"God of Management" 10 times reached the top of the richest man. Kōnosuke Matsushita: How did he manage the billion-dollar empire?

As an ordinary person, an enterprise and a leader, the most important and only theme of Kōnosuke Matsushita's life is development. When he was young, he had no higher education, was neither rich nor attractive, and lacked communication skills. However, it is from this position that he started, developed and developed again. He is still a young man in his early twenties. He is often depressed and in poor health. However, at the age of 30, he created many business management models that are still used by big global companies, and it was still 50 years. At the age of 40, he became a visionary leader and the founder of Panasonic Corporation. Finally, Panasonic's revenue exceeds the total sales of Bethlehem Steel Company, Colgate Company, Gillette Company, guthrie Company, Kellogg Company, Huali Company, Scott Paper Company and Whirlpool Company.

After World War II, he founded a company, which can quickly adapt to development and change, and constantly carry out technological innovation and global integration. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became keen on other industries, such as writers, philanthropists, educators, social philosophers and politicians. Because he had been studying and changed himself over time, he reached the peak of his career in his later years. It was not until 1989 died at the age of 94 that the company began to decline. This amazing development course shows that what is most closely related to his achievements is his personality, not IQ, charm, privilege, luck, or other factors that we usually associate with great success.

In a sense, Kōnosuke Matsushita has achieved more than his famous entrepreneur-the company he founded has earned more money than Henry in his life? Ford, Sam? Wharton and Ray? The crock company, because they don't make products like Honda and Ford, because he is not an American in the American century, and because he never tries to attract the attention of foreign media, he is not a celebrity outside Japan.

His extraordinary achievements created hundreds of millions of wealth, but he did not use these wealth to build villas in France. Instead, he used these wealth to establish a Nobel Prize-style system, set up an administrative college, reformed the Japanese political system, and implemented many other plans related to civilians. In his later years, he wrote dozens of philosophical books, studied human nature with a research group, and called on the government to do more good for the people.

Some people have accumulated more personal wealth than themselves, while others have started their own businesses or contributed as much to the country as he has. But from all aspects, it is difficult to find a more successful person among entrepreneurs and executives in the 20th century. No one can follow his example and play an inspiring role. The following is his story.

Among the eight children, Kōnosuke Matsushita was born in a middle-class family. Because my father lost money in stock trading, his family is poor and his family is poor. Nine-year-old Konosuke was sent to a bicycle shop as an apprentice. Finally, he worked for Osaka Electric Company. It was a public power company, where he was promoted to inspector, which is a respectable position. But later, because the boss was unwilling to accept his proposal to make a new light bulb socket, he resigned. Throughout his life, his adventurous spirit guided him: he decided to make this product himself.

19 17, with the help of four assistants, including his wife, Mei Nai, Kōnosuke Matsushita started a business with the savings of 100 yen. None of these five people have a middle school education, and more importantly, they don't know how to make a light socket.

Panasonic's "factory" is in two houses he rented. The total area required for working and living is equivalent to 130 square feet. They have no income and limited funds, so they are eager to make this new type of socket. Socket insulation technology has become a big problem for them. They work seven days a week to make up for their lack of technical knowledge. Finally, a colleague who once worked with them in Osaka Electric Company gave help. His colleagues know how to isolate products and explain to them how to do it. 19 17 years1mid-October, that is, after working for 4 months, they successfully produced several samples of new products.

But the attitude of wholesalers to such products is very cold, if not completely dismissive. This kind of worry is the same as what entrepreneurs generally hear today: "When you get good grades, your business may go bankrupt in a few months, because of this risk, I can't deal with you." He said: "Only one product is also a problem. If I only buy one product from each manufacturer, it is impossible for me to deal with thousands of suppliers. Come back when there are many kinds of products. "

In order to get much-needed funds, Kōnosuke Matsushita and his wife Menet pawned clothes and other personal belongings. They are still working hard in the depressed enterprises. Kōnosuke Matsushita tried to improve the design of plugs and tried to design other new products. A wholesaler likes these adventurous young people very much. He learned that one of his suppliers was in trouble. North Sichuan Electric Appliance Company used to use ceramic insulation board as fan base, but now it plans to use an unbreakable base similar to asbestos material. The electrical appliance company urgently needs this new base, but there is no source. The wholesaler suggested that Panasonic centralized plug project produce 1000 pieces of insulation board. Panasonic agreed without hesitation. The wholesaler told him that if the goods were delivered quickly, he would probably receive another 4,000 to 5,000 orders.

