Takao Ito
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
As of November 1955 he was Senior Managing Director and also head of General Affairs, in charge of headquarters administration. On the same officer list the Chairman was Nobuyoshi Fukuhara and the President was his predecessor, Mitsuo Iyoda. He served as Senior Managing Director of Osaka Shiseido, founded in December 1948. A career employee who joined straight out of middle school, he became President not through education or family ties but through long service.
Selection
In 1958 he became President, succeeding Mitsuo Iyoda. In his first year, the fiscal year ended November 1958, revenue was ¥10.051 billion, topping ¥10 billion for the first time, up from ¥8.953 billion the year before. In November that year the top shareholders were Asahi Mutual Life, Sumitomo Life, Nippon Fire and Marine and Sumitomo Trust, with no founding family names among them. A company moving to mass production appears to have chosen someone who had overseen production and sales in Osaka.
Initiatives
In October 1959 the company set up Shiseido Shoji to separate out its sales function, and the following November built a cosmetics-only plant in Ofuna, Kanagawa, to mass-produce lotions and emulsions. In 1962 it set up Shiseido of Hawaii, laying a foothold for going overseas on its own. In 1963 a business magazine contrasted Shiseido's centralized chain system with the agency system of Nakayama Taiyodo. Revenue reached ¥40.039 billion in the fiscal year ended November 1964, nearly four times the level when he took office.
Career
Career
Shiseido
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Senior Managing Director, General Manager, General Affairs Department |
| 1958 | President |
| 1964 | Stepped down as President |