A History of the Process Leading to the Formation of Fuji Electric

Hisashi Watanabe; Charles Yuji Horioka; Chauah Yaeowhang

doi:10.5029/jrbh1984.1.47

Hisashi Watanabe, Charles Yuji Horioka, Chauah Yaeowhang

Author information

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1985 Volume 1 Pages 47-71

DOI https://doi.org/10.5029/jrbh1984.1.47

Details

Published: March 15, 1985 Received: - Available on J-STAGE: June 28, 2010 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
Correction information
Date of correction: June 28, 2010 Reason for correction: - Correction: CITATION Details: Right : 1)The original company name was Fusi Denki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha(Fusi Electric Manufacturing Co.,Ltd.).Fusi was formed by combining the first syllables of Furukawa and Siemens and was changed to Fuji after the Second World War.Furthermore,Fuji Electric Manufacturing Co.,Ltd.was changed to FUJI ELECTRIC CO.,LTD.in1963.FUJI ELECTRIC CO.,LTD.,Fuji Denki Shashi,1923-1956[The Company History of FUJI ELECTRIC,1923-1956],1956,pp.9-10;ibid.,vol.II(1957-1973),1974,Appendix;do.,The76th Business Report(Apr.1,1963-Sep.30,1963);S A A11/Lf480Kottgen.Rundschreiben vom3.Nov.1923.Concerning S A A,refer to Note20).
2)In1907,when Furukawa started the production of insulator wires,preliminary negotiations were already being conducted concerning the joint venture with Siemens,but nothing came of these negotiations,Rokurota Momotani(ed.),Nihon ni okeru Shimensu no Jigyo to sono Keireki[The Operations of Siemens in Japan and Its History],1955,p.33.
3)In February1920,just before the outbreak of the postwar recession,speculative investments of soybeans and other soybean-related products in violation of the internal regulations of the chief of the Talien(now part of Luta City)branch of Furukawa&Co.were discovered,and as a result,a loss of58.75million yen was incurred.Due to this incident,Furukawa&Co.was forced into suspension of its business activities,and in1921,a mere four years after its establishment in1917,it was merged into FURUKAWA CO.,LTD.FURUKAWA CO.,LTD.,Sogyo100nen-shi[A History of the First Hundred Years],1976,pp.327-31.
4)The company was established with an initial paid-in capital of10million yen,and of the200,000 shares issued,140,000were held by the founders of the company,but the only institutional stock holder from the Furukawa group was Furukawa Electric.Refer to the list of stockholders in“The First Business Report”of FUJI ELECTRIC.Further,it was not until the latter part of1928that Furukawa Gomei participated in the capital of FUJI ELECTRIC.“The Business Report”(No.12-18)of FUJI ELECTRIC;Sogyo 100nen-shi,p.335.
5)The Editorial Committee of Nakagawa Suekichi Ou Commemorative Publication,Nakagawa Suekichi Ou [In Honor of Mr.Suekichi Nakagawa],1965,pp.34-5.
6)Furukawa rationalized its organization during the First World War in1917/8and thereby became more functional as a Konzern.The three companies,Furukawa Mining,Furukawa&Co.,and Furukawa Bank were wholly owned subsidiaries of the holding company Furukawa Gomei,and the Gomei President, Toranosuke Furukawa,acted as the President of the companies and the bank.Sogyo100nen-shi,pp.272-77.
7)Regarding the characteristics of the internal organization of the Siemens Konzern in comparison with A E G,refer to Eiichi Kato,Waimaru-taisei no Keizai-Kozo(The Economic Structure of the Weimar Regime),1973,p.330.
8)S S W-Festschrift,Die Entwicklung der Starkstromtechnik bei den Siemens-Schuckertwerken,1866-1903-1953,Berlin-Erlangen,1953,pp.15-17;Jurgen Kocka, Unternehmensverwaltung und Angestelltenschaft am Beispiel Siemens1847-1914,Stuttgart,1969,pp. 324-26.Of the90million marks worth of capital,the investment shares of S&H and E A G were45.05 million marks and44.95million marks respectively.
