Photo/Illutration Panasonic Corp. President Kazuhiro Tsuga, left, and his successor, Yuki Kusumi, a managing executive officer, attend a Nov. 13 news conference. (Asahi Shimbun file photo))

OSAKA--Panasonic Corp. announced a leadership shakeup Nov. 13 to help turn around its fortunes battered by foreign competition by appointing a veteran executive to run the company.

It named Yuki Kusumi, 55, a managing executive officer, to take over as president from Kazuhiro Tsuga, 64, effective next June. Tsuga will become chairman but give up his position as representative director.

The shuffle comes at a time when the company is seeking new avenues of profit as it moves away from the home appliance sector that brought it worldwide renown. Panasonic cited greater competition from South Korean and Chinese rivals.

A formal decision on the changes will be made at a board of directors meeting following the shareholders’ meeting set for June 24, 2021.

At the news conference announcing the personnel changes, Tsuga stated: “Coming up with a completely different business model is the challenge facing this company now. I was confident in making a decision that will help push forward reform.”

Kusumi has headed Panasonic’s battery sector for the past two years and was involved in partnerships in electric vehicles with Tesla Inc. of the United States and Toyota Motor Corp. The battery sector is viewed by the company as a key emerging market.

Tsuga took over as president in 2012 and was tasked with moving the company away from its mainstay home appliance sector. While he did cut loose the money-losing plasma TV sector and sold off other unprofitable divisions, the moves did not lead to fostering new growth sectors.

Tsuga also focused more on the Chinese market as well as the rapidly expanding electric vehicle sector.

But as a result, the Panasonic brand lost its luster overseas and was overtaken in home appliances by such South Korean companies as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc.

But with no new obvious new money-maker in sight, even Tsuga at one time admitted that he was uncertain about what kind of company Panasonic wanted to become.

“I wanted to more simply encourage growth that would also bring in profits,” he said at the news conference. “But that turned out to be much more difficult than I expected. I have become convinced that there is a need to once again ensure that the company is on solid ground.”

Kusumi is from the same research and development background as Tsuga and the two worked together to improve profits in the TV sector as well as develop the partnership with Tesla.

Tsuga said of Kusumi, “He has led his colleagues by working closely with those on the front lines to identify the essential issues in a short period of time.”

Regarding the partnership with Tesla, Kusumi said there were many areas where improvements could be made so that the automobile parts division turns into a growth sector.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has impacted Panasonic as well because the entertainment systems for airlines in which it held a major market share were severely affected by the global downturn in air travel.

Panasonic has also not been able to go ahead with selling off or finding new partners in such sectors as low-priced TVs and solar cells.

Panasonic also announced it would move to a holding company setup from April 1, 2022, to allow for quicker decisions within each business section set up under the parent umbrella.

Kusumi said he hoped the new arrangement would allow each individual business section to make the appropriate decisions to improve competitiveness.

(This article was written by Sho Ito and Kuniaki Nishio.)

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