BARB ROXANA

BORZA IUNIA
MANEA SANDA
MUSCALU ALINA
MPU RAMONA

SHORT HISTORY
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate
corporation headquartered in Knan Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the
parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business
through its four operating segments Electronics (including video
games, network services and medical business), Motion pictures,
Music and Financial Services.

REVENUE OF SONY
Sony was ranked 87th on the 2012 list of Fortune Global 500
with a turnover of $6,637,998.6586 (6,800,851.00 JPY).

Mission

Be the brand of choice in the

hearts and minds of our
customers by delivering the
best customer experience.

Deliver
Excellence

Empower yourself and

others
Work
together

Make a
difference

VALUES

Be open

Embrace
change

Act with
Integrity and
Work Ethically

OBJECTIVES & STRATEGIES

Objectives:
sales of 6 trillion yen and operating income margin of 5% in its
electronics business;
sales of 8.5 trillion yen, operating income margin of more than 5%, and
return on equity ("ROE") of 10% for the Sony Group overall, until the
fiscal year ending March 31, 2015;
Digital Imaging - Sales: 1.5 trillion yen / Operating income margin:
Double-digits in FY14;
Game - Sales: 1 trillion yen / Operating income margin: 8% in FY14;
Mobile - Sales: 1.8 trillion yen / Operating income: Significant
improvement in FY14.

OBJECTIVES & STRATEGIES

Strategies:

ONE SONY

Strengthening core businesses (Digital

Imaging, Game, Mobile)

Turning around the television business

Expanding business in emerging

markets

Creating new businesses and

accelerating innovation

Green
Management
2015

Realigning the business portfolio and

optimizing resources

SONY POLICIES
Appreciating diversity;
Avoiding structural conflicts of interest;
Communication of concern and alleged violations from employees;
Equal employment opportunity;
No forced labor or child labor;
Product and services safety;
Environmental conservation;
Fair competition;
Advertising;
Privacy of personal information;
Intellectual property rights safety: patents; designs, trademarks, trade
secrets and copyrights;
Confidential and property information;
Fair procurement;
to compete in the marketplace on the basis of the superiority and price
competitiveness of its products and services. Commercial bribery is
illegal;
Recording and reporting of information;
Personal conflicts of interest;
Media relations and public statements.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: Opportunities and

threats (SWOT)
Societal environment

o Threats

o Opportunities

INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: STRENGTHS AND

WEAKNESSES
A. Corporate Structure
Regional Divisions
Sony Group - organized into
three major regions:
in the Americas, Europe and
Asia.
- Sony structures itself into a set of companies specialized in
different electronic industries: Sony Corporation (electronics),
Sony Pictures Entertainment (motion picture), Sony Music
Entertainment (music), Sony Financial Holdings (financial
services) and Sony Computer Entertainment (computer and
gaming).

- Sony Corporation controls many affiliated companies

around the world and is divided into more groups with
one being common to them all:
Sony DADC (Digital Audio Disc);
Consumer, Professional and Devices Group;
Networked Products and Services Group;
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications;
Sony Music Entertainment;
Sony Pictures Entertainment;
Sony Financial Holdings Group.

Sony groups the affiliated companies by those inside Japan and those
outside Japan.

 Sony DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation) group operates in

three regionsa and is divided into Japan, The Americas, and
International. Each of these group companies are responsible for
the production and distribution of optical discs in their own region
while being managed and directed by Sony DADC Corporation in
Japan.

Sony Corporation - a structure by location and product.

by product - the structure is divided into areas like: DADC; Consumer,

Professional & Devices Group; Networked Products & Services Group;
Ericsson Mobile Communications; Music Entertainment; Pictures
Entertainment; Financial Holdings, and the Common Platforms. The
Common Platforms and Sonys headquarters apply to all these groups.

Sony has also divided itself into different regions. For example, Sony
Corporation of America and Sony Australia are two parts that exist in
Sonys geographic structure. But each of these regions is divided by
products. For example, Sony Australia also contains a Sony Music,
Ericsson, Pictures, Computer Entertainment and DADC that are all unique
and fall under Sony Australia.

a matrix structure - the example of Sony Australia. Underneath Sony

Australia is Sony Music that is unique to Sony Australia. Sony Music is
actually a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment which is controlled by
Sony Corporation of America. Therefore, Sony Music Australia falls under
Sony Australia and is also operated by Sony Music Entertainment which,
in turn, is controlled by Sony Corporation of America.