9)The separation into heavy electrical and light electrical sections lost its meaning due to technical development.In1927,S S W was reorganized into a joint stock company,but in1939,E A G was dissolved after the exchange and delivery of S&H non-voting preferred stock to E A G stockholders,and S S W was thus under the unitary control of S&H.It was in1966that the three companies-S&H,S S W,and S R W(Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG)-merged into Siemens AG,which has its base in Munich.Georg Siemens,Der Weg der Elektrotechnik,Vol.II,Freiburg-Munich,1961,pp.321-22;Sigfrid von Weiher and Herbert Goetzeler,Weg und Wirken der Siemens-Werke im Fortschritt der Elektrotechnik1847-1972,Munichi,1972,p.95and97.
10)Gerhardt Jacob-Wendler,Deutsche Elektroindustrie in Lateinamerika Siemens und A E G(1890-1914),Stuttgart,1982,pp.40-41.The activities of a total of four overseas divisions,namely Ubersee-Abteilungen of S&H and S S W of Berlin and Export-Departments of Siemens Brothers&Co.and Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works of London,were to be controlled by this C V U.
11)J.Kocka,op.cit., pp.458-59.
12)Georg Siemens,Carl Friedrich von Siemens,Freiburg-Munich,1960,p.27.
13)Hidemasa Morikawa,Zaibatsu no Keieishiteki-Kenkyu(Business History of Zaibatsu),1980,p.145.
14)Ibid.,pp.149-50.The chief stockholder of FUJI ELECTRIC was Furukawa Electric,and latter's managing director,Suekichi Nakagawa,subscribed to5300shares and was appointed to the post of Auditor,while the name of the President of Furukawa Electric,Kumakichi Nakajima,was not listed on the stockholders'name list.“The First Business Report,”op.cit.
15)The wife of Yoshimura was the true younger sister of Toranosuke,while the wife of Nakagawa was the true elder sister of Yoshimura and the adopted daughter of Ichibei Furukawa,namely the sister-inlaw of Toranosuke.Furthermore,when FUJI ELECTRIC was established,Toranosuke subscribed to20,000shares and was the largest stockholder next to Furukawa Electric.“The First Business Report,”op.cit.
16)When considering this problem,it must be noted that among the top managers of Furukawa,Yoshimura was the only one who studied in Germany and did so over a long period of time(1909-15).The Editorial Committee of Yoshimura Manjiro-San wo Shinobite,Yoshimura Manjiro-san wo Shinobite[In Memory of Mr.Manjiro Yoshimura],1972,pp.9-10.Moreover,Hideo Kajiyama,who assisted Yoshimura and Nakagawa in the establishment of Fuji Elec-tric and,who was appointed as director at the time of establishment,also studied abroad in Berlin from1908until1911while assigned to the Nikko Copper Refinery.Nikko Electric Copper Refinery of the Furukawa Electric Co.,Ltd.,Seidojo50nen[50Years of Copper Refinery],1954,p.63.The fact that,while in Berlin,Kajiyama met Keßler frequently and also befriended Yoshimura,who was studying in Germany at the same time,probably has a very important significance for the negotiations with Siemens which took place later.“In the39th year of Meiji[1906.This is considered to be a mistake in memory],I visited Mr.Keßler at the Head Office of Siemens in Berlin…From then onwards,I visited him from time to time at his home,usually with Mr.Manjiro Yoshimura.”H.Kajiyama,Heruman Kesureru no Omoide[Memories of Hermann Keßler],in:R.Momotani(ed.),Heruman Kesureru no Den[Biography of Hermann Keßler],1957,p.24.
17)S.v.Weiher and H.Goetzeler,op.cit.,pp.60-61.The branch companies in Russia and England closed down due to the First World War,while the branch company in America went bankrupt and was dissolved in1904.
18)Ibid.,p.62.
19)Concerning the competition of the American,British,and German electrical machinery enterprises in the Japanese market after the First World War,refer to Sadao Fujiwara,Wagakuni Denkisangyo ni taisuru Gaikoku Chokusetsutoshi-1920nendai Shoto no Baai-[The Foreign Direct Investments into Japan Electrical Machinery Industry-The Early1920s-],in:Keizai-Ronso[The Economic Review] ,Vol.111,No.3,1973;Shin Hasegawa,1920nendai no Denkikikai Shijo[The Japanese Electrical Equipment Market in the Nineteen Twenties],in:Shakai-Keizai-Shigaku[The Socio-Economic History],Vol.45,No.4,1979.
20)The materials used in this essay are part of FUJI ELECTRIC related documents in the possession of the Werner-von-Siemens-Institute in Munich (S A A is the abbreviation of Siemens-Archiv-Akte.)
