Sony is an electronics company that produces a wide range of products such as televisions, laptops, and smartphones. The corporate headquarters are located in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. Sony has been one of the leading producers in the field for over two decades. For several years now Sony has been one of the leading companies in the production field. In this article, we are going to see about Sony Company Overview.
Sony has had many successes and setbacks throughout its long history as a multinational corporation that began back in 1946. They produce electronics products including televisions, gaming consoles, audio equipment, medical equipment, movies including Spider-Man 1&2 along with video games for every PlayStation console ever made since 1994 to date.
Sony’s Corporate Goal
Sony’s corporate goal is to “serve” its customers with products, services, and information. They are very successful at this as they have been ranked number one in every period in the global Information and Knowledge category by BrandZ. This is an area where they rank well above their competitors: Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics, Microsoft Corporation, Alphabet Inc., eBay Inc., Amazon.com, Dell Technologies Inc., Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company, and many more.
Sony’s Strengths
- Sony’s leadership is on the right track.
- Sony controls manufacturing for over 18% of televisions worldwide
- Sony has a strong presence in gaming consoles with PlayStation 5 being the top-selling console in North America last year
- Sony is on its way to acquiring Toshiba’s semiconductor business, which would give it one of the largest chip manufacturers in the world
- Sony is focused on content with joint ventures with Plexxi and Spotify
- Sony has a strong commitment to differentiating its products from the competition by incorporating 3D and 4K technologies
- Sony is dismantling its business units in North America, instead of focusing on its core strengths in multimedia entertainment such as movies, music, and games
- Sony’s financial situation is improving because of the improved performance of its PlayStation platforms
- Sony’s new management has been cutting costs and restructuring divisions, which will create savings and also allow it to focus on its strengths
- Sony is a strong buy at current levels as the Company continues to generate profits. It is only a matter of time before it turns around.
- The Company’s share price has been volatile and inefficient in the past few years but recently displayed an upward trend due to cost-cutting and restructuring measures
- Sony is in a position to take advantage of the growth in the Southeast Asian economy.
- Sony is generally a safe and secure investment, making it one of the best investment choices for conservative investors, as well as retirees and portfolio managers
- Sony has been successful over the past year by focusing on video games and improving its digital content capabilities
- Sony’s reduced debt from $43 billion to $34 billion, with a current ratio of 2.9 to 1, indicates that it can withstand any financial challenges that may occur
Sony’s Weaknesses
- Sony Pictures was hacked recently.
- Sony has not recovered.
- Sony relies heavily on TV and movies to make money, but people may lose interest if they know their data is at risk, or if movies are released late because of the hack-related fallout (a la The Interview).
- Sony’s lack of security is costing them customers and that could cost them even more in the future.
- Lack of customer trust might mean that new customers who want their pictures/data secure either don’t buy an Xperia device or ask for better protection before buying one (just like many people now ask for encryption before downloading a phone app).
- If a next-gen device is announced, and around the same time a class action lawsuit is announced because people don’t trust the product that’s about to be released, it could mean big trouble for Sony.
- Sony has lost many customers because of this and if things don’t start changing quickly it will lose even more customers and continue to have trouble paying for security upgrades/new versions as the money starts running out and fewer people buy their products.
- Already, a bunch of people is migrating to Samsung and LG phones because they feel safer with them.
- Mobile sales are important to Sony and this might affect those in a bad way — Sony has now been stereotyped as an unsafe brand, just like Toshiba, HP, and many other companies who have been hacked in the past.
- In addition, their overall reputation might go down if their movies are released late because of the hack; even if they don’t lose sales now (they will partially), Sony will lose more later on — for example people might think that if an entire studio is hacked so easily than what’s to say that other businesses aren’t as well?
- The social media executives that advise the company need to be brought in to help with this issue too. They are both in charge of public relations with the press and on social media.
- Sony was initially a good brand but lost its positive image due to various reasons, including the fact that their hardware was unreliable and overpriced, not enough security features and it was hard to call them regarding any problem.
Sony’s Opportunities
- To help control costs, Sony is expanding the business outside of the electronics industry. Building on their expertise with industrial design, Sony is targeting industries such as industrial robotics, medical equipment, and 3D printers.
- Sony Mobile aims to be a global leader in mobile entertainment. They want to offer innovative technology and a “cool” style in all their products to appeal to a wider audience and create a unique identity for themselves.
- Sony Pictures Entertainment is the leader in film and television programming. By expanding their business they can improve profitability while offering more entertainment to their consumers.
- Sony has had some very successful acquisitions over the years including Columbia House in 1989, CBS records in 1988, MGM studios in 1990, and Columbia pictures also in 1990. All these subsidiaries were enormous successes for Sony, CBS Records was one of the fastest-growing divisions for Sony in the mid-’90s and was sold for 2 billion dollars because it was so profitable under Sony’s direction.
