Konosuke Matsushita Quotes
106 Konosuke Matsushita Quotes
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The unpredictable had of Fate can come down in any direction. Life can be snuffed out in an instant, but it can also be surprisingly resilient.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On not getting hurt in a car accident on his pushbike and also a potential business partner that he was feeling queasy about dying two days after he had regretfully agreed to go into business with at an easy stage] That accident and Ando’s death made me think there may be some substance to the notion that there are lucky and unlucky people in this world.
Konosuke Matsushita
Times were bad… but I had confidence in the future, and I believed that we could deal with the depression if we but had the cooperation and unity of all.
Konosuke Matsushita
We started out with something more promising than a cold stone, but not much else. We had had scant experience and no money, but with time and dedicated hard work, we had managed to establish a strong foothold for future growth. The fruits of frugality, hard work, managing with only the barest necessities were beginning to mature.
Konosuke Matsushita
It is prudent to begin with products that sell easily and move into heavy competition only when you are ready…
Konosuke Matsushita
[On the difficulties on selling his first bicycle lamp and the solution] Before I could convince them to buy the lamp, I would have to demonstrate its superiority… I decided to begin with retail stores, staging a demonstration that would work as a form of point-of-purchase sales promotion.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On leaving bicycle lamp demonstration samples for free in many shops] The inability to collect payment for goods delivered to a client is responsible for most cases of business failure. But the circumstances forced us to adopt methods that were out of the ordinary…
Konosuke Matsushita
[Success with the bicycle lamps] Indeed, after a month, we had delivered four or five thousand lamps to retail stores, and payment for them was certain. It was not long before retailers ceased to wait for the salesmen to come around but placed renewal orders by telephone or mail. I was vastly relieved and delighted to find that my confidence in the lamp had proved well founded. Sales continued to increase until the volume handled through the retail shops alone had reached the 2,000 units per month I had hoped for…
Konosuke Matsushita
There I was, the owner of a workshop with seventy employees, scrubbing the toilet, and they were all simply watching, not a single one offering to take over the job. They did not seem to know whether this was right or wrong, and even if some of them did, they made no move to help, any initiative apparently thwarted by the thought of what the others would think. How far would I get in this business with such employees? … I thought to myself, I will just have to teach them. I don’t care if they are all against me, I have to do it.
Konosuke Matsushita
I had made up my mind that I would have to instill a greater discipline and worker morale. Scrubbing the toilet that day turned out to be an eye-opening experience.
Konosuke Matsushita
I feel strongly that the tension under which we worked then is a very necessary element for a healthy enterprise. The bigger a business becomes, the harder it is to maintain this attitude; perhaps it can only be done through personal striving and continual reflection.
Konosuke Matsushita
A firm with a president and manager well attuned to each other, I had once been told, would be able to weather whatever adversity might come along, and would be capable of unlimited growth.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On a monk friend Taikan Kato] ‘Ah!’ he would reply. ‘What good does it do to become big and successful as you are if you cannot get a good nights sleep! Here I am at seventy, and I still fall into a sound sleep the moment I lie down. Which of us is really happier? You may own a 5,000 employee company and have lots of money and assets. Look at me! I have nothing, but I enjoy peace of mind and suffer none of the tortures of insomnia. I pit you. There, go and light a candle at the altar.’
Konosuke Matsushita
My whole life seems to have been one struggle after another from the time I was an apprentice, and I will always remember with nostalgia that short interlude which business went smoothly and without incident.
Konosuke Matsushita
Success in business comes when strength in manufacturing and strength in sales are well matched. How many of the companies we see around us manufacture good products but ultimately fail to grow because of inadequate sales. On the other hand some firms have great talent in sales but com to nothing because they handle only mediocre products.
Konosuke Matsushita
A good approach to sales requires a broad perspective, taking into account the industrial and even social conditions at the time, and should also bear the mark of the manufacturer’s attitude toward life. Only when your approach and terms prove accepted on the market can you develop effective sales methods.
Konosuke Matsushita
Matsushita Electric’s true business was in making and selling wiring fixtures, and I naturally thought we should devote ourselves to what we knew best.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On selling Radio tubes as a middleman for a short while when spotting the opportunity to supply in another city]We had served as middle-man for the Tokyo tube maker early in the boom and had withdrawn before times grew tough… our image rather benefited from the decisive strategy of advance and withdrawal we had demonstrated.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On choosing the ‘National’ brand name] I had thought of various brand names but none had seemed exactly right. Then one day, as I was looking through the newspaper, my eye fell upon the world ‘international’. Something struck me about the word, even though I knew no English and had no idea what it meant.
Konosuke Matsushita
I believe the fortunate choice of the word ‘national,’ and the associations the world brought with it, were important elements of the success of both the square lamp and the other products later sold under that brand.
Konosuke Matsushita
I am going to distribute 10,000 lamps free of charge as a promotion technique, and so would you let me have 10,000 free batteries so I can use them in the sample lamps?… I know I may seem crazy, but I am very confident of the success of this product and I have resolved to go ahead with my plan. I am asking you to gamble 10,000 batteries, but I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to make such a request without taking my own risks. I’ll make it worth you while. It is April now; by the end of the year, I promise you I will sell 200,000 dry cells. If I succeed, give me 10,000 free batteries. If I fail to sell even one short of 200,000, I won’t take even one free battery. I know I can do it. If you will agree to this, I will take the 10,000 free batteries in advance instead of later so I can go ahead with my distribution of free lamps. What do you say? [Mr Okada replied ‘Matsushita, you’re really something. In all these fifteen years of doing business, I have not once been presented with a plan as daring as you propose. It’s a deal. If you sell 200,000 dry cells within the year, I’ll give you 10,000 free.’]
