Investing ahead in skyscraper and seismic technology, and moving into development (1968)

From pure contracting to a company that earns from technology and development

The core of this decision was not winning one building but committing people and organization in advance to skyscrapers and seismic design, a field no one had yet worked in. Bringing in the leading authority on earthquake-resistant structures as vice-president, and keeping a computer in-house for structural calculation, are not preparations that can be made after the order arrives. Kajima Morinosuke’s phrase — that the company “had been steadily putting the posture in place” — describes a successful firm laying its stones for the next technical obstacle before it appeared.

That said, the Kasumigaseki Building was not Kajima’s work alone; it was the product of the client, the designers and many other hands. Even so, the sequence that followed — trading on the technical standing the project conferred, then amending the charter in 1971 to step from contracting into development — is the starting point of Kajima’s long attempt to offset the cyclicality of contract work with the recovery cycle of development. Rather than chase size, where do you place the technology and the business pillar you will need next? This decision is instructive precisely because the company tried to answer that question early.