Where is Panasonic going?

December 21, 22:04

Panasonic, a major electronics manufacturer, is shaking.

In the 103rd year since its founding, 260,000 people work in the entire group, making it one of Japan's leading manufacturing companies.

However, in recent years, there have been a series of announcements of business sales and withdrawal.

The top management of the company will change in April next year for the first time in nine years.

And in April 2022, it will shift to a holding company.

As we proceeded with the interviews, it became clear that deep-seated issues lay down as to where the giant manufacturers were heading.

(Osaka Broadcasting Station reporter Tomokazu Kogi, Kotaro Tanigawa)

Where is that momentum?

Fighter Bob Sapp throws a huge golden ball into the venue and screams "Diga!" In a thick voice.

This is a scene from a new product launch of a Blu-ray / DVD recorder / player.

The venue was bright and the momentum was felt.

But this is unfortunately not recently opened.

In March 2004, when the electrical industry was booming in the "digital home appliance economy," the former Matsushita Electric Industrial held a press conference.

Panasonic, which once held an impactful press conference on innovative home appliances that make our lives convenient and enriching, from flat-screen TVs, camcorders, refrigerators to hair dryers, has launched the products to the world.

These days, flashy press conferences are rarely held, and the press releases sent are about business withdrawal.

In the interim results from April to September 2020 announced on October 29, the final profit decreased by 51% from the same period of the previous year to 48.8 billion yen.

The annual operating profit margin is expected to be 2%.

The market capitalization of stocks that represent the value of the company is more than 2,910 billion yen, which is less than a quarter of the market capitalization of rival Sony (13,120 billion yen).

Even with the same manufacturer, Daikin Industries (6.47 trillion yen), Murata Manufacturing (6.3 trillion yen), Hitachi (4.4 trillion yen), etc. are significantly different (all as of December 21). ).

Although influenced by the new Corona, it must be said that it lacks vividness.

Breaking away from large corporate illness

How should we understand the current situation of Panasonic?

To capture its essence, the hands of the clock must be returned.

The time is 2000.

At that time, the former Matsushita Electric Industrial was suffering from the harmful effects of the "division system" established by its founder, Konosuke Matsushita.

The division system is a system that centrally manages development, production, and sales for each product such as TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines.

By competing with each business division, a number of hit products were born, and the former Matsushita Electric became a representative of the Japanese electronics industry.

However, as the company grew, the number of divisions increased, and the inefficiency situation in which different divisions developed similar products became conspicuous.

I've heard an episode like this that represents the corporate culture of the time.

A person in charge of the TV division went to deliver a TV to a customer's house.

The customer asked if the VHS deck was too old to replace it, and the person in charge of the TV division replied, "It's the video division, so please consult there."

Mr. Kunio Nakamura, who was the 6th president, tried to overcome the "large corporate illness" that "it's okay if the performance of my department is good".

As soon as he became president in 2000, he abolished the traditional division system with the slogan of "destruction and creation."

The organization was reorganized so that it would pass through the horizontal skewers for each business content.

Painful reforms, such as a large-scale early retirement offer, were carried out one after another, and as a result, the company achieved a V-shaped recovery.

A yoke called Plasma TV

Mr. Nakamura continued to stick to the plasma TV business.

For electronics manufacturers, television was the "leading role in the living room" and the meaning of "the king of home appliances" was stronger than it is now.

To take control of flat-screen TVs, Mr. Nakamura invested a huge amount of money in plasma to devote his energy to product development.

It has a good reputation for its good image quality, such as good video responsiveness and excellent expressiveness of dark images.

However, mainly Korean manufacturers have begun to sell low-priced LCD TVs, which has lowered the overall market price of TVs and put Plasma in an inferior position.

The huge investment lingered, and the next president, Fumio Otsubo, could not decide to withdraw, and the deficit accumulated, spurring the deterioration of business performance.

It was the current president, Kazuhiro Tsuga, who decided to withdraw.

What is Tsuga Reform?

Mr. Tsuga became president in 2012.

By introducing a company system, we aimed to create a form that facilitates flexible cooperation between each business while effectively reviving the division system.