This job is labor-intensive, and after a period of time, people will get bored. Because Konosuke and his wife Mai worked 18 hours a day and 7 days a week, they delivered the goods before the end of 12. The company's income is 160 yen, and the cost of materials and molds accounts for half, so the company's profitability is very good.

1 At the beginning, Kōnosuke Matsushita was told that the managers in northern Sichuan liked this product, and they liked the quality and delivery speed of the product. Therefore, Panasonic won the second order, this time producing 200,000 pieces of heat insulation boards.

Unusual strategy

The emphasis on quality and customer satisfaction makes this desperate enterprise invincible. Since then, Kōnosuke Matsushita has formulated some corporate strategies that distinguish him from his competitors: focusing on productivity and low cost (Kōnosuke Matsushita knows that the ideal new product quality must be 30% better than other products, and the cost should be 30% lower than the standard cost), innovative marketing methods (offering products for promotion free), and after-sales service (increasing sales by reducing customers' risks).

By the end of 1922, the company would launch one or two new products almost every month, but none of them achieved remarkable success, so Kōnosuke Matsushita began to look for greater opportunities. 1922 was found at the beginning.

The demand for bicycle lights is huge and growing, but all products on the market have serious defects. A candle lamp is often blown out by the wind; The price of acetylene lamp is too high, so it is necessary to keep adding fuel; The battery lamp can only be used for two or three hours.

Kōnosuke Matsushita is convinced that if his company can make some major improvements, battery-powered headlights will have a bright future. He wants to make the structure of the headlight simple, so that the lamp is not easy to be damaged and economical, that is to say, the battery must last for more than ten hours. After three or four months, he realized that only by changing the power supply could he design a brand-new structure. After testing more than 100 samples, he designed a bicycle lamp that looks like a bullet and looks particularly cute. A new type of miniature light bulb has appeared in the market, which makes the prospect of bicycle lights bright. Kōnosuke Matsushita later wrote: "Because of the improvement of this new light bulb and battery structure, I found that this kind of lamp can last for 30 to 50 hours."

Holding the sample, Kōnosuke Matsushita personally came to a store that once sold electronic products: "I told them the benefits of this new type of car light, hoping to hear surprises and admiration, and then immediately offered to buy it." However, the result is not satisfactory, and the store is not interested in this new car. He said that the company's reputation has always been bad, and he is worried that it may be difficult for consumers to buy batteries specially used for bicycles when they need to replace them.

Although surprised, Kōnosuke Matsushita was not disappointed. He also visited other electrical appliance vendors. To his dismay, the answer is the same everywhere. Panasonic tried other sales systems-bicycle dealers. The logic is simple. Bicycle shops should know more about the value of this new product. But even bicycle shops are reluctant to sell those infamous products.

Although there is no order, production goes on as usual, because Panasonic is full of confidence in new products. Panasonic not only didn't cut investment, but even decided to invest more money in the new marketing strategy. In Osaka, he hired three salesmen to visit every bicycle shop. The sales staff of each store will leave some samples, light a lamp for demonstration, and will not charge any fees to the store. They told retailers that only after the goods were sold and the store thought the customers were satisfied would the company collect money. Interested retailers agree with this. This has never happened to them, and they will not take any risks.

Difficult survival

Panasonic bicycle lights have achieved great success, and many people even buy them for daily use instead of traditional gas lamps. Matsushita began to produce the desk lamp named "Country", which is a household name in some parts of the world like General Electric or Coca-Cola. Subsequently, the company was hit by the Great Depression. But Panasonic didn't lay off employees because he regarded the company as a family. He just cut production, turned factory workers into salesmen, and then watched his company grow rapidly.

Consumers were frightened by the economic situation at that time, and they drastically cut unnecessary expenses. When electronic product sellers see the decline in sales, their reaction is to reduce or even stop buying new products. Therefore, Panasonic's business has been more and more seriously affected. By 1 929,65438+February,1,the company's sales had dropped by more than half. Warehouse began to rise because of product backlog, and financial disaster may suddenly become a reality.

