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Lion Corporation Business Information, Profile, and History

3-7, Honjo 1-chome
Sumida-ku,
Tokyo
130
Japan

History of Lion Corporation

Lion Corporation is Japan's biggest seller of toothpastes, and a major producer of other toiletries and soaps. Operated by the same family, the Kobayashis, throughout its entire history, the company has earned a prominent place in its domestic market, while maintaining successful overseas ventures.

Kobayashi Tomijiro Shoten was founded in 1891 by Tomijiro jiro Kobayashi, to produce soap. In 1902 Japan concluded an alliance with Great Britain, and just three years later, in 1905, Kobayashi first exported its products to the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1919 Kobayashi split into two entities. Lion Soap Co., Ltd. was comprised of Kobayashi's soap division and T. Kobayashi & Co., Ltd. was comprised of the remainder of Kobayashi Tomijiro Shoten. The Kobayashi family retained control of both companies. In 1940 Lion Soap Company became Lion Fat & Oil Co., Ltd., reflecting a shift in its activities in conjunction with Japan's military buildup. T. Kobayashi became the Lion Dentifrice Co., Ltd. in 1949. During the first part of its history, both portions of the Kobayashi's enterprise flourished. Starting in the 1960s, however, substantial changes were made in the operations of the companies.

In the mid-1960s Lion Fat & Oil found itself in heated competition with the Kao Soap Company, which, in Japan, held the lead in sales of synthetic detergents. With the generous use of public relations and advertising, Lion challenged that lead, accomplishing a strong rise in sales in the first half of 1968. Later that year, the company aggressively confronted Kao in its area of greatest strength, western Japan, by building a new plant in Sakai, Osaka. This new factory, capable of producing both powder and liquid detergents, increased Lion's production capacity by about 30%, from 14,500 tons to 19,000 tons monthly. Lion benefited from its substitution of petrochemical products for agricultural oils. The use of alcohol-rich petrochemicals enabled the company to cut production costs.

Lion's growth during this period was based on the development of new technology and the expansion of its foreign connections. By 1972 sales reached US$27 million. In 1973 Lion Fat & Oil entered into a cooperative arrangement with Akzo, a Dutch chemical company, with the expectation of benefiting its chemical and household-products operations.

By the mid-1970s Lion Dentifrice was running second to Kao in the field of toiletries, but the forecast was for sinking profits for the next term as a consequence of rising costs for raw materials and stiff competition, from Japanese companies and from U.S. giant Procter & Gamble, which had recently entered the market in a joint venture with another Japanese firm. Lion Dentrifice sales began to grow, however, in the first half of 1976, increasing 12&percnt: over the same period a year earlier, as demand for its traditional dental products increased, and sales of new, products, such as products for the eye and for hair, grew as well. Throughout this period, both Lion companies enjoyed strong financial positions and relative lack of debt.

Given the intense competition the two Lion companies faced and the need to control costs for high-volume, low-price products, separate corporate structures for Lion Fat & Oil and Lion Dentrifice were inefficient. The similarity in the companies' names caused confusion among wholesalers and business partners. In late 1977 it was announced that the two companies would merge into one, on an equal basis, with the aim of creating one sales force to market all Lion products. Facing a stagnant market and subject to cut-throat competition, Lion leaders expected the reunited company, with a solidified corporate image, to expand in old areas, initiate new products, and enter into new markets.

In 1978 Lion Products Co., Ltd. was created, and in 1980 this sales organization joined with the two older Lion companies to form Lion Corporation. The newly unified company moved to increase the efficiency of its product distribution by implementing a retail-information system for its wholesalers, which in turn led to the 1985 creation of a management company for the entire toiletries industry.

Throughout the 1980s Lion continued its research-and-development activities, leading to new products that were keyed to new niches in a crowded market. Responding to environmental concerns, the company marketed Top, a non-phosphorous detergent, in 1980. In 1981 the company introduced Clinica, a plaque-fighting toothpaste that used enzymes to clean the teeth. Other new products, such as Look bathroom cleaner and Soft in 1, a combination shampoo and rinse, made strong contributions to the company's sales for the late 1980s.

