Description
case study,longitudinal management,Sony corporation
2011
[Type text]
STRETIGACAL CASE STUDY OF SONY CORPORATION
Zarmina Siraj ul haq
April 23, 2011
[LONGITUDNAL MANAGEMENT]
Strategies deployed and resulting outcomes
CONTENTS:
COMPANY PROFILE
BACKGROUND OF SONY CO.
SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES 1. STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY SONY IDEA OF INNOVATION
EVALUATION OF SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES: RECENT PAST STRATEGY CRITICAL EVALUATION
2
COMPANY PROFILE:
Company Name
Sony Corporation
Founded
May 7, 1946
Headquarters
1-7-1 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0075, Japan
Representative Corporate Executive Officers
Chairman, CEO and President Howard Stringer Vice Chairman Ryobi Chubachi
Major Products
Audio: Home audio, portable audio, etc. Video: Video cameras, digital still cameras, and DVD-Video players/recorders, and Digital-broadcasting receiving systems Televisions: LCD televisions Information and communications: PC, printer system, broadcast and professional use audio/video/monitors and other professional-use equipment Semiconductors: LCD, CCD and other semiconductors Electronic components: Optical pickups, batteries, audio/video/data recording media, and data recording systems
Locations of Major Offices and Research Centers (in Japan)
Tokyo, Kanagawa, Miyagi
3
Headcount (Consolidated )
167,900 (as of March 31, 2010)
Consolidated Sales and Operating revenue (2009)
7,214,000 million yen
BACKGROUND OF SONY CO:
Sony is the world's most well known companies of electronic. Its foundation was made in Japan; the company has taken its plunge from ground root level to multination giant. Its innovative nature and ambitious work has made it a profitable company for more than 60 years. Howard Stringer was the company's chairman, CEO and president, as of 2009.
Foundation:
Foundations for Sony Corporation were laid down in 1946 after World War II in Tokyo. the name that was given to it was Tokyo telecommunication engineering corp. its first founder were Maseru Ibuka and aio morita.when the company started, its first investment was of mere 200,000 yen, that is $1,500.the very first product of company was power mega phone which was released in 1950.sony is that company which released Japan s first tape recorder ever.
Globalization of Sony
In mid 1950 s the Sony decide to go global with its products and first barrier that it faced was the name, Sony looked for a new name as the initials of the name TTK were taken by another company. So after a long span of discussion the company came up with new name of Sony by combining Latin word sonau and American word sonny. The wanted a different name that was not found in any language for trade mark purposes.th name changing decision faced very opposition by many within the company, as they were holding the point that a large time has spent on establishing its original name in global world. But regardless of this in 1958 the name was changed to Sony corp. officially. After name changing issue resolved the
4
Sony began to make it global for this purpose in 1960 it opened its first branch in US. And after 8 years of it Sony opened another in United Kingdom but it didn t stop there. It remained growing and untill1973 it put its pace in Spain and France too. And then in Germany in 1986
Original Products
Sony is always trending in introducing technologies by following its tradition Sony launched it first transistor radio in 1955 TRR-55 .Soon after this the company launched it first pocket size radio.sony was the one who in 1960 produced world s first portable TV TV8-301.By continuous improvement in TV technologies the company within 2 years produced its first tiniest all-transistor TV they never stop there and in 1989 they produced first ever handy cam, the portable, easy to carry and use with 8mm camcorder once again in 2003 the company release very firtstever Blu-ray co player. In 2005, Sony made up gradation in the Handy cam to the High Definition Handy cam, by doing so they created the world's smallest video camera.
SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES:
STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY SONY: IDEA OF INNOVATION:
Sony Corporation is number 1 in its industrial approach, which includes 60 years of integrity and high quality production behind its well-recognized, famous brand name. It has universal brand recognition, and that kind of brand which stands for quality, innovation, integrity, and service. Sony Corporation is doing what others are doing. If we go throughout the history of Sony corp. we came up with knowledge that it has demonstrated the ability to capture people s imagination and enhance their lives. Further, few of the companies are as well positioned to run the digital age into live, homes and businesses world, for the next 50 years and beyond.
