Panasonic is heading in a new direction with a shakeup of management at the top of the Japanese powerhouse as the business embraces structural reform with a big emphasis on B2B Vs consumer.
At the weekend, the Company appointed Yuki Kusumi, managing executive officer, ( seen below right) as its next chief executive officer effective on April 1, replacing Kazuhiro Tsuga.
Kusumi is expected to accelerate business restructuring and aims to get the company on a growth path.
Kusumi is currently the head of the company’s automotive business. He took the initiative in setting up an auto battery company jointly with Toyota Motor. As both Kusumi and Tsuga are from the engineering field, Kusumi has gained trust from Tsuga, who also was responsible for the auto business.
On June 24, Kusumi will become the company’s president and Tsuga, who has led on structural reform, including retreating from the plasma television business, will become the company’s new chairman without representative rights.
Tsuga took over as CEO in 2012 from Fumio Otsubo. He decided to retreat from the struggling plasma television business and also worked on structural reform, including selling the semiconductor business to a Taiwanese company and retreating from the liquid crystal panel business.
Separately, Panasonic announced that it will change to a holding company structure in April 2022, to clarify the responsibilities of each business division and speed up decision-making processes.
