Product details

In the early 21st century, Sony, Japan''s most innovative company and the world''s most valuable consumer electronics company, was in a crisis. Its foray into music, motion pictures, and financial services, had left the company facing a diverse spectrum of increasingly competitive rivals. Sony''s brand value was on the decline as products, like Apple''s iPod (portable digital music player) and Samsung''s LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs, leaped ahead in terms of quality and demand in an industry, which had been dominated by Sony for almost half a century. A restructuring plan, ''Transformation 60'', was implemented by the then Chief Executive Officer, Nobiyuki Idei, to revive Sony''s flagging business by 2006, the year of Sony''s 60th anniversary. However, in 2004, Sony''s core electronics business, which constituted almost two-thirds of the company sales, incurred losses. Nobiyuki Idei resigned from his post and for the first time in the history of Sony, a non-Japanese, non-engineer, Sir Howard Stringer was appointed the head of Sony. This case study provides insights into the problems at Sony, the rise of Sir Howard within Sony, the reasons for Sir Howard''s appointment as the head of Sony, and the challenges facing Sir Howard and Sony. The case offers scope to discuss whether Sir Howard will be able to revive Sony''s fortunes. A structured assignment ''305-288-4'' is available to accompany this case.