21)S A A12/Lh759,Das Japanwerk,Fuji Denki Kabushiki Kaisha.
22)Fuji Denki Shashi,1923-1956,p.4.Moreover,concerning the date of Inagaki's first visit to Keßler,it was written as July in The First Business Report and August in Sogyo100nen-shi(p.333).Inagaki himself wrote,“I was the third Japanese to visit Berlin,Germany,and arrived there in late1919.”H.Inagaki,Omoide no Iroiro(Memories),in:Nakagawa Suekichi Ou,p.171.
23)After living in Japan for20years,Keßler,who came to Japan in1887as the Japanese resident representative of S&H,returned to his home country in1908,and was put in charge of C V U.It is assumed that Carl Friedrich von Siemens,who was the boss of C V U,obtained information on Japan directly from Keßler.His life story is told in detail in Momotani's Heruman Kesureru no Den.
24)In August1887,immediately after arriving in Japan,Keßler established“Siemens Tokyo Office”,and in1896,he abolished the rep-resentative offices of S&H and Siemens Brothers and established“The Japan branch of Siemens&Halske.”With the establishment of S S W in1903,it was reorganized as a Japanese corporation called“Siemens-Schuckert Denki Kabushiki Kaisha”(S S D K K)in1905.“Siemens in Japan”was none other than S S D K K.Refer to Momotani's Nihon ni okeru Shimensu no Jigyo to sono Keireki.Moreover,it cannot be overlooked that Rudolf Georgi,an engineer and manager was on his way to his home country in December1919.Ibid.,p.33.It is easily imagined that he directly reported to Keiger the reaction of Furukawa to the“proposal”from Siemens in Tokyo.
25)S A A54/La496.Brief von Inagaki.
26)S A A54/La496.Brief von Yamaguchi.
27)Fuji Denki Shashi,1923-1956,p.4.
28)S A A54/La496.Telegramm ab Tokyo8.Jan.1920.Mitsubishi Dock Yards is equivalent to Mitsubishi Shipyards in other articles.
29)Initially,Furukawa was only a proposed candidate company for Siemens,and one cannot deny the possibility that Siemens had a stronger interest in Mitsubishi.Kenzo Tanida,who joined S S D K K and who,in1953,was working as the deputy chief of the FUJI ELECTRIC Matsumoto Factory,wrote:“About one year[after joining S S D K K],the rumor that Siemens wanted to cooperate with a strong Japanese company to establish a manufacturing company for electrical equipment had reached even the ears of the young employees.I think that was around the9th year of Taisho[1920].Initially,the intent was to cooperate with Mitsubishi but eventually it was privately settled With Furukawa.”Fuji Denki Nyusu[Fuji Electric News],No.14,September1953.
30)S A A54/La496.Abth:Ubersee,J.No.002634.
31)There is an entry,thought to be in Keßler's handwriting,that said that because Mitsubishi Dock Yards had a close association with Vickers for many years,it was perhaps a mistake of Westinghouse,which was cooperating with the latter.
32)“The information that S[Siemens]company and Mitsubishi were engaged in negotiations was detected by Mr.Baker,the Japan resident representative of W[Westinghouse]company,who became greatly alarmed and telegrammed his home country…The progress of negotiation was accelerated.”Mitsubishi Electric Corporation,Kengyo Kaiko[Looking Back to the Founding],1951,P.66.However,the negotiations between Mitsubishi and Westinghouse were also stormy,and the agreement for technical cooperation came three months later than the establishment of FUJI ELECTRIC,namely in November1923.Consequently,in early1920,the possibility for Siemens to continue joint venture negotiations with Mitsubishi must have been left open,even though it is undeniable that Siemens' narrowing down of its negotiation partner to Furukawa again slowed down the progress of the Mitsubishi-Westinghouse negotiations.
33)S A A54/La496.Akten-Notiz.No.4(Furukawa).
34)It is worth noting that such a conference was held three days later even though the stock market crashed on March15and panic broke out in response.The top executives of the Gomei should already have reached common recognition of the fact that the prospects for early control of the“Dairen Incident,”which occurred in February,had become very slim as a result of the sudden occurrence of nanic.
