Forbes Indonesia|July 2016

Four years ago Kazuhiro Tsuga embarked on one of Japan Inc.’s most radical overhauls. But he’s not done yet turning around the consumer-electronics giant.

Article Reader

WHEN YOU THINK OF PANASONIC, you probably think of televisions. After all, the TV set made Panasonic a household name from Singapore to San Francisco and built the Japanese electronics company into one of the industry’s global players. But for Panasonic President kazuhiro Tsuga, that was exactly the problem.

By the time he took the helm in 2012, Panasonic had seen its market presence wither, outmaneuvered by South korean rivals Samsung and LG. Worse yet, the company had bet on the wrong horse. It invested heavily in plasma flat-panel technology, which uses electrically charged gases to create images on a screen, but consumers preferred its lighter, durable rival, liquid crystal display TVs.

Panasonic’s executives refused to concede defeat. engineers in the TV business pointed out that plasma produced a higher-quality picture than LCD and remained stubborn champions of the technology. “Our TV guys really hated big-screen LCD TVs,” says Tsuga. Panasonic committed the cardinal sin of business: ignoring the verdict of the marketplace.

Tsuga knew it was time to repent—plasma had to go. He finally cracked the fierce internal resistance by telling the truth: Previous top executives had hid the severity of the TV operation’s problems from much of the staff, but he opened the books. “Only a few members of the management team knew how deep the loss was [at the TV operation],” he explains. “What I did was tell them, ‘This is the loss, a huge loss.’ I showed them the losses in detail at every stage. Once it’s visible to them, people don’t want to continue to make losses.”

This story is from the July 2016 edition of Forbes Indonesia.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the July 2016 edition of Forbes Indonesia.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM FORBES INDONESIAView All
BACK ON TRACK
Forbes Indonesia

BACK ON TRACK

Collective wealth gets a 21% boost to a record $162 billion amid an economic uptick.

time-read
10+ mins  |
December 2021
Championing Locals
Forbes Indonesia

Championing Locals

The wave of social commerce is enabling inclusive digital economies beyond urban areas.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
Boys in the Bubble
Forbes Indonesia

Boys in the Bubble

Startups are supposed to specialize, but OPENSEA’s founders thrived by building a wide-open market for creating and trading all manner of NFTs, whether art, music or gaming. Now that they’re centimillionaires and poised to become billionaires, they have other worries: competitors, fraudsters and the next crypto crash.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
Enduring Relations
Forbes Indonesia

Enduring Relations

The implementation of IA-CEPA amid the pandemic signifies the Indonesia-Australia’s commitment to recover and counter future challenges together.

time-read
6 mins  |
December 2021
Sweet Success
Forbes Indonesia

Sweet Success

Steven Erwin envisions Unifam to become a major global player in the confectionery and F&B industry.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2021
Marathon Man
Forbes Indonesia

Marathon Man

Across America, scores of municipal pension funds remain scandalously underfunded. But not the pension fund of Tampa’s police and firemen, thanks in large part to JAY BOWEN, whose no-frills approach to stock picking has protected and served them for more than 45 years.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2021
Gold Rallies on Inflation Fears
Forbes Indonesia

Gold Rallies on Inflation Fears

During September the price of gold rallied to $1,868 per ounce following the release of figures on US inflation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which indicated that, as of September, CPI inflation had rocketed to 6.2%, above the 5.8% which economists had been predicting.

time-read
2 mins  |
December 2021
Set Off to A New Start
Forbes Indonesia

Set Off to A New Start

Bank Aladin has two main ingredients for success: establish trust and offer better customer experiences.

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2021
The Daily Intake
Forbes Indonesia

The Daily Intake

YOUVIT plans to invest further into marketing and grow into one of the leading vitamin brands in Indonesia.

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2021
THE CROESUS OF CRYPTO
Forbes Indonesia

THE CROESUS OF CRYPTO

FTX COFOUNDER SAM BANKMAN-FRIED BUILT A $22.5 BILLION FORTUNE BEFORE HIS 30TH BIRTHDAY BY PROFITING OFF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY FRENZY—BUT HE’S NOT A TRUE BELIEVER. HE JUST WANTS HIS WEALTH TO SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO GIVE IT ALL AWAY.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 2021