SAST Wingees

Made in Japan by Akio Morita

This book “Made in Japan” has been on my to do list for a long time. Got hold of a copy and finished reading it recently. Akio Morita, the man who put Sony on the world map, has written (has 2 co-authors as well) this book in a candid style. This book was first published in 1986, much before the Japanese economy hit the skids. Akio had no way of predicting that, of course, in an age when anything the Japanese did was an instant fad and replicated widely. You can sense his pride throughout the book. Not really knowing the man aside from this book, some of his comments could be construed as arrogance. Some highlights: 1. Akio covers the War, Pearl Harbor and the A-bombs and his own tenure in the military extremely well giving the Japanese perspective and how these events were viewed in Japan at that time.  2. How Sony (originally called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo) was founded on Masuru Inbuka’s vision of making a tape recorder, when they didn’t even know how to make the tape or other imortant components. Shows how passion and vison can make great things happen. Akio also covers how marketing and sales are crucially important when the tape recorder they built didn’t sell well initially untill they figured out target customer segments. .3. The thing that really put Sony on the pedestal –  the Walkman, was made when Ibuka demanded a music system that only he could listen to and could carry everywhere. Akio also narrates the funny incident of how some junior folks in the marketing department picked the name Walkman when he was on vacation. He really didn’t like the name. But all the marketing materials were ready to go, so he couldn’t change the name! 4. Akio then covers the portable transistor radio which Sony built adapting the transistor invented in the USA. He also narrates how he rejected the large Bulova OEM deal because he wanted the Sony brand to be built independently. This story is very popular as a negotiation case study.  5. Sony’s legendary Trinitron technology gets a few pages.  6. The chapter on management gives you a good feel for how Sony pursued a more egalitarian open style of  management, in comparison to the other Japanese companies. Akio gives a lot of comparison with American management styles. p188 has a mention of an young researcher who “came up with a system of plasma display that might one day be adaptable for computers and even flat TV monitors. But the idea seemed very far in the future to us, too far to invest a lot of time and money in at the momemnt”. Maybe this is why Sony missed the boat on flat panel TVs and is still playing catch up to Samsung and Sharp. 6. Later, Akio gives some coverage to the famous Betamax Vs. VHS story. And also covers the quasi-statesman like role he plays in helping US businesses setup shop in Japan, representing Japanese business interests in the US etc. 7.  This para on p245 reminds me of the Indian education system:
“Having said so much about how competition has worked to make our industry great, I must admit there is another side of the picture, which is that excessive competition is at work in our society today. It exists in education and in social life, and it has actually destroyed many young lives. The competition for a place in school is intense. And because entrance to the “best” schools is based completely on merit, the only way to get in is through competitive examination. This has led to the making of Japan’s famous “education mothers” who force their children into a very difficult and cheerless life of drill and study. Some years ago, when we moved into a new house in the Aoyama district of Tokyo, I discovered there was a prep school for kindergarten in the neighborhood”. Isn’t it scarily similar to India? Now that I am here I can say that the “education mother” disease is totally ingrained.    8. In the penultimate chapter “Japan and the world” this passage on p288 caught my attention:
“I mentioned earlier that no American companies at all were interested in our compact disc player technology, not a single one, and yet this is the technology of the future, with standards agreed upon by all the major Japanese and European makers. While we are moving into the next generation, American companies are clinging to the old twelve-inch black analog record, which will soon be as outmoded as the standard play 78-rpm record is today.
When others cannot see the opportunities and refuse to get into a business, this gives us a great advantage. But I dislike it when there are complaints then because somebody else had the foresight to go into the business and capture the market. American companies should not turn their backs on this technology and give it up, because it will lead to many other applications, not just the reproduction of music. Ironically, some of the technology that made this new recording breakthrough possible was pioneered in the United States, but American companies nowadays seem more interested in service industries than in turning new technologies into attractive products that will be enjoyed by a vast number of consumers”. How much the world has changed since then? Apple’s iPod gave the death blow to the Sony Walkman using components made in Japan (Toshiba hard drive, Sony battery..).  Sony is still to figure how to compete in the digital music world dominated by Apple. Overall, this is a book everyone interested in Technology and Management must read.