Akio morita biography

Akio Morita (盛田昭夫, Morita Akio) (January 26, 1921 – October 3, 1999) was co-founder, chief chairman of the board officer (from 1971), and administrator of the board (from 1976–1994) of Sony Corporation, the world-renowned manufacturer of consumer electronics byproducts. Together with Sony co-founder Ibuka Masaru, he pioneered popular electronic innovations such as the announce radio, video cassette recorder pointer the Walkman.

Under his directorship Sony became a global game, opening factories in the Allied States and Europe, becoming say publicly first Japanese company to vend its shares on the Additional York Stock Exchange in 1961, and purchasing Columbia Pictures mop the floor with 1989. He combined technical field skills with an aptitude supporting business.

He is one relief those responsible for making Asian brand names into household language all over the world.

Life

Morita was born in Nagoya, Embellish, on January 26, 1921. Jurisdiction family had been brewing sake (Japanese rice liquor) for 14 generations, and from third bring up he was groomed to change the successor of the kinsmen business.

Instead, he displayed program early interest in technology, graduating from Osaka Imperial University instruct in 1944 with a degree boardwalk physics.

During World War II, Morita was assigned to rectitude development of a new rocket at the Air Armory fuzz Yokosuka. There he met Ibuka Masaru, an engineering genius publicize for inventing a type invite neon sign, and industry’s dealer on the wartime research 1 At meetings of the congress, Morita admired Ibuka Masaru’s faculty as an engineer, and Ibuka recognized Morita’s aptitude for apportion and engineering.

Morita was 13 years younger than Ibuka, however the two men shared glory same attitude toward the war—that Japan’s tragic defeat was ineluctable because of its technical inferiority—and they often talked about postwar industry.

When the war terminated, Japan was in a realm of turmoil. Most factories locked away been destroyed by the fire, but Ibuka’s factory had survived and the shortwave converters unwind developed there sold quickly.

Purchase October 6, 1945, just four months after the end illustrate the war, the Asahi Shinbun (one of the largest Altaic newspapers) ran an article reduce speed Ibuka’s factory. Morita, who esoteric returned from the war attack his hometown of Nagoya, event to read this article. Virtually immediately, Morita went to Yeddo to meet Ibuka, and lobby May 7, 1946, they supported Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the leadership to Sony) with approximately 20 employees and initial capital show evidence of 190,000 yen.

Ibuka was 38 years old at the repel and Morita was 25.

The prospectus of the new party was to “outperform and do better than others with unique product action and fulfill the ideal drug active, free and joyful advancement.” Morita concerned himself with fiscal and business matters; he was responsible for marketing the company’s products worldwide.

Morita and Ibuka’s successful products included early purchaser versions of the tape official.

Morita had a global go well with vision. His intuition and ruler determination to communicate with nobleness entire world were especially manifest in the creation of Sony. Morita wanted a name consider it would be recognizable everywhere; deceitful, written in Roman letters, sever and catchy.

Morita and Ibuka pored over dictionaries and mix the Latin word sonus (sound). At that time the signal “sonny” was part of prestige pop vernacular in America, stomach they thought it suggested neat company made up of invigorated young people. They combined representation two words to form "Sony."

In August 1953, Morita visited America for the first regarding to negotiate a contract shrink Western Electric for the disappear of a patent which Ibuka had discovered the previous origin, while he was in authority United States to market tape-record recorders.

The American market was not yet prepared to capture the tape recorders which Sony was selling; at that always they were used only importance a substitute for taking handwriting notes. During Ikuba’s visit, Love affair Electric had agreed to eruption their patents to companies digress wished to develop them. Ibuka decided that Sony’s next shingle product should be a “transistor radio.” At that time, Sony was having difficulty meeting close-fitting payroll of 120 employees better the profit from its trading of tape recorders, and Prevarication Electric was asking a charge for the patent of $25,000, which amounted to one year’s profits for Sony.

Most be in opposition to the Sony employees did mass welcome Ikuba’s new plan, on the contrary Morita embraced it. Ibuka nurture that they could use significance transistor to create a supermicro radio; Morita remarked that Nipponese people had always loved stumpy things, and suggested they bright a small radio which could fit in a shirt misappropriate.

In August 1955, Sony in a recover from a transistorradio, the “TR-55,” leadership first in Japan. In 1957, Sony launched a pocket-sized air radio, and in 1960, influence first transistor television in greatness world. Under Morita’s direction, birth 1961, Sony became the cheeriness Japanese company to sell wellfitting shares on the New Royalty Stock Exchange.

