The Impact of the Apollo Project on Creativity and Innovation Management at
Sony: The Implications for Project Management
Abstract. April 12th, 2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the fist human being—
Yuri Gagarin—sent into outer space. This event, as well as the Soviet’s launch of the
world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik in 1957, had a tremendous impact on the whole
world and especially on the United States. Everyone knows the history, but not everyone
knows that these events meant the beginning of creativity research and creativity
management in the United States and had a tremendous impact on the most epochal
projects of the 20th century. The objective of this presentation is to examine a great
project undertaken afterwards the Gagarin’s historical flight into space—the Apollo
project—and its impact on creativity and innovation management in such an innovative
and successful company as Sony. The practical implications for project managers and the
lessons learned from these great case studies are also discussed.
Case studies are the important data source about various facets of such an
unprecedented undertaking as the Apollo project and its influence on Sony. The case
study method is ideally suited to the investigation and description of events or individuals
characterized by their rarity that is the case with the Apollo project and Sony. It can
intensively describe the particular features of distinguished projects, companies, or
individuals than is possible with any other research methodology. Case studies provide a
holistic view of the subject (Foster, 1986; Frey, 1978) and allow researchers to develop
and validate theories grounded in detailed observation of specific events or/and
individuals. Such thorough observation allows the analysis of subjective factors such as
people’s preferences, views, and values (Merriam, 1988).
The main finding of this research is that John F. Kennedy’s speech and the Apollo
project had a tremendous impact on Akio Morita, a co-founder of Sony and his company.
The Apollo project thus determined a unique approach to creativity and innovation
management at Sony, which has great implications for project management.
Specifically, according to Morita, Kennedy set a very clear target—going to the
moon within ten years—which changed everything. Even though America began a space
program to catch up the Soviet Union, only the Kennedy’s speech provided the muchneeded target. Morita believed that the target was a clear challenge. It meant an enormous
leap forward would be needed. Nobody knew how to do it, all was theory. However, in
order to reach one target, the whole nation became creative. This is why the Apollo
project is a unique one, because it was successfully undertaken at the national level.
Akio Morita came therefore to believe that managers had to determine clear goals
and go for them, encouraging subordinates to excel. A senior management at Sony had
always demanded original thinking from its employees, and they received a lot of it.
From a management standpoint, it is very important to know how to unleash employees’
inborn creativity. Morita was convinced that anybody has creative ability, but very few
people know how to use it. His solution to the problem of unleashing human creativity
was always to set up a target. “When an engineer or scientist is given a clear target, he
will struggle to reach it. But without having a target—if your company or organization
just gives him a lot of money and says “Invent something”—you cannot expect success”
(Morita, 1987, p. 166). “In industry, we must have the theoretical background, and we
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must have the pure research that precedes development of new things, but I have learned
that only if we have a clear goal can we concentrate our efforts” (Morita, 1987, p. 166).
However, it is not enough to have creativity—and, therefore, subsequent innovation—in
technology or product development only. Akio Morita believes that it is possible to have
a good idea, a fine invention, but still miss the boat. He gave an example of how Texas
Instruments pioneered a small radio, but did not see its future and therefore gave up. So
product planning, which means deciding how to use technology in a given product,
demands creativity as well. “And once you have a good product it is important to use
creativity in marketing it. Only with these three kinds of creativity—technology, product
planning, and marketing—can the public receive the benefit of a new technology. And
without an organization that can work together, sometimes over a very long period, it is
difficult to see new projects to fruition” (Morita, 1987, pp. 169-170).
This interesting and useful approach to creativity and innovation management at
Sony will be presented in detail in this presentation. The implications from the Sony
approach and the Apollo project for the field of project management will be analyzed.
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