From the perspective of Alfred D. Chandler (Jr)'s notions and
theories, what were Sony's managerial failures (and Matsushita/JVC's
managerial successes) in the Betamax vs VHS conflict? Reference to
Chandler's 'three-pronged' investment strategy would be
helpful...thanks!

I know nothing about Chandler (except Raymond) but my understanding
was that Sony had the better system but wanted to dominate the
technology. The other manufacturers had different ideas.

I bought Betamax initially (in 1978) but swapped to VHS in 1988 or so.

I guess it's similar to Apple's attempt to keep the Macintosh
technology to itself after IBM had failed to dominate as it had hoped.

Thanks for the info probonopublico - i had suspected that Sony were
reluctant to licence the Betamax technology to as many third-party
manufacturers as they could have (unlike JVC and matsushita), like you
say. Apparently, pornography was an issue!

Any other input would be highly appreciated...