Shinichi Takasugi
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated in English law from Tokyo Imperial University in 1917, joined Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha and was assigned to its banking department. While loan chief at the Osaka branch he studied in London, and after returning served as head of the audit section at the head office, deputy manager of the Nihonbashi branch, and manager of the Yotsuya and Semba branches before becoming manager of the Nagoya branch in 1940. In 1943 he moved from that post to become a corporate auditor of Mitsubishi Electric, resolving never to interfere in electrical engineering matters. His career took him from bank administration into an electrical company.
Selection
He moved from corporate auditor to Director in May 1945 and to Managing Director that September. When the purge directive took effect in February 1946 and senior executives departed, he won a majority in a secret ballot of the board and became President on January 27, 1947. Mitsubishi Electric at the time had lost 31% of all its facilities to air raids and, with the dissolution of Mitsubishi Corporation, had lost its existing sales channels at a stroke. An administrator from the banking department rather than an engineer appears to have been chosen as president to deal with the zaibatsu dissolution and postwar laws.
Initiatives
To rebuild the sales channels lost with the dissolution of Mitsubishi Corporation, he opened sales offices in Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo and elsewhere from 1946 to 1949, re-laying a nationwide sales network. In May 1949 he announced a 10% workforce reduction and a 10% wage cut, and that same month listed the company's shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. When Westinghouse of the U.S. warned that it could not sign a technical agreement if the company lost its name, he petitioned Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida in April 1950 together with representatives of Mitsui and Sumitomo, and the technical alliance was revived in April 1951.
Career
Career
Mitsubishi Electric
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jan 1947 | President |
| 1956 | Stepped down as President |