Three things you could use in class taken out from Sony:

Sony is a very good example of a diversified company. Most of their businesses are related and focus on consumer electronics starting with TV´s, video, games, music, notebooks,.... The BCG Matrix we have used in class would be an excellent tool to depict all their businesses. I am pretty sure that a bunch of their businesses are either question marks (blue ray), stars or cash cash.

Sony has clear and achievable corporate, business and functional strategies. Sony formulates its strategy on press conferences on a quarterly basis which makes the company more responsive to changes in the business environment. Their corporate strategy centers on growth whereas their business level strategy is beeing the leader in consumer electronics technology.

Last but not least Sony has all the characteristics of an involved board. They have more outsiders than insiders sitting in the BoD. The directors do have international experience and are not involved in day-to-day operations. They meet frequently. The most important aspect is that Sony´s BoD is composed of young directors from all over the world who bring in new ideas and represent a new generation. This is especially important in understanding customer needs.

Would I like to work for the company? Oh yes. I would love to work for Sony. They are so creative and successful. The most important thing for me is they have a great culture with mutual respect and empowered employees. Its not the fake empowerment stuff which McDonalds claims but Sony really has flat hierachies and small action groups. I also like the idea of a collective decision making (which is one of the Japanese cultural aspects) where you do not get directions from one boss but from the whole group.

In the last couple of weeks Sony´s market share price was pretty much the same around $26. If you are risk avers like me I would recommend you to invest in this company. Although Sony is making its first loss since years the company is in good financial condition and therefore promisin good returns on investment in future. However if you wanna make more money in a shorter period of time invest somewhere else where returns are high but also risk is higher.

Thank you guys.
Enjoyed your class Dr. Busija

Sony launches Vaio NW notebooks - Entry-level Blu-ray laptops

In the States, Sony has unveiled the Vaio NW notebook range that claims to offer "entry-level" pricing for a Blu-ray-equipped laptop.

The Blu-ray side of things is optional - but only adds $80 to the price - so $880 compared to $800 without.

The NW range gets a high-res 15.5-inch widescreen display with Sony's "XBRITE-ECO" LCD tech as well as HDMI out to play the Blu-ray content on your big screen TV.

Specs include a 2.10GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, a 400GB hard drive, webcam and mic as well as an optional dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card.

Offering Windows Vista, the notebooks have three USB ports and ExpressCard, SD card and Memory Stick PRO slots.

With a "wavy textured finish", available in three colours - walnut brown, birch white, and rattan silver - and bundled with Sony's media software, the Vaio NW range goes on sale in the States this month from $800.

That´s nice. These prices are really competitive. I have never seen a Sony notebook below €1000 (=~ $1400). Probably I should buy one before leaving the US.

share price: 25.81

Mom fined $1.9 million for sharing songs online

A replay of the nation's only file-sharing case to go to trial ended the same as the first, with a Minnesota woman Jammie Thomas-Rasset found to have violated music copyrights and ordered to pay hefty damages to the recording industry. A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song.

The lawyer who appeared at the Jammie Thomas-Rasset trial as a witness for Sony now says that he was "shocked" by the size of the $1.92 million verdict.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idPWapAEJyU

That's just ridiculous for me. Guys you missed the shift towards digital and now you are trying to sue people to make sure they are afraid of downloading. Make them aware but work on new technology to prevent illegal downloads or come up with new ways.

share price: 25.25

Sony CEO Stringer: It’s the Network, Stupid

Sony CEO Howard Stringer reaffirmed the consumer electronics giant’s decision to focus on networked gadgets while discussing its restructuring at a shareholders’ meeting held today, according to Reuters. Stringer said the company would lay off 16,000 workers and close eight of its 57 manufacturing sites as part of an attempt to reduce spending by $3 billion. However even as Sony is making cuts, it’s still planning to add wireless connectivity to its devices. Reuters quotes Stringer as saying:

“In the 20th century, this company created great champion products … In the 21st century, other companies took our hardware like the Walkman and added network capability and turned it into the iPod,” Stringer said.”We are not going to be beaten again in the network age.”

I think that Stringer recognizes that mobility and connectivity are changing. Sony still needs to get its act together. All these major changes in the broad environment are changing customer needs and want. Sony is now behind because of lack in foresight - they are reacting as many companies.

share price 26.23

Are Big Studio Mergers Coming?

Gabelli (an investor) told Barron's magazine that he expects Paramount Pictures to soon merge with Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures or another studio as a way to cut costs.

