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Title: Sony by John Nathan ISBN: 0-618-12694-5 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Unveiling the Sony Mystique
Comment: Many business books focus exclusively on the physical evidence left behind by a business: the profit and loss statements, product plans and reviews while ignoring the essence of the company. In Sony: The Private Life, Nathan goes far beyond the polished exterior that Sony projects to the world; far beyond simplicity of the money that Sony made and spent. Instead he presents Sony as the complex creature that it is.
The book combines interviews with Sony executives and extensive research. From the first day in post WWII Japan to mid-1998 with offices worldwide, Nathan chronicles the growth of the company. Special attention is paid to how Sony designs and develops products. Nathan delves into the creation of Sony's highly profitable Trinitron line and the birth of the Walkman. Attention is paid to how Sony desires to be consistently different-and-better than its competition, though in some cases, the result is simply being different.
Unfortunately, Nathan seems to walk the company walk in some cases, not delving into controversial subjects as deeply as readers might like. This may, simply, be due to the lack of additional sources on the subject, as much of the book is spent discussing activities that occurred far from the public view. However, as Nathan had already completed several projects for Sony before writing the book, one has to question whether he was able to maintain complete objectivity. In fact, sometimes, Nathan seems more awful of Sony and the Sony founders than he describes most Sony employees as being.
Overall, Sony: The Private Life is an exceptional book. It provides valuable insight into the operations and management style of a Japanese company. Moreover, Nathan's attention to the players, as opposed to simply the company, allows readers understanding to go far beyond that provided by most business books. If you want to understand Sony or Japanese corporations in general, this is the book to buy.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Behind the Scenes Look at a Company and a Country
Comment: Sony has risen from the ashes of postwar Japan to become one of the truly recognizable brands around the world. Nathan does a superb job of documenting this story. There are two things that Nathan had going for him that really helped this book:
A) He knows Japan. This allowed Nathan to provide understanding of the company and the way the nation actually works. The Japanese business culture is truly a different animal than the American culture.
B) He was given incredible access. It's surprising that Sony agreed to give Nathan such an inside look.
Nathan's history is excellent, but I almost would have rather heard more about the actual products that Sony created rather than the political infighting, etc. (Even though Nathan does spend a good amount of time on the actual products). But this is a personal preference and Nathan really did a great job.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not the company, but the people
Comment: This book doesn't tell the story of the company SONY, but the career of the people who created and ran it: the Morita's, Ibuka, Ohga, Idei and some US officers - Schulhof, Yetnikoff.
The portraits are very favourable, nearly and sometimes really hagiographies (e.g. 'Yoshiko's genius as a hostess' p. 80)
For a more critical portrait of Akio Morita, see Ian Buruma's 'The Missionary and the Libertine'.
Sony is evidently a big success story, but it is also a tale of egos, ambitions, stress, clashes, strokes, heart attacks and fear of death (Akio Morita: I'll never die).
John Nathan gives us a good picture of the defeated Japan after WWII.
The Columbia saga is well told, but is better unravelled in Nancy Griffin's 'Hit and Run'.
The real story behind the loss of the crucial video battle is not revealed.
A good character study of the people who created a world company from scratch.
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Title: Digital Dreams: The Work of the Sony Design Center by Paul Kunkel ISBN: 0789302624 Publisher: Universe Books Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Business the Sony Way: Secrets of the World's Most Innovative Electronics Giant by Shu Shin Luh ISBN: 0470820977 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 02 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround by Louis V. Gerstner Jr. ISBN: 0060523794 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich by William L. Shirer ISBN: 0671728687 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 15 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro ISBN: 0394720245 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: July, 1975 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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