35)However,according to the later reminiscences of Manjiro Yoshimura,who,at the time of the sudden occurrence of the“Dairen Incident,”was the managing director of Furukawa&Co.,and had to save the situation because he was,in practice,the highest responsible officer,he considered the joint venture with Siemens as the“recovery opportunity”for his own downfallen individual authority.Refer to Yoshimura Manjiro-san wo Shinobite,p.17.However,his outlook was overly optimistic;he had to implore the help of his brother-inlaw,Suekichi Nakagawa,the managing director of Furukawa Electric,when he was in a dilemma after Furukawa Gomei abandoned the negotiations,and with the latter's cooperation,he was able to get out of his predicament.Morikawa evaluates the establishment of FUJI ELECTRIC as one of the excellent results produced by Furukawa Electric's diversification strategy which was worked out for the purpose of breaking out of the depression and which was the only such strategy in the Furukawa Zaibatsu.Morikawa,op.cit.,p.128.However,even from Nakagawa's point of view,FUJI ELECTRIC venture was not part of a long-term strategic perspective,but rather a bold attempt to save his brother-in-law for he could not bear to see his brother's plight;thus,it is thought that diversification occurred merely as an unintended consequence of Nakagawa's attempt to assist Yoshimura.
36)S A A54/La496.Ergebnis der Besprechung uber Japan am1.5.20.
37)As written later,this resolution did not seem to put much restraint on the discussion of May6.
38)S A A54/La496.Aktennotiz betr.Fabrikation in Japan.
39)During the relatively stable period,a division of the spheres of influence for the export market for the electrical products of American and German companies was carried out,but severe competition existed between the two in the South American and Asian markets,where the American and the German market shares were not so different from each other.Kato,op.cit.,p.340.Basically the same situation prevailed before the First World War.G.Jacob-Wendler,op.cit.,p.57.
40)This over-hasty conclusion shows the limitations of the information-collecting ability of Siemens.
41)At that time,Kobe Shipping Office owned four company vessels and more than ten leased vessels and was also active in the European-American sea routes.Sogyo100nen-shi,p.329.This fact was certainly a very attractive condition for the post-war German corporations,which faced severe restrictions in sea transportation.Neverthless,although there may have been recognition of the fact that the Japanese economy was struck by a reactionary panic,the fact that Furukawa&Co.was on the brink of bankruptcy was not yet grasped.
42)On the very intimate relationship between Takashi Hara and Furukawa,refer to Morikawa,op.cit.,p.143ff.
43)The establishment of The Furukawa Electric Co.,Ltd.was initiated during the Stockholders'General Meeting of The Yokohama Electric Wire Works Ltd.on April15,1920,at which the change of executive officers(new President Kumakichi Nakajima,Managing Director Kisaburo Yamaguchi),the change of company name to The Furukawa Electric Co.,Ltd.,the change of business objectives,the merger of Furukawa Mining's Nikko Electric Copper Refinery and Honjo Copper refinery,etc.,were decided,and completed with the registration of nominal capital of20million yen on April22.Moreover,it was in August1922that Furukawa Electric started the production of telephone apparatus at the electrical works in Yokohama.Sogyo100nen-shi,pp.332-33.The information on the Stockholders'General Meeting was telegraphed to Berlin on the following day at the latest.
44)This refers to Nippon Electric Co.,Ltd.,established in1899,which entered a capital joint venture relationship with Sumitomo Electric Wire Works in October1920.Nippon Electric Co.,Ltd.,Nippon Denki Kabushikikaisha70nen-shi,(Meiji32nen-Showa44nen)[The70-Year History of Nippon Electric Co.,Ltd.,1899-1969],1972,pp.100-8.
45)Nakagawa Suekichi Ou,p.34.

Corresponding author

Correction information

Register with J-STAGE for free!