Sony Case Study

Sony Corporation is a multination conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan , and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue of US$88.7 billion (as of 2008) based in Minato, Tokyo .

Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video communications, video game consoles and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from Sonus, the Greek goddess of sound.

Sony, as an organisation, must deal with the dynamic industry they operate within. They established themselves by developing a stable work environment where engineers had profound appreciation of technology and could work as freely as they pleased, focussing on developing dynamic technologies and creating products that people longed for (Mintzberg et al, 2003).

Two new managers have been appointed at Sony in the last 15 years due to a number of developing problems, including the innovation ‘cogs’ within Sony slowing down, being forced into an aggressive pricing strategy, increased competition, losing the battle of VHS and Betamax, profit and sales remaining flat and the ongoing poor performance of Sony films (Mintzberg et al, 2003). Both managers initiated major strategic changes with varying degrees of success; firstly Nobuyuki Idei was appointed and initiated a major shift from analogue to digital technology, as there was a belief that Sony was falling behind the market in this respect. Idei also targeted the top position in the audio and visual industry, a universal standard in home computer devices and a new distribution infrastructure. He believed his job was the ‘regeneration of the entrepreneurial spirit’ (Mintzberg et al, 2003), believing it had been lost.

Sony’s problems continued and were ‘most obvious in its core electronics business, which accounts for two-thirds of its revenues’ as the consumer devices such as TV’s, DVD players and music players came under fierce price pressure and Sony failed to come up with any more trend-setting new gadgets to boost profits (The Economist, 2005). Idei resigned after a series of stumbles and handed the reins to Welsh-born American Howard Stringer, a former television executive (Dvorak, 2005, p.1). Prior to joining Sony, Mr. Stringer had a distinguished 30-year career as a journalist, producer and executive at CBS Inc (www.sony.net).

Stringer aimed to unite cutting-edge technology with entertainment content while reviving Sony’s electronic business. To combat the price drops of rivals Stringer streamlined Sony, unveiling a sweeping restructuring plan that cut 10,000 jobs, shed a number of unprofitable divisions and products and attempted to centralize decision-making (Palmer, 2006).