Kōnosuke Matsushita is the founder of Panasonic. What is the legendary story of his life?

Apprenticeship exercise

When Kono was five years old, his father's fried rice business failed, and the family gradually settled down. Even the ancestral land and house were sold, and the whole family moved out of the old house in the cooperative village. My father opened a clogs shop to make a living, and my eldest brother, who was already in the fourth grade of middle school, had to drop out of school. Two years later, the clogs shop closed down, and Kono's eldest brother, second brother and second sister also died of the flu, leaving the whole family in trouble. Although the family is so shabby, Kono can still go to school, which shows the family's love for Kono.

When Kōnosuke Matsushita was in the fourth grade of elementary school, his father, who worked outside the home, sent a letter asking Kono to be an apprentice in Osaka. So, Kimsuke, who was only nine years old and didn't graduate from elementary school, 1904+065438+ 10 came to Osaka and began to work as a small apprentice in Miyata brazier shop. The apprentices in this small shop have to do all kinds of chores. Konosuke's main job is to look after children and grind braziers. He began to taste the hardships of work and felt more lonely when he was young.

The real apprenticeship begins in a bicycle shop. Kōnosuke Matsushita worked in brazier shop for only three months, and the shop closed down. The owner of the shop has a friend, Wu Daiyin Ji, who just opened a bicycle shop. The kind shopkeeper recommended Mu Zi to this shop. Here, Kōnosuke Matsushita worked for six years, which laid the foundation for his later display in the business world. In particular, the kindness of the proprietress has had a great influence on Kono's interface. For example, Konosuke once took a group photo in the store. He was on a business trip, but he couldn't come back on time because of the customer's delay. The photographer can't wait. When Konosuke came back, the photography was over. For a teenager who has never taken a photo, he took it seriously and even began to cry. In order to comfort him, the proprietress specially took Gong Jie to the photo studio to make up. Konosuke was deeply moved by this incident. Until his later years, he still treasured this photo with his boss's wife, because it was the only photo of his career and the first time he took a photo. A seemingly insignificant little thing left a deep imprint on his mind. From Kōnosuke Matsushita's later articles on enterprise management, we can see that his apprenticeship in bicycle shop formed the keynote of his later management philosophy.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's father placed great hopes on him. Although Kono Sukehiro is only a young apprentice, his father has been telling Kono that "heaven is great for the people" on the one hand out of guilt for his bankruptcy and on the other hand out of expectation for the only boy in the family after natural and man-made disasters. Tell him that celebrities in Japanese history all started with servants and servants. According to Kosuke's memory, his father often encouraged him: "It will be promising. Once upon a time, great men worked in other people's homes and worked hard when they were young. So don't feel bitter, be patient ... "When Konosuke 1 1 year-old, my sister saw that my brother was working too hard, and more importantly, dropping out of school would cause a lack of culture, so she wanted him to go to night school to make up for his regret. But apprentices can't go to night school because apprentices have no concept of commuting. They can't leave at 5: 00 in the morning to clean up, and close at night 1 1. At that time, the savings office where my sister worked wanted to recruit handyman. After discussing with my mother, my sister wants Konosuke to apply for a job as a handyman during the day and go to night school at night. However, his father flatly rejected the idea after learning about it. Stubborn parents believe that only when they are apprentices will they succeed and will surely make a fortune in the future. He asked Konosuke not to change his ambition, even if he can't read, he can achieve brilliant achievements. Therefore, Konosuke later said with emotion that without the guidance of his father, he would not be where he is today. Although he lost his knowledge by dropping out of school, he was inspired earlier in business practice.

