SONY

CORPOR ATION
 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 Blue Streak Wheel of Fortune Big Daddy

• Other:
• Sony Finance International, Inc.
• Sony Trading International Corporation
• Sony Broadcast Media Co. Ltd.
•
 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 web-
access 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
 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?