Matsushita's Goodwill Betrayed by China
Japanese electronic giant Panasonic helped China build its won electronics industry.
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), a prominent politician and reformist leader of the Chinese Communist, visited Japan in 1978. On Oct. 28, Deng met Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989) at a plant of Panasonic in Ibaragi City, Osaka.
Deng, the then top Chinese leader, said to the founder of Panasonic then called Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., "You are called a god of management in Japan. Would you please help China promote modernization of its industry?" The notable Japanese entrepreneur Matsushita replied: "We, as Matsushita Electric Industrial, will corporate with you as much as possible." Hearing this answer, Deng smiled so brightly.
On this meeting, Konosuke Matsushita was 83 years old; he already half retired from management, with a title of an executive adviser. However, his reputation and influential power in the Matsushita group were still overwhelming. Konosuke Matsushita also made a special effort to realize this meeting with Deng Xiaoping. Matsushita had a special interest in China like some other business leaders in Japan who had been familiar with China before WWII.
Konosuke Matsushita flew to China next year and the year after, being accompanied by a doctor in charge. He met with the de-facto head of China Deng. They aimed at building a joint company which will be supported by the whole Japanese electronic industry. However, finally they judged that it was too early to invite other Japanese businesses, so that it was planned that Matsushita Electric Industrial alone would build the joint corporation in China.
The Matsushita group had a factory in Shanghai during WWII. So, Konosuke Matsushita must have had nostalgia in China. This time they planned to produce cathode-ray tubes in the new plant but not complete TV sets. In 1987, they founded a company called Beijing Matsushita Color CRT Co., Ltd. (BMCC) based on capital of 10 billion yen the Matsushita group provided. It was one of the largest projects in China being promoted for earning foreign currency. The first product rolled out in June 1987. But Konosuke Matsushita died about one month before.
This legacy, BMCC, of Konosuke was praised by parties concerned as a representative and symbolic example of joint business by Japan and China. This company ran in the black from the first year of its operation. At its peak, it shipped 10 million TV tubes per year. Through this joint business, it is thought, a huge amount of technological items and know-hows the Matsushita Group had were formerly or informally flew into China. Subsequently, China started to learn modern electronics and management skills from various Japanese makers who followed suit after Matsushita.
But business in China is always affected by the political climate in China. When BMCC delivered its first product, the tragic crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square occurred in Beijing. However, the BMCC management did not stop its production lines. Accordingly this joint company was appreciated by the Chinese media.
Nonetheless, this good tradition of friendship between Japan and China has been tarnished in these years or decades after death of Deng Xiaoping. Chinese anti-Japanese demonstrators attacked some plants Panasonic runs in China in the wake of rekindled disputes over the Senkaku Islands:
This legacy, BMCC, of Konosuke was praised by parties concerned as a representative and symbolic example of joint business by Japan and China. This company ran in the black from the first year of its operation. At its peak, it shipped 10 million TV tubes per year. Through this joint business, it is thought, a huge amount of technological items and know-hows the Matsushita Group had were formerly or informally flew into China. Subsequently, China started to learn modern electronics and management skills from various Japanese makers who followed suit after Matsushita.
But business in China is always affected by the political climate in China. When BMCC delivered its first product, the tragic crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square occurred in Beijing. However, the BMCC management did not stop its production lines. Accordingly this joint company was appreciated by the Chinese media.
Nonetheless, this good tradition of friendship between Japan and China has been tarnished in these years or decades after death of Deng Xiaoping. Chinese anti-Japanese demonstrators attacked some plants Panasonic runs in China in the wake of rekindled disputes over the Senkaku Islands:
Panasonic closes China plants after violent protests
By Kevin Voigt, CNN
September 17, 2012 -- Updated 1635 GMT (0035 HKT)
Hong Kong (CNN) -- Panasonic halted operations at three factories in China after angry protesters ransacked Japanese businesses over the weekend amid rising tensions over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Violence against Japanese companies was seen in Xi'an, Dongguan, Changsha and Guangzhou, according to local media reports. A Panasonic factory was set on fire and a Toyota dealership in Qingdao were damaged on Saturday, and a Jusco department store was ransacked. In Guangzhou, demonstrators broke into the Garden Hotel and attacked a Japanese restaurant on the second floor, according to the South China Morning Press.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/17/business/china-japan-panasonic/index.html
Anti-Japanese Protests Flare in China Over Disputed Islands
By Dexter Roberts September 17, 2012
"Never forget the national humiliation," and "Protect China's inseparable territory," read some. More disturbing: "Let’s kill all Japanese," and "Nuclear extermination for wild Japanese dogs."
Those are some of the sentiments irate Chinese are displaying on protest banners across the country, as demonstrators in more than a dozen cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Nanjing take to the streets, angry about Japanese control of the disputed Senkaku islands—known as Diaoyu in China—an uninhabited but possibly resource-rich atoll in the East China Sea.
The protests have been sparked by the Japanese government’s announcement that it intends to nationalize the privately owned islands. China has sent six patrols boats to the waters near the islands in recent days.
Fires broke out in a Panasonic (PC) electronics parts plant and a Toyota Motor (TM) dealership in the coastal city of Qingdao after protests there, the companies said on Sept. 16. To date, there has been no confirmation as to who set the blaze. Both have shut operations temporarily.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-17/anti-japanese-protests-flare-in-china-over-disputed-islands
Brief history of Panasonic:
1918 - Konosuke Matsushita establishes Matsushita Electric Appliances Company
1939 - Matsushita Batteries Company builds a factory in Shanghai.
1945 - WWII ends and the Empire of Japan falls. Matsushita loses its interests in China.
1918 - Konosuke Matsushita establishes Matsushita Electric Appliances Company
1939 - Matsushita Batteries Company builds a factory in Shanghai.
1945 - WWII ends and the Empire of Japan falls. Matsushita loses its interests in China.
1946 - Matsushita Group is subject to restriction of zaibatsu operation posed by the US.
1949 - The zaibatsu (family-run conglomerate) restriction is lifted from Matsushita.
1961 - Konosuke Matsushita stepps down from the president of Matsushita Electric Industrial to become chairman.
1973 - Konosuke Matsushita stepps down from the chairman of Matsushita Electric Industrial to become executive adviser.
1978 - Konosuke Matsushita meets with Deng Xiaoping in the Ibaragi factory, Osaka, Japan.
1979 - Konosuke Matsushita visits China.
1980 - Konosuke Matsushita visits China.
1987 - Beijing Matsushita Color CRT Co., Ltd. (BMCC) is founded in China.
1989 - Konosuke Matsushita dies in April at 94; the first product is completed in BMCC in June while the Tiananmen riot and crush occurred on the same day, drastically.
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Tokyo
1949 - The zaibatsu (family-run conglomerate) restriction is lifted from Matsushita.
1961 - Konosuke Matsushita stepps down from the president of Matsushita Electric Industrial to become chairman.
1973 - Konosuke Matsushita stepps down from the chairman of Matsushita Electric Industrial to become executive adviser.
1978 - Konosuke Matsushita meets with Deng Xiaoping in the Ibaragi factory, Osaka, Japan.
1979 - Konosuke Matsushita visits China.
1980 - Konosuke Matsushita visits China.
1987 - Beijing Matsushita Color CRT Co., Ltd. (BMCC) is founded in China.
1989 - Konosuke Matsushita dies in April at 94; the first product is completed in BMCC in June while the Tiananmen riot and crush occurred on the same day, drastically.
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