Masashi Isano
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He graduated from the economics faculty of Kyoto Imperial University in 1926 and joined Kawasaki Dockyard in April 1927. He was from Yosa District, Kyoto Prefecture. In March 1954 he went out to Kawasaki Aircraft Industries as Executive Vice President to manage that company, and returned to the parent in December 1959 as Senior Managing Director. He had seen from the inside both the parent, by then focused solely on shipbuilding, and the separated aircraft company.
Selection
When shipping markets deteriorated after the Suez Canal reopened in April 1957 and new shipbuilding orders dried up, Kawasaki Heavy Industries turned to diversifying into land-based businesses and expanding scale. In November 1961 it adopted a four-division structure of shipbuilding, machinery, precision machinery and steel structures, and the following December Isano, then Senior Managing Director, succeeded Toshio Tezuka as the sixth president. He had led an affiliated company as Executive Vice President of Kawasaki Aircraft Industries, and took office two years after returning to the parent.
Initiatives
Around the time he took office, the company attempted mergers with Harima Shipbuilding, Nagoya Zosen and Uraga Dock, all three of which failed in succession. It pursued scale with its own facilities instead, deciding at the end of 1964 to expand to Bannosu in Kagawa Prefecture and opening the Sakaide Works in January 1967 with a 350,000-ton building dock and a 500,000-ton repair dock. Concluding on a 1966 trip to Europe that companies needed to become much larger, Isano settled a merger in principle in January 1968 in an hour's talk with Kiyoshi Yotsumoto of Kawasaki Aircraft Industries and Masao Ueda of Kawasaki Sharyo, and absorbed the two companies in April 1969.
Career
Career
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1961 | President |
| 1969 | Stepped down as President |
References 3
References (Japanese primary sources)
- 日本企業要覧 1963年版
- 日本企業要覧 1970年版
- 私の履歴書 経済人12「砂野仁」（日本経済新聞社, 1980年）