The Made in Japan - Book Report/Review Example

Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony (Signet) Introduction This book, Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony is an autobiography of Akio Morita, who is one among the founders and the former chairman of the company Sony Corporation. The author of the book is Akio Morita, and he got assistance from Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura. The book mainly highlights the story of Akio Morita and also the story of the formation of Sony Corporation after the brutal defeat of Japan in World War II. The story of the rapid rise to fortune and fame of Sony Corporation is also depicted in the book. The insights on Japanese culture, a way of thinking, business management philosophies and their styles are also part of the book. Body Life of Akio Morita according to the book Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony Akio Morita, a successful Japanese businessman, was born on January 26, 1921 and died on October 3, 1999. He was the first son among four siblings and a fifteenth generation heir to a sake-brewing family in Nagoya, Aichi Japan. Morita developed an interest in electronics and sound production while still a child due to her mom’s love for classical music. He loved to experiment with wire recorders to record his voice. He was so interested in wireless and electronics experiments that he built his radio while growing up. Morita pursued his interest in science when he went for higher education at the Osaka Imperial University, where he was in the lab of Professor T. Asada. Professor Asada was as an expert in modern & applied physics (Morita, 1986 p. 10). On completion of his degree in 1944, Morita assisted his professor in research for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Morita was a lieutenant that worked at the Japan Navy as a technical officer. He supervised a special group of people comprising teams of scientists and engineers at the Aviation Technology Center. Morita, together with the group was trying to make the thermal guidance weapons perfect and also the night-vision gun sights. Morita met Masaru Ibuka while still working with the Japan Navy. Ibuka was an electronics engineer, who was 13 years his senior. The two of them instantly became close friends and were the founders of the Sony Corporation. The United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and subsequently bombed Nagoya. The bombs destroyed the industrial cities of Japan, and they were wastelands. Morita had a feeling that they had already lost the war, but was not sure how it would end. He thought he had to play a major role in the reconstruction of the Industry city of Nagoya that is in his home area. Morita was then called by his physics teacher to go teach at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He developed contact with his friend Masaru Ibuka, who they had worked together on a team project earlier. Ibuka was opening a lab in Japan that specialized in controlling the frequency of radar devices (Morita, 1986 p. 35). He was however not satisfied and together with Morita and twenty employees formed Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporations. The company later became Sony Corporation. Morita and Ibuka founded the company while they were 25 years old and 38 years old respectively. Morita’s family invested ¥190,000 (USD $ 500) to the company. The co-founders of the company wanted to establish the company financially and at the same time come up with something new. They opted for the rice cooker but never perfected it even after several models and attempts. They eventually got some cash flow from homemade cooking pads the wives of their employees were making. Efforts by Ibuka & Morita to create a wire recorder were not successful because there were no raw materials available plus no manufacturer was willing to provide any since it was too expensive but had a small customer base. The two then build a large broadcasting and mixing unit for NHK, and got appreciation from customers (Morita, 1986 p. 95). The next project was to work on a tape recorder that was better than their wire recorder. Morita was successful in convincing the Japanese people to buy the recorder after a little struggle. Places Akio Morita’s life had an influence on the social/economic/political content of the time Morita had lessons on selling and how to engage the people while doing it. He mastered the art and the products of TTEC; K.K. became massive. The selling of the tape brought a big economic change to Japan, which was suffering economically after the world war. The company also filed patents for the AC Bias Systems forbidding anyone from selling the tapes without acquiring a license from them first. It increased the revenue of the company further and thus improved the economy (Morita, 1986 p. 112). The process was not easy as Morita had to fight with some American companies regarding the sale of the tapes. Morita and Ibuka won the court battles and in the process claimed rights to Amour’s patent in the US thus were able to export their products without having to pay the license fee. The success of the tape recorder made TTEC, K.K. start eyeing international markets for their products. Morita in his lab saw the future of the transistor’s use in microelectronics. The transistor radio was the heart of Sony Corporation success. The transistor-based electronics is the core technology of the all the computer and consumer electronics revolutions of this time (Morita, 1986 p. 115). One of the physicists at TTEC, K.K. Leo Esaki, received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his contribution to the transistor research breakthrough and solid state physics. The company put Japan in the market as the country with the most advanced electronics in terms of technology. The company made the magnetic recording tapes in 1949 and was able to sell the first tape recorder in 1950. The sale was major for Japan’s economy that was struggling to get back on its feet. This was the first company to produce the pocket sized radio that was fully transistorized in 1957. Morita realized customers were having a hard time pronouncing the name of their company so in 1958 changed it to Sony Corporations (Morita, 1986 p. 132). From reading the book, we see Morita flattering the Japanese; their management skills, their culture, their work quality, their technology, their working style etcetera. Japan rose from the shambles after effects of World War II like a Phoenix bird. They had a remarkable economic growth after the war given that they did not have rich minerals like USA or Russia nor did they have oil/natural gas like the Arabic countries. Japan has seen Tokyo rebuilt three times from different calamities like devastating tsunami, active volcanoes, deadly earthquakes and the World War II. Morita and Ibuka therefore put Japan in the global market as competitors in the global economy (Morita, 1986 p. 213). The invention of the transistor by Morita was a great success that helped Japan rise after World War II. The consensus within the Japanese industrialized to export their products was so as to boost its economy since it did not have any natural resources. The Sony Corporation of America had its establishment, in 1960 as SONAM. It was the first Japanese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961. It had its trading over the counter in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Sony established its footprints all over the world in the 1970s and 1980s. The countries include Germany, the UK, and France. The establishment was so as to reach out to its customers through its stores at any key location. Sony was also educating potential customers in Europe about their various products. There was a family like feeling in Sony Corporation as Morita developed a healthy relationship with his employees (Morita, 1986 p. 175). The company started receiving competitions from different companies around the world that were manufacturing the same product as them. Morita explains how they welcomed the competition positively and strived to make the best products for their customers. Reasons for studying Akio Morita Sony Corporation is reputed as one of the most successful electronics manufacturing company. The co-founder and former chairman of the Corporation is Akio Morita, who was an intelligent physicist. Akio Morita invented the use of transistors in microelectronic devices. The innovation is still important to date as the transistor is still a major component in all the computer devices in production (Morita, 1986 p. 114). The book is an informative on the growth of Sony Corporation as well as the autobiography of Akio Morita. The lessons on how a young Japanese man dreamt of a greater Japan after World War II and came up with ways of rebuilding it is inspiring to me as a student. The family-oriented conservative Japanese culture mentioned in the book is important in learning how different the Japanese are from Americans in many ways. Conclusion Akio Morita was a young Japanese man who strived to put his vision into action. The struggles of the young man paid off as he became the owner of a successful enterprise. The book is insightful on the life of Morita since birth and how he made a great invention that raised Japan’s economy that had suffered during World War II. References Morita, A., et al. (1986). Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony. New York: E. P. Dutton. Read More