- Sony is sitting on about 4.2 billion dollars in cash and bonds that they don’t have to spend until they want to. The Sony Corporation was founded in 1946 and is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of audio and video equipment, information technology products, and network services. It is ranked a top 150 company on the Fortune 500 list. The business has been under the control of Chairman Akio Morita since its founding. Headquarters are located at 1-1-1 Ookayama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0003, Japan (Japan). Sony Corporation was originally just an electronics company but after they began producing their televisions, they were able to capture the Japanese market with strong sales.
- For Sony to become successful again, it would be best for them to completely redesign their company from the ground up and make it even stronger than it was when it was formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment. This is something that they would have to do, as it is apparent that their mobile division isn’t working out very well for them. Sony may be better off in the long run if they separate their activities in the media and entertainment sector from the rest of their company. Sony has a chance to rebrand itself and refocus on what they do best – offering high-end electronics and cutting-edge entertainment technology. Sony has made a name for itself in the music, movie, gaming, and television industries already. They need to build off that and make a strong push into other media markets by offering new products and services to consumers in those fields as well.
Sony Threats
- Sony Ericsson hasn’t had a good reputation in the past for their phones’ design. Just by looking at a few online reviews, you’ll find that the sales only increased when they were rebranded under Sony.
- Sony’s mobile phones are not known for having a lot of sales. The only phone that has made a mark was the Xperia X10, which sold more than two million units in 2006. But their entire mobile phone business shrank from 7.9 million units in 2011 to 7.7 million units in 2012 and 6.1 million units in 2013. Sony is losing market share because of this, and they have no real threat at all when it comes to their smartphone sales being cut off.
- No New Products: Sony doesn’t have any new products coming up soon. They are not set to release a new flagship device until sometime in 2014 and it has been widely anticipated that the Xperia Z2 will be released by the second half of 2013. Sony is reconsidering whether they want to release a new smartphone next year, or if they want to sell off the company (as some commentators have suggested).
- Security Issues: Sony is facing a class-action lawsuit because of their security breach that exposed 53,000 customer records to hackers. Some people are worried about buying a phone from them after this event, but they might just stick with the phones they already own due to their reliability and lack of hacking issues.
- Sony hasn’t been as innovative as they want to be. While they were looking into new things like tablets, laptops, and other entertainment devices, they didn’t do this in the mobile sphere at all. Their phone lines aren’t too popular with consumers, and Sony needs to make some serious changes to appeal to a wider audience and get their security issues fixed.
- Sony has used the same technology in their phones since the early 2000s. Their phones are still not as secure as they might want them to be. Sony hasn’t invested too much into making sure that its devices are up to date and secure.
- Sony is not a strong innovator in the mobile industry. They have often been lacking when it comes to creating a new product to replace old ones that are no longer viable. This means that there is no incentive for Sony to invest in R&D because they know they can’t afford to fail if they do so, and it is just not worth the risk at this point.
- Sony doesn’t have the same amount of media influence as they do in their print media. They don’t have such high sales, and they don’t have such a strong amount of influence in the entertainment industry that they own either. Their sales are mostly regulated with Japan because of how successful their portable TVs are there.
Sony’s Competitor
Samsung Electronics Co.
Sony’s oldest domestic rival is Samsung Electronics Co. A South Korean company, Samsung has been competing with Sony for decades in a variety of ways. The company has been offering things like flat screens and cellular telephones, but their most diverse set of products contain TVs and VCRs. Sony’s flagship response to the competition was the founding of the Creative Technology Ltd. division, which incorporated basic TV sets and cameras into its products like chipsets (for example videocassette recorders), receivers, and camcorders. This division became known as “Real”. The Real brand eventually became so popular that it was licensed to other companies for use in their products; Samsung is one of them.
Conclusion
Sony is one of the best-known brands in the world, but they’re not put on top just by sitting back and waiting for success to rain down on them. The Sony Corporation has always been actively seeking out competing companies, bringing them under their umbrella, and ultimately turning their success into Sony’s own. In this article we would have learnt about Sony Company Overview.
Sony FAQs
1. What does SONY stand for?
SONY stands for Sony Corporation.
2. What is the difference between Sony and SONY?
SONY is a brand name. SONY or SUVA is a corporation that sells electronics products under multiple brand names for its varied interests, including hi-fi and professional audio, computer gaming, professional video production equipment, and tools, as well as televisions, cameras, and video editing equipment.
3. Is SONY an acronym?
No.
4. What is the youngest Sony product available?
Sony is one of the oldest brands in the audio department and their products have been around since 1925.
5. Why does it take a small company like SONY to make this high-quality equipment?
The SONY Walkman was a large part of the success of Sony Corporation and gave them widespread recognition worldwide, even today.
6. Why does SONY make so many different types of CD players?
SONY has a wide range of products that cater to different types of people. They have different product lines for beginner, intermediate, advanced, and professional users.
