Norishige Hasegawa
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Tokyo Imperial University in 1931, joined Sumitomo Goshi Kaisha, and moved to Sumitomo Chemical in 1934. His career at the company spanned 31 years by the time he became President. He became a Director in February 1951, Managing Director in August 1956, and Executive Vice President in February 1963. Like his predecessor Masaharu Doi he was a law graduate, and his path from the Sumitomo head-office organization to an operating company also mirrored Doi's. He was born in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1907.
Selection
In February 1965 he became President, following Masaharu Doi's move to Chairman in February 1963. The promotion came two years after he rose to Executive Vice President in February 1963. Just before he took office, the plan for a petrochemical complex at Shizuura in Shizuoka, meant to give the company a foothold in the Kanto region, had been caught between local opposition and a deadline from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and was abandoned in December 1964. He was handed the presidency with the location of the company's second petrochemical base still undecided.
Initiatives
In place of the abandoned Shizuura site, the company acquired land at Anegasaki from Sumitomo Metal Industries and on November 1, 1965 established Sumitomo Chiba Chemical with capital of ¥1 billion. In January 1970 a complex with 300,000 tons a year of ethylene capacity and downstream products was completed in Chiba, spreading the company's operations, previously concentrated in western Japan, across the country. In 1969 it built a large plant at the Oita Works for Sumithion, a low-toxicity organophosphate insecticide, making agrochemicals a core business alongside petrochemicals. Net sales rose 7.6-fold, from ¥73.6 billion in the fiscal year ended December 1964 to ¥556.1 billion in the fiscal year ended December 1976. Net income, however, only went from ¥2.6 billion to ¥3.5 billion, and the oil crisis that began with the 50% naphtha price hike in November 1973 overshadowed his last four years.
Career
Career
Sumitomo
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1931 | Joined |
Sumitomo Chemical
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1934 | Joined |
| Feb 1951 | Director |
| Aug 1956 | Managing Director |
| Feb 1963 | Executive Vice President |
| Feb 1965 | President |
| Apr 1977 | Chairman |
| Apr 1977 | Stepped down as President |
Seitetsu Kagaku Kogyo
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| May 1960 | Director |
| May 1971 | Stepped down as Director |
Inabata
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| May 1964 | Director |
Sumitomo Realty & Development
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Mar 1965 | Director |
Nippon Rakutamu
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Feb 1968 | President |
References 3
References (Japanese primary sources)
- 日本企業要覧 1975年版
- 日本企業要覧 1981年版
- 『住友化学工業株式会社史』（住友化学工業, 1981年）