Introduction
The Sony Corporation deals in financial services, entertainment, game, and electronics. Sony is a world-leading manufacturer of audio, video, information and communication technology products with its capital in Tokyo, Japan (Sony Global – About Sony Group, n.d.). The Company has many subsidiaries in different countries worldwide, and it has unique products that contain exciting multimedia content.
For example, Sony Europe is a subsidiary of the Sony Corporation that deals in managing, developing, and supplying electronic products across Europe. The Company believes in exploring new areas to create new ideas in order to enhance human lives through technology. Moreover, it strives to develop a wide range of products and multimedia services that provide customers with a wide range of product choice.
It has tailored its products like televisions, portable audio and digital imaging equipment towards the customers’ viewpoints or perspectives. In this manner, Sony Europe has been endeavoring to maintain market leadership in the electronic field.
Historically, Sony is known for its quality and innovative products such as the first transistor radio of 1955, Trinitron color television in 1968 and play station 3 of 2006 (Sony Global – About Sony Group, n.d.).
These products went on to hit the consumer and professional market thus winning the company international recognition as a global company. In Middle East and Africa, Sony selected Jebel Ali Freeport Zone as its regional head quarters. This station serves over 40 countries within the expansive region.
Since its launch in 1992, the company has commanded a huge share of the market in all sectors of its different businesses. For example, during the 2007 financial year, Sony Gulf announced a turnover of $1 billion. The Company executes large sales, advertising, and marketing across its many partners in Kenya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
In line with the financial target that was announced in 2012, Sony plans to attain a sales volume of over 8.0 trillion yen at an income margin of over 5% and return on equity of 10% for the entire Sony Corporation by FY14. Explicitly, the electronic business targets a sales volume of 6 trillion yen at an operating margin of over 4.5% during the same financial year.
Sony Television
In 2012, Sony bounced back onto the TV scene with a new design of the HX853 series that worn multiple awards on the television business (Archer, 2013). The liquid crystal display (LCD) television has grabbed a controlling share in the present global and dynamic world market. Initially, the company had been facing competition rivalry from the South Korean Samsung Electronics Company and LG Electronics International.
The Company has initiated a strategy of producing unique and quality products in the market. Coupled with high innovative ideas, the Sony Corporation has been able to gain competitive advantage over its competitors that produce and supply television sets.
In the 2012 financial year, the company was able to build a strong foundation and strategic investment plan for the TV business. Some of the exceptional features that Sony televisions have include the ability to playback wide collection of photos and music from USB products; these distinct features have given Sony a competitive edge over the perennial competitors in the market. These are the common features of Smart TV.
Smart TV also has social media sites like Twitter, You Tube, Picasa, and Facebook. This television model is also able to stream several video platforms through its online platforms. Some of the video highlights include Netflix and Lovefilm, BBC iPlayer, BBC sport, and Sky News. Sony 55W905A is another model that has a remote that functions with a special android application.
The remote uses the Near-Field Communications (NFC) technology; therefore, one can strike the remote on an NFC-portable device like the Xperia smartphones to mirror the screen of the device on the TV. Moreover, the current Sony televisions take close to 10ms for the signals to arrive at the inputs; it is a unique feature that the company has added in their televisions.
In addition, it recorded momentous advancement on the line of high profit margins in the TV business. This path to profitability on TV business has remained among the core strategies in this 2013 financial year. Some of the features that the company has added in their new TV models are the “X-Reality PRO” which is an engine that process images and “Triluminos Display” which makes the screens to display wide color.
In addition to enhancing the quality of the display and image, the company is targeting to expand its 4K LCD TV lineup (Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting FY2013, 2013). Sony plans to capture and control the emerging markets by producing and supplying TVs that meet the customers’ needs. Further, it plans to reduce the operational and fixed costs in order to register more sales than before hence returning to profitability in FY13.
Logistics strategy
Sony Corporation produces television models, which are durable; therefore, it has modified a cost-effective distribution strategy that ensures that the products are available in local markets at the right quantity. In the Indian market, Sony uses one level conduit of distributing products where customers purchase the TV sets from recognized Sony dealers who obtain the products directly from the company.
On the other aspect, the current development in technology has forced the Company to use the internet as a way that customers can acquire information on Sony retailers and their locations. Sony has joined the international television divisions in producing programs that command a worldwide appeal since globalization has reshaped the cultural, social, political, and economic parameters of all societies.
The globalization process has altered people’s experiences on entertainment hence changing the market demand. These changes have also made Sony collaborate with local companies in developing a subscription business model. This model enables consumers to acquire information on the products before purchasing them.
The Company intends to expand the TV business in all its regional markets worldwide as a means of realigning its business portfolio with the supply chain strategy (Ford, 2011). For example, Sony targets India in developing its television production and television network due to its rapid market growth.
Sony in a bid to sell its TV aligns its supply chain strategy, marketing strategy, finance strategy and human resource strategy in a specified direction in order to form the overall business strategy.
The Company believes that effective management and strong creative decisions are the essential cornerstones it requires in strengthening its foundation and place as a chief actor in the electronic field. In line with realigning its business portfolio and optimizing resources on the television business, Sony has finished transferring the small and medium-sized LCD business to an external agent.
A clear supply chain strategy improves customer service, increases profits, and continues to minimize the reduced costs of production and operation. Evidently, a right logistics strategy facilitates achievements of business goals by engaging the management team in meeting the strategic objectives of a firm.
