Fumio Tanaka
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the Department of Forestry in Kyushu University's Faculty of Agriculture in 1935 and joined Oji Paper. He served as General Manager of the Forestry Department at the head office of Tomakomai Paper from August 1949 and as Director and manager of the Kasugai Mill of Oji Paper Manufacturing from November 1956, and after serving as Managing and Senior Managing Director rose to Representative Director and Executive Vice President in March 1968. Born in Nagano Prefecture, he was a career employee who had seen everything from the raw-material forests to the mills of a company that had restarted from a single mill after the breakup under the Deconcentration Law.
Selection
The 1968 edition of the Japan company directory lists Sadao Kumazawa as Director and President, and the 1969 edition replaces him with Tanaka. In March 1968, between these editions, the three former Oji companies, Oji Paper, Jujo Paper and Honshu Paper, signed a merger memorandum, but withdrew it in September that year on the prospect of rejection by the Japan Fair Trade Commission. The memorandum had been put together by Chairman Keiji Nakajima and former Oji elder Totaro Kato without even consulting the presidents of the three companies, and Tanaka was not among those deciding. Right after the wholesale restoration of the pre-breakup company fell through, an Executive Vice President who had worked on the ground at Tomakomai took the top post.
Initiatives
Oji Paper merged with Kita Nippon Paper in September 1970 and with Nippon Pulp Industry in March 1979. Whereas the 1968 plan had sparked heated debate with objections from competitors and users, the 1979 merger with Nippon Pulp Industry drew not a single objection. Tanaka dismissed a grand merger of the three former Oji companies as impossible. Sales grew from ¥54.0 billion in the FY ended March 1968 to ¥338.5 billion in the FY ended March 1981. It was 13 years in which he gave up on wholesale restoration and switched to an approach of choosing partners one at a time that could pass regulatory review.
Career
Career
Oji Holdings
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1935 | Joined |
| Aug 1949 | 苫小牧製紙本社山林部長 (translation pending) |
| Nov 1956 | Director, General Manager, Kasugai Plant, Oji Paper Industries |
| Jul 1959 | Managing Director |
| Nov 1959 | Senior Managing Director |
| Mar 1968 | Representative Director, Executive Vice President |
| Nov 1968 | Representative Director, President |