Yamaha Guitar Company Case Study

The Yamaha Guitar Company has been an industry leader almost since its founding. Torakusu Yamaha set out to make quality products with the idea of 'kando' as the company's basic foundation. He wanted to be sure that any product sold would be something that the consumer would love to have and use. Something that would last and create lasting memories for the users. His company was able to do so. And, not just with stringed instruments. Yamaha Motors has carried that same philosophy into the realm of motorcycles and motor sports allowing even the most picky of gear heads to find the products that fit their needs. As time has gone on Yamaha has affected both individuals and nations. Carlos Santana, Paul McCartney, Genesis and others have used
At 19 he started a watch repair company but after that venture failed found himself exploring a variety of career paths. When asked to repair American-made organs he taught himself everything he could about the instruments, a theme which would resurface throughout the history of the Yamaha Corporation. After much research and some experimentation he started to make organs himself and the Yamaha Fukin Organ Manufacturing Company was born. Kando signifies an inspired state of mind and was a word first used by Torakusu to describe the company's mission. Yamaha hopes to "enrich culture with technology and passion born of sound and music," Torakusu apparently wanted to do the same thing ("Corporate Philosophy," 2014). Why else would he learn about organs? Why else would he begin to produce them. These entrepreneurial efforts were driven by his want of these things. Mr. Yamaha exemplified the four pillars of the company's kando. These pillars are customer-oriented and quality-conscious management; transparent and sound management; valuing people and being in harmony with society ("Corporate Philosophy," 2014). His leadership and forethought, as well as that of his successors, were based in the kando principles and lead to later corporate moves that would make the company even more
This subsidiary was founded in 1955 by Genichi Kawakami in a very similar way to how Torakusu started the original Yamaha Fukin Manufacturing Company. Kawakami hoped that Yamaha Motor Company would do for motorcycles and motor vehicles the same thing that Yamaha Music had done for pianos (and eventually would do for the guitar). It was Yamaha's initial hope to improve efficiency. After World War II the company was geared toward making airplane parts and with the similarity of motor systems the leadership saw an opportunity to both reap a profit and provide consumers with high quality products that would live by the same kando principles that had helped Yamaha's instruments become so famous. It didn't take long for the YA1 to become a world leader in motorcycles within a few years Yamaha bikes were winning races throughout the world. Said Kawakami, "I believe that the most important thing when building a product is to always keep in mind the standpoint of the people who will use it.," ("Yamaha Founding History," 2014). Yamaha did just that, keeping its consumers in mind as it continued to evolve its motor vehicles to include snowmobiles and water sports vehicles as well. It wasn't long after the development of Yamaha Motor Company was established that it moved to the United States, marking the beginnings of what would be the beginning of a long history for Yamaha in North America, a history that would make Yamaha a