In 1983 Lion laid out its goals for the next eight years, in a program designed to coincide with the arrival of the company's centennial. The campaign involved strengthening existing fields, improving global business, and exploiting new business sectors, In order to facilitate the plan, a company-wide restructuring was implemented. In an attempt to meet these goals, Lion developed new techniques in production and distribution. In conjunction with Akzo the company had finished construction of a plant for the refinement of raw materials in 1981 that used a new, low-pressure process to produce ingredients for household detergents. In 1983 in an effort to reduce production costs, essential in an industry where retail price-slashing is rampant and profit margins are low, Lion installed computer surveillance of the manufacturing process in its Kawasaki plant as a test, and ultimately scheduled controlled production to be implemented in all seven of the company's plants by 1989.

Throughout the 1980s the company continued to work with foreign partners. In conjunction with Henkel, of Düsseldorf, Lion operated joint ventures in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Germany as well as in Japan. In 1987 the company entered into a joint venture with the U.S. firm S.C. Johnson & Son to buy the previously unprofitable line of plaque-fighting dental products, Check-Up. S.C. Johnson already was marketing Lion's Zact toothpaste for smokers, in the United States. In June 1989 the company bought out S.C. Johnson's 50&percnt: interest in Rydelle-Lion to form a wholly owned subsidiary, Lion Corporation (America), in an effort to establish a base for further entries into the U.S. oral-care and hair-care markets. Lion subsequently turned over the marketing of its Zact and Check-Up products to Schering-Plough, another U.S. firm, under a licensing agreement.

In July 1989 Lion announced a joint venture with Akzo and two other entities to build a plant for the production of silica in Map Ta Phud, Thailand. Lion further expanded its Thai operations later that year, when it announced plans to build another plant in Rayong, Thailand, with five other partners for the production of a chemical used to make detergents. Construction of the plant, with economic incentives granted by the Thai government, was slated to begin in May 1990. This overseas expansion, though aggressive, was not enough to prevent a 1988 decline in Lion's sales and profits. Although 10&percnt: of the company's sales came from outside Japan, "we are a little bit behind our main competitors in Japan in globalizing our operations," a Lion representative admitted to Advertising Age on October 2, 1989.

Lion lagged behind its competitors in introducing a compact, highly concentrated detergent, a big market-winner in crowded Japan, where smaller is inevitably better. It was not until 1989 that Lion introduced Hi-Top, its compact product with fat-dissolving enzymes, in answer to Kao's Attack. Attack had enabled Kao to grab better than half the detergent market when it hit the stores in 1987. In 1990 compact detergents made up 70&percnt: of the Japanese detergent market, with Lion's overall share rising to around 25&percnt: after the introduction of its compact product.

Lion's development of new products was not without problems, however. In mid-1989 the Health and Welfare Ministry of Japan closed a Lion factory after discovering that the company in 1986 had misrepresented certain qualities of its Pentadecan hair-growth product while attempting to get it approved. As a penalty, the company was forced to withdraw Pentadecan, the market leader, from Japanese and Southeast Asian distribution, and to cease the manufacture for 20 days of all products made by the same division, a move that cost Lion $14 million. More importantly, the resulting negative publicity damaged the company's reputation, leading to fears about its overall image and sales.

Given these factors, it became clear by the end of 1989 that the company would not meet its goals until, perhaps, 1992. Shaken by its failure to beat Kao to market with an innovative compact detergent and facing a detergent price war and an overall lower market share, Lion set out to shore up profits by the end of 1989 by holding prices firm on its other products. In addition, the company planned to open a new fat-and-oil plant in Kagawa Prefecture, enabling it to launch a new product to vanquish Kao's lead.

It remains to be seen whether Lion's historical emphasis on innovative product development and foreign expansion will enable it to continue to thrive, or even take the lead, in an ever-changing market characterized by severe competition.