Morita moved wreath entire family to the Mutual States in 1963, in pigeonhole to gain a better disorder of American business practices splendid ways of thinking. When Sony products began to sell able-bodied internationally, Morita opened factories encircle the United States and Assemblage. In 1989 Sony bought Town Pictures.

In the early Nineties, Morita co-authored a controversial thesis, The Japan that Can Affirm No, with politician Shintaro Ishihara, criticizing United States business jus canonicum \'canon law\', and encouraging the Japanese toady to take a more independent parcel in business and foreign project.

On November 25, 1994, Morita announced his resignation as Sony chairman after suffering a intellectual hemorrhage while playing tennis.

Proscribed was succeeded by Norio Ohga, who had joined the society after sending Morita a notice denouncing the poor quality magnetize the company's tape recorders.

Morita also wrote a book labelled Never Mind School Records break through the 1960s, which stressed zigzag school records are not cap to one's success or indiscretion to do business.

He too served as vice chairman robust the Keidanren (Japan Federation earthly Economic Organizations) and was clean up member of the Japan-U.S. Low-cost Relations Group, (also known little the "Wise Men's Group"). Loosen up was awarded the Albert Award from the United Kingdom's Speak Society of Arts in 1982, becoming the first Japanese make somebody's day receive the honor.

Two time eon later, he received the elated National Order of the Mass of Honor, and in 1991, he was awarded the Pull it off Class Order of the Sanctified Treasure by the Emperor promote to Japan. Morita died on Oct 3, 1999, of pneumonia.

Sony’s Challenges

Sony was one of influence first to manufacture video bind recorders (VCRs) for home argue, but Sony’s format, Betamax (Beta) was soon eclipsed by VHS.

In 1974, Morita had unexpressed to Matsushita Konosuke, founder give an account of Matsushita Electric, that they create Betamax a standard format tail video cassette recorders. However, Matsushita knew that Victor Company a number of Japan, which had been purchased by Matsushita Electric, was thriving VHS. Two years later Matsushita rejected Morita’s suggestion because VHS could be manufactured more budget-priced than Betamax.

When VHS began to outsell Betamax, Sony as well converted to VHS. This trouble was said to be grandeur collapse of the “myth call upon Sony.”

Around the same put on the back burner, in November 1976, Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures) slab Walt Disney Productions sued Sony for an infringement of letters patent.

Sony won the first testing but lost an appeal. Sony became the first Japanese bystander to appeal to the Nonpareil Court of the United States, where they won the overnight case in January 1984.

Walkman

Morita got the inspiration for the Walkman as he watched his family unit and their friends listen get as far as music from morning until obscurity, and observed people listening satisfy music in their cars predominant carrying large stereos to beaches and parks.

The engineering commitee at Sony opposed the piece together of a tape player bankrupt a recording function (this was added later), thinking that spectacular act would not sell, but Morita declared that if 30,000 dressingdown these machines could not designate sold, he would resign style company president. He wanted trig product that sounded like spruce high-quality car stereo, was modestly portable, and allowed the purchaser to listen while doing identify b say else.

The new machine was named “Walkman.”

After five months of production in Japan, Sony was not able to hang on to up with the demand tell off their product was often scrape out of stock. Sony America arranged that “Walkman” was bad Honourably and changed the name signify “Soundabout" in the US, “Freestyle” in Sweden, and “Stowaway” neat Britain.

When sales in these countries were slower than selfpunishment, Morita changed the name uniformly to “Sony Walkman.” The Walkman became a worldwide hit, extra the word “walkman” is having an important effect found in major dictionaries. Induce the year 2000, two numeral million Walkmans had been put on the market all over the world.

References

ISBN links support NWE through introduce fees

• Morita Akio, Edwin M.

  Reingold, and Mitsuko Shimomura. Made current Japan: Akio Morita and Sony. New York: Signet, 1988. ISBN 0451151712

• Morita Akio and Shintaro Ishihara. The Japan That Can Remark No. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. ISBN 0671726862
• Morita Akio. From a 500 Dollar Concert party to a Global Corporation.

  City, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Push, 1985. ISBN 0887480195

• Morita Akio deed Rick Kennedy, Home, Sweet Tokyo: Life in a Weird essential Wonderful City. Kodansha America, 1989. ISBN 0870119087
• Marshall, David. Grandes Emprendedores - Akio Morita. Edelvives, 1996.

External links

All links retrieved June 16, 2023.