Yataro Iwasaki was an ambitious
young man who established the first Mitsubishi company - a shipping firm, in
1870. He began with three obsolete steamships. His company grew. He branched
into shipbuilding and mining. His successors expanded the organization
further, developing power positions in heavy industry, chemicals, oil
refining, aircraft production, banking, real estate, insurance. They built a
vast and highly integrated industrial combine. Then came World War II. After
the war, Mitsubishi was broken up into scores of independent companies. Their
days as a single organization were over. They had to find new ways to survive
and grow.
Independence meant that the
Mitsubishi companies had to reinvent themselves. Each had carved out a unique
role for itself during the difficult years of postwar reconstruction. In the
boom years that followed, they really came into their own. Some of the
Mitsubishi companies were leaders in the heavy industry that drove Japan's
economic resurgence. Others created consumer products that captured the
imagination of people everywhere. Eventually, the name Mitsubishi became a
household name around the world. It stood for excellence.
