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About Panasonic

Corporate History

Panasonic History: Quest for Innovation

Panasonic starts with a desire to create things of value. As hard work and dedication result in one innovative product after another, the fledgling company takes its first steps towards becoming the electronics giant of today.

Birth of Panasonic

1894 From birth to the founding of the company  
1918 Panasonic launched  
1920 Establishment of the "Hoichi-Kai"  
1922 First head office and factory established  
1923 Bullet-shaped bicycle lamp developed and marketed  
1927 Square bicycle lamp developed and marketed  
1927 Super iron marketed  
1927 Communication media published  
1929 Management objective and company creed announced  
1931 Tradition of celebrating the first shipment of each year instituted  
1931 Radio production started  
1932 First commemoration of company founding held  
1933 New head office and factory constructed in Kadoma  
1933 Konosuke Matsushita institutes divisional system  
1933 Motor development and production launched  
1934 Employee Training Institute opens  
1935 Pricing policy based on co-existence and mutual prosperity philosophy  
1935 Trading company established  
1935 Rules and regulations issued  
1939 Public tv broadcasts successfully tested  
1941 War in the pacific breaks out  

1945-1959

1945 Up from ashes  
1946 Postwar period of hardship  
1951 Matsushita makes his first visit to the United States  
1952 Technical cooperation agreement with Philips lnked  
1951-54 Sales and finance companies established  
1953 Construction of the Central Research Laboratory  
1956 Announcement of Five-year Plan  
1956 Beginning of the home appliance era  
1956 New factories built  
1959 Establishment of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (MECA)  

1960-1979

1961 Overseas manufacturing rapidly built-up  
1961 Company organized with Konosuke Matsushita as chairman and Masaharu Matsushita as president  
1960-65 Establishment of Corporate Special Equipment Sales and Corporate Housing Equipment Sales Divisions  
1963 Service Division established  
1964 Atami conference held  
1965 Reorganization of the sales and distribution network  
1965 Establishment of the five-day work week  
1966 Rapid growth phase entered  
1968 Panasonic's 50th anniversary marked  
1969 Technological exhibition held  
1970 Pavilion erected at Expo 70  
1970 Panasonic meets the consumer movement  
1971 Panasonic shares traded on NYSE Nixon dollar shock  
1973 Konosuke Matsushita retires to the position of executive adviser  
1973 The oil crisis  
1977 The company builds a new management team with Toshihiko Yamashita as president and Masaharu Matsushita as chairman  
1977 VHS-standard VCR marketed  

1980-

1983 ACTION 86 initiated  
1986 Akio Tanii becomes president  
1987 Joint venture company with Beijing established  
1988 MET merges with MEI  
1989 Death of company founder Konosuke Matsushita  
1990 Addition of MCA to the Panasonic group  
1991 Environmental charter set forth  
1992 Information and Communications Systems Center opens  
1993 A new departure under Yoichi Morishita  
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