Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 95 The first goal

Although the radio industry has declined in Japan, acquiring an entire industry is still a rare opportunity for Yamaichi Securities, the fourth largest securities company in Japan.

President Yoshio Yokota, Vice President Jiro Okihira, and Managing Director Hideaki Nagano, a senior of Masato Takeshita, all began to travel to various places with their teams.

Among them, Yoshio Yokota, as the president, chose the more difficult JVC, which was the company that defeated Sony in the CD standard war.

The company itself is not actually that powerful, but it has a good father, which is Sony's lifelong enemy Panasonic.

Yes, JVC is a subsidiary of Panasonic.

It was precisely because of this relationship that Panasonic initially played a trick on Sony and fully supported JVC's VHS standard.

Panasonic's radio business was indeed failing in Japan, but it was doing well in overseas markets such as China. Yamaichi Securities was worried that Panasonic's top management would not sell, so the president personally stepped in.

First we went to Yokohama JVC to pay our respects at the pier, and then in a few days we went to Panasonic for the final negotiations.

Hideaki Nagano went to Sony, which is relatively simple.

Sony's radio business has been completely marginalized. As long as the price is right, not only Sony's own radio brand, but also its Aiwa Electronics radio brand can be sold.

Aiwa is also a very powerful subsidiary. It can compete with its father Sony in the field of portable players, and sometimes even have the upper hand.

"Hello, President Dahe. It's our first meeting. Thank you for your guidance."

After arriving at the Sony president's office, Nagano Hideaki took the initiative to step forward and handed over his business card like a subordinate without waiting for Norio Ohga to speak.

"You are too polite, Director Nagano. Thank you for your guidance."

Norio Ohga, the fourth generation of Sony.

That’s right, it’s the fourth generation.

Because Sony is a company that values both technology and marketing, and has a strong engineering culture, the position of president of Sony is rotated between the person in charge of technology and the person in charge of marketing.

The first generation was Ibuka Masaru who came from a technical background, the second generation was Morita Akio who came from a marketing background, the third generation was Iwama Kazuo who returned to being a technical background, and the fourth generation was Ohga Norio who came from a marketing background again.

Unfortunately, the third generation Kazuo Iwama died of cancer after developing the CCD, which was of vital importance and had a great impact on the world's video and photography technology.

The two chatted casually about music for a while, and then Nagano Hideaki took the initiative to mention the purpose of this trip.

"President Ohga, I wonder how your company's radio business is doing now?"

When Norio Ohga heard the word "radio", he couldn't help but look a little dazed.

“The radio project.”

His relationship with Sony started with radio. However, Sony's radio project had already withdrawn from the stage of history a few years ago.

Technological advancement will always eliminate many products.

However, a strong man like Ohga Norio would naturally not always indulge in the glory of the past.

He said calmly: "It's not bad. We have good sales in Southeast Asia, Latin America and other places."

Although he didn't know the ultimate purpose of Yamaichi Securities' visit, Norio Ohga was very smart and naturally would not reveal the truth about his own radio project.

He even said jokingly: "I heard that Panasonic's recorders are selling well in China, and we at Sony are also planning to invest and build a factory there."

This is a lie.

Norio Ohga is a very conceited person and has never been interested in the markets of underdeveloped countries such as China.

His development direction for Sony has always been developed regions such as North America and Western Europe.

This is also related to Sony's product line.

If Panasonic takes the civilian route where sales volume is king, then Sony is the king of high-end brands.

Whether it is the Trinitron technology for color TV, VCR technology, or the recently popular Walkman, they were all pioneered by Sony. Sony also relies on this innovation to continuously earn higher profits.

Because Sony is the pioneer of new things, its products are expensive and only the most developed countries in Western Europe, North America and Japan can afford them.

At most, we can add Australia and the Middle Eastern oil-producing countries that have recently started to make fortunes.

As for China, it only accounts for a small share of Sony's revenue and is usually written as "other" in Sony's financial reports.

Sony is too high-end, so it is also the last Japanese electronics giant to set up an office in China.

"Really? I wonder when Sony plans to open an office in China?"

"We are currently studying it, and it is not convenient to disclose the specific information for the time being."

"Well, that's really a pity."

The two of them kept arguing back and forth until 5pm. Nagano Hideaki knew that he couldn't come to any conclusion today, so he simply gave up.

He then smiled and invited, "I have two tickets for a piano concert. I wonder if President Ohga would be willing to honor me. Shall we go have a meal first, and then attend the concert?"

"Okay, I'll be happy to accompany you."

Norio Ohga graduated from Tokyo National University of Arts and Music, and also went to Munich Conservatory of Music for further studies. His dream is to become a classical musician.

As a result, when he visited the Sony factory during college, he was spotted by Akio Morita at first sight.

The reason was simple. Norio Ohga criticized Sony's recorder products as worthless and took out the design drawings of his own, more sophisticated recorder on the spot.

Among those who were criticized at the time was Akio Morita.

If you are a boss who is dedicated to the development of the company, how could you not want such a great talent?

Akio Morita shared the same idea as most people, thinking that they must recruit this guy.

Afterwards, he invited Norio Ohga to join Sony several times, constantly painting the pie and telling of Sony's bright future.

Let's create big scenes together, create a new world together, and promote world progress together.

The result was always failure.

"NO, NO, NO!"

"I am an artist, how can I be a worker?"

When Sony saw that it wasn't working, he started to go the lady route.

You know what, this method really works.

Sony finally convinced Norio Ohga by persuading his wife.

Of course, the more important reason why Sony was able to recruit Norio Ohga is.

Akio Morita promised that Norio Ohga would be the future president of Sony.

This can be seen from his rocket-like promotion speed.

When he first came to Sony, he served as the general manager of the product department and also led Sony's product design department. Five years later, he was promoted to director of Sony.

This speed is extremely rare not only among Japanese companies, but even among the unconventional American companies.

Of course, Norio Ohga also deserves the respect of Akio Morita.

It was under the leadership of Akio Morita that Sony flourished in the entertainment industry and became one of the most well-known companies in the world.

(End of this chapter)