Hideo Sugasawa
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
Born in 1910, he graduated from the architecture department of Tokyo Imperial University's Faculty of Engineering in March 1935 and joined Okura Doboku that April. He became Yokohama branch manager in May 1958, a Director in May 1961, Managing Director in May 1969, Representative Director and Senior Managing Director in May 1971 and Representative Director and Executive Vice President in May 1974. It took 26 years to reach the board, and he rose from overseeing building work at a branch to representative authority at headquarters.
Selection
He became Representative Director and President in May 1975. His predecessor, Koji Minami, became Representative Director and Chairman that month, and Masazo Okada and Yoshio Kawazure became Executive Vice Presidents. Sugasawa had become Representative Director and Executive Vice President only the previous May, so the change came after just one year in that post. It was after the first oil crisis, and ordinary profit peaked at ¥27.2 billion in the fiscal year ended March 1975 before falling to ¥25.9 billion in FY ended March 1976.
Initiatives
Land held by the parent and two subsidiaries had swollen to about ¥200 billion, generating interest costs comparable to the group's ordinary profit. In 1977 Yuraku Real Estate posted an ordinary loss of ¥130 million and Taisei Prefab ¥1.6 billion, while Taisei Rotec's profit fell 42.3%, exposing the weaknesses of decentralized management at the subsidiaries. Sugasawa judged that it was time to move from the previous laissez-faire approach to a stage of somewhat tighter control. On that basis he set up a project team for land disposal, halved Yuraku Real Estate's landholdings, demoted executives at subsidiaries and standardized criteria for intra-group orders. Ordinary profit fell to ¥11.0 billion in FY ended March 1978.
Career
Career
Taisei
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Mar 1935 | Joined |
| May 1975 | President |
| Jun 1979 | Chairman |
| Jun 1979 | Stepped down as President |