The application of 19 10 electric energy has brought bright prospects to Japan. Osaka city began to open trams. Although Konosuke is only 17 years old, he sees the future of electricity. At that time, he simply thought that with trams, the demand for bicycles would decrease. So, he decided to change his life track and join the electrical industry. When he left the bicycle shop, an interesting episode happened. With a young man's bold imagination of the future, he positioned his career in electrical appliances and asked his brother-in-law to help him work in the newly established electric light company. However, the owner of the bicycle shop is too kind to Konosuke. He can't tell his boss why he left. So Konosuke took a naive approach-secretly leaving. As you can imagine, the young Konosuke has encountered the common contradictions in his life. His fantasies and beliefs about the future support his own pursuit; The trust and care for the boss made it difficult for him to say goodbye. It is this firm belief in looking forward to the future and rich emotions that cannot be abandoned that became the main theme of Panasonic's career later.

Kōnosuke Matsushita, who left the bicycle shop, failed to work for the electric light company immediately. As a result, he began to do odd jobs in the cement factory where his brother-in-law worked and began to carry cement with great labor intensity. In the past three months, he endured heavy physical exercise that he had never experienced before, which made him deeply impressed by the hardships of life. Three months later, he was recruited into the electric light company and became an electrician's assistant for indoor wiring. Konosuke's previous tempering made him stand out in this field quickly. Three months later, he was promoted from assistant to foreman. He was proud of this in his later memories, emphasizing that this promotion was a special case. Japan is a hierarchical country, and the distance between foreman and assistant is no less than that between master and servant. For example, after finishing the work, the assistant will immediately fetch water for the foreman to wash his hands, and even the foreman's clogs will be handed over to the assistant for repair. The unique Japanese social stratum left a deep ideological imprint on Kōnosuke Matsushita. From being called to be a cement porter to being called to be an electrician foreman, Konosuke not only saw the characteristics of Japanese enterprise management, but also saw the problems contained in it. By the age of 24, he has been promoted to the inspector of the electric light company, patrolling more than ten work projects every day. However, he is not enthusiastic about this kind of monitoring work that envies others, but attaches great importance to his work performance. The installation of beach lights and dazzling lighting facilities in the theater brought a strong sense of satisfaction to Kono You. At this time, he married Ye Mei Inoue and began to consider starting his own business.

Start with the socket

In the work of electric lamp company, Konosuke pondered and invented a new type of lamp holder. Intuitively, he was convinced that the socket was versatile, but the boss denied it. As a result, the youthful Kono Suke resigned and made up his mind to make a new world on his own. It was this decision that made him not stay at the level of small inventions, but quickly enter the actual business.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's "going into the sea" depends entirely on his belief in this little invention. He saved less than 100 yuan and was alone. He borrowed 100 yuan from his former colleagues' friends, recruited his brother-in-law Jing Zhi, and several young people who wanted to do something. He opened a small workshop in his narrow residence (four and a half tatami long and two tatami wide) and began to practice his dream.

The most difficult part is actually that at the beginning, Konosuke had a lamp holder design, but it was not actually manufactured. At first, he didn't even know what the material of the lamp cap shell was. After many consultations, he finally figured out the manufacturing method of the lamp holder. It took four months to finally make this product. Without liquidity, he sent everything he could pawn to the pawnshop.

However, without market recognition, no matter how good the invention is, it is no use. After the product is taken out, how to sell it gives Konosuke a solid lesson. They took the lamp holders and went to various electrical stores to sell them. Few stores are optimistic about this new product, and they have traveled all over Osaka stores, only selling more than 100 and earning 10 yuan. Frustrated in the first battle, Konosuke understood the difficulty of management. He had to let others die, leaving only him and Jingzhi in the small workshop.

One door closes and the other opens. Just when Kōnosuke Matsushita was at his wit's end, he received an order to make the electric fan base, and the merchant promised that as long as it was done well, he would place further orders. Matsushita and Inoue started making this base in the dark. Finally succeeded this time. Within a month, they completed the first order and made a profit of more than 80 yuan. Since then, we have continued to manufacture this kind of electric fan and gradually developed Panasonic's business. It was this experience that brought great influence to Yosuke Kono's later management thought. His first commercial appearance made him understand the importance of market recognition and user satisfaction. Any invention, no matter how painstaking the inventor himself is, has not been bought by the market and users, which means there is no way out. However, the efforts of the lamp holder were not in vain. Without the efforts of sockets, it is impossible to bring orders from fans. The income from the base of the electric fan has revitalized the lamp holder, making this invention really put into production and gradually popularized in the market.

