SONY

C O R P O R AT I O N

Berrak Dogruer Mazen Ferzly Hiep Nguyen Douglas Roach Rafik Ward

AG E N DA
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
1980s - 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 magazines 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

Sony Finance International, Inc.

Sony Trading International Corporation

Sony Broadcast Media Co. Ltd.

Wheel of Fortune

Big Daddy

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

Sonys 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

Questions to Ask
PlayStation2 was an instant success with demand clearly
surpassing supply. Some say it is because of inaccurate demand
forecasts while others suggest that it was an intentional
strategy. What is you take on this?
How is your electronic division and music division responding
to concerns over MP3 format piracy issues and your secure yet
not very popular format?
How has the vision of your founder, who recently passed
away, been passed on to the new management team at Sony?
How has the dissatisfaction of some CD retailers over your
strategy to sell directly to consumer affected your distribution
strategy via SonyStyle.com?