Jul 03, 2026
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- Konosuke Matsushita
Here, we share episodes about Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Panasonic Group, from our company’s historical records. In this episode, we explore Konosuke’s lifelong philosophy of “participative management through collective wisdom.”
At the Annual Management Policy Meeting in January 1956, Konosuke (61) announces the Matsushita Electric Five-Year Plan
Leveraging collective wisdom in management
Management is not solely the preserve of professional managers. Each individual employee can create value through originality and ingenuity. This is how the meaning and fulfillment of work are born. With this belief, Konosuke often reminded his employees of the importance of adopting a managerial mindset and devoting themselves to employee entrepreneurship.
But regardless of how talented one may be, there are limits to the wisdom of a single individual. Relying on one person’s judgment may result in mistakes or failures. This is why Konosuke emphasized the importance of collective wisdom, in which the insights of employee entrepreneurship are brought together to make management decisions.
The phrase that captures this idea succinctly is participative management through collective wisdom, and this philosophy remains one of the Basic Business Philosophy of the Panasonic Group.
(Left) Konosuke (64) poses for a photo during an employee round table meeting. He took every opportunity to engage in dialogue with employees, whom he encouraged to practice participative management through collective wisdom.
(Right) In 1954, the company established an employee suggestion system. A framework was established to incorporate these suggestions into management, and by 1970, more than 650,000 suggestions were being submitted annually.
In later years, Konosuke would state, “As a manager, I have always made efforts to conduct all-hands management, collecting wisdom from many people around me. The more the knowledge of each employee is reflected in managerial decisions, the more the company will prosper.”
The strength that employees accumulate by fully committing to employee entrepreneurship, and the wisdom that results when those strengths are leveraged collectively, becomes the driving force supporting enterprise growth. Konosuke held this view throughout his life.
The Five-Year Plan was achieved through participative management
In the latter half of the 1950s, against the backdrop of a boom in home electrification, Matsushita Electric rolled out one new appliance after another, answering “people’s longing to live lives of greater abundance.”
The true worth of participative management through collective wisdom was tested at the Annual Management Policy Meeting in January 1956, where 61 year old Konosuke announced the Matsushita Electric* Five-Year plan.
During the postwar recovery, as Japan’s economy was on the way toward an era of rapid growth, Konosuke set an ambitious goal: to raise sales to 80 billion yen, roughly four times the level at the time, within five years. Employees could hardly conceal their astonishment at the sheer scale of this target.
But Konosuke was adamant.
“This plan is the numerical embodiment of people’s longing to live lives of greater abundance. If we commit ourselves fully to participative management, we will surely succeed.”
In the Annual Management Policy Meeting the following year, he further declared, “Matsushita Electric is managed through our collective wisdom. If the wisdom of each individual is gathered and put to proper use, that power will undoubtedly result in great contributions to society.”
His employees were inspired, and everyone came together as a unified team to meet the challenge of the plan. In addition to releasing improved black-and-white televisions, washing machines, and refrigerators (products born in the early 1950s and later known as the “three luxury appliances” in Japan), the company launched new products one after another, including rice cookers and stereo systems. With strengthened sales networks and extensive promotional activities, the Five-Year Plan target was achieved a year ahead of schedule. In its final year, sales reached 105.4 billion yen, far surpassing the original goal.
Thus, the Five-Year Plan demonstrated that participative management through collective wisdom is the driving force that supports a more abundant life for people, as well as growth for the company.
*Today’s Panasonic Holdings.
In the first half of the 1950s, the company released its first models of the “three luxury appliances,” symbols of home electrification. These included a washing machine (MW-101, center) in 1951, a television (17K-531, left) in 1952, and a refrigerator (NR-351, right) in 1953. Thanks to technological innovation and mass production, retail pricing for these groundbreaking products was within reach of ordinary households.
With an untrapped mind, anything is possible
The success of the Five-Year Plan convinced Konosuke that “the best management is management based on collective wisdom.” In January 1961, at age 66, he entrusted this philosophy to the next generation, stepping down as president and assuming the role of chairman.
In January 1961, at the Annual Management Policy Meeting, 66 year old Konosuke announced that he would step down as president and assume the role of chairman. Here, accompanied by applause from his employees, he prepares to leave the venue with his wife, Mumeno.
In later years, Konosuke maintained that an untrapped mind was an essential prerequisite for gathering collective wisdom.
On his 80th birthday (Nov. 27, 1974), Konosuke took up his brush. He cherished opportunities to inscribe favorite mottos. The inscription here reads “Untrapped Mind (素直な心).”
The founder chose to describe the untrapped mind with the Japanese word “sunao.” This word does not imply that one simply follows the views of others. To be “sunao” means having the ability to see things as they are, without confusion arising from fixed opinions and ideas.
Konosuke said, “Only with an untrapped mind can wisdom be refined and shared. When people face one another without self interest, concerns about gain and loss, or emotions, true collective wisdom is born.”
And looking back, after decades at the pinnacle of management, he said, “By no means have I come this far through my own abilities. Everything I have accomplished has been thanks to the power of collective wisdom.”
Konosuke attributed his own achievements to the power of collective wisdom, and throughout his life, his conviction never wavered.
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