Akio Morita

Morita co-founded Sony with Masaru Ibuka in 1946 and insisted on selling under its own brand abroad, turning down a large 1955 order from an American retailer that wanted to put its own name on Sony radios. He moved to New York to learn the market and pushed products such as the Walkman over doubts from his own staff. His brand-first, global-from-the-start approach was unusual for postwar Japan. He died in 1999.