Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony

Cofounder and chairman of Sony Corporation, Morita, who personifies Japan's postwar technological ascendancy, ascribes his interest in electronics to his mother's love of Victrola recordings of European music. With the help of Time magazine's Tokyo bureau-chief Reingold and Japanese journalist Shimomura, he traces the development of his multinational firm, starting with a primitive tape recorder he built amid Tokyo's wartime rubble. Determined to change the image of Japanese goods to one of quality in foreign markets, especially in the U.S. where he established a subsidiary, he was gratified that Sony products were soon copied by global competitors. While retaining the mental discipline of his native education, Morita has adopted features of the Western world. He contrasts the Japanese familial, long-term concept of employee relations and other business practices with those of the U.S., which he criticizes for its litigious, hasty and often uncompromising attitudes. Liberalization of trade on both sides, he avers, would be a positive step in solving the worldwide economic crisis. Photos not seen by PW. 100,000 first printing; major ad/promo; Fortune Book Club dual main selection; BOMC and Executive Program alternates; author tour.(October 20)