He made a good appointment and said at the world's largest consumer electronics show CES held in Las Vegas in January 2013, "We will thoroughly expand the BtoB business, which is expected to grow significantly."

BtoB means Business to Business, a business for companies.

It will make a big difference from the conventional BtoC for consumers to the business for enterprises.

This is a major pillar of President Tsuga's reform.

In general, the needs of BtoC businesses for consumers are changing rapidly, and price competition is fierce.

Securing profit margins while maintaining brand power in the world cannot be achieved with ordinary efforts.

Rather, it is far from the general consumer, but it is trying to make a profit in the BtoB business for companies.

Under this strategy, it has partnered with American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla to make a large-scale investment in the in-vehicle battery business, and has also entered into an in-vehicle battery alliance with Toyota Motor Corporation.

In May, it announced that it would invest 86 billion yen in an American software company.

The company is developing a system that efficiently connects factories and warehouses with store sales floors, and has more than 3,300 customers worldwide.

Panasonic is aiming to increase sales by utilizing products such as face recognition technology and sensors, which Panasonic is good at.

President Tsuga told NHK about the destruction and creation that former President Nakamura launched.

"Former President Nakamura destroyed the mental structure of heavy and slow employees. I made it lighter and more flexible. In addition, collaboration with the outside became active, and executives were invited from the outside. This may be a creation. "

Mr. Tsuga, who has been called a "reformer," has spearheaded the company for more than eight years, but it was difficult to make a major change to the company.

Why is that?

Is there no performer?

When I interviewed many people inside and outside the company, I heard that "the idea and vision of the Tsuga reform were correct, but there was a problem in implementing it."

Even if the management establishes a noble idea, it is difficult for even the president to achieve the goal unless there are people in the company who support it and executives who put it into practice.

It was pointed out that Sony and Hitachi always had human resources to carry out the top vision, but Panasonic may have lacked human resources to support President Tsuga.

"Omatsushita principle"

And another thing that hindered Panasonic's reform is "Omatsushita principle".

Employees say that Panasonic employees can be broadly divided into two types.

There are two types: "I have to change even if I put in outside blood" and "I'm Omatsushita, so I don't have to change my current business."

The latter "Omatsushita" employees actually make up the majority and tend to resist changing the company.

A mid-career employee described Panasonic's current internal situation as follows.

"Each organization has the idea that they don't want to be robbed of their jobs, and efficiency isn't progressing. Pana doesn't have the people to figure out what sells."

Do you come out with good luck?

Holding company transition

This time, along with the top personnel, the announcement was an organizational reform to shift to a holding company in April 2022.

Eight operating companies are hung under the holding company "Panasonic Holdings", and each has the aim of clarifying responsibilities and authority and accelerating decision-making.

At the press conference, Managing Director Yuuki Kusumi, who will become the next president, said, "While we will give the core business the strength that other companies cannot easily catch up with, the business that cannot be in such a state by any means is cold. And we will remove it from the portfolio with quick judgment. "

In other words, the unprofitable division has stated that it will be separated by selling the business.

On the other hand, some people are concerned about this.

Although it is under the holding company, there is only one operating company.

The independence of each company will be stronger than the current company system.

It is pointed out that the control of the holding company may become difficult to control, saying that the top management of the operating company said, "Because the profits are not so good, just say Mr. Kuchide."

The new management system will require a strong "right arm" to put the top management's philosophy into practice, and will also require employees to change their mindset to respond flexibly to changes.

Technology for company growth

Face recognition technology, which is said to be the highest level in the world, is based on the know-how of laptop computers with high durability and long battery life and the battery know-how inherited from the former Sanyo Electric.

Panasonic has many world-class technological capabilities.

How do these technologies lead to the growth of the company?

The spread of the new coronavirus has put a sudden brake on the world economy, but when the economy begins to accelerate after convergence, it is necessary to create a system that can challenge global competition and the ability to execute management. It has been

NHK

Osaka Broadcasting Station Reporter

Tomokazu Kogi

Joined in 2007

After working at the Otsu Bureau and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, he was in charge of economics at the Osaka Bureau.

Osaka Broadcasting Station Reporter

Kotaro Tanikawa

Joined in 2013

After working at the Okinawa Station, was in charge of economic coverage in his hometown of Osaka.