Takashi Ishihara
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Nissan Motor in 1937 and served as General Manager of Planning in 1948 and General Manager of Accounting in 1949. He became a Director in 1954, Managing Director in 1963, Senior Managing Director in January 1969 and Executive Vice President in 1973. As Senior Managing Director in 1971 he contributed an article on Nissan's present and future to the Securities Analysts Journal, noting that exports to the U.S. from January to July that year had reached 153,672 passenger cars and 45,517 trucks. From planning and accounting to exports, he had always viewed the company through numbers.
Selection
In June 1977 he succeeded Tadahiro Iwagoshi as President. In the fiscal year ended March 1977, the year before, net sales were ¥2,024.6 billion and ordinary income ¥151.8 billion, and results were growing. Soon after taking office he raised the banner of "recapturing a 30% domestic share," touring the country to sit down face to face with dealer executives. He made the weakness in domestic sales of a company that earned through exports the central theme of the transition.
Initiatives
When Japanese car exports surged after the second oil crisis, they provoked trade friction, and the advanced Western countries turned to protectionism en masse. With growth through exports of finished vehicles narrowing, Nissan shifted to local production, taking a stake in Spain's Motor Iberica in January 1980 and establishing Nissan Motor Manufacturing Corporation U.S.A. that July. In February 1984 it established Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK). The Federation of Nissan Motor Workers' Unions, wary of hollowing out at home, refused to accept this; because the announcement was abrupt, rifts also opened among the officers, and the labor-management confrontation peaked over the UK issue.
Career
Career
Nissan Motor
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1937 | Joined |
| 1948 | General Manager, Planning Department |
| 1949 | General Manager, Accounting Department |
| 1954 | Director |
| 1963 | Managing Director |
| Jan 1969 | Senior Managing Director |
| 1973 | Executive Vice President |
| Jun 1977 | President |
| Jun 1985 | Stepped down as President |
| Jun 1985 | Stepped down as President |