After gaining a firm foothold, Kōnosuke Matsushita began to plan to "engage in the research and production of real electrical equipment". Relying on the bedroom and workshop is not a long-term solution. So, in 19 18, Yosuke Kono rented a house in Osaka and founded Matsushita Electric Appliance Factory. Later, the world-famous "Panasonic products" set sail from here.

This studio has accumulated its own "first bucket of gold" by relying on lamp holders, and its performance has developed steadily. The lamp holder and socket, which have devoted Konosuke's efforts, won by quality and finally got market recognition. Yoshida, a shop in Osaka, also sells this product as an exclusive agent with a deposit of 3,000 yuan. At the same time, products have also entered the Tokyo market.

In Tokyo, Konosuke has experienced a new test, which comes from the competition of merchants. When Panasonic's lamp holder started to be sold in Tokyo, it was boycotted by Tokyo stores. Colleagues are enemies. Faced with Panasonic's high-quality lamp holders and sockets, shops in Tokyo have taken unfair competition measures. They sold at low prices and tried to squeeze Panasonic products out of the market. Under the pressure of Tokyo store, Yoshida store in Osaka canceled the general agent contract. Employees have increased, liabilities have increased, production capacity has expanded, but sales have gone wrong. This is a headache for any enterprise. Especially in Tokyo, it was originally the exclusive agent of Yoshida Store, and Panasonic itself has never dealt with merchants in Tokyo. In this regard, Konosuke decided to go to Tokyo, take the map and talk to the businessmen one by one. In order to save money and time, take the night bus to Tokyo, run for a day, and then take the night bus back to Osaka. Finally, Konosuke got through this difficulty. Since then, he has his own views on the competition between businesses. Later, he particularly emphasized the quality competition, won by service, hated the unfair competition means of dumping at low prices and crowding out peers, all of which were related to this experience.

By 1922, Panasonic had a balance of 4,500 yuan, which had a solid business foundation and social recognition. At this time, Konosuke sailed a downwind boat and spent 7000 yuan to build a new factory. With the expansion of business, Konosuke began to develop new products, which are the bicycle lights that made Panasonic famous. 1923, Konosuke replaced the kerosene lamp with a new type of dry battery lamp, and made a bullet-shaped bicycle lamp that could last for 30 ~ 50 hours. The price is only thirty pence, and two pence an hour with candles. Panasonic is sure that this kind of car lamp will be popular, but the wholesaler is not optimistic. In order to promote sales, he adopted an unprecedented method in the business world, putting his products in a bicycle shop and demonstrating with the lights on to see how long it would last, which attracted a large number of buyers. In this way, there is the most terminal customer demand first, and then the bicycle shop initiates the order. Due to good sales, wholesalers turned to Panasonic to order. The original sales order was "manufacturers → wholesalers → retailers → customers", but now it has become "customers → retailers → wholesalers → manufacturers". Thus, a new mode of operation was born.

Soon, Panasonic produced a multi-purpose square dry battery lamp. This lamp is the symbol of Panasonic. Since then, Panasonic has used the national trademark for the first time (this trademark has been used all the time, but in the process of exporting Panasonic products, many countries refused to register because of its "national" meaning. As a result, Panasonic created the Panasonic trademark for foreign countries. By 2004, Panasonic will unify its brand and adopt Panasonic in its export market. This time, Panasonic took the initiative to show the square lights. His method is to provide 10000 trial samples to the market for free. Because the battery of this lamp was provided by Tokyo Okada Battery Company, Kōnosuke Matsushita visited Okada and asked him to provide 10000 batteries for free. He explained the situation to Okada and promised to sell 200,000 batteries every year. If the sales volume is less than 200,000, Panasonic will pay 65,438+0,000 batteries. By the end of the year, 470,000 vehicles had been sold. To this end, Okada made a special trip to Osaka, wearing a very solemn kimono with a badge, and sent the original deposit of 65,438+00,000 batteries as a gift and thanked him. In Okada's view, this move by Panasonic has created a new era in the history of battery distribution.

