Sony's Mishap For Brand Rejuvination
Brand Rejuvenation
Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its eight operating segments – Consumer Products & Devices (CPD), Networked Products & Services (NPS), B2B & Disc Manufacturing (B2B & Disc), Pictures, Music, Financial Services, Sony Ericsson and All Other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, and Sony Financial. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
PlayStation 3 seems to have brought back some energy and zest for the brand. But it is an irony that the life of such a strong global brand has come to depend on a single product. Spying over the other competitors of Sony, it has been gradually but surely slipping from its ivory tower and failing to keep up with many of its followers turned competitors
Brand and focus
Maintaining consistency for brands in the current market place that is characterized by diverse cultures, increasingly empowered consumers and ever changing trends and consumer preferences. Consistency in the branding lexicon refers to the ability of the brand to convey to the consumers in a single voice across all customer touch points, the fundamental building blocks of any brand namely the brand identity, brand image, brand personality, brand essence, key performance indicators such as quality, features, price points and such. [/i]
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Carrying out these two contradictory things together is obviously complex no doubt; however this should be refused completely. Even though there are many specific reasons for Sony’s slide from the top, at a corporate level, Sony’s inability to manage consistency while constantly changing appears to be at the root of Sony’s decline.
An analysis of Sony’s ascent to global prominence brings into light the three major factors contributed to Sony’s ascent to global supremacy in the consumer electronics sector and they are:
Innovation:
Innovation defined the brand character of Sony.
The reason why Sony reached global prominence is because of its ability to constantly create products even before other companies could conceptualize them.
Innovation in the form of walkman, when Walkman was introduced into the market, there was no existing market for portable music. But because of this revolution there exists an entire generation of products and created a new category altogether
Visionary leadership:
Sony is a classic case to prove the strategic importance of a visionary leadership. Sony’s was responsible to create an environment that nurtured experimentation, and innovation. Again the management team supported the importance of branding
Pioneer advantage
It emerged as a leader in all sectors it forayed. Sony tested new ideas and played with innovations. But over the last decade, many reasons have contributed to Sony’s decline:
Unrelated diversification:
Controlled and managed largely by business families, companies blow up into conglomerates that does business in very diverse and unrelated industries. As such, Samsung trimmed down its organization, came out of unrelated industries and channeled its resources around one or two dominant businesses. But Sony still seems to have stuck up in multiple businesses.
Innovation dearth:
Walkman made Sony the undisputed leader in portable music player category. Sony did not follow up with any outstanding and innovative product line to sustain the initial success.. Sony has suffered similar challenges from many brands such as Samsung, Nokia, LG and others in different product categories. Sony’s lack of consumer oriented innovation has contributed greatly to its decline in recent years.
Lack of brand evolution:
Sony’s past surely contributes an enormous amount of heritage, history and achievements into the brand identity. But for a brand to be successful in the current ultra competitive globalized market place, it has to make itself very relevant to the current customer segments. Harping back on past laurels and expecting the customers to still support the brand due to its past glory will be a grave mistake as has turned out in Sony’s case. Sony has not been very successful in evolving as the brand for the new masses of the twenty first century. As such, the brand has not been in with the times as it were and that has contributed to its slide from the top.
Brand Rejuvenation
Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its eight operating segments – Consumer Products & Devices (CPD), Networked Products & Services (NPS), B2B & Disc Manufacturing (B2B & Disc), Pictures, Music, Financial Services, Sony Ericsson and All Other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, and Sony Financial. As a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
PlayStation 3 seems to have brought back some energy and zest for the brand. But it is an irony that the life of such a strong global brand has come to depend on a single product. Spying over the other competitors of Sony, it has been gradually but surely slipping from its ivory tower and failing to keep up with many of its followers turned competitors
Brand and focus
Maintaining consistency for brands in the current market place that is characterized by diverse cultures, increasingly empowered consumers and ever changing trends and consumer preferences. Consistency in the branding lexicon refers to the ability of the brand to convey to the consumers in a single voice across all customer touch points, the fundamental building blocks of any brand namely the brand identity, brand image, brand personality, brand essence, key performance indicators such as quality, features, price points and such. [/i]
[/i]
[/i]
Carrying out these two contradictory things together is obviously complex no doubt; however this should be refused completely. Even though there are many specific reasons for Sony’s slide from the top, at a corporate level, Sony’s inability to manage consistency while constantly changing appears to be at the root of Sony’s decline.
An analysis of Sony’s ascent to global prominence brings into light the three major factors contributed to Sony’s ascent to global supremacy in the consumer electronics sector and they are:
Innovation:
Innovation defined the brand character of Sony.
The reason why Sony reached global prominence is because of its ability to constantly create products even before other companies could conceptualize them.
Innovation in the form of walkman, when Walkman was introduced into the market, there was no existing market for portable music. But because of this revolution there exists an entire generation of products and created a new category altogether
Visionary leadership:
Sony is a classic case to prove the strategic importance of a visionary leadership. Sony’s was responsible to create an environment that nurtured experimentation, and innovation. Again the management team supported the importance of branding
Pioneer advantage
It emerged as a leader in all sectors it forayed. Sony tested new ideas and played with innovations. But over the last decade, many reasons have contributed to Sony’s decline:
Unrelated diversification:
Controlled and managed largely by business families, companies blow up into conglomerates that does business in very diverse and unrelated industries. As such, Samsung trimmed down its organization, came out of unrelated industries and channeled its resources around one or two dominant businesses. But Sony still seems to have stuck up in multiple businesses.
Innovation dearth:
Walkman made Sony the undisputed leader in portable music player category. Sony did not follow up with any outstanding and innovative product line to sustain the initial success.. Sony has suffered similar challenges from many brands such as Samsung, Nokia, LG and others in different product categories. Sony’s lack of consumer oriented innovation has contributed greatly to its decline in recent years.
Lack of brand evolution:
Sony’s past surely contributes an enormous amount of heritage, history and achievements into the brand identity. But for a brand to be successful in the current ultra competitive globalized market place, it has to make itself very relevant to the current customer segments. Harping back on past laurels and expecting the customers to still support the brand due to its past glory will be a grave mistake as has turned out in Sony’s case. Sony has not been very successful in evolving as the brand for the new masses of the twenty first century. As such, the brand has not been in with the times as it were and that has contributed to its slide from the top.