Sony’s current financial difficulties are tied into its corporate culture which was stated over 30 years ago. 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 mission statement, with profit and benefits of the company tied more closely to everyday operations. Internally, the four forces, the management, the designers, the production and the marketing should achieve better communication and cooperation. Alliance and cooperation between competitors should also be actively sort after in order to create standards in new fields. Sony should aim at being the leader instead of being the maverick. As for cost cutting, Sony should seriously consider setting up operations in other Asian countries in order to take advantage of the cheap labor and the budding markets. Finally, 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.

With SWOT analysis and Porter’s competitive forces model, we can view that the market is much more competitive with less profit margins and lead-time for product innovation. The conclusion is that change is needed in Sony. However, even with strategical and structure change, the Sony spirit of innovation should remain intact because that is what made Sony grow and would make it stay strong.

Task 1:

Sony Corporation is the electronic business unit and the parent company of the Sony group; it is engaged in its business through eight operating segments which are consumer products and devices, networked product and services, disk manufacturing, pictures, music, financial services, Sony Ericsson and all other.

It is the first thing that comes to people minds about Sony company and its products is its high technologies filled with gadgets and product innovation, it was this innovation that has made Sony a big brand. It has used innovation in building markets out of thin air that changed everyday household lives forever.

History and culture

The current Sony corp. has a unique culture pattern in her history which is firmly rooted in relationship to her two founders Masaru Iuka and Akoi Morita. As everybody knows they both were the most dedicated electric engineers and geniuses above their business talent. They made umbrella strategy where lower engineers actively learned, developed and improved on the vision.

Also it has been observed that the R&D section of Sony differ greatly from other companies with its greater flexibility. In Sony there is a life time employment with strong norms and values which in turn create strategy through their actions. Collective vision and stress can be clearly seen in the strategies.

Effects of current business plan

The strategic planning team is the visionaries behind our business. The key components to Sony electronics is that they support and drive the developments and execution of company wide initiatives. More importantly is that they touch the very aspect of business. Whether it’s