Today there are seven or eight motion-picture studios. A round of consolidation will occur in the next six to 12 months because of the costs of financing, prints and advertising, the benefits of globalization and such," said Gabelli. "We hear talk of something going on."

Moreover, with vertical integration and corporate ownership of major studios (Universal Studios owned by GE, Warner Bros Pictures owned by Time Warner, etc.) — and the current economic downturn — corporate owned studios are being left with dwindling advertising budgets.

Honestly that´s not good news for us film consumers. I am afraid that once the big film studios merge the quality of their films will suffer considerably. There are a lot of good as well as trash films currently shown in movie theaters but I do think that the fewer film studios the less their overall creativity. We will see ;)

share price 26.23 $

Hindus Call Worldwide Boycott Against Sony Playstation Products

Perturbed over Sony's "Hanuman: Boy Warrior" videogame and further vexed by the stiff-necked attitude of Sony officials, various Hindu groups started a worldwide boycott call against Sony PlayStation products.

Spearheaded by acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who said the Hanuman game "trivializes the highly revered deity of Hinduism.

Besides Hindus, they have also urged other religious/spiritual people/groups of the world also not to buy Sony PlayStation products.

Zed further said that immature handling of the issue by Sony, which is said to be a socially responsible and ethical corporation, saddened them. He also urged Sony to create a high-level check system so that denigrations like this did not happen in the future.

According to Shinde, Hindu leaders communicated their displeasure to Sony and tried to resolve the issue through discussions, but the callous attitude of Sony officials frustrated their efforts, leaving them with no other alternative except the boycott call

I think that lord Hanuman is holy in India and for Hindus. I also think cultural issues are very critical in video games and important. Any company should examine their games for contend which could offend religious groups.

Sony shareholders approve new management

Sony shareholders approved a new management setup at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company on Friday that will center power around Chief Executive Howard Stringer and a team of younger executives.

They approved 15 directors, including Welsh-born American Stringer, the first foreigner to head Sony, who is taking on an additional title of president as well as serving as chairman and chief executive

Sony has been no exception among Japan's export-reliant manufacturers in racking up huge losses for the fiscal year that ended in March -- its first annual net loss in 14 years and its first ever caused by red ink in its core electronics business.

Under the new management team, announced in February, Sony has centered power in Stringer to streamline decision-making.

I think this is an effort to speed up ways to take advantage of Sony's strengths in its core businesse in order to come up with new businesses.

share price: 26.24

Best of E3 2009: Sony's press conference

The best of E3 2009 from Sony's point of view would definitely have to be the reveal of Team ICO's newest title, the announcement of a new Metal Gear game from Hideo Kojima, Final Fantasy XIV: Online (which no one saw coming) and the reveal of Sony's answer to the Wii.

Sony started the show off by touting the success of the PS3's predecessor, the PS2. The console is in its 9th year and Sony is dedicated to its continued support so long as consumers remain interested and it continues to sell.

There is really a fierce competition among XBox, PS and Nintendo going on for market share.
I dont think that there will be an industry consolidation in near future due to its business profitability.

sony share price: 26.15
I have realized that sony's share price is pretty much constant over the last couple of weeks.

Sony BMG Sued for Software Piracy - Assets Seized

Sony BMG, a company known for enforcing its intellectual property rights, is now facing the other end of an Intellectual Property related lawsuit. A report (French) says the complaining company, PointDev, seized some of Sonys assets which revealed that the pirated software appeared on four of their servers.

PointDev, a small software company, mandated a bailiff to raid one of Sony BMGs owned building in January this year. The raid revealed that four of the Sony BMGs owned servers contained the pirated software.

It appears as though the company discovered this when an IT department employee requested assistance for the use of a product called Ideal Migration. When technical support looked into the case, they discovered that the key used to activate the software was a pirated version.

Isn't that irony?! :)
I think Sony is not happy about that publication, however I think there are a lot of companies whose employees use pirate software.

share price: 26.09

Nintendo outsells competition nearly 2 to 1 in May

Video game sales were down by 23 percent in May, according to the latest data from NPD Group. The bright spot of the report is the ongoing domination by Nintendo, whose hardware and associated games outsold the competition by nearly 2 to 1.

As CNET's Lance Whitney reported, "NPD blamed most of the decline on the lack of blockbuster games rather than the weak economy. The report noted that last year's sales were boosted by the launch of popular software titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV. Nintendo's Wii Fit also was a hot commodity in 2008."

