Corporate History

Panasonic renewed its top management in February 1977 with the aim of mobilizing the company's resources to effectively deal with the economic turbulence and changing domestic and international situation. Arataro Takahashi was replaced by Masaharu Matsushita as chairman, and Toshihiko Yamashita became the new company president.
Yamashita wasted no time in identifying critical areas and addressing the severest of problems. He stressed the importance of the company recovering its profitability and maintaining adequate profit margins. His policy was to return to the foundations of the corporate division system and to make sure that the divisions maintained their profitability. At the beginning of 1978, he strongly advocated a policy of encouraging personnel exchange. He believed that such a policy would activate the company's organizational structure, making it as tight and responsive as a drumhead.