- this divisional structure is clearly understood by everyone in the

corporation because they can focus on their own departmental goals.
Each department in each region is headed by its own vice president.
Together, these departments in each region recognize their role in that
region and the role that they play in Sony Group.
- the affiliated companies function as independent businesses.
-

in order to improve their organizational structure and make it be more

consistent with the corporate objectives, at the present Sony has adopted
a new strategy One Sony, One Management, and related to this strategy
the company will make some organizational changes. - the separate
professional and consumer product and service groups will disappear.

Competitors Organization Structure Panasonic

B. Corporate culture
a culture based on: integrity, respect, achievement, personal
growth, creativity, teamwork and family and friendship.
Sony displays many features of a traditional Japanese company.
(the sense of family). Most of Sonys top officials are Japanese.
Loyalty to the company is a value that is cultivated at all levels of
the organization.
an important part of Sonys corporate culture - the involvement
in the society problems.
- Sony Science Program (to help children learn about science
and cultivate logical thinking, curiosity and creativity),
- donation 30 million yen to help the communities affected by the
floods that hit Thailand in 2011;

- Achieve Your Dreams project (to help children affected by the

disaster)

 Sony corporate culture may be a strength due to the

fact that the company respects the values of the
country where it operates and due to its activities in the
field of corporate social responsability.

CORPORATE RESOURCES
Marketing

A business has only two basic functions - Marketing and

Innovation
Peter Drucker

PRODUCT
Target audience segmentation
The upper and middle class families - Sony Bravia.
The travelling executives - Sony VIO
Product
strategy
Sony is using a product leadership strategy This
strategy
concentrates
on
creating
an
innovative
product/service line and marketing program
Product goals
Introduce Vaio Z Series that will run on the Windows 8
operating system;
Add innovative new models to its lineup of Androidbased smartphones.

Product life
cycle Products developed by Sony reach the maturity level
easily, due to the influence of fashion trends that requires new
designs to be developed to fit customer specifications.

Product
portofolio

Products announced to relese in 2013

Animalia line of technology products specially designed and created for pets.

Xperia Tablet Z

Audio balls

4K Ultra HD TV:

Sports W Series Waterproof Walkmen

Digital recording binoculars

World's Smallest Ultrabook

Vaio Q

Price
strategy
Sony uses a price leadership strategy - prevent heavy
discounting
Minimum pricing level - Sony sets the standard, telling dealers
they cannot go below a certain price point. If they are found
discounting, their dealership is simply revoked.
Sony products are priced at least 10-15 per cent higher than
rivals. To attract more customers in 2011, the company had cut
prices but again, not so much that they dilute the premium
quotient of the brand

Promotion
strategy
The major elements of Sonys promotion marketing mix are :
Personal selling
Advertising (TV, Sony TV Channel)
Publicity
Direct marketing
Sales promotion
Sub-brands contribute to promote Sony Corporation

Distribution
(place)stratregy
Sony being the company which positions itself as a seller of
durable and high-end products, it is practicing selective
distribution of its products from the selective dealers i.e.
SONY World. Sony distributes its products in various channels.
It uses Zero-level channel, one level channel and two-level
channel.
As with its operational structure, Sony recognized the
importance of having an effective channel strategy that takes
into account regional differences => store configurations differ
from region to region.

Finance
Financial objectives:
The forecast for consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 31,
2014 is as follows:
(Billions of yen)

Sales and
operating revenue
Operating income
Income before
income taxes
Net income
attributable to
Sony
Corporations
stockholders

March 31, 2013

Results

Current
Forecast

Change from
March 31, 2013
Results

6,800.9

7,500

+10.3%

230.1

230

-0.0

245.7

210

-14.5

43.0

50

+16.2

Source: Sonys Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended March
31, 2013

 Sony Group FY13 Key Strategies

 Management Policy
On April 12, 2012, Sony announced a series of
strategic initiatives to be introduced under the new
management team appointed on April 1, 2012. By
implementing a rapid decision-making approach that
draws on the strengths of the entire Sony group as One
Sony, Sony aims to revitalize and grow its electronics
businesses to generate new value, while further
strengthening the stable business foundations of the
entertainment and financial services businesses.

