Matsushita Konosuke

Matsushita Kōnosuke, 1961

Matsushita Kōnosuke ( Japanese 松下 幸 之 助 , born November 27, 1894 in Wasa , Kaisō-gun , Wakayama Prefecture ; † April 27, 1989 in Moriguchi ) was a Japanese industrialist who owned the Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic Corporation ) in the suburb of Kadoma in the Japanese metropolis Osaka near the Keihan railway line to Kyoto . The Japanese worship him as the "god of management".

Matsushita's early life

Kōnosuke Matsushita was born in 1894 in Wasa Village, Wakayama Prefecture, the son of a landlord. His father's poor investment decisions in the rice business ruined the family's finances, so Matsushita was sent to Osaka to work.

In 1910, at the age of 16, Matsushita was hired as a wiring assistant for the Osaka Electric Light Company .

Matsushita wanted to market a new lamp holder that he had invented. On March 7, 1918, he founded the company Matsushita Denki Kigu Seisakujo, German electrical appliance factory Matsushita , together with the siblings Toshio Mumeno, who would later become Kōnosuke's wife, and Toshio Iue (who later founded Sanyo ). He had three employees, the equivalent of € 40 start-up capital and the prototype of his newly invented lamp holder. However, the company's success was based on the manufacture and marketing of a spherical lightbulb. To meet the demand for this lamp, Matsushita soon set up a sales network across Japan. Matsushita used the National Registered Trademark on its products and lowered prices to mass produce its lamp. Matsushita also published nationwide newspaper ads, an unusual form of marketing in Japan in the 1920s.

During this time he married a sister of Iue Toshio , the later founder of Sanyo , who was also his employee for a time.

Management practice

In 1929 Matsushita introduced an innovative management practice under the motto of harmony between corporate profit and social justice . In 1933, Matsushita proclaimed his seven leadership principles : public service, justice and honesty, teamwork for common goals, relentless pursuit of improvement, courtesy and humility, compliance with the laws of nature, and finally gratitude for blessings.

Matsushita and the post-war period

In post-war Japan, the company experienced the same severe restrictions imposed by the victorious Allied powers on all large Japanese companies. Matsushita faced the risk of being dismissed as president but was saved by a petition signed by 15,000 employees.

From 1950 to 1973, Matsushita's business expanded, focusing on its three treasures - washing machines , refrigerators and televisions . Matsushita Electric has become one of the largest manufacturers in the world of electrical appliances sold under well-known registered trademarks such as Panasonic , Technics and JVC . Matsushita himself retired in 1973.

In retirement, Matsushita focused on developing and explaining his social and commercial philosophies and wrote 44 published books. One of his books, Developing a Path to Peace and Happiness Through Prosperity , has sold over four million copies.

Chronic lung problems eventually led to his death from pneumonia on April 27, 1989 at the age of 94. He left behind a personal legacy worth 3 billion US dollars and a company with 40 billion US dollars in sales.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1. The Apprentice 3. (No longer available online.) In: The Life And Times of Toshio Iue. Sanyo, archived from the original on February 7, 2009 ; accessed on September 5, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• panasonic.net: The Founder Konosuke Matsushita

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Matsushita is the family name, Kōnosuke the first name.