3. SONY
CORPOR ATION
Established as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Corporation in May 1946
4. AGENDA
• Company History
• Founder : Akio Morita
• Corporate Policy
• Strategy & Organization
• Current Initiatives
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. From left:Hiroshi Yoshioka: CEO, Executive Deputy President
And Officer in charge of CPDG.
Howard Stringer: Chairman, CEO, and President
Kazuo Hirai: Corporate Executive officer, Executive vice
President and officer in charge of NPSG
11. Procurement Policies Reflect Corporate Policy
• Open Doors and Fairness
• Quality and Competitive / Reasonable Price
• Delivery Assurance and Services
• Optimum Procurement
• Technology Development
• Suppliers' Management
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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.
•
15. Sony Business Units
Region $ % of Total
(Millions)
Japan 20,012 32
US 19,124 30
Europe 13.872 22
Other Regions 10,074 16
Total 63,082 100
16. 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.