5
Sony is a sort of corporation that is with meeting at its very heart. Sony due to its Ambitious nature is an integrated business model based the company which is well placed to bring new benefits to consumers by combining hardware, software, content and services. Its not only about laptops, refrigerators .Sony is now introducing products which are beyond thinking of people around. Sony is working to change the lives of people and giving satisfaction to their customers and introducing new and suitable technologies.
EVALUATION OF SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES:
Sony Corporation, famous for its innovative nature and technological experiments has successfully created a well known brand name previously. Now days however, its legend seem to be falling apart. Most hiccup news for Sony was falling of net profit for july-september 2006 which was 94% and 1.7 billion yen to quarter In fact, compared to 28.5 billion Yen for the same period last year. The main reasons and issues for the declining profit are caused by the critical strategic issues faced by Sony which became a drawback for them.
RECENT PAST STRATEGIES:
The strategic issue Sony corp. was facing included the inefficient manufacturing structures which eventually decrease Sony s quality and badly affects their reputation and caused a decline in their product competitiveness. DeWit & Meyer (2004: p192) argued that the essence of most uniquely Japanese management practice will be their productivity improvement, TQC (Total Quality Control) activities, QC (Quality Control) circles, or labor relation. All this can be reduced to one word: Kaizen . They also argued that the implication of TQC or CWQC
6
(Company Wide Quality Control) in Japan have helped Japanese Companies to generate a process-oriented way of thinking and in developing strategies that assure continuous improvement. However, in the case of Sony, they did not try to make any improvement or perform well in Kaizen .they didn t implement an efficient manufacturing structure that could ensure high product quality which not only affect their product quality and caused a great damage to the company. For example, there is the call of 9.6 million Sony Laptop batteries which were found to overheat and potentially burst into flames where Sony not even failed to fully study the problem they didn t go for correction. And there are complaints from Japan s consumer about PS3 system. Now these are the issues which will affect the compatibility and status of Sony badly. The ultimate failure of Sony in effectively implementing Kaizen or maintaining an effective manufacturing structure to ensure the customers that they will have high quality products, had damage their strong brand name and reputation which has caused them to lose their product usability and competitive advantages in the market. As in a report it is argued It is important to emphasize that if an organization seeks to build competitive advantage it must meet the needs and expectations of its customer . The fact and emerging thought that Sony s product qualities are now unable to meet the needs and expectations of their customer had completely decreases the confidence of the market and wipes away its reputation. It has also been argued that a good reputation is something that all business would like to have but in some cases a good reputation is much more valuable than in others . Reputation is one of the noticeable intangible resources for Sony that can differentiates themselves from the competitors for them to charge a premium price for their excellent product and quality, as Kotler & Keller
7
(2006) argue, good reputation can create a positive prejudice in the mind of the customer which make customer prefer the brand. Therefore, the diminishing Sony s reputation will create a negative prejudice and tend to weaken their competences which will directly affect their competitive advantages and become a main contributive threat for Sony.
CRITICAL EVALUATION
Besides than quality and reputation issues, Sony is insufficient in responding to the shift of market demand and losing its competitive advantages. The delays for the European launch of PS3 due to manufacturing problems has caused Sony to become incapable of fulfilling the increasing market demands. This is increasing the stake for Sony as there are other strong competitors such as Microsoft and Nintendo to have a good head start in gaining market shares and ultimately in enjoying as first mover s advantages. Besides, Sony also responding slower than others to the increasing demand of Plasma TVs and lost ground for key growing area. As Mintzberg suggest, first mover may gain advantages in building distribution channels, in typing up specialized suppliers or in gaining the attention of customer and the first product of a class to engage in mass advertising tends to impress itself more deeply in people s minds than the second, third or fourth . Therefore, Sony has lost its competitive advantages and large proportion of the market shares especially in the game and electronic industry; they are also now unable to get benefit from the first mover advantages, which left them behind of their competitors.