The corporation performing in terms of

financial analysis
Operating Activities: During the current fiscal year,
there was a net cash inflow of 481.5 billion yen (5,122
million U.S. dollars) from operating activities, a decrease
of 38.0 billion yen, or 7.3% year-on-year.
Investing Activities: During the current fiscal year, Sony
used 705.3 billion yen (7,503 million U.S. dollars) of net
cash in investing activities, a decrease of 177.6 billion
yen, or 20.1% year-on-year.
Total Cash and Cash Equivalents: Accounting for the
above factors and the effect of fluctuations in foreign
exchange rates, the total outstanding balance of cash
and cash equivalents at March 31, 2013 was 826.4 billion
yen (8,791 million U.S. dollars).

Financial performance compared with

that of similar corporations

No other media conglomerate has a presence in all

of Sony Corporation's four business segments. However,
each one of Sony's businesses faces intense
competition in its respective market. It makes it hard to
resist competition from U.S. rivals such as Microsoft,
Apple and Google, but also cheaper Asian competitors
like LG.

Exchange rate fluctuations affect Sonys operating

profitability because many of Sonys products are sold in
countries other than the ones in which they were
manufactured. The concentration of research and
development,
administrative
functions
and
manufacturing activities within the Electronics segment
in Japan, makes this segment particularly sensitive to
the yens appreciation as the ratio of yen-denominated
costs to total costs is higher than the ratio of yendenominated revenue to total revenue.

The role of the financial manager in the

strategic management process
The new management team appointed in April 2012
has executed a variety of measures meant to revitalize
and grow Sonys electronics businesses and create new
value, while, at the same time, further growing the
Pictures, Music and Financial Services segments, which
continuously contribute to Sonys operating income.

investments for
growth

business divestitures

expanding production
capacity for its cuttingedge

sale of the chemical

products related
business

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Sony R&D aims to create new value based on the linked
concepts of "inspiration" and "shared experience" and to thus strengthen
products and applications.
Sony's R&D mission can be described as "Technology for
Inspiration and Shared Experience." The framework for the emotions
consumers experience has until now been described as "Take/Capture,
View, Store, Listen, Create."

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

employees - a total of 167 900 people worldwide.
Sonys current objective regarding HRM - to work on
personnel development. This objective is clearly stated
and it is consistent with the mission and goals of the
corporation of achieving superior results on all business
sectors.
recruitment policy - Sony recruits university graduates
overseas to work in Japan. Sony has a Global Internship
Program that welcomes university students from Europe,
North America, China and India, among others, to Tokyo.
Sony conducts intern recruitment sessions at
universities, graduate schools.

Related to the training of its personnel, Sony offers many programs

designed to improve individual abilities and specialized skills
In 2000, Sony established Sony University, an educational program for
Sony employees designed to help cultivate global leaders for the
company. In 2012, a branch of Sony University was opened in
Singapore.

 Sony introduced the Global Job Posting System and began inviting
internal candidates to apply for open positions in other parts of the
Company. Through initiatives such as these, Sony aims to facilitate the
optimal placement of its human resources from a global perspective, and
at the same time, foster a pool of individuals with the breadth of
experience and network of contacts required of global business leaders.
Sony Group Code of Conduct
adopted in May 2003;
sets the basic internal standards to be observed by all directors, officers
and employees of the Sony Group.
has been adopted and implemented by each Sony Group company
globally.
Sony Group is committed to a policy of recruiting, hiring, training,
promoting and treating applicants and employees without discrimination
based on their race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, disability or
other factors that are unrelated to the legitimate business interests of
Sony Group.
Sony Group will not use any form of forced or involuntary labor or child
labor.
Sony must treat its employees at all times in accordance with the
applicable laws and regulations of the countries in which it operates.

SONYS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Sony Establishes Corporate IS Solutions to reinforce information

systems capabilities for more efficient management in digital era. The
new organization will allow Sony to prepare itself for the emerging digital
era by reinforcing its management information system.
In response to changes in the business environment brought
about by digitization and the growth of a networked society, the Sony
Group has diversified its business operations to include digital satellite
broadcasting, electronics, entertainment, insurance and finance. Sony
hopes to use ISS (IS Solutions) to further strengthen its information
systems capabilities in order to enhance the speed and flexibility of
management decisions. The objective of ISS will be to improve the
efficiency of Sony's management information systems (MIS)
infrastructure and increase the role of MIS in strategic planning and
business promotion.

