''Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony'' is an autobiography of

Akio Morita was a Japanese businessman and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka. Early life Akio Morita was born in Nagoya. Morita's family was involved in sake, miso and soy sauce production in the village of Kosugaya (currently a part of Tokoname ...

, the co-founder and former chairman of

Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. It was written with the assistance of Edwin M. Reingold and Mitsuko Shimomura. The book not only narrates the story of Morita, but also of the Sony Corporation's formation in the aftermath of Japan's brutal defeat in World War II, and its subsequent rapid rise to fame and fortune. The book also provides insights into Japanese culture and the Japanese way of thinking, particularly their business management philosophies and styles. The Japanese behavior is explained by putting it into a context based on Japan's history; recent and ancient. Morita introduces the origins of his family, and how Sony was founded. Chapters picture the war, early tape recorders, and various conclusions on international markets. The

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

was invented in North America in 1947, and Sony took advantage of it. The biography gives authentic details about patent issues, business conferences in various countries, and the invention of the

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for p ...

. The autobiography was originally published in English ({{ISBN, 0525244654) in 1986 and has been translated to 12 languages.

Sections

The book is divided into the following nine sections: # War # Peace # Selling to the World (My learning curve) # On Management (It's all in the family) # American and Japanese Styles (The difference) # Competition (The fuel of Japanese Enterprise) # Technology (Survival Exercise) # Japan and the World (Alienation and Alliance) # World Trade (Averting Crisis)

Sections

See also