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But Sumitomo was not merely buffeted by the tide—it took initiative. At Sumitomo Electric Industries, for example, just three days after the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, the company started manufacturing electrical wire again at a plant that had escaped damage in the war, and the plant also put its precious resources to work manufacturing household goods. Although the Sumitomo group’s many plants had supplied the military during the war, they now began making goods to fulfill people’s everyday needs by manufacturing items like frying pans and washbasins, as well as farming tools such as spades and hoes which were in high demand as farmers worked to increase food production.
With citizens and companies alike working vigorously to rebuild after the war, a major turning point came in 1950—the outbreak of the Korean War. This war on Japan’s doorstep, which was brought about by disagreements stemming from the Allies’ division of Korea along the 38th parallel following WWII, was a boon to the Japanese economy.
The following year, 48 allied nations, including the United States, signed the Treaty of Peace with Japan, marking the end of the occupation. The treaty recognized Japan’s rights of sovereignty, equality, and individual or collective self-defense, and at last fully released the country from the shackles of the war. That was when Sumitomo was able to truly get off to a new start. The use of the Sumitomo name was again permitted and 12 companies in fields spanning Japan’s leading industrial sectors—including mining, metals, chemicals, steel, and finance—were born anew. This was not a resurrection of the pre-war zaibatsu: These companies formed a new Sumitomo Group, with each on an equal footing and making decisions independently of the others. Moreover, there was no central coordinating authority above the group companies.
The Sumitomo Group now comprises some 43 core companies. As discussed in Part I of this series, some 400 years ago, founder Sumitomo Masatomo (1585–1652), in his Monju-in Shiigaki, wrote that business should be built on trust and reliability, and one should not pursue easy profits. Today, Sumitomo Group companies continue to do business with these ideals as their basic philosophy, a moral code reflected in Sumitomo’s distinctive corporate principles and corporate culture. |
