May 4, 2025, 12:41 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Many people may recognize the manufacturer Panasonic in their living rooms or in their trusted electronics stores. The company boasts a long history of success.
In Germany, Panasonic is primarily known as a brand for TV sets. But that’s not even half the truth, as Panasonic is both a brand and a company name. The Panasonic Holdings Corporation is one of the five largest electronics manufacturers and is listed among the 250 most valuable companies worldwide, thanks in part to its innovative strength. Remarkably, the global corporation still follows the social principles of its founder, Konosuke Matsushita.
More than 100 Years of Panasonic
Today, Panasonic can look back on more than 100 years of company history, although it didn’t start under that name. The company was founded by Konosuke Matsushita on March 7, 1918, in Osaka, Japan, initially as Matsushita Electric Appliance Factory. At the time, the 23-year-old Matsushita had meticulously improved the screw base for light bulbs and developed a dual light bulb socket, allowing two different devices to be connected to a single outlet simultaneously.
With these two products and just three employees, the history of today’s global corporation, Panasonic Holdings Corporation, began. By 1922, the Matsushita Electric Appliance Factory employed 50 people and produced more than 10 different products. Just a year later, in 1923, the company began an almost unparalleled series of innovations that would make Panasonic one of the leading innovators in the electronics industry.
Innovations Galore, Including with Televisions
There’s not enough space here to list all the inventions and optimizations Matsushita seemed to bring to market in rapid succession. However, even the major milestones of his work are numerous. In 1923, he introduced a new battery-powered bicycle lamp to the public, which became a huge success due to its unprecedented operating time and a distribution network built specifically for the Japanese market. The first household appliance, an electric iron, followed In 1927.
In the 1930s, the first subsidiaries were founded. By 1935, the corporate conglomerate was known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., while Matsushita Electric Trading Co. handled the export business. The company now had 3,500 employees and a portfolio of more than 400 products. In 1937, the first hairdryer from Matsushita became a worldwide success. In 1939, the company attempted television broadcasts for the first time, and the tests were successful.
However, it would take until 1952 for the first Panasonic television to be released due to the disruptions of World War II. These high-quality TV sets then wrote the next success story, lasting into the 2010s. However, competition from Chinese manufacturers like TCL and Hisense has become so intense that Panasonic is reportedly considering exiting the TV business.
From Matsushita to Panasonic
But back to the 1950s. New brand names were introduced, such as National in 1952 for bicycles and household appliances, and Panasonic in 1955 for speaker and lamp models. “Pana-Sonic” is a Matsushita coinage from the Greek word Pan (all, encompassing) and the word Sonic, which stands for good sound. In 1958, the first room air conditioner was released. In 1965, the next sub-brand was launched: Technics, which would soon become one of the most influential players in the HiFi industry. The company introduced a direct drive (instead of a belt drive) for turntables in 1970, and in 1971, it introduced a programmable washing machine.
1972 marked the heyday of Technics: The legendary SL 1200 turntable sparked the DJ culture and remained the benchmark for DJ turntables for about half a century. In 1977, the microwave with grill function was introduced, and the VHS video standard was developed by Matsushita subsidiary JVC. In 1982, the first Panasonic video cameras for home use and a portable recorder hit the market. The LUMIX G, the world’s first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera, was launched, in 2008, significantly changing photography.
And then, in 2008, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. officially became Panasonic Holdings Corporation. The company explained that Panasonic was primarily known abroad under that name, so unifying all products under the globally recognized Panasonic brand name made perfect sense.
Matsushita Set Business Standards
Matsushita, who retired in 1973 and passed away on April 27, 1989, at the age of 94, did not witness these changes. Nevertheless, the values he advocated and lived by continue to guide Panasonic’s actions today. One of his economic understandings led Matsushita to be the first entrepreneur to fully divide a corporation into independent business units. Today, this so-called divisionalization is standard.
As mentioned at the beginning, Panasonic is much more than just a business success story. The company is a shining example that entrepreneurship and ethics do not have to be mutually exclusive. In 1929, Matsushita defined his motto as “Harmony between company profit and social justice.” Four years later, in 1933, he outlined his seven guiding principles: service to the public, fairness and honesty, teamwork for common goals, relentless pursuit of improvement, courtesy and humility, harmony with the laws of nature, and gratitude for blessings.
Instead of Layoffs, Production Reduction with Full Wage Compensation
In practice, this meant that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Matsushita did not resort to the reflexive, supposed panacea of layoffs. Instead, he reduced production while maintaining full wage compensation. Only vacation days were cut for employees. After World War II, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. was the first Japanese company to introduce a five-day workweek with unchanged wages. It’s no wonder Matsushita is still revered in Japan as the “God of Management.”
Today, the publicly traded company operates in various industrial sectors. Whether in automotive and mobility, building and infrastructure, home and consumer, or production and logistics, Panasonic is successfully involved everywhere, thanks to its approximately 235,000 employees worldwide. Matsushita’s fundamental, ethics-driven approach has been preserved even in the most globalized of worlds.
Panasonic Remains True to Itself
“Panasonic was aware of its social responsibility 100 years ago and still places the highest value on sustainability and recycling,” said Laurent Abadie, the then-CEO and chairman of Panasonic Europe, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary in 2018.
“The world has evolved rapidly since the company’s founding. Throughout its 100-year history, Panasonic has always adhered to the principle of staying true to itself and its values.” Then and now, the innovation leader strives to improve people’s lives, as Abadie emphasized.
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Net Zero CO₂ Emissions by 2050
This direction is being pursued by Josep Betorz, the current CEO of Panasonic Europe B.V., appointed in February 2025, in the spirit of Matsushita. “My priority is to manage the implementation of the ‘Panasonic Green Impact’ business strategy and support our business units in further expanding their strengths in AI in Europe.” Panasonic consistently supports its customers in achieving their goals and contributes with technologies for decarbonization and other forward-looking solutions for the lives of tomorrow, according to Betorz.
These goals can certainly be described as ambitious. The global production sites are to become CO₂-neutral by 2030, and by 2050, the aim is to achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions, which will also apply to the supply chain. As mentioned, very ambitious. If successful, Matsushita, who published 44 books in retirement, including the bestseller “Developing a Path to Peace and Happiness through Prosperity,” would likely be very pleased.