Kazuo Inamori
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He was born on January 30, 1932 in Kagoshima Prefecture, the second son of a family in the printing business. After graduating from Kagoshima University's Faculty of Engineering in 1955, he joined Shofu Industries, an insulator maker in Kyoto, where he worked on ceramics development, far from his major of organic chemistry. In 1958 he clashed with his superior and left with colleagues, and in 1959, with ¥3 million invested by Kyoto businessmen taken with his technology and character and a ¥10 million personal guarantee, he established Kyoto Ceramic. An investor became President, and Inamori started out as Director and head of Engineering.
Selection
He became Senior Managing Director in 1964 and President in May 1966 at age 34. His predecessor, Masaji Aoyama, was a founding member who had left Shofu Industries with Inamori, and later stepped back to Corporate Auditor. In the fiscal year ended March 1966, the year before, the company was small, with non-consolidated net sales of ¥298 million and net income of ¥19 million. The previous year, on his third trip to the United States, he had won an order from Texas Instruments, earning top marks in a competition for ceramic parts used in NASA's space program. The change put the engineering head who had brought in the orders himself straight into management.
Initiatives
After taking office he pushed into the U.S. market, setting up the sales company Kyocera International, Inc. in July 1969, and listed on the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange in October 1971. In October 1982 the company absorbed Cybernet Industries and three other companies and changed its name to Kyocera, and in 1983 merged with Yashica. In June 1984 it entered telecommunications, unrelated to its core business, by investing in the founding of DDI. Non-consolidated net sales grew from ¥298 million in the year before he took office to ¥246.6 billion in the fiscal year ended March 1986, his final year.
Career
Career
Kyoto Ceramic
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| May 1966 | President |
References 3
References (Japanese primary sources)
- 日経ビジネス 1984年3月19日号「シリーズ創業経営者 稲盛和夫・京セラ社長 奇跡を生んだ“心の錬金術師”」（日経マグロウヒル社）
- 日経ビジネス 1975年12月8日号「未来進行形経営 しろうとこそ技術開発の担い手 稲盛和夫氏（京都セラミツク社長）が語る成長の秘密」（日経マグロウヒル社）
- 日経ビジネス 1973年7月9日号「稲盛和夫・京都セラミック社長 技術開発 ご用聞きに不可能はない」（日経マグロウヒル社）