Akio Morita: Playaholic Boss
In 1993, Akio Morita-Mr. Sony-fell to the ground during a game of tennis. He had since been in a wheel-chair. At 72, he was playing tennis at 7 a.m. each Tuesday. He challenged everybody, including young athletes.
This was in keeping with a man who created one of the first global corporations. He saw long before his contemporaries that a shrinking world could present enormous opportunities for a company that could think beyond its own borders, both physically and psychologically. And he pursued that strategy with his persistent brand of energy in every market, particularly the U.S. It was notable that in 1998, according to a Harries survey, Sony was rated the No.1 brand name by American consumers, ahead of Coca-Cola and General Electric.
盛田昭夫:游戏狂老板
1993年，盛田昭夫先生。索尼在一场网球比赛中摔倒在地上。从那以后，他一直坐在轮椅上。72岁时，他每周二早上7点打网球。他向所有人挑战，包括年轻的运动员。
他创立了第一批全球公司之一。早在同时代人之前，他就认识到，一个不断萎缩的世界，可能为一家能够超越自身心理和生理边界进行思考的公司带来巨大机遇。值得注意的是，根据哈里斯公司的一项调查，1998年，索尼被美国消费者评为头号品牌，超过了可口可乐和通用电气。
Morita emitted a natural radiance, and his personality, which he himself described as "cheerful,"was loved by many. He had a wide circle of friends both in Japan and abroad, including individuals like former Prime Minister of Japan, former U.S. Secretary of State, and orchestra conductors.
盛田散发出一种自然的光芒，他的性格——他自己形容为“开朗”——受到许多人的喜爱。他在日本国内外都有广泛的朋友圈，包括日本前首相、美国前国务卿和乐队指挥等人。
In 1993, Morita was asked by Gaishi Hiraiawa, then chairman of Keidanren, to be his successor. Keidanren is the most prestigious business association in Japan, and all CEOs in Japan would like to hold an important position in the organization. Until this time, Morita had never really been accepted by the Japanese establishment as Sony was a relatively small company and didn't come from the traditional strong houses of steel making, public utilities and heavy industry. As it turned out, the day of Morita's stroke was the day the succession announcement was to have taken place.
1993年，时任日本经济团体联合会(Keidanren)主席的平川盖石(Gaishi Hiraiawa)邀请盛田昭夫担任他的继任者。日本经济团体联合会是日本最负盛名的商业组织，日本所有的ceo都希望在该组织中担任重要的职位。在此之前，盛田昭夫从未真正被日本当局所接受，因为索尼是一家相对较小的公司，并非来自传统的钢铁制造、公用事业和重工业等强大企业。事实证明，盛田昭夫中风的那天，正是宣布继任的日子。
Morita also demonstrated his ability to break away from conventional thinking in the financial area, when Sony issued American Depositary Receipts in the U.S. IN 1961. Sony paved the way for Japanese companies to raise foreign capital, at a time when the common practice of Japanese management was to borrow funds from banks.
As changing the name Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to Sony indicates, Morita was eager to diversify Sony's operations outside of the electronics business. Sony Prudential life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a 50-50 joint venture with the Prudential life Insurance Co. of America. Sony purchased Columbia Pictures Entertainment, enabling the company to become a comprehensive entertainment company that owned both quality software content and a wealth of hardware.
1961年索尼在美国发行美国存托凭证时，盛田昭夫还展示了他打破金融领域传统思维的能力。索尼为日本企业筹集外资铺平了道路，当时日本管理层的普遍做法是从银行借款。
Sony America considered that bad English and changed it to Soundabout for the U.S. ; Freestyle for Sweden and Stowaway for Britain. Morita was leery of using a different name for each country, and when sales were less than rewarding, he changed the name universally to Sony Walkman. Subsequently, the Walkman was a worldwide hit that is now featured in major dictionaries.
索尼美国公司(Sony America)认为英语很糟糕，于是把它改成了美国的声音;瑞典的自由式和英国的偷渡者。盛田昭夫对每个国家使用不同的名字都很谨慎，当销量不佳时，他就把所有国家的名字都改成了索尼随身听(Sony Walkman)。后来，随身听风靡全球，现在主要的字典都收录了随身听。
Sony's engineering department was generally opposed to the concept of a tape player without a recording function (it would be added later), but Morita would not be denied. He insisted on a product that sounded like a high-quality car stereo yet was portable and allowed the user to listen while doing something else - thus the name Walkman.
索尼的工程部门普遍反对没有录音功能的磁带播放器的概念(稍后会添加)，但盛田昭夫不会拒绝。他坚持要推出一款听起来像高品质汽车音响但又便于携带的产品，让用户在做其他事情的时候也能听，因此取名为Walkman。