Jujiro Matsuda
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
In September 1917 he established Matsuda Seisakusho in his home village of Niho in Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, pioneering the machinery industry in Hiroshima. In April 1918, in response to an offer of a business tie-up from Japan Steel Works, he provided land in Niho, and Matsuda Seisakusho was renamed Hiroshima Seisakusho and came under that company's umbrella. Jujiro Matsuda took part in management as Managing Director but, dissatisfied with that position, withdrew from the business in November 1919. He joined Toyo Cork Kogyo, established in January 1920, as a Director, and devoted his life to the company from the age of 45 until his death at 77.
Selection
At a board meeting on March 14, 1921, founding President Shinpachi Kaizuka offered to resign due to illness, and in a mutual vote Director Jujiro Matsuda was chosen as his successor, becoming the second President of Toyo Cork Kogyo. The four other directors all headed other companies or were deeply involved in running them, and Matsuda alone devoted himself to running Toyo Cork Kogyo. In May that year Kakuhachi Kiyotani, the largest shareholder at the founding, was cut off from the company over a dispute concerning advance payments for raw materials, and his shares passed to Matsuda and others, making Matsuda the largest shareholder.
Initiatives
Soon after taking office he pushed for and carried out the manufacture of compressed cork board, but cork was an insulating material for ice-making and refrigeration that could not escape seasonal swings in demand, and the company suffered from a glut of makers and from costly raw materials and cheap products caused by a falling exchange rate. At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on September 17, 1927, the company renamed itself Toyo Kogyo, and its machinery division started out as a subcontractor to Japan Steel Works making machine fittings and gauges for the Kure and Hiro naval arsenals. Although the atomic bomb of August 6, 1945 killed 119 people, the company resumed three-wheeled truck production in about four months, and on December 26, 1951 he handed the presidency to Tsuneji Matsuda and became Chairman.
Career
Career
Toyo Kogyo
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| Jan 1920 | Director |
| Mar 1921 | President |
| Dec 1951 | Stepped down as President |