Mitsubishi
Country
Japan
Sector
Distribution/Wholesale
Offices
-
Employees
-
Brand value
$19,488m
Brand rating
AA
Enterprise value
$185,654m
Value / market cap
10.5%
User rating
Market cap
* For banks, enterprise value is substituted with market cap. Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P.
Performance of the brand
The Mitsubishi Group is the name for the Japanese conglomerate which consists of a large number of autonomously operated companies which share the Mitsubishi brand. Some of the more significant companies in the group include the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Nikon Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation. There are approximately 300 member companies including 28 core members.
A large number of key members of the organisation have had a difficult 2011. One of the primary reasons for this was the immense damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake which took a huge toll on the Japanese economy both in terms of economic activity and infrastructure. The economy overall contracted 3.5% in the quarter following the Earthquake and a number of Mitsubishi companies followed this trend with fairly flat results. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest bank holding group saw its net profit from business fall by 56 billion yen to 855 billion yen. Furthermore, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan’s largest trading company saw operating income for the same period fall almost 20% to 84 billion yen.
However, in conjunction with the earthquake, underlying business performance for many of the companies in the group has been affected by the generally erratic behaviour of the Japanese economy as a whole, which has had an average GDP growth rate 1-2% for over 2 decades, but then grew at a rate of 4% per year in some of the years following the financial crisis. Furthermore, with the Yen steadily increasing in value, many Mitsubishi companies are losing their international competitiveness.
Nonetheless, the Mitsubishi brand remains one of the strongest in the world; it has not lost the high level of domestic brand equity that has been established by the group over the past century and a half. Furthermore, the large levels of aid and donations made by the company to support the earthquake’s disaster relief efforts garnered Mitsubishi much praise and were reflective of the culture and philosophy behind the brand. The group recently continued its attempts to operate from a global perspective when the trading company Mitsubishi Corporation acquired Australian firm, Coal & Allied Industries in a joint venture with Rio Tinto as part of an effort to help the group benefit more from international operations.
League tables
Mitsubishi appears in the following brand league tables:
Rank 27 in the
Global 500 2012.
Rank 21 in the
Global 500 2011.
Rank 21 in the
Global 500 2011.
Rank 26 in the
Global 500 2010.
Rank 220 in the
Global 500 2009.
Rank 253 in the
Global 500 2008.
Rank 219 in the
Global 250 2007.
2012 brand performance*
Brand value
$19,488m
Brand rating
AA
Enterprise value
$185,654m
Value / ent. value
10.5%
* Figures taken on 31st December 2011.
2011 brand performance*
Brand value
$20,473m
Brand rating
AA
Enterprise value
$195,041m
Value / ent. value
10.5%
* Figures taken on 31st December 2010.
2010 brand performance*
Brand value
$17,805m
Brand rating
AA+
Enterprise value
$231,268m
Value / ent. value
7.7%
* Figures taken on 31st December 2009.
2009 brand performance*
Brand value
$3,002m
Brand rating
AA-
Enterprise value
-
Value / ent. value
-
* Figures taken on 31st December 2008.
Brandirectory user rating*
* Average values from a total of 1 votes.
The following is the description of the brand from www.mitsubishi.com:
“The three-diamond Mitsubishi mark embodies over 140 years of tradition, earning the trust and confidence of people worldwide. Maintaining the value of that mark as a symbol of quality and reliability in products and services is a top priority at every Mitsubishi company.”
“Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the old Mitsubishi organization, decided on the three-diamond mark as the emblem for his company.The mark is said to be an arrangement of two family crests; the three-oak-leaf crest of the Yamauchi family, Lords of Tosa, where Yataro was born, and the three-tiered water chestnut crest of the Iwasaki family.”
“The name "Mitsubishi" refers to the three-diamond emblem. "Mitsubishi" is a combination of the words "mitsu" and "hishi." "Mitsu" means three. "Hishi" means water chestnut, and the word is used to denote a rhombus or diamond shape. As customary, "hishi" is pronounced "bishi" when it forms a latter part of a word, hence the combination of "mitsu" and "hishi" reads "mitsubishi."”
Mission statement
Each of the group’s companies has its own mission statement or corporate vision, however, all companies within the group operate according to three principles which are part of the Mitsubishi brand:
- Corporate responsibility to society, striving to enrich society and maintain the environment.
- Integrity and fairness, including transparency and openness.
- Global understanding through business, operate from a global perspective.
Company history
Mitsubishi’s origins extend back to 1870 when founder Yataro Iwasaki started a shipping firm. Yataro's brother, son and nephew expanded the business into various fields during their respective terms as president and set the foundation of the Mitsubishi companies. After WWII, the original Mitsubishi organization was disbanded to become independent companies as they are today.
The Mitsubishi holding company was dissolved and the trading arm was split into individual firms. The majority of the remaining companies then abandoned the Mitsubishi brand.
The Mitsubishi Corporation trading company was re-established in 1954 when over 100 companies merged. A similar process took place to reform Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964. Many firms that had abandoned the brand began using it again.
Mitsubishi companies were at the heart of the high speed, post-war growth of the Japanese economy.
Geography and products
The group is a Japanese conglomerate which operates globally and has over 350,000 employees.
The conglomerate has operations in a large number of industries which include insurance, power generation and infrastructure, food, banking, heavy industries, motor vehicles, chemicals and commodities trading.
