Masao Funabashi
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Tokyo Imperial University in March 1936 and joined the company that April. He became accounting manager in August 1961, a Director in November 1964, a Managing Director in July 1968, a Senior Managing Director in December 1971 and Executive Vice President in June 1973. When he joined the board he was accounting manager, having never run a plant or a business division. His path to Executive Vice President without passing through cable production mirrors that of Kiyoshi Uematsu, who went from accounting manager to Executive Vice President.
Selection
In November 1974 he succeeded Jiro Suzuki as Representative Director and President. Takehisa Shimamura had also become Executive Vice President in June 1973, the same month as Funabashi; an outsider, he had joined as an adviser in 1965 after serving as director-general of the Science and Technology Agency's Atomic Energy Bureau. In his first year, FY ended March 1975, ordinary profit plunged to ¥0.06 billion from ¥7.5 billion the year before. Amid falling profits after the first oil crisis, the man who had watched the money from accounting manager to Senior Managing Director was made President.
Initiatives
In April 1981 the company absorbed Furukawa Kinzoku Kogyo, bringing metal processing, which had been in a separate company, back into the parent. Non-consolidated net sales grew from ¥219.6 billion in his first year, FY ended March 1975, to ¥398.8 billion in his final year, FY ended March 1983. Ordinary profit recovered from ¥0.06 billion in his first year to ¥11.9 billion in FY ended March 1979, and was ¥6.1 billion in FY ended March 1983. After eight and a half years in office, he stepped back to Chairman in June 1983, handing the presidency to Etsuji Kusakabe.
Career
Career
Furukawa Electric
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Nov 1964 | Director |
| Jul 1968 | Managing Director |
| Dec 1971 | Senior Managing Director |
| Jun 1973 | Executive Vice President |
| Nov 1974 | President |
| Jun 1983 | Chairman |
| Jun 1983 | Stepped down as President |
| Jun 1989 | Director, Senior Advisor |