Inheriting Our Founder's Management Philosophy

Leading by example with "corporate conscience"

Sugimoto: Panasonic is continuing to expand globally, and in order to capture and continue its founding principles and management philosophy within the company (and later opened to the public), Panasonic established the House of History, which highlights the life and thinking of the founder. Prior to this dialogue, you visited the House of History in Osaka. How did you like it, Kerstin?

Born: I was very impressed with Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita's approach to management and corporate social responsibility (CSR) even 60 to 70 years ago, at a time when, in Europe, many people did not even talk about corporate social responsibility. Also, I found the presentation very modest, which made his achievements more impressive. I was encouraged by his philosophy. It's something you can adopt for yourself and for your own professional life and what you want to achieve. This is the advice that he gives to all of us.

Ohtsubo: Whenever I visit the House of History, I cannot help but feel deeply moved by the fact that for 90 years Panasonic has carried on our founder's philosophy of "a company is a public entity" and "we contribute to society through our business activities," and that it has run its business faithfully based on this philosophy. At the same time, I feel a great responsibility to carry our founder's philosophy into the future.

Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo in conversation with Kerstin Born and Yukiko Sugimoto

Sugimoto: I was in the finance industry for a long time, and I know that even fund managers recognize the importance of CSR. It seems that Europe is leading in terms of how society as a whole is committed to CSR. So, maybe you can tell us what is now being discussed and practiced in Europe.

Born: I would say that there are three points in terms of CSR in Europe. First, European companies work together; they do not try to do everything on their own. They understand that they can't solve all the issues by themselves. Second, CSR isn't just a corporate issue any more, so companies need to work together with stakeholders - they need to listen to stakeholders. Third, they aim to incorporate CSR into the corporate ethos. It is not just an addendum; it should really be part of the daily operation of the business.

Ohtsubo: Our founder wrote that a company shouldn't separate itself from society. It should be a member of society. If we think in the same way, we should harmonize with society and do what is right for society. I call this type of attitude "corporate conscience." If we act upon corporate conscience, we will be able to practice the three points that Kerstin has just mentioned.

Note :
This dialogue was held in April 2008. The organization and other names were those effective at the time The Panasonic Report for Sustainability was released. Please note that some of the names previously used differ from the current names.