TOKYO — Panasonic Corp. is urging its 10,000 managers in Japan to buy the company’s products to boost sales and help reverse a profit plunge, a spokesman said Friday.
Executives and senior managers are being asked to buy at least 200,000 yen ($2,200) worth of Panasonic goods, such as refrigerators, flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray disc players, by July, said Akira Kadota, the spokesman. Lower level managers are asked to buy at least 100,000 yen worth of such products, he said.
The campaign is voluntary, but Panasonic is an old-style Japanese comany where loyalty to the company is deeply rooted among its ranks.
The “buy Panasonic” campaign follows a similar effort among managers at Toyota Motor Corp., who are being asked to buy a Toyota car. Both Toyota and Panasonic have been battered by the global downturn.
Panasonic is expecting a 380 billion yen ($4.2 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March, its first annual net loss in six years, and is slashing about 15,000 jobs and shuttering 27 plants worldwide. Panasonic blamed plunging consumer demand, lower gadget prices and the soaring yen, which erodes overseas income, for the poor performance.
Toyota is sinking into its first net loss in since 1950, forecasting a 350 billion yen ($3.85 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March — a stunning reversal from the record 1.72 trillion yen profit it posted the previous year.