A Snapshot of Canon
If there was a company that is an essential part of any office environment, then it would be Canon. Developing not just cameras, but photocopiers, printers and computers, Canon has over the past 40 years made itself more than a manufacturer of cameras, but a leader in the business solutions market.
The company’s origins can be traced back to 1934, when a prototype for Japan’s first-ever 35 mm camera with a focal plane shutter was named “Kwanon”, after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Developed in an apartment room in Tokyo, when at the time most photographic equipment was being developed in Europe, ‘Kwanon’ became a major breakthrough in Japan which was cemented a year later when Japan’s first-ever 35 mm focal-plane-shutter camera, the Hanza Canon, was unveiled.
Once the company had established itself as a leading camera producer in Japan, the first president of the company Takeshi Mitari visited America in 1950, and returned home with a new sense of direction for the company.
Building a fireproof factory of steel-reinforced concrete in the Shimomaruko area of Tokyo, Mitari envisioned Canon going global with its products, guided by the San-ji, or “three selfs” spirit, the guiding principle for Canon employees.
This philosophy has ensured fair and equitable progress for the company and encourages every staff member to conduct themselves in an ethical and responsible way. The three fundamentals are;
- Ji-hatsu or self-motivation: be proactive in everything you do.
- Ji-chi or self-management: conduct yourself responsibly.
- Ji-kaku or self-awareness: understand the situation you find yourself in and your role in the situation
These guidelines paid dividends for the company and in 1955, Canon launched itself into the global market by opening an office in New York city. Europe followed next with Canon setting up its sole European distributor, Canon Europa, in Geneva, Switzerland in 1957.
While Canon had diversified its products in 1941 with the development of an X-ray camera, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the company added electrical, physical and chemical technologies to its optical and precision technologies.
However it was 1964 that saw the firm enter a rapidly growing market and one that it still dominates today – office equipment. From the debut of the world’s first 10 key calculator to the development of the NP100 photocopier, Canon dominated the industry and in 1969, changed its name to Canon Inc.
By 1970, Canon had over 5,000 employees and US$490 million in sales, however the decade of disco saw Canon fall on hard times. In 1975, the company failed to pay a dividend for the first time since becoming a public company and was hit further by a public defective electronic calculator display component problem.
However, the company aimed to turn itself around and unveiled its Premier Company Plan, an ambitious strategy to transform Canon into an “excellent global company” through such means as introducing a vertical business group constitution and establishing a horizontal development, production and sales system. This was in 1976 and as if to prove a point, the company launched the world’s first camera with an embedded micro-computer.
As home computers became more and more common, Canon capitalised on the market growth and unleashed a whole host of products on the consumers. Laser printers, a personal copying machine based on an all-in-one cartridge system and a Bubble Jet inkjet printer were all released, solidifying the company’s reputation as a global leader in imaging and optical products.
Today, with its own business division (that has been in place since the 1970s), the company is a market leader in photographic equipment as well as offering print and document solutions for small and medium businesses, large corporations and governments. However, Canon is not just a home/office equipment specialist and also produces medical, optical and broadcast products, including ophthalmic and x-ray devices, broadcast lenses, semiconductors, digital microfilm scanners, and Handy Terminal Solutions.
With such innovations in so many industries, Canon is proving that it is true to its philosophy that in developed in 1988, one year after celebrating its 50th anniversary -“kyosei – living and working together for the common good”.
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