8
doc_585000834.docx
case study,longitudinal management,Sony corporation
2011
[Type text]
STRETIGACAL CASE STUDY OF SONY CORPORATION
Zarmina Siraj ul haq
April 23, 2011
[LONGITUDNAL MANAGEMENT]
Strategies deployed and resulting outcomes
CONTENTS:
COMPANY PROFILE
BACKGROUND OF SONY CO.
SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES 1. STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY SONY IDEA OF INNOVATION
EVALUATION OF SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES: RECENT PAST STRATEGY CRITICAL EVALUATION
2
COMPANY PROFILE:
Company Name
Sony Corporation
Founded
May 7, 1946
Headquarters
1-7-1 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0075, Japan
Representative Corporate Executive Officers
Chairman, CEO and President Howard Stringer Vice Chairman Ryobi Chubachi
Major Products
Audio: Home audio, portable audio, etc. Video: Video cameras, digital still cameras, and DVD-Video players/recorders, and Digital-broadcasting receiving systems Televisions: LCD televisions Information and communications: PC, printer system, broadcast and professional use audio/video/monitors and other professional-use equipment Semiconductors: LCD, CCD and other semiconductors Electronic components: Optical pickups, batteries, audio/video/data recording media, and data recording systems
Locations of Major Offices and Research Centers (in Japan)
Tokyo, Kanagawa, Miyagi
3
Headcount (Consolidated )
167,900 (as of March 31, 2010)
Consolidated Sales and Operating revenue (2009)
7,214,000 million yen
BACKGROUND OF SONY CO:
Sony is the world's most well known companies of electronic. Its foundation was made in Japan; the company has taken its plunge from ground root level to multination giant. Its innovative nature and ambitious work has made it a profitable company for more than 60 years. Howard Stringer was the company's chairman, CEO and president, as of 2009.
Foundation:
Foundations for Sony Corporation were laid down in 1946 after World War II in Tokyo. the name that was given to it was Tokyo telecommunication engineering corp. its first founder were Maseru Ibuka and aio morita.when the company started, its first investment was of mere 200,000 yen, that is $1,500.the very first product of company was power mega phone which was released in 1950.sony is that company which released Japan s first tape recorder ever.
Globalization of Sony
In mid 1950 s the Sony decide to go global with its products and first barrier that it faced was the name, Sony looked for a new name as the initials of the name TTK were taken by another company. So after a long span of discussion the company came up with new name of Sony by combining Latin word sonau and American word sonny. The wanted a different name that was not found in any language for trade mark purposes.th name changing decision faced very opposition by many within the company, as they were holding the point that a large time has spent on establishing its original name in global world. But regardless of this in 1958 the name was changed to Sony corp. officially. After name changing issue resolved the
4
Sony began to make it global for this purpose in 1960 it opened its first branch in US. And after 8 years of it Sony opened another in United Kingdom but it didn t stop there. It remained growing and untill1973 it put its pace in Spain and France too. And then in Germany in 1986
Original Products
Sony is always trending in introducing technologies by following its tradition Sony launched it first transistor radio in 1955 TRR-55 .Soon after this the company launched it first pocket size radio.sony was the one who in 1960 produced world s first portable TV TV8-301.By continuous improvement in TV technologies the company within 2 years produced its first tiniest all-transistor TV they never stop there and in 1989 they produced first ever handy cam, the portable, easy to carry and use with 8mm camcorder once again in 2003 the company release very firtstever Blu-ray co player. In 2005, Sony made up gradation in the Handy cam to the High Definition Handy cam, by doing so they created the world's smallest video camera.
SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES:
STRATEGY FOLLOWED BY SONY: IDEA OF INNOVATION:
Sony Corporation is number 1 in its industrial approach, which includes 60 years of integrity and high quality production behind its well-recognized, famous brand name. It has universal brand recognition, and that kind of brand which stands for quality, innovation, integrity, and service. Sony Corporation is doing what others are doing. If we go throughout the history of Sony corp. we came up with knowledge that it has demonstrated the ability to capture people s imagination and enhance their lives. Further, few of the companies are as well positioned to run the digital age into live, homes and businesses world, for the next 50 years and beyond.
