Customer Development of Kyocera in its Founding Period

<p>In later years, Kazuo Inamori recalled the founding period of Kyocera, “we took on the ‘impossible’ and said ‘We can do it,’ and kept on doing it until we actually could do it. It may be a reckless ‘stretching’ to create the possible from the impossible. However, it was this reckless ‘stretching’ that led to the development of Kyocera’s technological capabilities, the creation of achievements, and the paving of the road to success”. The conditions regulated the ‘stretching’ which make the impossible into the possible should be examined in much broader context.</p><p>It was Kazuo Inamori and Masaji Aoyama, who were at the forefront of the sales activities, who carefully determined if it was ‘feasible impossible’ or not. Their ‘instincts’ as engineers must have supported their careful judgment. Naturally, they did not take on everything, and there were times of business negotiation when they immediately refused. Inamori and his team developed their sales activities while carefully examining the potential of Kyocera, in other words, the room for growth.</p><p>The potential to achieve goals is not something that is fostered only within the company. The Japanese electronics industry itself was an emerging industry in the 1960s, and unsolved problems existed everywhere. There were many counterparts in the trading network with whom to work on technological issues. Kyocera was nurtured within this trading network. Mentors for learning technology were not only in the trading network, but also in universities, academic societies, and the place like the Telecommunications Research Institute of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation.</p>