Akio Morita Quotes

The important thing in my view is not to pin the blame for a mistake on somebody, but rather to find out what caused the mistake.

...the differences between U.S. and Japanese companies go beyond the cultural.

...without an organisation that can work together, sometimes over a very long period, it's difficult to see new projects to fruition.

We tell our young managers: 'Don't be afraid to make a mistake. But make sure you don't make the same mistake twice'.

There is no secret ingredient or hidden formula responsible for the success of the best Japanese companies.

The investor and the employee are in the same position, but sometimes the employee is more important, because he will be there a long time whereas an investor will often get in and out on a whim in order to make a profit.

The "patron saint" of Japanese quality control, ironically, is an American named W. Edwards Deming, who was virtually unknown in his own country until his ideas of quality control began to make such a big impact on Japanese companies.

Executives of the company must have the necessary qualities to direct the personnel by showing them the way to do things.

Once you have a staff of prepared, intelligent, and energetic people, the next step is to motivate them to be creative.

...I established the rule that once we hire an employee, his school records are a matter of the past and are no longer used to evaluate his work or decide on his promotion.

I believe people work for satisfaction.

...the company must not throw money away on huge bonuses for executives or other frivolities but must share its fate with the workers.

Management of an industrial company must be giving targets to the engineers constantly; that may be the most important job management has in dealing with its engineers.

We all learn by imitating, as children, as students, as novices in the world of business. And then we grow up and learn to blend our innate abilities with the rules or principles we have learned.

The American system of management, in my opinion, also relies too much on outsiders to help make business decisions., and this is because of the insecurity that American decision makers feel in their jobs, as compared with most top Japanese corporate executives.