to take on food and water en route.

“There she is, mate,” my driver said in an accent so unmistakable that it sounded like a parody of the real thing. I looked where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a white building with the ORIX logo and company name mounted prominently on the front. In all my travels this was the first time I had seen an ORIX building. Today, I was to meet with a fellow named John Carter, the CEO of the local operation. I was immediately shown ...