Principal Subsidiaries: Lion Fat & Oil (Taiwan) Co., Ltd.; Yu Kuo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Taiwan); Lionboy Trading Co., Ltd. (Taiwan); Taiwan Lion Chemistry Co., Ltd.; Taiwan Lion Trading Co., Ltd.; Lion Henkel (Taiwan) Ltd. (50&percnt:); Lion Corporation (T) Ltd. (Thailand); Lion Home Products (International) Ltd. Hong Kong; Southern Lion Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia); Lion Home Products (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia); Lion Home Products Pte., Ltd. (Singapore); Lion Corp. (America) (U.S.A.); Qingdao Lion Daily Necessities Chemicals Co., Ltd. (China, 50&percnt:).

Related information about Lion

A member of the cat family (Panthera leo), native to Africa and NW India (in prehistoric times was almost worldwide); brown; male with mane of long dark hair; inhabits grassland and open woodland; often territorial; lives in ‘prides’ averaging 15 individuals; the only cat that hunts in groups; eats mainly large grazing mammals.

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| binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Felis leo
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The lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four "big cats" in the genus Panthera. The lion is the second largest cat, after the tiger. The male lion, easily recognized by his mane, weighs between 150-225 kg (330-500 lb) and females range 120-150 kg (260-330 lb) www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/14.shtml. While once found throughout much of Africa, Asia and Europe, it is presently encountered in the wild only in Africa and in India (where it is found only in the Sasan-Gir National Park).

Population and distribution

In historic times the habitat of lions spanned much of Eurasia, ranging from Portugal to India, and all of Africa. Around the beginning of the current era they died out from Western Europe and since the 2nd century, the lion has disappeared from Europe. Between the late 19th century and early 20th century they also became extinct from North Africa and Middle East. Now, most of the population lives in Central Africa, and their numbers are rapidly decreasing, estimated as between 16,000 and 30,000 living in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 in the early 1990s. www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/vanishinglions/

The Asiatic Lion (subspecies Panthera leo persica), which in historical times ranged from Turkey to India through Iran (Persia) and from Caucasus to Yemen, was eradicated from Palestine by the Middle Ages and from most of the rest of Asia after the arrival of readily available firearms in the 18th century. The subspecies now survives only in and around the Gir Forest of northwestern India. About 300 lions live in a 1412 km² (558 square miles) sanctuary in the state of Gujarat, which covers most of the forest. Their numbers remain stable.

Lions had become extinct in Greece by 100 and in Caucasus, their last European outpost, in the 10th century. Other extinct subspecies are the Cape Lion, the European Cave Lion (subspecies Panthera leo spelaea) which coexisted with humans throughout the last Ice Age, and the American lion (subspecies Panthera leo atrox), a close relative of the European cave lion (not to be confused with the mountain lion or puma).

Social behavior

Lions are predatory carnivores who manifest two types of social organization. Some of the more publicized cases include the Tsavo maneaters and the Mfuwe man-eater. In folklore, man-eating lions are sometimes considered demons.

The Mfuwe and Tsavo incidents did bear some similarities. The lions in both the incidents were all larger than normal, lacked manes and seemed to suffer from tooth decay. Sometimes a female may defend her and the ousted male's children from the new master, but such actions are rarely successful, as he usually kills all the previous top male's cubs less two years old.[www.honoluluzoo.org/lion.htm Honolulu Zoo lion information page

Observers have reported that both males and females may interact homosexually.Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, St. Martin's Press, 1999; In the wild, about 8% of mountings will be with other males, while female pairings are held to be fairly common in captivity.

Other observers interpret mounting and thrusting among primates as actions to assert social status and hierarchy Ciochan, R.L and R.A.

Physical characteristics

The male lion, easily recognized by his mane, can weigh between 150-225 kg (330-500 lb), but usually most males average around 186 kg (410 lb) and females range from 120-150 kg (260-330 lb), and average around 125 kg (275 lb). Until around 10,000 years ago, maneless forms seem to have persisted in Europe, and possibly the New World. This maned form may have had a selective advantage that enabled it to expand to replace the range of earlier maneless forms throughout Africa and western Eurasia by historic times.Yamaguchi, N., A. SICB Annual Meeting & Exhibition Final Program and Abstracts 2003.

