Business Daily: He Sparked Business In Japan
Konosuke Matsushita didn't build his $50 billion electronics industry leader by inventing the next hot gadget. Instead, he focused on inventing bold business strategies that would catapult his simple startup decades ahead of the competition...Lacking cash, charisma and a college degree, Matsushita (1894-1989) was the unlikeliest of candidates to become a business legend and Japanese folk hero...World War II required Matsushita to rebuild his company from the rubble...To make matters worse, Allied Forces froze all of MEI's assets while leaving all debts on the books in an effort to stamp out the Japanese military industrial complex. Over 3,200 top executives were forced from their companies as a part of the Zaibatsu purge...While other firms' execs cowered in the shadows, Matsushita made a personal appeal to the work force at MEI's first organized labor meeting. The results were impressive. "His labor union went to (Gen. Douglas) MacArthur and begged MacArthur to give him back to them," Kotter said. "MacArthur nearly fell off his chair. He's got labor unions coming to him every day saying, 'Take another hundred of our execs.' "...more...
