Abstract:

Shiseido Co., Ltd., the world's fourth-largest cosmetic manufacturer, was established in 1872 with a Confucian concept of aiming to discover and create new values with global resources." From its inception, self-reform efforts to always react quickly to social changes have been valued as the corporate ideal. This has enabled the company to overcome several major crises over its 120 years of corporate history, and the process has proved to be a source of rejuvenation. In 1987 Shiseido undertook a major restructuring, clearly setting its mission and business domain as discovering new values with depth through meeting many people and creating a beautiful living culture, building upon its history, and defining corporate culture as the accumulation of intelligence and sensitivity, the company began to consider its corporate culture as a powerful management resource. The competitive edge of Shiseido's cumulative culture has become internationally recognized. Its corporate culture has equipped the company with originality, which is a synergetic integration of research and technological capability, marketing and image building. Shiseido began its international activity in 1936 with a belief that beauty transcends national boundaries. After struggling for many years, learning specific features of each market and fostering human relations, Shiseido's name gradually permeated. Since the 1970s, the company began to manufacture products specifically tailored to international markets, renovated visual styles used domestically back in the '30s and AOs, and applied its corporate culture to the global strategy. High quality, high service, and high image are features of Shiseido products throughout the world. Consequently, overseas sales account for 12 percent of its total sales today. Shiseido's corporate culture is an intangible asset. The company will continue to refresh its traditional corporate culture through ceaseless self-reforms and resuscitabiiity.