(www.ft.com)

(www.cnbc.com)

Sony was founded in 1946 in Tokyo Japan, which is where the current HQ is located

Most profitable products are, mobile phones, semi conductors (apple) and the PlayStation

Sony made its mark with the Walkman (music on the go)

President and CEO - Kazuo Hirai

Executive Deputy President and CFO - Kenichiro Yoshida

In the last seven years this is its sixth loss

www.sony.net

Problems with Sony

CEO is too focused on aggressive cost cutting tactics

2 ethical issues

- language barrier between English and Japanese

- a cultural divide, Japanese employees expected to work 16 hours, not expected in western

culture

www.businessinsider.com

What this results in

Substantial loss of revenue ($1.2 billion 2014) in the last few years

Low stock prices (as seen to the left)

Smartphone is not competitive

Sold the laptop sector off

www.cnet.com

Solutions

Switch to a decentralised structure, employees have more freedom and empowerment

More motivation to employees

Allow employees to be more creative, better ideas (McGregor theory Y over X)

Board can invest in language lessons

Board can also invest culture lessons

www.forbes.com

Reference List

•Bakalar, J. and Reisinger, D. (2014) Sony post loss. Available at: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/sony-posts-1-2-billion-loss-as-mobile-

business-falls-off-a-cliff/ (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Bhasin, K. (2012) This is the biggest problem with Sony’s brand. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-biggest-problem-

with-sonys-brand-2012-4?IR=T (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Inagaki, K. (2015) Sony CFO looks to turn company away from cuts to growth. Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/089a90dc-3b5f-11e5

-bbd1-b37bc06f590c.html#axzz3tCtZCOsO (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Martin (2014) The Google way of motivating employees. Available at: http://www.entrepreneurial-insights.com/google-way-motivating-

employees/ (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Sony (2015) Sony global - corporate information. Available at: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/ (Accessed: 3 December 2015)

•Spence, E. (2015) How do you solve A problem like Sony’s Xperia?. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2015/01/28/sony

-xperia-2015-android-strategy/ (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Strange, A. (2011) Sony problem isn’t hackers, it’s lack of leadership. Available at: http://z3n.tv/2011/05/26/sonys-problem-isnt-earthquakes

-and-hackers-its-lack-of-leadership/ (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

•Tsuno, Y., Images, G. and Ranasinghe, D. (2014) Sony’s big problem? It's just not cool. Available at: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/14/sonys-

big-problem-its-just-not-cool.html (Accessed: 3 December 2015).

Sony management consultation

Benjamin Capper– 15405976, Arundeep Gill– 15423173, Benedict Keeney— 14409565, Oliver Pirret– 15410619