Japanese Philosophy Konosuke Matsuchita’s Business Spirit

Prasad Polwatte

As a nation Japanese are generally humble and obliging irrespective of their positions/ power they hold in the society / companies. Japanese companies adopt a philosophy in humanity, sociality, and economic aspects to outline unchanging concepts throughout different periods of time, and even in changes in corporate management.

Based on this philosophy; management vision, corporate strategies and action plans are established. Thus, company philosophy will assist management to demonstrate its principles internally/ externally, provide guidelines to employees, and thereby to create a Corporate Culture within the organization. Japanese identify their employer based on the company philosophy with a view of having a lifelong employment and which has benefited companies in its long-term planning and prudent resource allocation.

Konosuke Matsushita founder of National Panasonic Corporation, started his career in 1904 as a merchant when he was nine-years old as an apprentice in the Semba district of Osaka. At that time many apprentices underwent severe training to become fully-fledged merchants, and it was in Semba that he learned the ins and outs of business through firsthand experience.

He was taught to bow whenever he went to meet a valued customer and told to treat customers as they were precious. At the age of 15 he joined the Osaka Electric Light Company, at 23 founded Panasonic, at 28 developed a bullet shaped bicycle lamp, and at 37 recognized the true mission of the company plan to last for 250 years.

Konosuke at the age of 9 in 1904, was an orphan without any means and he was not privileged to have formal education, but he had the courage and vision to “see things beyond the box” and thereby to bring forward National Panasonic Corporation up to the mark of having 634 global subsidiary network employing 366,937 with an annual net sales of 8,692 Billion Yen by 2012. Also, he was able to formulate the following long term objectives of National Panasonic Corporation:

1. Business philosophy: Recognizing ones responsibilities as an industrialist, which will devote oneself to the progress and development of society and the well-being of people through ones business activities, thereby enhancing the quality of life throughout the world.

2. Company Creed: Progress and development can be realized only through the combined efforts and corporation of each employee of the company. United in spirit, we pledge to perform our corporate duties with dedication, diligence and integrity.

3. The Seven Principles: Contribution to society, fairness and honesty, corporation and team spirit, untiring effort for improvement, courtesy and humility, adaptability, and gratitude

According to Konosuke; selling a product is like giving a daughter in marriage, where we worry about whether the product will work or not.

We are selling things that are precious to us as our daughters. Further, he said; “the more difficult the customers, the more valued they are” because, he believed you are taught best by your customers.

Criticism from people has to be regarded as opportunity for improvement. On the other hand, words of comfort will sometimes be a strength to one who has lost his nerve. No matter what happens we should interpret the situation in positive spirit, because we can derive inspiration and courage from both.

Konosuke said; “It is important that those who are making products to set aside their technical expertise and look at the product as amateurs would, in order to improve their quality and durability.

This was not only restricted to a factory, but also to the sales department as well”. He also, identified; Service as an independent part of business and extremely exhaustive and that the customer will intuitively know that this is being done only because it makes the customer happy, and allow a sense of joy to be born in the person giving the service.

A prompt and adequate Service will determine the extent of customer satisfaction and a satisfied customer will become a staunch supporter of the company and help it to prosper.

Konosuke said: “doing business is like fighting a duel with real swords. Thus there is no room for thinking that allows for winning sometimes and losing at other times, just as there is none when dealing with real swords. When you lose in a duel you will literally lose your head. Business is by its very nature structured so that you should never lose, but have to be serious about what you are doing.

The more business you are engaged in, the more profit you should gain. There should never be a loss in business, if you are careful, diligent, and open-minded.”

Konosuke constantly maintained that sales in the fullest sense were not merely a matter of selling a product and making a profit.

Rather, you must be sure to give the customer full value for the price of the product in question by standing in the shoes of your customer. If a product has a value of 10 and you claim its worth 15 or 20, then you may succeed in selling it for a while, but you will not be able to do so for long. If something has a value of 10 then the proper way to conduct business is to convince your customer to recognize that its value is, in fact, just that.

You don’t just have an interchange of things and money but also there is a communication between hearts and minds. Therefore, it is essential to engage in business and run a company with an eye towards bringing happiness to customers.

Humbleness, respect for others, taking responsibilities and ownership culture are very unique qualities in the Japanese society and they are valuable teachable pointes to any other society. Some Japanese CEOs of large corporates have attitudes as of a humble merchant despite of their powerful positions.

However, some Asian countries are more biased towards Western management theories and practices, and give more emphasis on monitory returns such as profits and cash flows.

Further, cut throat competition, power groups, survival of the fittest are some management practices we have experienced for decades and it is now high time for most of us to rethink and adopt ethical business practices and think about the betterment of society.

The author of this article was a participant of the AOTS – Japan Scholarship Programme for Corporate Management - 2012. This write-up covers his experience on Japanese Management Practices and Production environments. Further, more emphasis is given on Konosuke Matsushita’s business principals because they can be applied in most of the business environments.