With the expansion of Panasonic's business, a salesperson named Ito of Sumitomo Bank, a well-known Japanese bank, has a unique eye and actively seeks services for Panasonic. In this regard, Kono Sukeyoshi initially refused. Because Panasonic has been dealing with the 15th National Bank. Fifteenth Bank is also one of the five largest banks in Japan, and it cooperates very well with Panasonic. Therefore, Konosuke does not want to do business with other banks. However, Ito has been here more than ten times, and his enthusiasm makes it difficult for Kono to shirk. So Konosuke put forward an unprecedented premise, which surprised everyone. He asked Sumitomo Bank to promise that under any circumstances, Panasonic could lend 20,000 yuan unconditionally at any time. At first, the other party was embarrassed. Sumitomo headquarters, after consulting the upper level, suggested that the usual way to borrow money is to have a mortgage, and Panasonic's factory equipment and real estate mortgage can be used as loan conditions. In the negotiation, Kono said that the condition of mortgage showed that he still didn't trust Panasonic. Panasonic believes that its reputation is far more important than collateral. Sumitomo Bank finally agreed to this premise. 1926 reached an agreement. No one thought that it was this agreement that helped Panasonic get help from God. 1927, a banking crisis broke out in Japan, and the fifteenth bank began to stop paying. At this time, Kono Sukehiro thought of the previous agreement with Sumitomo. In the case that the financial industry had run out of business, Sumitomo made it clear that the original agreement was valid and Panasonic could borrow money from Sumitomo unconditionally at any time. Since then, Panasonic has transferred its banking business to Sumitomo Corporation. In the face of the financial crisis, the reputations of Panasonic and Sumitomo have stood the test.

At the end of 1929, the economic situation became more difficult. Panasonic's product sales have been reduced by half, and its inventory has surged. Almost all enterprises are not considering building new factories, but building warehouses. In this situation, most enterprises began to lay off employees. Zhong Fang Company, the best-paid employee in Japan, has also started to reduce its salary. At that time, Kono Suke was ill, and the company's top management came to him to discuss layoffs. After careful consideration, Konosuke put forward a plan: no layoffs or salary cuts, but the output will be halved, employees will cancel their vacations, and all of them will be mobilized to engage in sales and digest inventory. After using it for two months, the inventory was digested and the production returned to normal. After this incident, Panasonic tested its employees, and an atmosphere of single-minded and all-out gradually formed.

Products, markets, business networks, human resources and business reputation are all available, so it's time for Panasonic to set sail.

Start over, take off

From 65438 to 0932, Kōnosuke Matsushita had his own understanding of enterprise management and put forward the famous "tap water philosophy". Although Panasonic has developed for 65,438+04 years, only at this moment did Konosuke truly realize the historical position of the enterprise. In order to remember this moment and realize the mission of the company, he decided to take1May 5, 932 as the anniversary of the establishment of Panasonic. What's even more surprising is that he set a 250-year goal for Panasonic, with a 25-year cycle and 10 to achieve it.

However, the sudden opening up of ideas is in sharp contrast with the difficulties in reality. The world economic crisis in 1930s brought Japan into the period of economic rule with strong government intervention. As soon as Panasonic's business improved, it was involved in the war of aggression launched by Japan. During World War II, Panasonic stopped civilian production and started military production at the request of the government. First, 200 tons of wooden boats were produced for the military, and later wooden planes were produced for the military. Shipbuilding has just entered the scale, and the plane has just produced samples. Japan accepted the Potsdam Proclamation's unconditional surrender and entered the period of American occupation. This failure not only destroyed the huge debt owed by the Japanese army to Panasonic, but also made Panasonic listed as an inventory object by the American occupation authorities. Panasonic was designated as a "chaebol", and Kono himself was included in the list of people who had to be removed because of the war responsibility of manufacturing military products. After several years of negotiations, especially the Panasonic trade union launched a signature campaign and petitioned the occupation authorities to ask Kono to stay in office, which enabled Panasonic to survive half-dead.

