Four years later, Matsushita founded the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management to nurture human resources with the skills to manage state affairs. By the end of , the company had 20 employees and was producing 5, plugs a month. In Matsushita, invented a dry-cell battery for bicycles lamps that lasted 30 hours, or 10 times longer than existing batteries. By the end of that year the company was selling 5, batteries a month. By the end of , it was selling , bicycle lamps a month as well as batteries, irons and other products.
He didn't lay off any workers or reduce their pay. Instead he gave them their full salaries for working a half day in their factories and spending the rest of the day going out and encouraging people to buy Matsushita products.
The strategy worked, The workers ended up being very determined salesmen. Within half a year sales rebounded to normal levels. Matsushita began producing radio receivers in By , it was Japan's largest producer of radios.
It also made electric fixtures, cooking heaters, storage batteries, phonographs and motors as well as bicycle lamps and batteries. In , it began producing incandescent light bulbs. Matsushita Corp. Konosuke Matsushita was originally supposed to be ousted from Japanese industry for his involvement in the war but was removed from the list after Matsushita employees petitioned the Americans for his removal from the list.
During the s, 60s and 70s, Matsushita expanded its consumer products divisions and began making transistor radios, televisions, stereos, tape recorders, microwave ovens and video tape recorders.
In it made its first black-and-white television. In it produced the first color television in Japan. In , it purchased Motorola's television operation in the United States and Canada. It sold million televisions by ; million in and million in Panasonic was the first television maker to produce million televisions.
By , Matsushita had 83, employees and subsidiaries. It was the world's largest producer of televisions, the sixth largest industrial corporation in Japan and the 30th largest industrial corporation outside the United States. Panasonic has been an Olympic sponsor since and has served as the official broadcast equipment supplier for several games.
In , it supplied state-of-the-art digital audio and video equipment, including flat-screen televisions, professional digital video cameras, and DVD recorders for the Beijing Olympics,. Matsushita words of wisdom Panasonic prides itself on its corporate culture and looking after its employees.
A favorite catch phrase for the company is that it has built people not just products. Matsushita was the first Japanese company to give workers a five-day work week, provide equal pay for women and develop a corporate spiritual philosophy. It sponsors classes in flower arrangement and meditation and other things for its employees and hosts sporting events. Matsushita has had few labor disputes and never had a strike.
Matsushita encourages employees to offer suggestions on how to improve productivity. In one year there were , suggestions. It also set up a "self-control room" outfit with bamboo staves and a dummy of Konosuke Matsushita workers could use to take out their frustrations. The room also had distorted mirrors to help employees to relax. Young Panasonic workers and engineers do well in national and international skills competitions in categories such as lathe work, machine assembly and sheet metal working.
In the machine assembly category, competitors produce about 10 machine parts and assemble them time within seven hours based on a assigned design. A trade school in Kadoma Osaka trains workers and engineers for these competitions. Matsushita was known as "the god of management. Sell what would do the customers good. Panasonic has long had a reputation for being slow to move and adapt and lacking innovation.
It instead copied designs and products of competitors and introduced its versions as the products became popular. In the mids, malfunctions in a series of Panasonic products prompted the company to inspect and repair , defective refrigerators and televisions for problems.
At the same time Panasonic was unable to develop imaginative products. The period opened up the firm to criticism and set off soul searching within the company. The company began moving more and more of its operations overseas, particularly to China, and shifting employees to profitable sectors. There was a discussion of laying off workers but a great effort was made to get employees to change their work habits and modernize or take early retirement rather than lay them off. There was even some talk that Panasonic might move its headquarters from Osaka to Tokyo.
This gave the trio the means to move into a bigger house, and Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works was born. The former recycled the metal screws from used light bulbs. By the end of , the company had grown to 20 employees. Matsushita was ahead of his time as far as his management approach.
Another unconventional leadership tactic Matsushita spearheaded was transparency. In the early s, worker retention was a major problem in Japan, first due to competition among firms, then because of economic downturn. By the end of , the company had 50 employees and a new factory.
Late in that decade, inventory began to pile up. We will continue to pay the same wages they are getting now, but there will be no holidays. All employees should do their best to sell inventory. Around this time, the company began producing irons and radios. Matsushita laid out more of his business philosophies. Ever the long-term visionary, he also proposed a year plan for the company, divided into 10 year periods that would be further divided into a year construction phase, a year active phase and a five-year fulfillment phase.
This might make Matsushita sound like a top-down manager, but he was actually quite egalitarian. He also suffered from a range of health problems and delegated work to managers. As the decades went on, Panasonic produced more and more new products.
Matsushita identified potential for electric motors to be incorporated into new types of appliances, and Panasonic produced its first electric motor in An improved attachment plug was the very first product manufactured and put on the market upon the establishment of Matsushita Electric in The plug was made from a resin, and the design was quite new and unique in those days.
Ideas, such as recycling the metal screw-in sections of used light bulbs, were put into practice to facilitate the production of high precision products. Our website uses cookies and similar tools to improve its performance and enhance your user experience and by continuing to use this website without changing your settings, you consent to their use.
To find out more about the cookies we use or how to change your settings, please see our Cookie Policy. About Us. Technology and Design. IR Information. Panasonic starts with a desire to create things of value. As hard work and dedication result in one innovative product after another, the fledgling company takes its first steps towards becoming the electronics giant of today.
The Panasonic Museum aims to pass on Konosuke Matsushita's lofty goal, and the products, technologies and passion of its predecessors; the museum was established for everyone, to pass on the "heart" of Panasonic to future generations. This Library aims to present a wide range of Konosuke Matsushita's thoughts that give deep insight into his life, way of thinking, his management philosophy and his ideas on the governing of a nation, together with his perspectives on world politics.
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