AKIO MORITA

SONY

Mary Rose M. Virtucio

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AKIO MORITA

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BORN: January 26, 1921, Nagoya, Japan DIED: October 3, 1999, Tokyo, Japan EDUCATION: High School Number Eight (Physics) Osaka Imperial University Faculty of Tokyo Institute of Technology

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OCCUPATION: Co-Founder of Sony

MILITARY : Navy Lieutenant (1944-45)

Awards
1982 1987 1991

1993

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Family Background

The Morita family has been brewing sake, miso and soy sauce for nearly 400 years in the city of Tokoname, near Nagoya. Akio was groomed to become the heir to the family business. As a student, Akio often sat in on company meetings with his father and he would help with the family business even on school holidays.
Copyright 2011

Beginning of SONY
May 7, 1946, Masaru Ibuka (age38, Senior Managing Director ) and Akio Morita (age25, then Managing Director)founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation)

Beginning of SONY

"We will try to create conditions where persons could come together in a spirit of teamwork, and exercise to their heart's desire and their technological capacity."

Teamwork

Totsuko employees on a recreational trip (Morita and Ibuka in the front row, first and second from right, respectively).

First Product, First Memorable Failure

Automatic Rice Cooker

Electrically Heated Cushion

Back in 1946, as Japan was moving to the new yen currency, Japan was apparently going through a rather tough economic time. So in order to keep their employees happy and employed, they had to find a way to earn the new currency.

AKIO MORITA

It had to be something different, something that nobody else was making.

Tape Recorder

for educational program P-Type Tape Recorder for home use H-type (1951)13kg less for institutional use G-type(1949), A-type(1950)

First Prototype Tape Recorder

AKIO MORITA
"The wider the market, the better. If so, selling only in Japan can be just as risky. It would be safer to depend on the entire world. We are not ready yet, but we must expand our market worldwide, Morita thought.

Trip to the United States

Akio Morita is successful in signing a contract with Western Electric.

In 1954, the company won a license to make transistors, a new technology that had been invented in America but had not yet been applied to radios which were still bulky valve-driven appliances.

SONY

Sony or Sonus = sound or sonic

Sonny Boy = young person with free and pioneering spirit

Transistor Radio
TR-52 transistor radio TR-55 transistor radio TR-63 transistor radio

shaped like the UN building in New York

Japan's first transistor radio

pocket transistor radio

Transistor Radio

TR-610 the world's smallest AM radio was sold with speakers at the time. Discussions centering on radio design.

Compact Cassettes Worldwide

By the end of the 1970s (stereo cassette tape )

Prototype with large headphones

H-AIR "MDR-3 Headphone

Television

Realization of a long-held dream.

Television
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World's first direct-view portable TV "TV8-301"

World's smallest & lightest micro-TV (TV5-303)

First Trinitron color TV (KV-1310)

SONY

March 2009, Sony employed more than 171,000 people. The company's annual revenue in 2009 was almost $8 billion, with almost $1.5 billion in profit.

How can you model the success of Akio Morita?

Trust your gut.

Find a good company name & product name.

Look after your people.

Akio Morita

"Don't be afraid to make a mistake. But make sure you don't make the same mistake twice."

Mary Rose M. Virtucio

Copyright 2010

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