Renamed Hayakawa Electrical Industries in , the company emerged from the war damaged but not destroyed. While other industrialists were purged from public life for their support of the militarists, Hayakawa was permitted to remain in business. His biggest concerns were rebuilding his company and surviving Japan's postwar recession.
By more than 80 of Hayakawa's competitors were bankrupt. But Hayakawa's officials personally guaranteed the company's liabilities when the company suffered a critical drop in sales, and Hayakawa Electric was able to obtain the cooperation of underwriters until the first major expansion in the Japanese economy occurred in Hayakawa considered television, a field that had not yet proved commercially successful, a highly promising new area.
The company began development of an experimental TV set in , even before plans had been made to begin broadcasting in Japan. Two years later, when television broadcasting started, Hayakawa Electric introduced its first commercial television set under the brand name 'Sharp,' in honor of the pencil. Hayakawa's good timing was essential in allowing the company to establish and maintain a significant and profitable market share.
The company started development of a color television in the mids. In , with the advent of color broadcasting in Japan, Hayakawa introduced a line of color sets. This was followed in by a commercial microwave oven, and in by a desktop calculator.
The Compet calculator was the first in the world to use transistors. In the microwave oven received a rotating plate and calculators shrank with the use of integrated circuits. Hayakawa recognized the great sales potential of the United States; a sales subsidiary was established there in It served the dual purpose of facilitating sales and observing the market.
By the late s, the Sharp brand name had become well-established in North America. Sales in the United States provided the company with a large and increasing portion of its income. In addition, subsidiaries were established in West Germany in and Britain in Hayakawa Electric made two major breakthroughs in That year the company introduced the Extra Large Scale Integration Calculator, a device now reduced to the size of a paperback book.
The other new product was the gallium arsenide light-emitting diode LED --in effect, a tiny computer light. Like the radio and television before them, improved versions of both the calculator and LED were subsequently introduced in future years. Tokuji Hayakawa retired from the day-to-day operations of his company in , assuming the title of chairman. He was replaced as president by Akira Saeki, a former executive director.
Saeki oversaw an important reorganization of the company intended to establish a new corporate identity and unify product development efforts. Saeki, who witnessed the Apollo moon landing while in the United States, decided that the company's future efforts should center on the development of semiconductors, the electronic components that had made the lunar mission possible.
He initiated construction of a massive research complex called the Advanced Development and Planning Center. The project was a significant investment for Sharp, since its budget was already seriously strained by the construction of an exhibit for Expo ' Nevertheless construction was begun on a acre research complex in Tenri, Nara Prefecture. Building upon existing integration technologies, VLSI production lines enabled manufacturers to reduce defects and raise productivity through the use of industrial robots and other mechanical apparatus.
During the s, Sharp consolidated its position in consumer goods by broadening its product line to include refrigerators, washers, portable stereos, copiers, desktop computers, video equipment, and Walkman-type headsets. Perhaps Sharp's most significant development during this period occurred in , when the company introduced the first hand-held calculator using a liquid crystal display LCD screen.
Sharp, on the other hand, incorporated LCD screens into its calculator, making it smaller and lighter. Although Sharp's LCD screen did not seem like a tremendous breakthrough at the time, the technology would later prove central to Sharp's development.
In an effort to head off impending protectionist trade legislation, Sharp built new factories in its largest overseas markets, principally the United States. They were also outmanoeuvred in the mobile phone business, but Sony and Panasonic have seen improving results lately. This article is more than 5 years old.
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