Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81

Tokyo, Japan — That is with great sadness that Sony Corporation today announced the lack of Norio Ohga, Senior Advisor and previous President and Chairman, Sony Corporation. Mr. Ohga passed on to the great beyond at 9:14 AM on April 23, 2011 in Tokyo. The reason for death was multiple organ failure. He was 81 years old. a non-public wake may be held among family and shut relatives, and a corporate service will happen at a later date.

Commenting on today’s loss, Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO and President, Sony Corporation said, “Once I first joined Sony in 1997, Ohga-san was serving at the frontlines of Sony management as Chairman and CEO. His numerous and successful endeavors were well-known both in and out of Sony. Witnessing Ohga-san’s leadership firsthand was truly an honor, and one I continued to enjoy and take pleasure in in countless ways within the years that followed.

By redefining Sony as a corporation encompassing both hardware and software, Ohga-san succeeded where other Japanese companies failed. This is no exaggeration to attribute Sony’s evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation right into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san’s foresight and vision.

I offer my deepest condolences on his passing and pray that he may rest in peace.”

Pivotal Contribution to Sony’s Product Philosophy and Brand Image

Mr. Ohga was a student on the Faculty of Music of the Tokyo National University of good Arts and Music (now Tokyo University of the humanities) when he first met Sony founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. Sony’s founders immediately sensed in Mr. Ohga the makings of a pacesetter, and someone whose expert knowledge of sound and electrical engineering would receive advantages the corporate greatly. Therefore, in 1953, while still a student, Mr. Ohga was appointed a specialist and advisor to Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (now Sony Corporation) before fully entering the corporate in 1959.

After joining Sony, Mr. Ohga worked tirelessly to reinforce product quality, functionality and design, while also revolutionizing the corporate’s marketing and advertising initiatives, paving the style for the launch of a succession of innovative and game-changing products. Mr. Ohga passionately advocated the creation of goods that could be “attractive within the eyes of customers”, a philosophy that came to symbolize the rules of Sony’s way to design and engineering, and was key to the corporate’s worldwide success and growth.

Mr. Ohga, including Mr. Morita, shared a deep understanding of the significance of name management, and together they took every opportunity to remind employees to think first and act later, emphasizing that all in their decisions had an impact at the Sony brand. One in every of Mr. Ohga’s favorite expressions was, “The four letters of the ‘SONY’ brand are our best asset.” His efforts to spread the spirit of that message among every Sony employee were critical to enabling Sony to become the globally recognized brand it’s today.

Optical Disc Development Resulting in Creation of recent Markets

Mr. Ohga was also a person of vision and foresight. Anticipating the long run potential of compact optical disc formats, he personally drove Sony’s initiatives to explore this new frontier. In the course of the development of the CD, it was Mr. Ohga’s instincts as a trained musician that led him to push for a 12 centimeter format, providing sufficient recording capacity at 75 minutes to enable listeners to enjoy all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony without interruption. These negotiations ended in the CD specifications still in use today. After Sony commercialized the realm’s first CD in 1982, sales grew rapidly, and by 1987, CDs had overtaken LP record sales in Japan, changing the best way people listened to music. Mr. Ohga’s efforts to set up the CD format also contributed to the launch of subsequent optical disc formats akin to the MD, CD-ROM and the DVD, which not just revolutionized the patron electronics and music recording industries, but in addition other areas of technology, together with computer memory and game software.

“Hardware and software are two wheels on a car”

Driven by his philosophy that “hardware and software are two wheels on a car”, Mr. Ohga also led Sony’s negotiations with CBS Corp, leading to the establishment of CBS/Sony Records Inc. (now Sony Music Entertainment Inc.) in 1968. Taking a completely new method of record label management, which included the record company identifying and nurturing new artists itself, Mr. Ohga successfully grew CBS/Sony right into a market leader that by 1978 – only ten years after its establishment – led the industry in both annual sales and profit.

Mr. Ohga continued to push the limits of Sony’s content strategy, venturing beyond music into films, with the acquisition of Columbia Pictures in 1989. With this acquisition, the principles for Sony’s evolution right into a comprehensive entertainment company were now firmly in place.

Mr. Ohga also presided over the launch of Sony’s game business. The establishment of Sony Computer Entertainment in 1993 and subsequent worldwide success of “PlayStation” quickly secured Sony’s position on the forefront of this industry.

Contribution to Domestic and Global Economic Development

Mr. Ohga was also actively interested in multiple industrial and commercial organizations, promoting both domestic Japanese and global economic development. As Chairman of the Japan Electronics and knowledge Technology Industries Association (JEITA), he helped to bring discussions surrounding the last decade-long U.S.-Japan Semiconductor Trade Agreement of 1986 to an amicable conclusion in 1996. In 1998 he was appointed Vp of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), where he served as Chairman of the Committee on Administrative Reform, and later as Chairman of the Committee on New Business Development, contributing to Japan’s economic development. Furthermore, as Vp of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry he not just led initiatives to stimulate Japanese industrial development and native economic growth, but in addition sought to redefine the Chamber’s role by promoting closer cooperation between large and mid-to-small-sized corporations, and by providing a forum to supervise the creation and development of recent industries.

Throughout his career, Mr. Ohga also remained true to his calling as a trained musician, tirelessly devoting his energy to providing a superb financial base for the struggling classical music industry in Japan. He rescued the Japan Music Art Promotion (JMARP) institution which was facing the specter of closure, and was subsequently appointed Director. The organization was renamed Sony Music Foundation, and launched into a number of new initiatives, including assisting the advance of aspiring young musicians, and supporting various concerts and musical events to advertise the expansion of classical music as an art form.

Mr. Ohga received national recognition in 1988 when he was presented with the Japanese Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon, and in 2001 when he was presented with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. Nations world wide have also recognized Mr. Ohga’s achievements, with France presenting him the rustic’s highest decoration – the Legion of Honour – and Germany, Italy and Austria also bestowing Mr. Ohga with national awards of honor.