History of Kyocera Corporation

Kyoto Ceramic Co. was founded in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori. It was later renamed as Kyocera Corporation in 1982. It is ranked #554 on Forbes magazine’s 2009 “Global 2000” listing of the world’s largest publicly traded corporations, with a market value of $16.2 billion.

Kyocera manufactures solar power generating systems, telecommunications equipment, office document imaging equipment, electronic components, industrial ceramics, cutting tools, and components for the medical industry.

 

About the founder

Kazuo Inamori was born January 30, 1932 in Kagoshima, Japan. Although he failed the exam to enter middle school twice, had his home destroyed in an air raid due to World War II, suffered from tuberculosis (deemed incurable at the time) and wasn’t accepted for studying medicine; he nevertheless graduated from Kagoshima university in 1955 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in applied chemistry.

He founded Kyoto Ceramic at age 27, and later also founded the KDDI Corporation which is now Japan’s second-largest telecommunication services provider. Inamori has won a number of awards, authored 8 books, and since 2010 is the chairman of Japan Airlines.

Inamori teaches his Kyocera management philosophy from a private management association named Seiwajuku, which has 60 locations, including seven outside Japan.

Quote:

“There is a fine line between people who are successful and those who are not. Unsuccessful people do not necessarily lack passion. The difference is in tenacity and perseverance. When they run into a wall, people who find a good excuse to stop making an effort often fail.”