IS Objectives, Strategies, Policies and

Programs

Vision:
Sony's vision for their mission is to
bring the community together with
engrossing digital entertainment
products that is up to date with the
latest trends and innovation.

As a mission and goal, Sony

is dedicated to providing innovative
products and multimedia services
that challenge the way consumers
experience digital entertainment. As
a digital entertainment service
provider Sony wants to create new
worlds via their products to give
consumers new experiences that
can stimulate their senses.

Objectives:
The firm aims to maintain market leadership by strengthening its position in
areas such as television, video, audio, and digital imaging. With the growing
and ever changing technology market, Sony's main objective is to survive in
the gruesome fast paced race where every millisecond of the race counts.
Strategy:
The new strategy for Sony's network
products and services group, which
brings
together
their
game
business, computers, and other
network devices such as their
mobile products is to accelerate
innovation of their networked
services by delivering new and
exciting experiences for users.
Policy:
Sony's
corporate
policy
is
implemented to ensure the integrity of
its employees. The code of conduct is
to
emphasize
and
strengthen
corporate governance, business ethics
and systems throughout the Sony
Group.

Sony's business policy is created

in compliance to their mission,
objective, strategy. Their business
policy is known as product
responsibility
to
have
its
employees
know
that
they
produce goods that consumers
use.

Programs
1. Promoting greater opportunities for
women;
2. Sony Transformation to Revitalize
Electronics Business, Generate Growth
and Drive New Value Creation
3. Contributing to the International
Community through Business Activities
How well is the corporations IS performing in terms of providing a useful
database, automating routine clerical operations, assisting managers in
making routine decissions, and providing information necessary for
strategic decisions?
Sonys physical facilities and information systems are subject to
damage as a result of disasters, outages, malfeasance or similar
events.
Sonys headquarters, some of Sonys major data centers and many of
Sonys most advanced device manufacturing facilities, including
those for semiconductors, are located in Japan, where the possibility
of disaster or damage from earthquakes is generally higher than in
other parts of the world.

Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal

In November 2005, Mark Russinovich was testing computer
security software he had cowritten when he discovered something new and
uninvited hiding deep inside his PC. Russinovich is an experienced
programmer who has written a book about the Windows operating system,
and even he could not immediately identify the interloper. Russinovich
finally traced the foreign object to code left behind when he downloaded
and played a Van Zant album from Amazon.com.
The album was produced by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and
had been advertised as copyright protected when Russinovich bought it.
He later found that the protection consisted of code called a rootkit, a
cloaking mechanism that was installed on his hard drive without his
permission. Each time the CD was played or uploaded, the program behind
the rootkit notified Sony BMG. Russinovich posted his discovery on his
blog, immediately igniting a discussion about Sony BMGs methods.
Copyright protection was one thing, the debaters said, but Sony BMG had
gone too far.

How does this corporations IS performace and stage of development compare

with that of similar corporations? Is it appropriately using the Internet, intranet
and extranets?
Difference between Samsung LED and Sony Bravia

Two of the leading names in the category of electronics, Sony and

Samsung present you the best aesthetics, quality and features that
no other company can match up to. The companies are the best in
their respective fields, have nearly taken over every electronics
technique, and put themselves forward by giving their own touch to
it. The Samsung LED and Sony Bravia have been presented to put
forward in the competition and see whom the best is after all.

Similarities and Differences

Sony gives twice the features that Samsung does and consumes less
power than Samsung does which is an extra plus point to their list of
customer priorities.
Sony Bravia is a whole package deal as it not only has the perfect
aesthetics, but also is advantageous to any type of a buy as it thrives to
serve for perfection in every sense whether it is features, capability,
power consummation etc.
Are IS managers using appropriate concepts and techiniques to evaluate and
improve corporate performance? Do they know how to build and manage a
complex database, establish web-site with firewalls, conduct system
analyses, and implement decision-support systems?

New forms of organisation on a global scale.

Information Technology infrastructures
Business process re-engineering and change management issues
connected with the
implementation of large-scale systems;
Global IS management;
Industry analyses.

