Sony Corporation Case Study

Sony Corporation is a Japanese owned company, created in 1946 based in Tokyo, Japan. The company competes in the technology market with diversity. This includes video games, computers and computer hardware, television, media players, etc. With that being said, Sony has had their ups and downs over the past few years, just like everyone else in this industry. Things such as the U.S. economy can really affect the future of this company. Now that the economy is on the downfall, things such as entertainment are not as important as paying for food, gas, and other bills. It is important to realize these things as you analyze the company due to the fact that the company

In addition, Sony operates in the one business sector which is the computer entertainment industry. Sony distributes and market PlayStation products including PS4, PS3, PS2, PSP and others accessories and gaming equipment (IBISWorld, 2013). Thus, I believe there is a high power of suppliers on the subject of hardware and accessories. We need to estimate the prices of the cost of hardware units that we need to use. Since the productivity of IBMs Cell

Philips NV is a Dutch company founded in 1891 and is one of the world’s largest electronics enterprises. There are four main divisions: lighting, consumer electronics, professional products, and components. Their main competitors are Matsushila, General Electric, Sony, and Siemens. In the 1980’s the company had several hundred subsidiaries in 60 countries as well as operating manufacturing plants in more than 40 countries. They employed more than 300,000 people and manufactured thousands of different products. Despite their success in the 1990’s they were in deep trouble. They lost $2.2 billion on revenues of $28 billion. The major reason for their downfall is their inability to adapt to the changing competitive conditions. This case study will go into further detail as to why they

A year ago, the company announced plans to lay off 35,000 people shortly after announcing a $7 billion quarterly loss. In November,

On the performance scale, 1270 is positioned above BPS’s BG400, so the image of BPS as a high-end player in the projectors’ market is under serious threat. Also, the 1270 is targeted at the U.S. and European markets from which BPS had 83% of its graphics revenues. This will significantly affect share of the BG400 in these markets. If the 1270 is priced at the lower end ($15,000), it can also eat into the market share of BD600. Further, at this price level, the 1270 has the potential to serve both the data and graphics segment which will destroy BPS’s segmentation practice.

“At Sony, our mission is to be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity. Our unlimited passion for technology, content and services, and relentless pursuit of innovation, drives us to deliver ground-breaking new excitement and entertainment in ways that only Sony can. Creating unique new cultures and experiences. Everything we do, is to move you emotionally.” (About Sony: Sony Corporation, 2015)

Sony has been producing world class electronics for nearly 50 years. The first game console produced by Sony, the PlayStation 1, changed the gaming market as we know it. The original PlayStation sold millions of units worldwide, and remained the number one selling game console for five years. Sony followed up with the PlayStation 2 in 2000, once again Sony set a high standard to their competition. The PlayStation 3 has been flawed since it launched; however it is by far the most powerful gaming console on the market. Sony has attempted to fix all of the issues; however it has cost them dearly. Game Developers have pulled out of exclusive deals with Sony, and sales of the system have been dismal since the shutdown of the PlayStation network. Sony has been a worldwide industry leader for over 50 years, they know how to make their customers happy. I am sure that not only will these problems be quickly fixed, but Sony will once again be king

“At Sony, our mission is to be a company that inspires and fulfills your curiosity. Our unlimited passion for technology, content and services, and relentless pursuit of innovation, drives us to deliver ground-breaking new excitement and entertainment in ways that only Sony can. Creating unique new cultures and experiences. Everything we do, is to move you emotionally.” (About Sony: Sony Corporation, 2015)

The popular website Geek.com had detailed that "Sony recently got breached, doxed, and close down" as Sony went into freeze mode over the break.

Throughout the succession of Sony Corporation, yet there are still some limitations or weaknesses possess by Sony Corporation. From the accounting analysis perspective, the operating profit margin accounting ration, return on stockholders’ equity and return on total assets of Sony Corporation are critically very low which these poor results may indicate that Sony Corporation did not managed certain aspects of the operations well. Even the high investment rate in Sony Corporation does not represent corresponding growth in profitability of the company. Thus, Sony Corporation is unable to achieve even average return. In addition, the debt ratio of Sony Corporation is also critically high or it can also be defined as highly leveraged. As it is

It focuses on different industries, such as entertainment, electronics, games and financial services (Sony, 2014). The company originally started out with products such as tape recorders and transistors. It gradually increased its international reach and through several mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment industry, developed into a well know entertainment company and finally into a multimedia group. On the corporate level the organisation follows the differentiation strategy, one of the three generic strategies presented by Porter (1985) which can be seen in Figure 1. Porter (1985) explains that according to the competitive scope and competitive advantage a company can become a cost leader, differentiate or put its focus on either cost or differentiation. Essential for a company that follows a differentiation strategy is to create somewhat unique products, valued enough by customers to charge a price premium. It follows that Sony tries to differentiate itself by creating high quality and innovative

Even with a long time domination of the market, after the new century, the company was challenged. Lack of new technology, Sony’s traditional products were outrun by new product form other company. Walkman began to lose its market share because of newer, smaller, bigger storage iPod form apple; XBOX 360 of Microsoft tried to take the market from Playstation; and Trinitron television lost its advantage because liquid crystal display television was replacing the old technology.

Sony started to internationalize its activities in the 1950’s. For this, it used an incremental and cautious way. They followed the Morita’s strategy which is: first to learn about the market, to learn how to sell to it and to build up its corporate confidence before to commit itself. He also says that when you have confidence, you should commit yourself wholeheartedly. So Sony started by exporting products through foreign agencies or its own sales offices when entering foreign markets. The manufacturing plants close to markets where sales

Product decision normally base on brand name, Functionality, Styling, Quality, Safety, Packaging, Repairs and Support, Warranty, accessories and Services. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what the target market wants. Also, customers always look for new and improved things, which are why marketers should improve existing products, develop new ones, and discontinue old ones that are no longer needed or wanted by the customer. Sony has a variety of products ranging from electronic devices, games and entertainment. So,

Sony can make some suggestions to improving the firm’s effectiveness such as philosophy and policy for product quality and services, product quality and quality management, responsiveness and customer service and accessibility and usability. First is philosophy and policy for product quality and service, as we know that Sony is a wholeheartedly and they are trying to improve their product and service quality to their customer and their purpose is to maintain the enhancing customers' satisfaction, trust and reliability. They also belief that their goal is remain the highly trusted with their partner and customers because that is important goal for Sony. Besides that, the top priority of Sony is given to provide customer-oriented, high-quality