Statue of Konosuke Matsushita
was a Japanese
industrialist, the founder of Panasonic, a company based in the suburb of Kadoma (on the Keihan line), Osaka in Japan. For many Japanese, he is known as "the god of management". A biography of Matsushita's life called Matsushita Leadership was written by American business management specialist John Kotter in 1998.
Childhood
Konosuke Matsushita was born on November 27, 1894. He was the
youngest of eight children.
His father was an affluent landlord in the
farming village of Wasa, in the Wakayama Prefecture
. Matsushita was born into a well-to-do
family but the family became impoverished because his father made
some bad investment decisions, primarily in rice speculation. In
1899, the family's entire fortune was gone and anything of value
was sold off. The family was forced to move to a cramped three
bedroom city apartment where conditions were less than sanitary.
There was always a lack of food, clothing, and medical care. Within
several years, Matsushita's health declined rapidly and three of
his older siblings passed away due to infectious diseases. His
family’s misfortunes further meant that Matsushita could no longer
enjoy the privileges of the wealthy, including education.
Matsushita's formal education ended at the age of nine.
Teenage Years and Early Adulthood
Shortly after Matsushita left school, he was sent away to Osaka to
become an apprentice for a hibachi store. Not even a year into his
apprenticeship, the hibachi shop failed and Matsushita was left
looking for another source of income. His next stint was spent
working as an apprentice in a bicycle shop. He did this till the
age of fifteen. It was during this time that the use of electricity
was becoming more widespread in Japan and Matsushita felt that this
technological discovery would be the dawn of a new era. Matsushita
was determined to be a part of this industry and this propelled him
to apply for a job with the Osaka Electric Light Company, an
electrical utility company. Originally, he was hired to work as a
wiring assistant but because of his willingness to learn, he
quickly became an electrician. Over the next couple of years,
Matsushita’s position rose within the company as he was promoted
several times. During this time, Matsushita was introduced to one
of his sister's friends and shortly thereafter, he married Mumeno
Iue. Matsushita was now responsible for a family and this newfound
burden was not lost on him. At the age of twenty-two, Matsushita
was promoted to the position of an electrical inspector. Such a
position was considered somewhat prestigious as the salary was
considerably attractive, given the fact that Matsushita was, to a
certain degree, uneducated. It was during this timeframe that
Matsushita attempted to introduce his boss to an invention of a new
and improved light socket that he had perfected in his spare time.
However, his boss was less than enthusiastic and Matsushita became
predictably deflated. Because Matsushita no longer felt challenged
in his career, he soon grew dissatisfied with his job. This became
the turning point in his life.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company
In 1917, Matsushita left Osaka Electric Light Company to set up his
own company. Without capital, a formal education, and experience in
manufacturing, it would appear the company would fail before it
even began. However, whatever resources Matsushita lacked, he made
up with ambition and determination. Matsushita set up his shop in
the basement of his tenement and with his wife, brother-in-law, and
several assistants, he began creating several samples of his
product. He attempted to peddle his samples to several wholesalers
but was unsuccessful because he did not offer more than one
product. Eventually, Matsushita's assistants left his company and
he was left with only his wife and brother-in-law. Matsushita would
have eventually became bankrupt but he was "saved by an unexpected
order for a thousand insulator plates for electric fans.". From
there, Matsushita was able to continue producing his light sockets
and eventually they became popular as wholesalers begin realizing
the product was better in quality and less expensive then
comparable products in the existing market. Matsushita's products
were originally marketed under the name brand of "National" and
later moved on to the more recognizable names of Panasonic, Quasar
and Technics.
One of Matsushita's best products was his invention of a more
efficient battery-powered bicycle lamp. During the 1920's, bicycle
lamps were either powered by candles or by oil-burning lamps. These
types of lamps were highly inefficient as they usually only lasted
for three-hours. Matsushita created an oval-shaped lamp that used a
battery for power and a lightbulb for illumination. At first,
Matsushita could not get wholesalers interested in his products as
they were skepical of the concept of using a battery-powered lamp.
Matsushita took it upon himself to personally market his products
to retail bicycle shops. Once the idea caught on, his sales for the
battery-powered bicycle lamps took off.
Expansion
Matsushita learned a very important lesson in terms of growing a
company while he was trying to introduce his bicycle lamp to
wholesalers. He realized that even if he had a product that was
superior to anything out in the market it would not matter if he
could not sell the product. As a result, Matsushita began devising
ways to create sales channels for his products by concentrating
less on manufacturing and more on building a sales force. This led
to a retail store network and finally placed Matsushita's company
on the map in the Japanese's electrical manufacturing and retail
industry.
In 1929, Matsushita began setting up a new structure for his
company. The company was structured as a parent company and
branches of divisions that specialized in a particular product were
created. There were three specific products that were being created
in Matsushita's company at this time: the bicycle lamp and battery
division, the electrical socket division, and the radio division.
For each of these products, a national sales department was formed
with regional offices established in strategic locations. These
regional offices were responsible for the coordination of sales and
manufacturing. Products were manufactured based upon the demand for
the products. As a result, manufacturing was dependent on
sales.
Matsushita and the post-war period
In post-war Japan, the company came under severe restrictions
imposed on large Japanese companies by the
Allies. Matsushita was in danger of removal as
president, but was saved by a favourable petition signed by 15,000
employees.
In 1947, Konosuke lent his brother-in-law Toshio an unutilized
manufacturing plant to manufacture bicycle lamps, which eventually
became
Sanyo Electric.
From 1950 to 1973, Matsushita's company became one of the world’s
largest manufacturers of electrical goods, sold under well-known
trademarks including Panasonic and
Technics. Matsushita retired in 1973. Since 1954, Matsushita also
gained a significant shareholding in manufacturer
JVC by forming an alliance. It still retains a 50% share
today.
In retirement, Matsushita focused on developing and explaining his
social and commercial philosophies, and wrote 44 published books.
One of his books, entitled “Developing a road to peace and
happiness through prosperity”, sold over four million copies.
In 1987, he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the
Order of the Paulownia
Flowers
Chronic
lung problems lead to his death from
pneumonia on
27
April 1989, at the age of 94. He died with
personal assets worth US$3 billion, and left a company with US$42
billion in revenue business.
Further reading
References
- [1].
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