Specialized firms Tokyo Denki (founded in 1890) and Shibaura Seisaku-sho (founded in 1875) joined forces in the formation of the company. The original name was Tokyo Shibaura Electric KK. It was officially changed to Toshiba Corporation in 1978.
Toshiba’s superior management techniques, borrowed from GE during the inter-war period, made it the largest supplier of electrical equipment to the armed forces.
The company made significant investments in information, communication and semiconductor technology in the early 1980’s.
Among the products it developed and produced in the course of its history were incandescent lamps (1890), white goods (including electric refrigerators, 1930), fluorescent lamps (1940), nuclear-powered turbine generators (1963) and transmitting devices for use in satellite transmission (1963).
Toshiba was the first firm to set up an independent electronics research laboratory; while other firms reorganized and expanded their R & D laboratories.
In the end of March 2004, its employees numbered 161,000 globally, with 120,000 of these employed in Japan.
Toshiba in history
