Takenobu Kataoka
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Keio University in 1928 and joined the company in August 1930. This was a period when, as part of the Nitchitsu concern, it held businesses in Nobeoka that had branched out from ammonia into rayon, Bemberg yarn, explosives and celluloid. He became a Director in March 1947 and Senior Managing Director in May that year, and Director and President in 1949. Amid the turnover of top management caused by the zaibatsu dissolution and the purge from public office, he reached the top of the company in his late forties.
Selection
In April 1946, in line with the aims of the zaibatsu dissolution, Nitchitsu Chemical Industry changed its name to Asahi Kasei Industry and was separated from the concern headed by Nippon Chisso Hiryo. Even after the name change, it was designated a restricted company, subjected to the Excessive Economic Power Deconcentration Law and designated for reparations, and its top management was replaced under the public office purge order. Kataoka rose from Director through Senior Managing Director to President between 1947 and 1949, coinciding with this turnover. As a leader with no predecessor, he took on a reconstruction plan under conditions imposed from outside.
Initiatives
In May 1949 the company listed its shares on the First Sections of the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges. In July that year it raised its capital to ¥700 million and restored its facilities in order, first ammonia and ammonium sulfate, then explosives and foods, and then chemical fibers and caustic soda, completing the restoration in March 1950. In February 1951 it completed a 16,000 kW captive power station at Mizugasaki on the upper Gokase River. In March 1952 it signed a technical tie-up with the US company Dow Chemical, and in July that year set up the joint venture Asahi-Dow, entering Saran polyvinylidene chloride.
Career
Career
Asahi Chemical Industry
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Aug 1930 | 旭絹織 入社 (translation pending) |
| Jan 1949 | President |
| Jul 1961 | Chairman |
| Jul 1961 | Stepped down as President |