Business 2.0 - Magazine Article - How a Banana Saved a Company





"Japanese toymaker Takara was almost bankrupt. Then it made a bold bet on a piece of fruit -- and its employees' passion.



By Andy Raskin, March 2003 Issue

You might think the moral of this story is that you can save your company simply by taking a risk on something silly. But that's not the moral of this story.





A few months ago, I read that a company was selling a dog-to-human translator. The manufacturer, Japan's No. 2 toymaker, Takara, claimed that Bowlingual could decipher the barks of 50 breeds. CBS News even had its Tokyo correspondent "talk" to a cocker spaniel named Ruby. The product line also included a collection of robot jellyfish, a talking tissue holder, and an alarm clock shaped like an angry old man who, when it's time to wake up, descends from the ceiling and screams at you."