Konosuke Matsushita
By the time we had given out only one thousand, the orders had already started pouring in…By the end of the year, I found that I had sold far more than the 200,000 dry cells I had promised Mr Okada. In fact, I sold 470,000.
Konosuke Matsushita
The World War I period was a boom time for the Japanese economy, and many businesses became overextended. Reactionary depression set in shortly after the war’s end.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On his main bank (Fifteenth Bank) failing in 1927] We could not borrow money from the bank, we could not withdraw our savings, and not only did I have to find a new source of funds, I was being pressed to pay bills that were not even my responsibility.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On beginning a relationship with Sumitomo Bank in February 1927, two months before the financial panic. Insisting on a 20,000 yen unsecured loan before opening an account with them] As I was leaving, Mr. Takeda said, ‘I was very much impressed with your words about the importance of trust. I have been in the banking business for a long time, but I have never met anyone like you before. This is the first time someone has ever approached me asking for an unconditional loan even before opening an account. I admire your openness and I’ll do my best.’ [The loan came through not long after credit checks were completed.]
Konosuke Matsushita
[On Sumitomo Bank lending 20,000 yen when he really needed it.]Thanks to Sumitomo, Matsushita Electric was able to weather the crisis caused by the collapse of our main bank. I shall never forget it.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On the doctor who took care of his dying son] Medicine is a humanitarian calling.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On the November-December 1929 depression when sales dropped by more than half and it seemed the only way to cope with this seemed to be to decrease production by half and reduce the number of employees by half. But when his employees came to consult with him he came up with a brilliant plan.] Here’s what I think we should do. Cut production by half starting now, but do not dismiss even one employee. We’ll halve production not by laying off workers but by having them work only half-days. We will continue to pay the same wages they are getting now, but there will be no holidays. All workers should do their best to try to sell the stock backlog. This is a test of endurance, so if we keep a close watch on business trends, we should be able to sustain the company without getting into a real financial deadlock. Whatever loss we incur from paying full-day wages for half-day work is insignificant – only a temporary loss. Matsushita Electric is going to grow even more in the future, and even a temporary dismissal of workers goes against my management philosophy.
Konosuke Matsushita
It was indeed amazing. The collective hard work and enthusiasm of the employees bore fruit, and by February the following year all the excess stock was gone. Our business revived, and we changed back from half-day work to the regular shifts at full capacity production.
Konosuke Matsushita
[In the early 1930’s at buying a car for less than 50% of the regular list price] A policy of austerity will never bring prosperity… All right, I thought, I will buy a car! What good is a policy of austerity at a time when goods are in abundant supply and everyone is suffering from a lack of business. Anyone who was rich enough should go ahead and buy the things they could afford, that would not only benefit others but the country as a whole…
Konosuke Matsushita
For a while, I found that using a taxi was more relaxing than riding in my own car. This is an example of the worries that accompany the luxury of material wealth. Not all God’s gifts are sweetness and light; everything that has a good side has an equally significant bad side.
Konosuke Matsushita
[On a friend thinking of delaying building a new house in a recession] Look, it is in hard times like these that rich people like you should spend money. If you and others like you refrain from building houses, how can carpenters and plasterers make a living? They have nothing to do but complain of the depression. They just grow poorer until they begin to harbor resentment against the whole world and to curse the so-called wealthy class to which you belong. Building a new house at such a time may cause people to talk, but you should not be concerned with them… By such spending, we can make people happy by giving them jobs. And not only will you be able to build a house at lower cost than in normal times, the carpenters and other building contractors will do their jobs more carefully than usual. This is a good case of killing two birds with one stone.
Konosuke Matsushita
It is always true that production should be stimulated in order that goods will be available in abundance. This is an unalterable rule of prosperity, whether business is active or slow.
Konosuke Matsushita
Our responsibilities as a company were… growing, and I realized that we would have to strengthen our management… What I had considered a private business no longer seemed a private matter. I now realized that Matsushita Electric was working not just for itself, but for the agents and for the industry as a whole; it was an enterprise, as it were, entrusted to us by other people. It was our duty to shoulder that responsibility and managed our operations with the awareness that private enterprise is ultimately a public endeavor.
Konosuke Matsushita
It is a terrible thing when people lose confidence in you…
Konosuke Matsushita
[On a radio managers belief about radios in the early 1930’s who he subsequently parted ways with] Your stubborn belief that a radio is an intricate device inherently prone to develop defects is basically all wrong. That’s no different from telling a sick man that his illness is so serious that he’ll never recover. A patient has a far better chance if he believes that his illness is not so critical, that he will recover. This thing with the radios is the same.
Konosuke Matsushita
Under no condition should we build a radio that did not live up to our ideal.
Konosuke Matsushita
Success or failure will hang on whether you have confidence and determination.
Konosuke Matsushita
Any person in a position of responsibility should always pay close attention to the problems that are crucial in bringing a certain task or enterprise to completion. Examining them in a free and creative frame of mind, he will be able to find a workable answer. At the same time it is also necessary to approach a project with the conviction that it can be done, and not waste energy about its difficulty. Truly able people do not let the difficulties get the better of them.
Konosuke Matsushita
As Henry Ford demonstrated, once production of goods in large quantities is possible, their price can naturally be reduced by that much, and we followed in his footsteps.
Konosuke Matsushita
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