Akio Morita was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1921, the son of a wealthy sake brewer, groomed from the third grade to become the successor of a 14-generation family business. As the eldest son, he was destined to be the legal heir of that business. In Morita's own words, his business education started very early in life. At the age of 10, his father made him attend board meetings. He was taught to monitor the brewing process and evaluate the quality of sake-brewed at the factories. He was also given key lessons in managing people-skills that would serve him well in the future.
When Morita reached 10th standard, he realized that he was more interested in mathematics and physics. However, as Japan's defeat in the war looked inevitable, especially after the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, the life of Morita, a 24 year-old student at Osaka Imperial University, changed drastically.
Trained
as a physicist, he joined the Japanese Navy as a lieutenant
during World War II. It was at the Navy's Wartime Research
Committee, Morita met Maseru Ibuka, an electronics engineer.
In true entrepreneurial spirit, Morita traded the life
in the sake-brewing family business, for the uncertainties
of a start-up. Morita along with Ibuka founded Tokyo
Tsushin Kogyo KK (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering
Corporation, the forerunner to Sony) in the rubble of
post-war Japan. |
