“Great Master of Management” who Cultivated a Path with Positive Thinking

MATSUSHITA Kounosuke

In 1970, the World Expo was held in Osaka. Visitors formed a long queue in front of the pavilion run by Matsushita Electric Industry Company, one of Japan’s leading businesses. One summers day when a Matsushita staff member in charge noticed MATSUSHITA Kounosuke (1894~1989), the founder and at that time chairman of the company, in the queue, Kounosuke said to the staff member, “It took me two hours to reach here. There is no shade on the line. Give a paper hat to everyone in the queue from now on.”

All the visitors who were given paper hats were overjoyed. Also, the paper hats bearing the MATSUSHITA name became good advertising for the company. There are many episodes and wise sayings that describe Kounosuke’s management philosophy. When a new product was manufactured, he said to the manufacturing staff member in charge, “You did a good job. Now, create another new far superior product and make this latest product unsellable.” He also said “You will succeed if you continue creating products even after you have failed.”

Kounosuke established Matsushita Electric Industry Company in 1918 in Osaka. He created many hit products starting from the development of sockets, and then a two-way socket, a battery-powered bicycle lamp, and other products. Matsushita’s brands of “National” and “Panasonic” spread to every corner of Japan and then developed into global enterprises. Kounosuke is said to have had a reputation not only for his skills in creating products, but also for his management philosophy.

CEO that Japanese Respect Most
Due to his poor health and his family’s impoverished background, Kounosuke dropped out of elementary school and had to start an apprenticeship. But he said “It is because I have not had good health and didn’t have enough of an educational background that I could succeed in the business world.” Furthermore, when he was asked the question “What kind of company is Matsushita?” he answered “Matsushita is a company that brings up people, and also manufactures electrical products.”

Kounosuke faced many business crises. GHQ (General Headquarters), which governed Japan after the end of WWII, pressed forward with the dissolution of the zaibatsu (business conglomerates) which were regarded as a cause of the war. They listed the Matsushita family business as one of the zaibatsu and banned him from public service. Kounosuke visited GHQ more than 50 times and appealed that the Matsushita family had created the business over a single generation and was therefore not a zaibatsu group, and four years later he at last succeeded in having his company deleted from the zaibatsu list. He overcame business crises in this manner using his wisdom and perseverance.

Kounosuke’s name has been at the No. 1 position in the list of Japanese millionaires ten times since 1950. He was called “a great master of management” and was ranked first in a survey of “your favorite and most respected Japanese entrepreneur.” His book “The Path” has so far sold more than 4.5 million copies, and The Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, which he has established using his own money, produced more than 30 Diet members. He died at the age of 94.

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