The Sony Corporation has also set clear its logistics strategy; for instance, it decided to reduce the number of materials and parts that suppliers gave the company in 2010 (Ford, 2011). This approach assisted Sony in cutting the production costs of the electronic products in order to regain control of the market that had been so competitive in the previous year.
The dynamic and evolving logistics strategy of the Sony Corporation lowered the cost of products’ distribution in the long-term perspective. The Company delegates sales to selected dealers through its selective distribution method. In expansive markets, it employs grey scale marketing strategy, but does not offer benefits for purchasing television sets such as a guarantee and warranty.
Corporate Strategy
Customers
The Company has employed cost-cutting mechanisms in manufacturing the LCD panel. It is still exploring other avenues that can require further production efficiencies to reduce the cost of the television models by over 35%. In addition, it targets to reduce its fixed business costs of the television business by 30% in the 2013 fiscal year.
The Company intends to attract and retain customers using this cost reduction strategy in the market. Sony also intends to increase customers’ receptions on their television sets by advancing the image and quality of audio on these products. Sony studies the needs of different geographic markets in order to produce products that actually meet the needs of the markets.
Notably, the company has made massive steps in developing and commercializing the next generation display units such as OLED. The television business is even integrating with Sony network services and the company’s mobile products in order to provide distinct user services and experiences, and even attract customers on the television lineup.
The Company has also employed strong innovative practices in the television business such that customers can continue to identify its products in the highly competitive and populated market. Sony highly relies on its motto of “make.believe” since it continues to carry out extensive research on what is possible in the television business.
Afterwards, the technocrats and engineers try to put the findings into practice and then take it to the market after believing in its operations. The innovative idea has proved essential since the current market is undergoing fast technological changes.
The President and CEO of Sony Corporation also attested to the harshness of the market and environment in which their television business operates (Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting FY2013, 2013). Therefore, it remains the role of the CEO to reposition the growth and rebuild the entire electronic business in order to contain the stiff competition from its competitors.
Suppliers
In their corporate strategy meeting on April 12, 2012, the company decided to restructure its headquarters and sales groups in order to increase its efficiencies on the management and operational front. In mid-2009, Sony faced stiffer competition than before thus forcing it to take a new approach to address the shift in the competitive landscape.
This problem became a critical supply chain issue in the global market for the Company until the Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa had to lower the quantity of materials and parts suppliers by over 50% and even had to purchase cost reductions of 20% in FY10.
Nakagawa did this by improving and rationalizing the process of payment terms. The Company employs effective management in dealing with its suppliers in the current unpredicted market through cutting the product suppliers in situations of stiff competition from competitors.
Competitors
In dealing with competitors, Sony has produced a variety of television sets thus enabling customers to have a wide range of product choice to consider during purchases. Some of the television products include BRAVIA TV, Sony KDL-55W905A, and PS3 Sony style (Archer, 2013). In addition, the Company adopted cost-cutting strategies in 2009 in order to out do the competitors in the television business.
The Company had avoided this strategy for along time until in 2009 when the global recession hit the entire market in the previous financial year. For example, the gap in pricing between the 32-inch and 42-inch LCD television is quite narrow, symbolizing a price reduction strategy.
Inventory planning
Inventory planning assists firms to study the demand of their products in the market and decide when to order inventories and the quantity of the new inventories to order. The process enables firms to align their sales and production capacities with their strategic objectives.
Sony has been maintaining close relations with prospective retailers in order to provide them with sales feedback thereby assisting them in analyzing the actual market demand of their products. The Company utilizes the concept of JDA solutions and services in creating scorecards, data that rely on forecasting and exceptional analyses that it shares with its retailers.
These service levels enable Sony to track stored data on a daily basis. As a result, Sony can work with the key retailers in correcting any mismatch that may arise between supply and demand of the television sets. Inventory planning has made Sony experience numerous benefits, some of which include 40% enhancement in the accuracy of forecasting and 18% increment in in-stock levels (Marcus, 2010).
Evidently, inventory planning has enabled Sony to match the supply and demand of its products. On the design process, Sony has gone through evolution since 1960. The design on Sony Walkman attests the real satisfaction of customers’ needs of demanding a lifestyle of music on the go.
Other electronic products like BRAVIA LCD TV models are portable as they are made of LCD Panel. Notably, the Bravia models have large display resolutions of 1,920 dots by 1,080 lines and low power consumption rates.
The KDL-40XBR9 model, for instance, uses 205W, accepts MPEG2, MP3, and JPEG in its USB ports, and consumes less than 0.3W on standby mode (Marcus, 2010). Sony encourages designs that are user friendly in the present evolving world.
Conclusion
The Sony Corporation has diversified its services in many sectors. The television business has revolutionized the entertainment industry. For instance, the X Series-4K TV is a unique model since it is the first TV with the highest and largest picture resolution to be in the market. The model produces premium picture qualities and has extensive features that take entertainment to a new dimension (Archer, 2013).
The Sony Internet TV has also revolutionized the Sony Entertainment Network as people can stream videos on You Tube and chat with friends on the common social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Picasa.
References
Archer, J. (2013). Sony KDL-55W905A review | Plasma and lcd tvs Reviews | TechRadar. TechRadar | Technology News and Reviews. Web.
Ford, H. (2011). Sony Television Marketing Management. EzineMark.com: Free Content Online Directory. Web.
Marcus, W. G. (2010). Strategic Analysis on Sony. Scribd. Web.
Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting FY2013. (2013). Sony Global – Sony Global Headquarters. Web.
Sony Global – About Sony Group. (n.d.). Sony Global – Sony Global Headquarters. Web.