Noboru Matsumoto
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Shiseido in 1917 and served as general manager at the invitation of its first President, Shinzo Fukuhara. An outsider who had studied commerce at New York University, he joined from the side of selling and numbers rather than research or manufacturing. In 1923 he worked with Fukuhara to establish the chain store and sales company system, designing a distribution network free of discounting. He became Senior Managing Director in 1927 and took the presidency after the war, in 1949.
Selection
In May 1949, when he became President, Shiseido listed its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The previous December it had set up Osaka Shiseido and rebuilt its production network. Postwar hardship continued, and Hanatsubaki hair oil and Shiseido Soap would not return to stores until the following year, 1950. At a time when going public coincided with postwar reconstruction, the Senior Managing Director who had built the sales system appears to have been named President.
Initiatives
In 1950 Hanatsubaki hair oil and Shiseido Soap went back on sale. Other products that had disappeared from stores during the war returned one by one. This recovery was supported by the Tokyo plant, which had survived the war undamaged. In the fiscal year ended November 1953, revenue was ¥2.983 billion and operating income ¥180 million. The business surpassed its prewar peak and regained first place in the cosmetics industry.
Career
Career
Shiseido
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1949 | President |
| 1953 | Stepped down as President |