Taiyu Kobayashi
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He became President of Fujitsu in March 1976. In August that year the company was described as an organization where some employees even cut short their honeymoons to return to work; its staff were called "a bunch of fanatics" yet praised as a group that could go toe to toe with the global giant IBM. His position was not underpinned by shareholdings. As of March 1980 the top shareholders were corporations such as Fuji Electric Manufacturing with 21.38%, Asahi Mutual Life Insurance with 9.36% and Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank with 9.00%, and no individual appeared in the top ten.
Selection
In March 1976 he succeeded Hiroshi Seimiya as President. In the fiscal year ended March 1975, the year before he took office, net sales were ¥250.3 billion and ordinary income ¥10.9 billion, ordinary income having fallen for four straight years from ¥25.0 billion in the FY ended March 1971. This came right after the May 1974 investment in Amdahl of the US had given the company a development base and sales network for IBM-compatible mainframes, leaving the job of building a sales force that could sell those compatible machines.
Initiatives
In May 1980 it was reported that Fujitsu's domestic sales had overtaken IBM Japan. The event drew attention as a sign that a pillar of industrial policy, nurturing an internationally competitive computer industry, had entered its final stage. He made support, not price, the axis of selling. Arguing that after-sales service was essential for customers to master the machines and get results, he demanded a setup that could dispatch teams of systems engineers at once whenever customers asked. Net sales, ¥250.3 billion in the year before he took office, grew 2.3 times to ¥581.678 billion in the FY ended March 1981.
Career
Career
Fujitsu
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Apr 1935 | Joined Fuji Electric Manufacturing |
| Jul 1935 | Transferred to Fuji Tsushinki Manufacturing |
| 1959 | General Manager, Electronics Department |
| 1962 | 電子工業部電算機本部次長 (translation pending) |
| 1964 | Director |
| 1969 | Managing Officer |
| May 1972 | Senior Managing Officer |
| May 1975 | Executive Vice President |
| Mar 1976 | President |
| Jun 1981 | Chairman |
| Jun 1981 | Stepped down as President |
| 1987 | Senior Advisor |