Being included in the chaebol means that assets are frozen, and the negotiation of dismissal and retention seriously affects the development of business activities. Therefore, in the five years after the war, Panasonic's production was stagnant, and it was heavily in debt, almost on the verge of bankruptcy. In this case, Konosuke did something he always didn't want to do but had to do-mass layoffs, and the company was reduced from 6.5438+0.5 million to 3,500.

65438-0950, with Japan's post-war reconstruction, Panasonic began to rally. In order to avoid Panasonic's deviation, Kono made a special trip to the United States to study. I don't know if I didn't see it, but I was shocked when I saw it. Yosuke Kono was deeply moved by the development and wealth of the United States. For example, the radio produced by GE in the United States is $24, while the daily wage of workers is $65,438 +02. Panasonic's radio costs 9000 yen, while workers' monthly salary is 6000 yen. Americans can buy a radio for two days' salary, while Japanese need one and a half months' salary. The electricity consumption of one new york city is equivalent to that of the whole of Japan. He opened his eyes in the United States, and let Kono Sukehiko praise American-style democracy from now on. After returning from the United States, Konosuke began to cooperate with Philips in the Netherlands to introduce technology and promote Panasonic to take off.

In the introduction and joint venture negotiations with Philips, Philips proposed that Panasonic pay 6% of the technical guidance fee. Konosuke believes that it is right to pay the technical guidance fee by introducing technology, but the new company is a joint venture between the two parties, and the skilled Philips party gets the technical guidance fee, so Panasonic party engaged in business should get the business guidance fee. Finally, the two parties reached an agreement at 1952, in which Philips charged 4.5% for technical guidance and Panasonic charged 3% for business guidance. This set a precedent for enterprise management, and Panasonic also won the respect of Philips. More importantly, the concept of paying equal attention to management and technological innovation has been established.

While attaching importance to creating value through management, Panasonic does not deny the role of technology. Konosuke stressed that if you want to be truly ahead in technology, you must have your own research and originality. This originality is not only a product, but also a production skill and a working machine tool. As a result, Panasonic established the Academia Sinica in 1953, and set up a special machinery factory to develop the latest mechanical equipment for its own production line.

After 1956, Panasonic management entered a stage of rapid development. Konosuke's plan at that time was to quadruple in five years, from 20 billion to 80 billion (later it actually reached 654.38+000 billion). After 1955, Panasonic's export trade grew rapidly. 196 1 year, with the development of Panasonic, 66-year-old Kono Sukeyoshi announced his resignation as president (general manager) and changed to president (chairman), successfully completing the handover of management rights.

Although Konosuke handed over the management right, he did not give up the company. Three years later (1964), Panasonic's operation encountered difficulties. Japanese enterprises have obvious overcapacity, many enterprises have gone bankrupt one after another, and Panasonic has also experienced a backlog and deficit. At this time, Kono Sukeyoshi once again presided over the symposium of Panasonic brokers and marketer. At this time, he found that among more than 200 Panasonic manufacturers, more than 170 were losing money, and the forum almost became a complaint meeting. Konosuke sincerely apologized to the participants and discussed ways to improve business after mutual understanding. Since then, regardless of his 69-year-old age, he has temporarily replaced An Chuan Yangjun, the head of the sales department, and stood in the front line of sales, presiding over the overall reform of Panasonic's sales operation. This reform has truly implemented the service concept of customer first, and Panasonic has once again reached the forefront of Japan's economic take-off.

