Foundation: 1918
Headquarters: Kadoma city, Osaka
President: Kazuhiro Tsuga
Executive Summary: Panasonic Corporation, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation, which also produces home appliances and much more. Konosuke Matsushita founded Matsushita Electric Industrial Company on March 7, 1918, and began by producing fan insulator plates. The company then experimented with household electric fixtures, believing there was an untapped market for such products. Matsushita’s first manufactured electric products were an attachment plug and a two-way socket. These products were popular due to their high quality and affordability. As the company grew and gained new employees, Matsushita started the unconventional Hoichi Kai, translated to “One-Step Society.” This policy aimed to bring employees closer together through sports, games, and cultural activities. The company’s founder also ensured that his firm had transparency and shared trade secrets with employees to build trust. By 1922, the Matsushita Electric was unable to keep up with production demand and constructed its first factory. The company’s next big invention was a bullet-shaped bicycle lamp, branded as “National,” that ran for thirty to forty hours on three batteries. Most bikes used candles or oil lamps, and appreciation of battery lamps were low due to their low battery life and unreliability. The product struggled at first, but Matsushita left samples at stores and requested they pay for the product once it was proven to work. After such test rides, sales soared. After the bullet-shaped light, a square model, was also introduced. Next, the company ventured into heated electronic products such as a cheaper electronic iron and foot warmer. By 1934, its first electric motor was created. The following year, the company was producing around six hundred different products, and it incorporated itself as Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. In 1937, the company’s founder created a Health Insurance Association for employees, and then the Matsushita Hospital was completed three years later. When the Pacific War broke out, Matsushita Electric produced military equipment, such as 56 wooden ships and three wooden aircraft. The company lost 32 facilities during the war, and struggled when the government could not pay its suppliers. However, Matsushita experienced a boom in sales between 1945 and 1959 as the company began producing washing machines, monochrome televisions, rice cookers, refrigerators, and more. It was during this period that Matsushita Electric began branding some speakers and lamps as Panasonic. The company released its first color television in 1960. Matsushita Electric later made a colossal purchase of Motorola’s television operations in Canada and the United States in 1974. The company continued to expand throughout the 1980s, selling their CD players and VHS camcorders. Notable inventions of the 1990s include the Notebook personal computer and the Mova P cell phone, which was the smallest and lightest on the market at that time. The firm officially changed its name to Panasonic Corporation in 2008. More recently, Panasonic has been divided into four divisions focused on appliances, eco-solutions, AVC networks, and automotive and industrial systems. Panasonic has a big investment in Tesla Motors, and has supplied the batteries for Tesla Models S, X and 3. Its annual income is in the range of US$75 billion.
