Akio Morita, the marketing guru most closely associated with the post-war rise of Sony Corp, has died of pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital. Last December the US’ Time magazine named Morita as one of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century, the only non-American to be nominated. In Japan, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Morita helped develop the Japanese economy as it is now.
