Q 1.

What is the dominant product technology used in the industry in which your company is
based?

Ans: A major concern for consumer electronics companies continues to be the impact on sales,
profits, and supply chains as a result of the ongoing trade war between the US and China,
according to Global Data, a leading data and analytics company.

Virtual reality (VR)

Sony’s PlayStation VR headsets and the Oculus Quest headset are competing directly with the
Nintendo Switch. Valve’s Index VR and HTC’s Vive Focus Plus headsets were both launched in
2019. Lower prices and new launches in 2020 are expected to encourage growth.

Augmented reality (AR)

AR could be the next big computing platform. Ultimately, AR glasses may replace the
smartphone as the primary connected device. As the technology matures, subscriptions, location-
based entertainment, and in-app purchases will become more prominent.

Smart speakers

Nearly every leading technology company is either already producing a smart speaker or
developing one. Many vendors are releasing smart speakers that are singularly purposed yet also
incorporate at least one of the dominant platforms – Alexa or Google Assistant.

Automated home

Automated home technologies include speakers, TVs, fridges, ovens, washing machines,
thermostats, lights, and security cameras, which connect through a hub. Smart speakers will
increasingly operate as a hub for automated home technology.

Consumer drones

The consumer drone market has evolved quickly over the past three years. The industry’s future
depends on continuing improvements in network infrastructure and photographic equipment. In
December 2018, drone activity grounded hundreds of flights at one of the UK’s busiest airports.
The consumer drones market is likely to evolve in more unexpected ways.

Consumer robots

Consumer robotics includes robots designed for entertainment, for companionship, or to perform
domestic tasks. The fastest-growing segment will be household service robots. Social robots are
a long way from mass adoption but have gained traction in Japan.
Q 2. Are technical standards important in your industry? If so, what are they?

Ans: Yes, it is important.

Electronics standards are instrumental in specifying, evaluating, and testing the performance
requirements of the materials and accessories used in the fabrication of electronic components,
devices, and equipments. These components include thin films and substrates, membrane
switches, surface mount devices, electron tubes and emitters, integrated circuits, microelectronic
devices, bonding wires, gas distribution system components, and flat panel displays. These
electronics standards guide semiconductor device manufacturers and other companies that deal
with such parts and components in the appropriate fabrication and treatment procedures, as well
as in the examination and assessment of the end-products' properties to ensure quality towards
safe utilization.

Q 3. What are the attributes of the majority of customers purchasing the product of your
company (e.g.early adopters, early majority, late majority)? What does this tell you about the
strategic issues that the company is likely to face in the future?

Ans: Quality, Brand and price are the first, second and third attribute which influenced the
majority of the respondents to purchase Sony products. that same standards is to be maintained.
improved with a view to attract more customers and to retain the existing customers. brand.

The key problems/issues of Sony are slowing down of sales and revenues, cost cuttings, moving
factories in Asia, cooperation between divisions and efficient management. With such a large
multinational corporation, greater planning and more use of strategies should be pursued. Sony
could start with the implementation of a new strategy, with profit and benefits of the company
tied more closely to everyday operations. Internally, the company’s forces, such as the
management, the designers, the production and the marketing should achieve better
communication and cooperation.

Alliance and cooperation between competitors should also be actively sought in order to create
standards in new fields. Sony should aim at being the leader in its field. Recommended solutions:
Regarding cost cutting strategy, Sony should seriously consider setting up operations in other
Asian countries in order to take advantage of the cheap labor and the emerging markets.
Diversification, instead of pursuing the fast changing and easily imitated consumer goods
market. Sony should use its technological know-how for high-end business and office
equipment.

The major products of this company are audio, video, televisions, information and
communications, semiconductors and electronic components. Company’s mission statement is to
experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public. (Sony
Corporation 2008) The Sony Corporation engages 5 operating segments – electronics, games,
entertainment, financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive
entertainment companies in the world. But for the last few years Company faced a downturn in
their sales and profits.

Q 4. Did the dominant technology in your industry diffuse rapidly or slowly? What drove the
speed of diffusion?

