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Corporation , ()
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Leading Innovation
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Tokyo, Japan ( 1904 )
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Tokyo
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Japan
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Atsutoshi Nishida , President & CEO
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165,000 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2005)
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/information/entry/USD" class="copylinks">USD (Fiscal year ended March 31, 2006)
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Electronics & engineering
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Digital products, Digital Telephony , Electronic devices & components, Home appliances and others
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Toshiba Worldwide
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,
2005 ]]
() is a
Japan ese
Multinational Conglomerate manufacturing company, headquartered in
Tokyo ,
Japan . The company's businesses are in
High Technology ,
Electrical Engineering , and
Electronics fields.
As a chip maker, Toshiba-made
Semiconductors are among the
Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders .
Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in the year
1939 .
One,
Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of
Telegraph equipment and was established by
Hisashige Tanaka in
1875 . In
1904 , its name was changed to
Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the
20th Century , Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan, modernized during the
Meiji Era , and became a world industrial power.
The second company, originally named
Hakunetsusha , was established in
1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electric lamps. The company diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products, and in
1899 it was renamed
Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).
The merger in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki created a new company called kyo '''Shiba'''ura Denki. It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it wasn't until
1984 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.
The group expanded strongly, both by internal growth and by acquisitions, buying heavy engineering and primary industry firms in the
1940s and
1950s and then spinning off subsidiaries in the
1970s and beyond. Groups created include Toshiba EMI (
1960 ), Toshiba Electrical Equipment (
1974 ), Toshiba Chemical (
1974 ), Toshiba Lighting and Technology (
1989 ),
Toshiba America Information Systems (
1989 ) and Toshiba Carrier Corporation (
1999 ).
Toshiba was responsible for a number of Japanese firsts, including radar (
1942 ), the TAC digital computer (
1954 ), transistor television and microwave oven (
1959 ),
Color Video Phone (
1971 ), Japanese word processor (
1978 ), MRI system (
1982 ), laptop personal computer (
1986 ), NAND EEPROM (
1991 ), DVD (
1995 ), the
Libretto sub-notebook personal computer (
1996 ) and HD-DVD (
2005 ).
In
1987 , the company was accused of illegally selling
CNC Milling Machine s used to produce very quiet
Submarine propellers to the
Soviet Union in violation of the
CoCom agreement, an international
Embargo on Western exports to
East Bloc countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company
Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk . The incident strained relations between the
United States and
Japan , and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of
Sanctions on the company by both countries. The US had always relied on the fact that the Soviets had noisy boats, so technology that would make the USSR's submarines harder to detect created a significant threat to America's security. Senator
John Heinz , former husband of
Teresa Heinz-Kerry , said "What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million."
In
2001 , Toshiba signed a contract with
Orion Electric , one of the world's largest
OEM consumer video electronic makers and suppliers, to manufacture and supply finished consumer TV and video products for Toshiba to meet the increasing demand for the North American market.
In
December 2004 , Toshiba quietly announced it would discontinue manufacturing traditional
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions. In
2006 , Toshiba terminated production of plasma TVs. Toshiba quickly switched to Orion as the supplier and maker of Toshiba-branded CRT-based TVs and plasma TVs. However, to ensure its future competitiveness in the flat-panel digital television and display market, Toshiba has made a considerable investment in a new kind of display technology called
SED .
Before
World War II , Toshiba was a member of the
Mitsui Group Zaibatsu . Today Toshiba is a member of the Mitsui
Keiretsu (a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings), and still has preferential arrangements with Mitsui Bank and the other members of the keiretsu. Membership in a keiretsu traditionally meant loyalty, both corporate and private, to other members of the keiretsu or allied keiretsu. This loyalty could extend as far as the
Beer that workers would consume, which in Toshiba's case was
Kirin .
In
July 2005 ,
BNFL confirmed it planned to sell
Westinghouse Electric Company , then estimated to be worth $1.8bn (£1bn)
1. However the bid attracted interest from several companies including Toshiba,
General Electric and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and when the ''
Financial Times '' reported on
January 23 ,
2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at $5bn (£2.8bn). The bid surprised many industry experts who questioned the wisdom of selling one of the world's largest producers of nuclear reactors shortly before the market for nuclear power is expected to grow substantially;
China , the
United States and the
United Kingdom are all expected to invest heavily in nuclear power
2. The acquisition of
Westinghouse for $5.4bn was completed on
October 17 ,
2006 , with Toshiba obtaining a 77% share, and partners
The Shaw Group a 20% share and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. a 3% share
As a chip maker, Toshiba Semiconductors is a major player. During the eighties, it was one the two largest semiconductor companies (with
NEC ). During the nineties and up to now, Toshiba Semiconductors was almost always among the Top 5. In
2005 , Toshiba Semiconductors is number 4, behind
Intel ,
Samsung and
Texas Instruments , but before
STMicroelectronics .
For more information, refer to the .
- Digital Products Group
- Mobile Communications Company
- Digital Media Network Company
- Personal Computer & Network Company
- Electronic Devices & Components Group
- Semiconductor Company
- Display Devices & Components Control Center
- Infrastructure Systems Group
- Toshiba Power Systems Company
- Toshiba Industrial Systems Company
- Social Infrastructure Systems Companyhttp://www.toshiba.co.jp/worldwide/about/manage.html
Toshiba scored reasonably well according to
New England -based environmental organization Clean Air-Cool Planet report, which surveys 56 companies for their climate-friendliness. The survey checks on how well a company had reviewed its global warming impact, how much it had reduced that impact, how much it supported public policies that encourage this reduction and whether the company made this information available.
3
After an image problem developed years ago when customers felt that the repair process for broken machines was too long, Toshiba partnered with the
United Parcel Service (UPS) to design a better repair process. Customers are told to drop off their machines at a UPS Store, from which they will be shipped to Toshiba for repairs and then sent back to the customer. In reality, after dropping off their machines at a UPS Store, they are shipped off to a UPS-run repair facility, where UPS repairs the laptops themselves and ships them back to the customer from there. During this process, the laptops never enter Toshiba's hands although no such claim as such is ever purported.
