Management Hall of Fame: Leading Management Gurus
Akio Morita
Sony Inc: Innovation
as
Global Enterprise (1921-1999)
-
"All you need is the best product in the world, the most efficient
production in the world, and global marketing." (Akio Morita)
Key Work
- Akio Morita graduated from Osaka Imperial University in 1944.
- Trained as a physicist, Morita was an officer in the Imperial
Japanese Navy during World War II.
- Electrical engineer, with virtually no
experience, co-founded a small company TTK (Tokyo Tshushin Kyogu) with
a prototype for a rice cooker.
- Traveled to United States to license transistor technology.
- Developed World's first all-transistor television
then grew into the Sony electronics
- After the war, on May 7, 1946, Morita and Ibuka founded Tokyo
Tsushin Kogyo K.K (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the
forerunner to Sony) with about 20 employees and initial capital of
¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years old, Morita 25. Morita's family invested in
Sony during the early period and was the largest shareholder.
- In 1949, the company developed magnetic recording tape and in 1950,
sold the first tape recorder in Japan. In 1957, it produced a
pocket-sized radio (the first to be full-transistorized) and a year
later renamed itself Sony (sonus is Latin for sound, and Sonny-boys is
Japanese slang for "whiz kids"). In 1960 it produced the first
transistor television in the world.
- In 1961, Sony Corporation of America was the first Japanese company
to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
- Produced "Walkman" , best seller, making music portable
- Produced its first CD players.
- In 1989, Sony bought Columbia Pictures. Sony enters Hollywood, music production and
global media
- On November 25, 1994, Morita announced his resignation as Sony
chairman, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.
Sony gave the world today's most innovative electronic technologies, from the portable transistor radio to the Sony Playstation. Like few others, it was
Akio Morita's
innovation and globalization agenda that made Japan one of the leading
industrial countries.
See also
Lesson: It takes few leading men to transform a war torn economy into
a world leading economic power
Books & References:
- Akio Morita, with Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura. Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony
 . New York: Dutton, 1989.
- Akio Morita (Co-Author) and Shintaro Ishihara. The Japan That Can
Say No (Simon & Schuster, 1991, ISBN 0671758535, ISBN 4334051588 in
Japanese)
- Nathan, John. Sony : The Private Life . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
- Made in Japan Akio Morita and Sony
by Akio Morita; Edwin M Reingold; Mitsuko Shimomura
- Preparing Tomorrow's Business Leaders Today. by Peter F Drucker; New
York University. Graduate School of Business Administration.
Language: Publisher: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1969]
- Destinies Shared: U.S.-Japanese Relations by Paul Gordon Lauren;
Raymond Finlay Wylie Publisher: Boulder : Westview Press, 1989.
- The Book of Management Wisdom: Classic Writings by Legendary Managers
by Peter Krass Publisher: New York ; Chichester : Wiley, ©2000.
Additional Resouces:
IIM Executive Education & Management Training
|
|
