OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will send midlevel managers to large-scale household appliance retailers for about a month this spring to give them firsthand experience with sales of the company's product range, company officials said Wednesday.
The training program is intended to create a sense of crisis among employees amid the company's weakening earnings, the officials said.
Several hundred managers in the marketing, engineering and production sections as well as those in administrative sections such as personnel and accounting will be required to participate in the program.
Although managers will not actually sell any products at retailers, they will directly learn about demand for Matsushita products by helping store workers, the officials said.
While new employees undergo training at retailers for several months, the program involving midlevel managers is the first ever, the officials said.
Matsushita, known for its National and Panasonic brands of consumer electronics goods, anticipates a consolidated operating loss of 160 billion yen in fiscal 2001. It hopes to swing back into the black in fiscal 2002 by promoting digital televisions and other mainline products.