Panasonic Holdings Group CEO Yuki Kusumi speaks during an online briefing for investors on June 8.
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Panasonic Holdings, having drawn a line under a painful restructuring that cut some 12,000 jobs, is now moving to go on the offensive. Leading the charge is a name from the company's past: founder Konosuke Matsushita.
At the heart of the group's new growth strategy is a moment in 1932, when Matsushita said he discovered the company's true calling. With 2032 marking the 100th anniversary of that declaration, Panasonic has identified two present-day social challenges it aims to address: improving energy efficiency and easing labor shortages on the front lines of industry.
The company has positioned two business pillars—supporting AI infrastructure and supporting social operations—as its new growth engines.
Returning to the Founder's Principles
Asked at a joint press briefing what kind of company Panasonic aims to become, President and CEO Yuki Kusumi did not hesitate: "We are a company that manages itself in line with the founder's core management principles."
While Matsushita was alive, Kusumi said, there was "a much stronger belief that we had to anticipate what customers were truly struggling with, ahead of time."
But invoking the founder's philosophy does not ease the pressure on Kusumi's own numbers.
Panasonic aims to raise adjusted operating profit, a measure of core earnings, to at least ¥750 billion ($5.1 billion) by fiscal 2028, up from ¥447.4 billion ($3 billion) in fiscal 2025.
That would be a major achievement. Panasonic has not surpassed its fiscal 1984 operating profit record of roughly ¥570 billion in more than 40 years. The company expects adjusted operating profit of ¥600 billion for fiscal 2026, which would suggest it is finally emerging from a long period of stagnation.
Collective Wisdom
The restructuring began in February last year, when Panasonic moved to overhaul businesses it judged to have limited growth potential. It announced plans to cut roughly 10,000 jobs in Japan and overseas, while considering withdrawals and sales of some operations.
The company eventually reduced its workforce by roughly 12,000, 2,000 more than initially planned. It also sold businesses and exited some operations, including housing equipment and overseas television sales networks.
Kusumi has since defended the logic behind the cuts. "It's precisely because the workforce is at an appropriate size that people are forced to be resourceful, to change how they work, to use their heads," he said.
The comment was a follow-up to his controversial remark last year that "it's better to be a little short-staffed" when announcing the workforce reduction.
Kusumi links the approach directly to Matsushita's philosophy of "management by all," which emphasizes drawing on the collective wisdom of employees.
Two Pillars of Growth
In May, when unveiling Panasonic's new two-pillar strategy, Kusumi pledged that the company would continue addressing social challenges as they evolve.
The first pillar, supporting AI infrastructure, targets the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence. As AI semiconductors become more powerful, they require more electricity and generate more heat.
Panasonic plans to address this through advanced multilayer substrate materials placed close to chips, conductive polymer capacitors that maintain performance under high temperatures, and power equipment designed to improve efficiency in data centers.
The company also plans to invest roughly ¥500 billion ($3.4 billion) in this field over the next three years. It intends to convert production lines currently used for electric vehicle batteries for automakers such as Tesla into facilities producing storage batteries for AI data centers.
By fiscal 2028, Panasonic is targeting sales of about ¥1.4 trillion ($9.5 billion) and adjusted operating profit of ¥290 billion ($2 billion) from the business.
The second pillar, supporting social operations, involves shifting away from simply selling equipment toward providing ongoing services.
Panasonic already supplies equipment used in commercial facilities, factories, airports and distribution centers. By connecting these systems and adding maintenance, predictive services and operational support, the company aims to help customers reduce energy use and address labor shortages.
The transformation will take time. Panasonic says it will require "three years of preparation," with full-scale growth expected from fiscal 2029.
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Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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