Akira Gemma
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined in 1959 and spent more than 20 years in domestic sales. He served from 1982 as President of Shiseido Cosmetici (Italia), established in June 1968, and after returning appears to have worked in the chain store division. In 1991, when he was Managing Director and deputy head of the Chain Business Division, the proliferation of product lines had ended only in higher inventories.
Selection
He became President, succeeding Yoshiharu Fukuhara. In June 1998 he gave a magazine interview as President of Shiseido. In June 1995, the year before, the Japan Fair Trade Commission had issued a cease-and-desist recommendation over price restrictions imposed on major mass retailers, and Fukuhara had decided to accept it at the end of that September. In April 1995 the company had merged 15 sales companies into Shiseido Cosmetics Sales. The task of completing in stores the abolition of price controls decided by that acceptance remained, and it appears to have fallen to the Executive Vice President who knew the dealings with chain stores.
Initiatives
In April 1997 the company abolished the resale price maintenance it had kept since 1923. Once price restrictions were lifted, retail discounting spread and low-priced brands centered on drugstores grew. Unless the company quickly closed the gap between the manufacturer's logic and the customer's logic, it would lose support; seeing it that way, Akira Gemma set a policy of strengthening face-to-face sales centered on skincare. Overseas, the company set up a cooperative venture in Shanghai in February 1998 and a joint venture in Hong Kong that September. Consolidated revenue peaked at ¥620.9 billion in the fiscal year ended March 1998 and then stagnated.
Career
Career
Shiseido
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Representative Director, President |
| 2000 | Stepped down as President |