Many people in Panasonic's management believe that the only measure that can be taken is to fire a large number of employees, perhaps only half. The top management of the enterprise believes that only a large number of layoffs can save the company, but it may also bankrupt the company, and the development momentum that has been maintained for 12 years will stop, good labor relations will be destroyed, and the company's further development plan will be shelved. Moreover, with the continuous deterioration of Japan's economy, it is almost impossible for laid-off workers to find jobs elsewhere, which makes a large number of employees fall into poverty. The manager asked Kōnosuke Matsushita what to do in horror.

Kōnosuke Matsushita's order is like an unusual depression: "Cut production by half, from now on, but don't fire any employees. In order to reduce production, we don't fire workers, but let them work (in the factory) for half a day. I guarantee that their salary will be the same as now, but all holidays will be cancelled. Our company requires all employees to do their best to sell the overstocked goods.

Although both Confucian and feudal traditions emphasize a certain degree of male care in Japanese labor relations, this specific idea is very novel. 1929, in order to cope with the company's depression, the practice of changing from production personnel to sales personnel has never appeared. When the company announced the policy to a room full of employees, people cheered and welcomed it. Because a person spends a lot of time selling inventory a week, the output is only half of the past, the backlog of goods will soon disappear, and employees will soon return to normal work.

When thousands of Japanese companies laid off employees and their development was stagnant, Panasonic retained all employees, started a new business of radio products, continued to develop the business of car lamps and batteries, and paid more attention to raising the standards of hiring employees to improve the quality of employees. At this moment, at the request of a client, Kōnosuke Matsushita visited the central temple of Tenrikyo. Although the purpose of accepting this invitation is not to become a believer, it left a deep impression on him, that is, believers who are not driven by obvious economic interests. This visit has sown the seeds of new enterprise ideas, which will affect Kōnosuke Matsushita's future life path.

In the temple, Kōnosuke Matsushita saw with his own eyes that in this huge institution, people are working with a rare professionalism outside small enterprises. "Everything I have seen, from the mountains of wood donations, can be seen from everything I have seen. From the positive dedication of these believers to temple construction, there are some things worth learning." If the enterprise can become as meaningful as religion to some extent, then the employees of the enterprise will be more satisfied with their work and the labor productivity will be improved.

Two months later, Kōnosuke Matsushita decided to hold an unusual meeting to share his new ideas with many employees. 1932 On May 5th, 168, the staff and senior managers gathered in the conference hall of Osaka Motor City Club. In the opening remarks, Kōnosuke Matsushita reviewed their collective achievements: in a short period of 15 years, the company has 1 100 employees since its establishment, with annual sales of 3 million yen, 280 registered patents and factories all over 10 regions. When talking about his recent visit to Tientsin Temple, he was inspired to re-examine his views on this company. Then, he put forward a declaration that is now widely circulated: "The mission of manufacturers should be to overcome poverty, get rid of misfortune and create wealth for the whole society." Water is an important product, and the production and sales costs are very low, so almost everyone can afford it. "This is the goal that entrepreneurs and manufacturers should pursue: to make all products like tap water, which saves money and money. When this goal is achieved, poverty will disappear from the earth. " If 15 years, he lacks concern for others, then these words have little credibility. However, his words are in line with the company's business style. This sentence only shows that he stands higher and has a broader vision when expounding his views on the company. This new task links the company's goals with people's basic values.

Kōnosuke Matsushita asked everyone to get together every morning, and every employee read aloud his corporate principles. Some people think it's red tape and don't want to do it, while others think it's too melodramatic. But Kōnosuke Matsushita refused to make any compromise.

Until Kōnosuke Matsushita gave a speech in 1932, his company had a dedicated and energetic staff, partly because of this paternalistic personnel system (employees organized hundreds of cultural, entertainment and sports activities in 1920) and partly because of the company's unusual exchange activities (the company magazine was published in 1927). However, in the years after 1933, this group of employees full of spiritual motivation and unity became the main source of strength for the company to win the competitive advantage. Although the scale of the company is getting bigger and bigger, it is common that it cannot support the enterprise for a long time. Many people in this company began to believe that they were related to a noble and just cause.

restart

After World War II, Matsushita Electric was once again in trouble because it made warships and planes for the army during World War II. Because of Panasonic's performance in the war, the allied occupiers imposed many extremely severe restrictions on it, so Kōnosuke Matsushita himself was almost fired from the company. However, his paternalistic policy showed advantages: some loyalty he cultivated led his company's trade union to organize a petition signed by 65,438+05,000 employees, demanding that Kōnosuke Matsushita remain as president. After World War II, Kōnosuke Matsushita cultivated a highly adaptable corporate culture, attaching importance to customers, delivery speed, product quality and cooperative spirit, and delegating power to employees.