In the past scientists believed that the "distinct" subspecific status of some subspecies could be justified by their external morphology, like the size of their mane. This morphology was used to identify them, like the Barbary lion and Cape lion. However, now it is known that various extrinsic factors influence the colour and size of a lion?s mane, like the ambient temperature.West P.M., Packer C. Online full-text pdfYamaguchi, N. Online pdf

  • Panthera leo azandica - North East Congo lion.
  • Panthera leo bleyenberghi - Katanga lion or Southwest African lion.
  • Panthera leo europaea - European lion. Extinct around 100 due to persecution and over-exploitation, though may have been Panthera leo persica. Inhabited the Balkans, the Italian Peninsula, southern France and the Iberian Peninsula. It was a very popular object of hunting among Romans, Greeks and Macedonians.
  • Panthera leo goojratensis - Indian Lion.
  • Panthera leo hollisteri - Congo lion.
  • Panthera leo krugeri - South African lion or Southeast African lion.
  • Panthera leo leo (P.l.berberisca) - Barbary lion; Roman notables, including Sulla, Pompey, and Julius Caesar, often ordered the mass slaughter of Barbary lions - up to 400 at a time. www.pothos.org/alexander.asp?paraID=103&keyword_id=6&title=Lions
  • Panthera leo melanochaita - Cape lion;
  • Panthera leo massaicus - Massai lion.
  • Panthera leo maculatus - Marozi. May have been a natural leopard/lion hybrid.
  • Panthera leo nubica - East African lion.
  • Panthera leo persica - Asiatic lion or South Asian lion. Once widespread from Turkey, across the Middle East, to Pakistan, India and even Bangladesh, but large prides and daylight activity made it easier to poach than tigers or leopards.
  • Panthera leo roosevelti - Abyssinian lion.
  • Panthera leo somaliensis - Somali lion.
  • Panthera leo senegalensis - West African lion, or Senegal lion.
  • Panthera leo verneyi - Kalahari lion. Online pdf
    • Panthera leo atrox - American Lion or North American cave lion, about 35,000 to 10,000 years ago.
    • Panthera leo fossilis - Early Middle Pleistocene European primitive cave lion, about 500,000 years ago.
    • Panthera leo sinhaleyus - Sri Lanka lion or Ceylon lion.
    • Panthera leo spelaea - European cave lion, Eurasian cave lion or Upper Pleistocene European cave lion (300,000 to 10,000 years ago).Burger J, Rosendahl W, Loreille O, Hemmer H, Eriksson T, Götherström A, Hiller J, Collins MJ, Wess T, Alt KW. Online pdf
    • Panthera leo toscana - Tuscany lion - European primitive cave lion, was present around 1.6 million years ago.
    • Panthera leo vereshchagini - East Siberian and Beringian cave lion
    • Panthera leo youngi - North-Eastern Pleistocene China cave lion, 350,000 years ago.

    Variations

    A number of natural variations have been observed in the lion populations.

    White lions


    Although rare, white lions are occasionally encountered in Timbavati, South Africa. White lions are born almost pure white without the normal camouflaging spots seen in lion cubs.

    Cross-breeding lions with other big cat species


    Lions have also been known to breed with tigers (most often Amur and Bengal) to create hybrids called ligers and tigons. They have also been crossed with leopards to produce leopons and jaguars to produce jaglions. The marozi is reputedly a spotted lion or a naturally occurring leopon, while the Congolese spotted lion is a complex lion/jaguar/leopard hybrid called a lijagulep. Hybrids are still bred in private menageries and in zoos in China.

    The liger is a cross between a male lion and a tigress. Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile.

    The less common tigon is a cross between the lioness and the male tiger. Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 150 kilograms (350 lb), which is about 20% smaller than lions.

