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Iba also took steps to address the smoke damage from the expansion of Sumitomo’s smelting operations. Despite the many challenges Sumitomo faced in the aftermath of the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895)—particularly inflation, which dramatically increased expenses and forced revisions to business plans—Iba oversaw the completion of a smelter on an isolated island some 20 km off the coast of Niihama.
Iba also worked to transform Sumitomo’s overall business structure and organization. To bring the intentions of Sumitomo’s various business units into alignment, the top-level decision-making function was unified under the directors of the House of Sumitomo and, in 1895, Iba and five other directors held the company’s first board of directors meeting. At this historic meeting, the directors set the long-term direction for the company in a number of areas including the founding of Sumitomo Bank, the expansion of foreign trade, entry into the coal business, and employment reform. With the capital Sumitomo raised in the boom that came after the first Sino-Japanese war, the company branched out into a number of related businesses through both start-ups and acquisitions.
In 1899, floods devastated the Besshi mine and worker’s quarters. As the 20th century dawned, Sumitomo moved its businesses from the mountains of Besshi to the coast at Niihama. Just as Japan was joining the club of the world’s advanced countries, Sumitomo was also poised to launch into a new period of its own history. |
