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Known for. Co-founder of Sony. Spouse. Yoshiko Kamei. Children. 3. Awards. Albert Medal (1982) Akio Morita (盛田 昭夫, Morita Akio, January 26, 1921 – October 3, 1999) was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka.
- A Symbol of Japan’s Postwar Economic Miracle
- A Visionary Name Choice
- Resisting Temptation
- Ibuka’S Toy Becomes The Walkman
- New York Debut
- Controversial Opinions
- Amiable and Magnanimous
In December 2020, Ezra Vogel, famed US Japanologist and professor emeritus at Harvard University, passed away. Just a year earlier, in an interview with Mainichi newspaper’s Economist magazine, he lamented contemporary Japan’s loss of “hunger.” He spoke of the passing of the prominent entrepreneurs of postwar Japan, including Morita Akio, Honda Sōi...
The name “Sony” was the brainchild of Morita, who was adamant that the company name should be easy for people outside Japan to pronounce. He knew that neither Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō nor its Japanese abbreviation, Tōtsūkō, would do. He and Ibuka struggled to find a suitable name, finally settling on “Sony” in 1955. The name, registered in katakana, was...
The background to Sony’s emergence as a global brand includes a decisive episode that is now company lore. In 1955, the company developed the world’s second transistor radio, and a major US watch manufacturer offered to buy 100,000 units. Morita was initially impressed with the offer, given the scale of their business, but his excitement cooled whe...
Morita also possessed an eye for recognizing potential hit products. The story of the Walkman portable headphone cassette playeris a classic example. It began with a request in 1978 to developers by Ibuka, then honorary chairman, to customize a portable cassette player for him. He wanted to be able to enjoy music in stereo when flying overseas on a...
Morita’s pioneering global approach was radical. In 1962, Sony opened a showroom on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Morita believed that demand for Sony products would be spurred by a prominent presence in the Big Apple, visited by people from all over the world. A part of him also dreamed of brandishing the Japanese flag in this major arena of the busine...
Thanks to Morita’s desire to fit in, he gained many friends and acquaintances from diverse fields, including leading businessmen, heads of state, politicians, and artists. But the 1980s saw a growing fear in the West of the threat posed by Japanese business, and increasing trade friction with the United States and Europe. In 1989, Morita co-authore...
The first time I met Morita, I was impressed that although he was chairman of the company, he wore the same gray uniform as the employees, and was smiling and amiable throughout the interview. This man was contending with world heavyweights on an equal footing, but he was not intimidating. If anything, he had an air of humility. Many hoped that he ...
Oct 3, 1999 · Morita’s major concerns were the financial and business matters; he was responsible for marketing Sony products worldwide. Some of Morita and Ibuka’s product successes include early consumer versions of the tape recorder (1950; Ibuka had developed magnetic recording tape a year earlier), the transistorized radio (1955), and the “pocket-sized” transistor radio (1957).
Oct 3, 1999 · He was 78. Morita co-founded Sony with former Japanese navy colleague Masaru Ibuka in a bombed-out department store in 1946, borrowing $500 to start a radio repair business. He was the guiding ...
Dec 7, 1998 · Sony’s globalization began in the U.S., where Morita moved his entire family in 1963. In that way he would understand Americans, their market, customs and regulations, thereby increasing the ...
Oct 3, 1999 · Before that he was the junior partner to Masaru Ibuka, an engineering genius who, while not as widely known in the West, is considered in Japan to be the main founder of Sony. Mr. Ibuka died in ...
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Akio Morita (盛田昭夫, Morita Akio) (January 26, 1921 – October 3, 1999) was co-founder, chief executive officer (from 1971), and chairman of the board (from 1976–1994) of Sony Corporation, the world-renowned manufacturer of consumer electronics products. Together with Sony co-founder Ibuka Masaru, he pioneered popular electronic ...
