Panasonic

Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Under this brand Matsushita sells both consumer electronics and electronic components. more...

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The company manufactures LCD, plasma and CRT television sets, DVD players, telephones, VCRs, digital cameras, laptop computers under the sub-brand Toughbook, portable CD and analog tape decks and home stereo equipment, all of which are marketed under their slogan "Ideas for Life".

Introduction

The brand Panasonic was created by Matsushita in 1955 for the US and Canadian markets 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. 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 that of 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 wars 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 whitegoods 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 LCD displays), while continuing to compete against other companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi and Minebea to become the benchmark for Japanese electronics.

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