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Matsushita to drop founder's name

Japanese electronics maker Matsu-shita Electric Industrial Co said yesterday it will drop the founder's name and become Panasonic Corp to strengthen its global image under one name.

The name change was approved at a board meeting yesterday and will become effective Oct. 1 upon approval at a shareholders' meeting in June, Matsushita said in a statement.

The move signals the importance of brand recognition amid intensifying global competition -- and makes sense given that the Osaka-based company is far better known outside Japan as Panasonic, one of its brand names, than as Matsushita.

The company, founded in 1918, will also drop its local brand, National, for products such as rice cookers, washing machines and refrigerators, by March 31, 2010.

Matsushita said the decision was to "unify its global brand," but said it will continue to run its business based on the philosophy of its founder, Konosuke Matsushita.

Matsushita has been mulling changing its name to Panasonic for some time to avoid consumer confusion.

Brand power is increasingly critical. A rapid decline in prices for gadgets has hurt profits and consumers tend to be willing to pay more for products from companies with strong reputations like Sony and Panasonic.

Konosuke Matsushita's rags-to-riches story and humanitarian views have been the pillar of the company.

Like Akio Morita, the founder of arch-rival Sony Corp, Matsushita is one of a number of charismatic entrepreneurs credited with leading Japan's modernization and economic success after its defeat in World War II.

Matsushita, who died in 1989 at 94, has inspired Japanese corporate culture with his unpretentious view on life and work, and for insisting only good companies that contribute to social well-being can hope to succeed.

Known in Japan as "the god of management," he is famous for quotations such as "Business is people," and "Every person has a path to follow." He began his career as an apprentice at a brazier store when he was just nine years old after his landowner family lost its fortune.

Although he was self-taught, the disarming Matsushita wrote books, founded a major publisher and became an award-winning philanthropist.

Despite the name change, the company is not dropping his ideas.

In his New Year's greeting earlier this week, Fumio Ohtsubo, the current president, said this marks marks the 90th anniversary of the firm's founding and reminded employees to stay true to the spirit of corporate ethics, social contribution and daily innovation. A copy of the speech was released to some reporters.

"Each and every one of us must do our utmost on the job, always asking our conscience whether we have strayed from the path, while continuously pursuing profitability," Ohtsubo said.
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