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Toshiba (東芝) is a high technology
electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered
in
Tokyo,
Japan. It is the 7th largest integrated manufacturer of
electric and electronic equipment in the world.
The first
kanji, to, means "east", and the second,
shiba, is a magical and powerful plant in
East Asian mythology that offers longevity and good
luck.
In financial year 2000-01 the company generated sales of
¥ 5,951,357 million and net income of ¥ 96,168 million.
The company employs 188,042 people (2001).
History
Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in
1939.
The first company, Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering
Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment
and was established by
Hisashige Tanaka in
1875. In
1904, the company 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, became a world industrial power.
The second company, originally named Hakunetsusha, was
established in
1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent
electrical lamps. The company diversified into the manufacture
of other consumer products, and in
1899 it was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).
The merger of in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo
Denki created a new company called Tokyo Shibaura Denki. It
was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it wasn't until
1978 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)
and Toshiba Carrier Corpoaration (1999).
The company 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),
and the Libretto sub-notebook personal computer (1996).
Before
WWII, Toshiba was a member of the
Mitsui Group
zaibatsu. Today Toshiba is a member of the Mitsui
keiretsu, 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.
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