Panasonic
Encyclopedia
Panasonic is an international
brand name for Japan
ese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Under this brand the company sells plasma
and LCD display panels, DVD
recorders and players, Blu-ray Disc
players, camcorder
s, telephone
s, vacuum cleaner
s, microwave oven
s, shaver
s, projectors, digital camera
s, batteries, laptop computers (under the sub-brand Toughbook
), portable CD, analog tape decks and home stereo equipment, fax machines, scanners, printers, electronic white-boards, electronic components and semiconductor
s, all of which are marketed under their slogan "Ideas for Life."
On January 10, 2008, Matsushita announced that it intends to change the company name to Panasonic Corporation, effective October 1, 2008. The proposal to change the company's name was approved at the firm's annual shareholder's meeting on June 26. As of October 1, 2008, the company changed its name to Panasonic Corporation. Non-audio/visual products (mostly home appliance
s) used to be branded with "National
" in Japan are now marketed under the Panasonic brand.
Based on 2004 annual sales of electronics, Matsushita is the largest Japanese electronics maker ahead of Hitachi Ltd. Within the category of white goods, Matsushita is the world’s largest manufacturer. In the past, due to its imitation tactics Matsushita has been ridiculed in Japan as "Maneshita" ("mane" means imitation), but in fact Matsushita does vast amounts of its own product planning, research and development.
Including its related companies, Matsushita has developed a wide variety of enterprises, centering on home electronics, industrial equipment, and telecommunications equipment. Though not widely advertised before, in recent years its notebook computer line (Toughbook
) has gained popularity and commercials for it are being aired on television. Other brand names associated with Panasonic include its Viera televisions and Lumix
digital cameras.
The company's management style and corporate culture have been often compared to competitor Sony
. When Sony is doing well, the number of books that praise Sony management increases, when conditions reverse, then more books that praise Panasonic management style are displayed in bookstores. Regardless of favorable sales and conditions, Sony and Panasonic are often viewed as rivals. This view probably arose from the videotape format war
s between VHS
(supported by Panasonic) and Betamax
(supported by Sony). The largest direct competition between Sony and Panasonic is currently in the segment of audio products; Panasonic is also considered as Sony's rival in sales of flat panel TVs, digital cameras and DVD recorders—areas where Panasonic is focusing its production, marketing and sales efforts. In contrast, Sony has recently diversified into the cinema
, video game, and financial areas, whereas Panasonic's major appliance
s have no competition from Sony.
Matsushita's current corporate strategy is to seek cooperation and joint ventures in the development of certain technologies (such as LCDs), while continuing to compete against other companies such as Toshiba
, Hitachi and Minebea
to become the benchmark for Japanese electronics.
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
brand name for Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Under this brand the company sells plasma
Plasma display
A plasma display panel is a type of flat panel display common to large TV displays or larger. They are called "plasma" displays because the technology utilizes small cells containing electrically charged ionized gases, or what are in essence chambers more commonly known as fluorescent...
and LCD display panels, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
recorders and players, Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
players, camcorder
Camcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
s, telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
s, vacuum cleaner
Vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...
s, microwave oven
Microwave oven
A microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating, using microwave radiation to heat polarized molecules within the food...
s, shaver
Razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
s, projectors, digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
s, batteries, laptop computers (under the sub-brand Toughbook
Toughbook
Toughbook is a trademarked brand name owned by Panasonic Corporation and refers to its line of rugged computers. The Toughbook is designed to withstand vibration, drops, spills, extreme temperature, and other rough handling....
), portable CD, analog tape decks and home stereo equipment, fax machines, scanners, printers, electronic white-boards, electronic components and semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
s, all of which are marketed under their slogan "Ideas for Life."
On January 10, 2008, Matsushita announced that it intends to change the company name to Panasonic Corporation, effective October 1, 2008. The proposal to change the company's name was approved at the firm's annual shareholder's meeting on June 26. As of October 1, 2008, the company changed its name to Panasonic Corporation. Non-audio/visual products (mostly home appliance
Home appliance
Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...
s) used to be branded with "National
National (brand)
National was a brand used by Panasonic Corporation to sell home appliances, personal appliances, and industrial appliances and was the first name used by Konosuke Matsushita's electric firm to sell his battery-powered bicycle lamps, hoping that they would be a product used by all of Japan, hence...
" in Japan are now marketed under the Panasonic brand.
Introduction
The Panasonic brand was created by Matsushita in 1955 for the Americas region because the National brand was already registered by others. The Panasonic brand was created from the elements "pan" meaning "all" combined with "sonic" meaning "sound", because it was first used for audio equipment.Based on 2004 annual sales of electronics, Matsushita is the largest Japanese electronics maker ahead of Hitachi Ltd. Within the category of white goods, Matsushita is the world’s largest manufacturer. In the past, due to its imitation tactics Matsushita has been ridiculed in Japan as "Maneshita" ("mane" means imitation), but in fact Matsushita does vast amounts of its own product planning, research and development.
Including its related companies, Matsushita has developed a wide variety of enterprises, centering on home electronics, industrial equipment, and telecommunications equipment. Though not widely advertised before, in recent years its notebook computer line (Toughbook
Toughbook
Toughbook is a trademarked brand name owned by Panasonic Corporation and refers to its line of rugged computers. The Toughbook is designed to withstand vibration, drops, spills, extreme temperature, and other rough handling....
) has gained popularity and commercials for it are being aired on television. Other brand names associated with Panasonic include its Viera televisions and Lumix
Lumix
Lumix is Panasonic's brand of digital cameras, ranging from pocket point-and-shoot models to digital SLRs.Compact digital camera DMC-LC5 and DMC-F7 were the first products of the Lumix series released in 2001. They are equipped with Leica lenses....
digital cameras.
The company's management style and corporate culture have been often compared to competitor Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
. When Sony is doing well, the number of books that praise Sony management increases, when conditions reverse, then more books that praise Panasonic management style are displayed in bookstores. Regardless of favorable sales and conditions, Sony and Panasonic are often viewed as rivals. This view probably arose from the videotape format war
Videotape format war
The videotape format war was a period of intense competition or "format war" of incompatible models of consumer-level analog video videocassette and video cassette recorders in the late 1970s and the 1980s.- Overview :...
s between VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
(supported by Panasonic) and Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
(supported by Sony). The largest direct competition between Sony and Panasonic is currently in the segment of audio products; Panasonic is also considered as Sony's rival in sales of flat panel TVs, digital cameras and DVD recorders—areas where Panasonic is focusing its production, marketing and sales efforts. In contrast, Sony has recently diversified into the cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, video game, and financial areas, whereas Panasonic's major appliance
Major appliance
A major appliance, or domestic appliance, is usually defined as a large machine which accomplishes some routine housekeeping task, which includes purposes such as cooking, or food preservation, whether in a household, institutional, commercial or industrial setting...
s have no competition from Sony.
Matsushita's current corporate strategy is to seek cooperation and joint ventures in the development of certain technologies (such as LCDs), while continuing to compete against other companies such as Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, Hitachi and Minebea
Minebea
or NMB is a Japanese multinational corporation and a major producer of machinery components and electronics devices. In 2006, it had consolidated net sales of over 300 billion yen. Asia accounts for 80% of Minebea's production and 50% of its sales...
to become the benchmark for Japanese electronics.