Activities being held by IS managers

Standard activities include:
evaluating user needs and system functionality and ensuring that ICT
facilities meet these needs;
planning, developing and implementing the ICT budget, obtaining
competitive prices from suppliers, to ensure cost effectiveness;
scheduling upgrades and security backups of hardware and software
systems;
researching and installing new systems;
ensuring the smooth running of all ICT systems, including anti-virus
software, print services and email provision;
ensuring that software licensing laws are adhered to;
providing secure access to the network for remote users;
ensuring the security of data from internal and external attack;
providing users with appropriate support and advice;
managing crisis situations, which may involve complex technical
hardware or software problems;
mentoring and training new ICT support staff;
keeping up to date with the latest technologies.

Does the company have a global IS and Internet presence? Does it have
difficulty in getting data accross national boundaries?
Yes, Sony has a Sony Group Portal Site "Sony Global" is now accessible
with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). As of October 1, 2009, this new
IPv6-accessible version of "Sony Global" can be accessed at:
http://ipv6.sony.net . If you are within an IPv6 environment, please feel free
to access this new URL from now on. For those who are not yet within an
IPv6 environment, rest assured that you can continue to access http://
www.sony.net/ as usual.
Please note that although "Sony Global(IPv6)" http://ipv6.sony.net is the
sole Sony Corporation IPv6-compatible website at present, we are
continuing to explore IPv6 compatibility for other Sony sites and will post
additional notices moving forward.
Sony to Introduce "Sony Internet TV"

Summary of internal factors

Strengths
- corporate structure;
- corporate culture;
- employees;
- the solid position in emerging markets
in the consumer electronics category
over many years;
- provides innovative products and
multimedia services that challenge the
way consumers experience digital
entertainment.
- creation of new worlds via their
products
- market leadership in digital imaging,
home video equipment and gaming.
- tries to identify new opportunities and
continuously to offer new products.
the investments in research and
development to get the newest and the
best technology on the market. In 2011
Sony was on the 4th place worldwide
at the R&D investment and in the next
years, certainly this investment will
follow a growth rate.

Weaknesses
- Sonys physical
facilities
and
information systems are subject to
damage as a result of disasters,
outages, malfeasance or similar
events;
- Sonys headquarters, some of
Sonys major data centers and many
of Sonys most advanced device
manufacturing facilities, including
those for semiconductors, are
located in Japan, where the
possibility of disaster or damage
from earthquakes is generally higher
than in other parts of the world;
- Sony BMG copy protection rootkit
scandal;

STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES AND RECOMMENDED

STRATEGY
Analyzing the strategies developed by Sony up until now the
company should think to a combination between the growth
strategy with the retrenchment one.
A program of edition
limited HDTV could be a
great idea in the short and
middle term until the
economic situation
worldwide starts to improve
and put more emphasis on
the 4K TVs so as to be the
leader on providing a clearer
image and features.

Regarding the business strategy Sony ought to use the

same strategy price leadership ;
Sony wants to create an emotional affinity,a certain stickenssof
the customers to the brand and by changing the price strategy
will only confuse the people.
If the price for Sony products is fair than the customers
must be educated to pay for something valuable.But if it is
not,Sony might take into consideration a slightly reduction of
price so as not to affect the companys profits on the one hand
and not to create distrust among customers on the other hand.
Another strategy which the company should think about
is to reduce the length of distribution channels.A zero or a
one channel would prevent high prices set by retailers and also
starting to create regional chain stores it could be an option due
to the success recorded in India.

IMPLEMENTATION
GOAL: Reduce the number of HD TV from 40 models to just

GOAL: Maintaining the brand appeal through

leadership price strategy
As an extent to this strategy the company could make a price
testing, on
a certain market and analyze the customers
reactions.This could be a starting point for further strategies which
the company might consider to develop.

GOAL : Reducing with 20 % two-level distribution

channels

EVALUATION AND CONTROL

The control of each activity is made by the production manager,

with the help of marketing manager and CEO.

The control of the first three activities must be done by the

marketing manager from each country where the company
operates so as to arrive to a common point.

The control for this activity must be done also by the

marketing manager to see if the stores meet the standards but
also by the project manager who is implementing the plan.

The control should be done by a human resources

representative and it can use the mistery shopper so as to
analyze the employees capabilities and willingness to offer
information.

The control must be done first by the regional manager to

see whether the store manager is in agreement with the
policies developed by Sony Corporation but also by the store
manager to find what employee is not sharing the same visions
as the company and can create disadvantages to the firm.