With the improvement of business and Japan's commitment to join the WTO (then called GATT), Japan implemented capital liberalization at 1967. Confronted with this situation, Konosuke put forward new short-term goals for Panasonic: eliminating waste, creating prosperity, renewing ideas and starting a new business, and surpassing Europe and catching up with the United States in terms of operating efficiency and employee wages within five years. By 197 1, Panasonic's salary really achieved the expectation of "surpassing Europe and catching up with the United States".

Committed to social welfare

1968, Panasonic celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since then, Panasonic has consciously developed into social responsibility while doing business. Under the auspices of Konosuke, Lingshan Expo was established with the theme of commemorating Meiji Restoration, and Panasonic also donated 5 billion yuan (15 years) to the Children's Traffic Accident Prevention Fund. In view of the uneven development in various parts of Japan, Panasonic has adopted a special factory layout measure, that is, to set up factories in underdeveloped areas with insufficient development and large population decline. Setting up factories in underdeveloped areas (such as Kagoshima) will increase the cost of enterprises, but it can promote local economic and social development. 197 1 year, Konosuke served as the chairman of the bird protection consortium (bird culture is a famous archaeological culture in Nara, Japan, equivalent to the Sui Dynasty in China, and the consortium is the name of the foundation in Japan), devoted to the preservation of historical heritage and the inheritance of Japanese spirit.

1973, 80-year-old Kōnosuke Matsushita made up his mind to quit his post as president and only become a consultant. But he still hasn't stopped thinking and socializing. On the contrary, he cares more about social affairs and thinks more about management. When he resigned as president, he donated 5 billion yuan to the social welfare fund. 1979, he visited China and proposed to China the idea of establishing an electronic enterprise through Sino-Japanese joint venture. 1980, Konosuke established the "Panasonic Institute of Politics and Economics", dedicated to cultivating new talents facing the future. 1983, Konosuke served as the president of the international science and technology consortium, and 2 1 century association. 1988, Konosuke presented Panasonic100000 shares to the international science and technology consortium. A large number of donations, charities and public welfare activities have consumed almost all the time and most of the financial resources of the elderly. Thinking about enterprise management, national management and social development became the theme of his writing during this period. 1On April 27th, 989, Kōnosuke Matsushita passed away.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's deeds attracted the world's attention. 1September, 958, American Time magazine published an introduction of the inventor Kōnosuke Matsushita, emphasizing that he not only engaged in business, but also engaged in spiritual and social research, and observed the world from a different perspective from ordinary operators. 1962 February, Kōnosuke Matsushita became the cover of Time magazine. The following year, the couple attended the celebration ceremony of the 40th anniversary of Time magazine. From 65438 to 0964, Life Magazine reported on Kono Suke. These magazines especially emphasize Yosuke Kono's role as a thinker and humanist, thinking that he is both Ford, the car king, and Horatio, a pastor writer? Erce (Horatio

Alger, 1932- 1899, wrote a large number of inspirational pamphlets with a sales volume of 20 million copies.

In Japan, Kōnosuke Matsushita is regarded as a leader in the home appliance industry, and he has won numerous honors in his life. He has won five medals in Japan (Blue Shoubao Medal, Second-class Sunlight Stone Medal, First-class Ruibao Medal, First-class Sunlight Medal and First-class Sunlight Tung Flower Medal) and has been awarded honors or titles in the Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium, Malaysia, Spain and other countries. As a dropout who only attended the fourth grade of primary school, he wrote tirelessly (mostly dictated by others) and wrote many simple and philosophical articles. The Complete Works of Kōnosuke Matsushita Management edited and published by Taipei Celebrity Publishing Company amounts to 25 volumes (including 2 volumes of interviews and 2 volumes of scholars' comments). Kōnosuke Matsushita was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by Waseda University on 1965 and an honorary doctorate by the University of Maryland on 1986.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's personal experience had a great influence on his thoughts. As an apprentice when he was a child, he developed the basic qualities of a businessman. After experiencing the tests of drowning, car accident and tuberculosis, he experienced all kinds of hardships, from which the fatalism of leaders sprouted.