Ans: New ways of doing things often get started through the actions of a few innovators, then
diffuse rapidly as more and more people come into contact with prior adopters in their social
network. Much of the literature focuses on the speed of diffusion as a function of the network
topology. In practice the topology may not be known with any precision, and it is constantly in
flux as links are formed and severed. Here we establish an upper bound on the expected waiting
time until a given proportion of the population has adopted that holds independently of the
network structure. Kreindler and Young demonstrated such a bound for regular networks when
agents choose between two options: the innovation and the status quo.

The diffusion of innovations has been and remains an important topic in marketing management
and consumer behavior owing to the importance of new products to the health of many
companies. As consumers make their individual adoption decisions, these aggregate to produce
the timing and pattern of diffusion. Thus, adoption is an individual or micro decision process,
while diffusion is a social or macro process. In diffusion theory, when the time of adoption of a
new thing since its introduction is plotted as a frequency distribution, the result is a normal or
bell-shaped curve. A cumulative plot of adoptions yields an S-shaped curve describing the spread
of the new thing through the social system as increasing numbers (followed by decreasing
numbers) of individuals adopt. Most discussions of adoption and diffusion are based on these
basic principles.

Q 5. Where is the dominant technology in your industry on its S-curve? Are alternative
competing

technologies being developed that might give rise to a paradigm shift in your industry?

Ans: A cumulative plot of adoptions yields an S-shaped curve describing the spread of the new
thing through the social system as increasing numbers (followed by decreasing numbers) of
individuals adopt. Most discussions of adoption and diffusion are based on these basic principles.

The importance of diffusion theory was recognized by some of the first academics to describe
consumer behavior as a topic of systematic study, and diffusion was prominently featured in
some of the first consumer behavior texts. A key element in diffusion theory is the concept of
‘innovativeness’. While there are several definitions, they all incorporate the notion that people
differ in their reaction to the novel, ranging from quick acceptance to outright rejection.

A firm's competitive strategy concerns how to compete in the business areas the firm operates. In
other words, competitive strategy means to define how the firm intends to create and maintain a
competitive advantage with respect to competitors. Holding a competitive advantage over
competitors means to be more profitable than competitors over the long term. A firm's
competitive strategy within a given business area is examined looking at two factors: the creation
of the competitive advantage and the protection of the competitive advantage. The creation of the
competitive advantage is described as the result of either proactive or reactive competitive
strategy. Proactive strategies can in turn be of two different types: (a) improvement of
performance (same game competitive strategy); and (b) a change of the rules of the game (new
game competitive strategy).

Q 6. Are intellectual property rights important to your company? If so, what strategies is it
adopting to protect those rights? Is it doing enough?

Ans: Sony is currently investigating the cyber attack along with several law enforcement
agencies but it is yet to announce any progress in the investigation.

"We believe that we first became the subject of attack because we tried to protect our IP
(intellectual property), our content, in this case videogames," Stringer said.

Stringer, speaking during a shareholders conference, said that the company’s IP was an
important asset and it suffered a cyber attack because it tried to protect itself against theft.

Sony’s PlayStation Network online gaming service for the PlayStation 3 gaming console was
targeted with a massive cyber attack in April. The hackers succeeded in compromising the
personal and account details belonging to 77 million users.

Strategies adopted to protect those rights:

Technical Protection

The evolution of technology is challenging the status quo of IP management in many ways. This
section and Appendix E focus on technical protection services (TPSs) that may be able to assist
in controlling the distribution of digital intellectual property on the Internet.

Encryption: An Underpinning Technology for Technical Protection Service Components

Cryptography is a crucial enabling technology for IP management. The goal of encryption is to

scramble objects so that they are not understandable or usable until they are unscrambled. The
technical terms for scrambling and unscrambling are "encrypting" and "decrypting." Encryption
facilitates IP management by protecting content against disclosure or modification both during
transmission and while it is stored.
Access Control in Bounded Communities

Perhaps the most fundamental form of technology for the protection of intellectual property is
controlling access to information (i.e., determining whether the requester is permitted to access
the information). A basic form of such control has been a part of the world of operating systems
software almost from the time operating systems were first implemented, offering limited but
useful security.