Masashi Kojima
Profile
Performance in office
Tenure
Tenure
Background
He joined Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation and, after serving as head of the Personnel Bureau and as a general affairs director, became Managing Director at privatization in 1985 and Executive Vice President in 1986. In 1990 he was promoted from Representative Director and Executive Vice President to President. Whereas Hisashi Shinto, who became Representative Director and President of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in April 1985, was an outsider who had been President of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries in 1972, Kojima was a career employee who had risen inside the public corporation.
Selection
In 1990 he became Representative Director and President of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. In 1988 Chairman Hisashi Shinto, who had driven privatization, had been arrested in the Recruit scandal. Profit margins were falling amid price competition in long-distance rates, and talk of breaking up the company had surfaced, unsettling the stock market. The share price kept falling and dropped below ¥1 million in 1991. The change appears to have entrusted a company shaken by the scandal and the breakup debate to an Executive Vice President who had handled personnel and general affairs in the public corporation era.
Initiatives
In July 1992 the company transferred its car phone, mobile phone, maritime phone and paging businesses to NTT Mobile Communications Network. That company adopted the nickname DoCoMo, derived from the Japanese for "from anywhere" and "to anywhere," and launched a sales offensive in the mobile phone market. In 1993 NTT began employment adjustments, including soliciting voluntary retirement, when it had 230,000 employees. With the liberalization of handset sales in April 1994, subscribers surged and handsets were back-ordered for months. In April 1995 NTT Data Communications Systems listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Career
Career
NTT
| Date | Position |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Representative Director, President |
| 1996 | Stepped down as President |