After the war, Kōnosuke Matsushita and his managers began a plan to rebuild the company. They adopted effective management methods and concepts at the beginning of the company's establishment, but they were abandoned in World War II and the post-war period. They began to seek more advanced technology. The company has taken great action, and they are ambitious to expand their business, not only in Japan, but also all over the world.

The company began to implement departmental management on 1933, aiming at making the product series quickly respond to the needs of their respective markets and promoting the company's development. In the war, these markets became more and more irrelevant, so they gave up this system and focused on centralized management, the development of the whole factory and economies of scale. 1950 After Kōnosuke Matsushita regained power, the department management was resumed.

The company has set up three product groups, led by Konosuke himself, one by his son-in-law Masaji Matsushita and the other by Arataro of Gao Qiao. First of all, we produce radio products, communication equipment, light bulbs and vacuum tubes. The other group produces dry batteries and some equipment with electric heaters. The third is to sell batteries and transformers in stock.

After putting into operation, two of the three new groups have achieved balance of payments, and the third group will not be led by Gao Qiao and Alataro. When he inspected Gao Qiao's labor productivity, product quality, production technology and workers' technical level, he found that all these aspects need to be improved. But for this person who has been in contact with Kōnosuke Matsushita for decades, none of these factors seem to be the core issue. Finally, Gao Qiao admitted that due to the inefficiency of this department, it abandoned the important policies and strategies that made Panasonic successful before the war.

Gao Qiao called the workers together and told them that he had studied why he could not make a profit from various angles, and then delivered a Kōnosuke Matsushita-style speech: "The fundamental reason is that we have not continued to operate according to the basic policies of Kōnosuke Matsushita. As long as we follow these principles and check our work according to them, we will succeed. If the product quality is not good and the sales are not good, we have to stop production and improve the product quality. If we produce inferior products, we will not contribute to society, which goes against our principles.

In the morning, Gao Qiao reviewed Kōnosuke Matsushita's creed and asked managers to re-examine their work according to these ideas. As a result, dozens of working methods have been changed. Scrap iron discarded in the war was collected and sold. Check the factory every morning and clean it up before starting work. From the customer's point of view, study the product quality and then make improvements.

In a short time, the company returned to the original production track. The three departments have improved product quality and production efficiency, the practice of paying attention to customers has resumed, and the morale of workers has also improved. 195 1 At the beginning of the year, Panasonic made preparations for expanding its business again. Until the death of Panasonic in 1989, the company's development speed has been shocking.

Eternal role model

When we look forward to the 2 1 century, facing a lot of economic and industrial challenges, what potentially important experiences can we learn from Kōnosuke Matsushita's story? Kōnosuke Matsushita's whole life seems to say, don't pay attention to the typical centralized management, multi-level, bureaucracy, high cost and slow response companies in the mid-20th century.

In the fierce economic competition in the next few decades, the company seems to be as successful as Panasonic in the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s. The customer will be God; Labor productivity will continue to improve; Employees feel empowered and obligated to achieve the company's goals; Attach great importance to delivery speed; Product standards are also particularly high.

Don't pay attention to the typical senior managers in the mid-20th century, because such managers must be very cautious, so their influence will be greatly reduced, and sometimes they can please the boss. If top managers want to succeed in fierce competition and rapidly changing environment, they must have a stronger spirit of adventure, more like a leader and more like a system maker. They need to care about customers and production costs like Kōnosuke Matsushita, be willing to accept optimistic and reasonable goals, spread these ideas widely, and help other companies to act under the highest standards.

First of all, don't take the middle of the 20th century as a model for learning, choosing a job and developing. If this trend continues, the stories of successful people in the next few decades will no longer be those who receive education between the ages of 5 and 25 and then apply what they have learned to practical work 40 years before retirement. Successful people are people who are willing and committed to development, just like Kōnosuke Matsushita.