5
Sony is a sort of corporation that is with meeting at its very heart. Sony due to its Ambitious nature is an integrated business model based the company which is well placed to bring new benefits to consumers by combining hardware, software, content and services. Its not only about laptops, refrigerators .Sony is now introducing products which are beyond thinking of people around. Sony is working to change the lives of people and giving satisfaction to their customers and introducing new and suitable technologies.
EVALUATION OF SONY CORPORATION STRATEGIES:
Sony Corporation, famous for its innovative nature and technological experiments has successfully created a well known brand name previously. Now days however, its legend seem to be falling apart. Most hiccup news for Sony was falling of net profit for july-september 2006 which was 94% and 1.7 billion yen to quarter In fact, compared to 28.5 billion Yen for the same period last year. The main reasons and issues for the declining profit are caused by the critical strategic issues faced by Sony which became a drawback for them.
RECENT PAST STRATEGIES:
The strategic issue Sony corp. was facing included the inefficient manufacturing structures which eventually decrease Sony s quality and badly affects their reputation and caused a decline in their product competitiveness. DeWit & Meyer (2004: p192) argued that the essence of most uniquely Japanese management practice will be their productivity improvement, TQC (Total Quality Control) activities, QC (Quality Control) circles, or labor relation. All this can be reduced to one word: Kaizen . They also argued that the implication of TQC or CWQC
6
(Company Wide Quality Control) in Japan have helped Japanese Companies to generate a process-oriented way of thinking and in developing strategies that assure continuous improvement. However, in the case of Sony, they did not try to make any improvement or perform well in Kaizen .they didn t implement an efficient manufacturing structure that could ensure high product quality which not only affect their product quality and caused a great damage to the company. For example, there is the call of 9.6 million Sony Laptop batteries which were found to overheat and potentially burst into flames where Sony not even failed to fully study the problem they didn t go for correction. And there are complaints from Japan s consumer about PS3 system. Now these are the issues which will affect the compatibility and status of Sony badly. The ultimate failure of Sony in effectively implementing Kaizen or maintaining an effective manufacturing structure to ensure the customers that they will have high quality products, had damage their strong brand name and reputation which has caused them to lose their product usability and competitive advantages in the market. As in a report it is argued It is important to emphasize that if an organization seeks to build competitive advantage it must meet the needs and expectations of its customer . The fact and emerging thought that Sony s product qualities are now unable to meet the needs and expectations of their customer had completely decreases the confidence of the market and wipes away its reputation. It has also been argued that a good reputation is something that all business would like to have but in some cases a good reputation is much more valuable than in others . Reputation is one of the noticeable intangible resources for Sony that can differentiates themselves from the competitors for them to charge a premium price for their excellent product and quality, as Kotler & Keller
7
(2006) argue, good reputation can create a positive prejudice in the mind of the customer which make customer prefer the brand. Therefore, the diminishing Sony s reputation will create a negative prejudice and tend to weaken their competences which will directly affect their competitive advantages and become a main contributive threat for Sony.
CRITICAL EVALUATION
Besides than quality and reputation issues, Sony is insufficient in responding to the shift of market demand and losing its competitive advantages. The delays for the European launch of PS3 due to manufacturing problems has caused Sony to become incapable of fulfilling the increasing market demands. This is increasing the stake for Sony as there are other strong competitors such as Microsoft and Nintendo to have a good head start in gaining market shares and ultimately in enjoying as first mover s advantages. Besides, Sony also responding slower than others to the increasing demand of Plasma TVs and lost ground for key growing area. As Mintzberg suggest, first mover may gain advantages in building distribution channels, in typing up specialized suppliers or in gaining the attention of customer and the first product of a class to engage in mass advertising tends to impress itself more deeply in people s minds than the second, third or fourth . Therefore, Sony has lost its competitive advantages and large proportion of the market shares especially in the game and electronic industry; they are also now unable to get benefit from the first mover advantages, which left them behind of their competitors.
8
doc_585000834.docx