Nintendo also remains strong in the console business, with sales of the Nintendo DS and Wii nearly doubling the competition.

Nintendo DS: 633,500
Wii: 289,500
Xbox 360: 175,000
PlayStation 3: 131,000
PlayStation 2: 117,000
PSP: 100,400

I think new games, including a few blockbusters, would certainly alter the scenery a bit.

Time Warner's 'Hangover' beats Sony's new action flick

If this weekend's box office results say anything, it's that success in the movie business resists predictability. How else do you explain the money that 's Time Warners. The Hangover is grossing? I have seen the film, there's something to it. Nevertheless, it just didn't seem like it would be a big hit. Guess the word of mouth on it has been pretty good.

Hangover, as of early estimates at Boxofficemojo, took in $33 million at domestic theaters over the past three days, good for first place.

Sony's action thriller The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 took up third place with $25 million. Such an opening statistic was weak if you ask me.

share price: $26.11

Sony´s mid term strategies









Sony´s financial strategies









Sony´s mid term goals










I am really not quite sure wether Sony is going to reach all their goals taking the economic downturn into account. Sony has reportetd a quarterly loss this March and market conditions are worsening. However Sony is focusing on their core businesses as never before.

share price : 27.29

Sony is in trouble, and it is very deep trouble. For the fiscal year ending March 31, the conglomerate lost more than $1 billion on $79 billion in revenue. Sales were down by over 12%
Nearly every segment of Sony’s business did poorly. Revenue in its huge electronics division dropped 17%. The LCD TVs, PCs, and video cameras that it manufactures and markets have come under intense price pressure. TVs are close to being a commodity and almost every large consumer electronics firm is in the flat panel screen business.

Sony is a big conglomerate and highly diversified. The one and only business which is not directly related to Sony's core business is their movie studios. Due to ongoing troubles and declining revenues Sony is thinking of selling its movie division and invest that money back into its core businesses.

share price : 27.71

Sony has set up clear rules on how the board of directors looks like and what their primary purpose is. In Article 2. "Purpose and Duties of Board of Directors" Sony clearly states their duties.

• Determines the fundamental management policies of the Sony Group.
• Oversees the management of Sony Group's business operations.
• Appoints and dismisses the statutory committee members.
• Appoints and dismisses Corporate Executive Officers.

The Board of Directors shall consist of not fewer than ten (10) Directors and not more
than twenty (20) Directors. The Board of directors consists of "insiders" as well as independent "outsiders"

Furthermore members of the Board of directors shall not be a director, statutory auditor, corporate executive officer, general manager or an employee of any company in competition with Sony

Shall not be, or shall not have been, a director engaged in the business
operation, corporate executive officer, accounting counselor, general
manager or an employee of the Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Meetings of the Board of Directors shall be held at least once every three (3)
months and at least six (6) times per year and additionally when necessary.

I am really impressed about these clear statements of Sony. They did a good job on how a good and involved Board of directors should look like. Sony´s Board of Directors fulfills all the characteristics we have talked about in class.

As I already mentioned Sony is highly diversified. One of their businesses inlude mobile communication. While Nokia is still the market leader in terms of cell phone sales - Sony Ericsson could capture chunks of market share from others.

Sony Ericsson´s mission is to establish itself as the most attractive and innovative global brand in the mobile handset industry. They are innovative and also attractive for sure.

Check out this --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJkEAdVDHD8

PlayNow+ is a new Sony innovation which makes acess to music from all over the word easily from your cell phone. With PlayNow+ you can download music as much as you want with no extra charge. I think Sony is heavily investing in new technology and using their existing products to integrate music downloads and also providing entertainment. Entertainment and consumer electronics is also their core business.

HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER - Sony way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QBpMuAvkRI

I found an interesting youtube video (see link above) where Sony CEO is answering nice questions. The actual market conditions and the recession certainly affected Sony. However the CEO is taking it´s social responsibily really serious. He tries to raise money for teaching, anti drug programs or hospitals. He calls people and utilizes his name to invite people for charity.

I am not quite sure if he really is that social responsible as a person but I am almost 100% certain that social responsibility is part of Sony´s philosophy and corporate culture. Another Japanese company i.e. Toyota is now the worlds biggest car manufacturer and parts of its success is attributed to the Japanese management style - mutual responsibility and team spirit.

Another point that was addressed in the video is the vision of Sony. Mr. Stringer points out new technology and growth in new markets (here India) as long term directions for Sony.

share price: 27.37 $

Finally I found Sony´s mission statement. Here we go :

"To experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public."