SONY
C O R PO R AT I O N
Berrak Dogruer Mazen Ferzly Hiep Nguyen Douglas Roach Rafik Ward
AGENDA
• Company History
• Founder : Akio Morita
• Corporate Policy
• Strategy & Organization
• Current Initiatives
Company History
• 1946 - Tokyo Telecom Engineering
• 1950 - First Japanese tape recorder
• 1955 - First transistor radios
• 1957 - First pocket-sized radio
• 1958 - Name change to Sony
(from "sonus," Latin for "sound," and "sonny," meaning “little man”)
• 1968 - Intro of Trinitron color TV – explosive growth
• 1979 - Walkman personal stereo
Company History
• 1980’s - Major Producer of computer disks/ floppies
• 1988 - Bought CBS Records for $2 billion.
• 1989 - Bought Columbia Pictures for $4.5 billion.
• 1994 - Sony Playstation released to great success.
• 1997 - JV with Philips (inventors of the CD) to make
Super Audio CD
• 1998 - Launched Wega flat-screen TV
• 1999 - JV with Philips, Sun Microsystems to develop
networked entertainment products
• 1999 - Walkman with MP3 capabilities
Company History
• 2000 - Formed PlayStation.com – games/software online
• 2000 - Restructured all entertainment units under Sony
Broadband Entertainment
• 2001 - JV Sakura Bank and JP Morgan Chase for online
bank.
Founder: Akio Morita
• Groomed to take over 14-generation family Sake business
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit: Tokyo Telecom Engineering
• Revolutionary thinking: Brand is lifeblood of company success
• Listed Sony on NYSE in 1970.
• 1966 “Never Mind School” emphasize the capabilities of
individuals, rather than their prior academic background
and history – a revolutionary concept for Japan.
• Strong belief R&D leads to new ways to meet customer needs.
• Co-chair of various conferences, including the Japan-U.S
Business Council, The Trilateral Commission, and the World
Economic Forum in Davos.
Founder: Akio Morita
• Instrumental in easing trade friction with the U.S by playing
leading roles in the Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic
Organizations), the Japan-U.S. Economic Relations Group.
• 1998 - Morita chosen as one of Time magazine’s 20 most
influential business people of the 20th century - the only Asian
member on its list.
Akio Morita: The Sony man
who put Japan on the corporate
map passed away in October 1999.
Procurement Policies Reflect Corporate Policy
• Open Doors and Fairness
• Quality and Competitive / Reasonable Price
• Delivery Assurance and Services
• Optimum Procurement
• Technology Development
• Suppliers' Management
Strategy and Organization
• Continue to focus on communications and home electric
appliances, but also content and services
• Vertically integrated business
• Vision is to become a broadband entertainment company
• CEO Idei Nobuyuki wants Sony to be wherever people
gather (Internet)
• Product-Market Strategy: Apply IT to product design,
production, distribution, and sales
Sony Business Units
• Electronics:
•Audio,Video, Televisions Information and Communications.
• Sony Computer Entertainment:
•Hardware and related software
• Sony Music Entertainment:
•Sony Music Entertainment Inc.: Columbia Records, Sony Classical,
Sony Discos,Sony Disc Manufacturing, and Sony Music Nashville
•Sony Music Entertainment Japan: Sony Records and Epic Records
Sony Business Units
•
Sony Pictures Entertainment –
•
motion picture - production, acquisition and distribution
•
television – programming, production, acquisition and distribution
•
home video - acquisition and distribution
•
television broadcasting
•
operation of studio facilities
•
Sony Life Insurance
•
Other:
Blue Streak
Wheel of Fortune
Big Daddy
•
Sony Finance International, Inc.
•
Sony Trading International Corporation
•
Sony Broadcast Media Co. Ltd.
•
Other local entertainment businesses in Japan, U.S., and Germany.
Sony Business Units
Region
$ (Millions)
% of Total
Japan
20,012
32
US
19,124
30
Europe
13.872
22
Other Regions
10,074
16
Total
63,082
100
Interesting Current Initiatives
•
•
•
E-Commerce
•
SonyStyle.com in Feb 2000
•
Strategy reflects its desire to reduce the role of the big discounters as
middlemen and gain greater control over prices
Car Navigation Systems
•
7% of worldwide market
•
These systems incorporate sophisticated technology, including webaccess and advanced voice recognition.
Video-Game Machines and Console Software
•
Sony’s Playstation 2 (PS2) is claimed to be the first next-generation game
console. This system can play DVDs, CVDs, and CD-Roms.
•
In February, Sony Corp. unveiled an alliance with game software makers
Sega Corp. and Namco Ltd. in online game distribution.
Interesting Current Initiatives
•
AIBO- Artificial Intelligence ROBOT
•
As close to human as possible – has emotions and instincts