    Lions in culture

    • Heracles' principal attributes are his club and the pelt of the Nemean lion which he killed barehanded. Guggisberg, in his book Simba, says the lion is referred to 130 times in the Bible, for example in 1 Peter 5:8 where the Devil is compared to a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
    • The lion can also be found in stone age cave paintings.
    • Although lions are not native to China, lions appear in the art of China and the Chinese people believe that lions protect humans from evil spirits, hence the Chinese New Year Lion Dance to scare away demons and ghosts.
    • The lion holds historical significance for English heraldry and symbolism. The Three Lions, was a symbol for Richard the Lionheart, and later, for England.
    • The lion was adopted by the British people as their mascot together with the bulldog.
    • The lion is also a popular sport mascot. It was used as the FIFA World Cup mascot held in England in 1966 and the European Football Championships in 1996. The lion again became mascot with Goleo VI for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. A British group, The Lighting Seeds (inspired by the England football team emblem) have written the song Three Lions, which is the team's nickname. The National Football League also has the Detroit Lions as one of its teams. The Macedonian national football team are known as the "Red Lions" among their fans.
    • Singapore's name is the Anglicised form of the original Sanskrit-derived Malay name Singapura, which means 'Lion City'. 'Lion City' is also a common moniker for the city-state.

    Lions in art


    Lions have been widely used in sculpture and statuary to provide a sense of majesty and awe, especially on public buildings, including:
    • The Great Sphinx of Giza.
    • Nelson's column in London's Trafalgar Square.
    • The entrance to the Britannia Bridge crossing of the Menai Strait, Wales.
    • Patience and Fortitude, the large stone lions outside the main branch of the New York Public Library, also the mascots of the New York and Brooklyn Public Library system.
    • Chinese lions are frequently used in sculpture in traditional Chinese architecture. For instance, in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, two lion statues are seen in almost every door entrance.
    • The entrance to Sigiriya, the Lion-Rock of Sri Lanka, was through the Lion Gate, the mouth of a stone Lion.
    • The Dying Lioness is a relief panel from 650 BCE, Nineveh (modern day Iraq) depicting a half-paralyzed lioness pierced with arrows. This piece currently resides at home.

    Lions in literature

    • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in the Narnia series written by C.S. Aslan is the eponymous lion who features throughout the stories.
    • The Wizard of Oz features the Cowardly Lion.
    • In the Harry Potter series of books, the lion is the mascot for Gryffindor.

    Lions in media

    • There have been five different lions used as the mascot for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios, based on the mascot of Columbia University, MGM publicist Howard Dietz's alma mater. Although the five lions went by the name of Leo the Lion, the first was named Slats. Leo died in 1936 and is buried in Gillette, New Jersey.
    • In 1966, the live-action picture Born Free appeared, based on the true-life international bestselling book of the same title. It covered the story of the Kenyan lioness Elsa, and the efforts of Joy Adamson and her game-warden husband George in training the lioness for release back into the wild.
    • In 1994, Disney made a hugely successful animated feature film called The Lion King, during the height of Disney animation in the mid 90's.
    • Osamu Tezuka made an anime called The White Lion about a little lion cub who grew up without parents and had to rely on his friends to survive from hunters and other prey.
    • In 2005, the Kenyan lioness Kamuniak captured international attention when she adopted oryx calves, an animal species that is normally preyed upon by lions. Kamuniak's story was captured in the Animal Planet episode, "Heart of a Lioness".

    Lions in heraldry


    The lion is a common charge in heraldry, traditionally symbolizing bravery, valor and strength. The following positions of heraldic lions are recognized:
    • rampant
    • guardant
    • reguardant
    • passant
    • statant
    • couchant
    • salient
    • sejant
    • dormant

    Lion as place names

    • Leeuwarden, Netherlands
    • León, Spain
    • Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
    • Lviv (Lvov, Lwów), Ukraine
    • Lyon, France
    • Sierra Leone
    • Singaraja, Bali
    • Singaparna, Tasikmalaya, West Java
    • Singapore
    • Zalambessa, Africa

    See also

    • Asiatic Lion
    • European lion
    • Lion-baiting
    • Lion taming
    • Marsupial lion

    References



Additional topics

Company HistoryPharmaceuticals

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