A Project Report On Sony Corporation
A Project Report On Sony Corporation
Sony Corporation
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Introduction.
Sony Corporation, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Knan, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It ranked 73 on the 2011 list of Fortune Global 500. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics products for the consumer and professional markets.
Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its six operating segments Consumer Products & Services Group (consumer electronics, game & network services), Professional, Device & Solutions Group (B2B products & services), Pictures, Music, Financial Services and Sony Ericsson. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world.
The Sony Group is a Japan-based corporate group primarily focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products & components), Game (such as PlayStation), Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music), and Financial Services (such as insurance and banking) sectors. The group consists of Sony Corporation (holding & electronics), Sony Computer Entertainment (game), Sony Pictures Entertainment (motion pictures), Sony Music Entertainment (music), Sony Financial Holdings (financial services) and others.
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Companys History....
In late 1945, after the end of World War II, Masaru Ibuka started a radio repair shop in a bomb-damaged department store Shirokiya building in Nihonbashi of Tokyo. The next year, he was joined by his colleague, Akio Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K., (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The company built Japan's first tape recorder, called the Type-G. In the early 1950s, Ibuka traveled in the United States and heard about Bell Labs' invention of the transistor. He convinced Bell to license the transistor technology to his Japanese company. While most American companies were researching the transistor for its military applications, Ibuka and Morita looked to apply it to communications. Although the American companies Regency Electronics and Texas Instruments built the first transistor radio as joint venture, it was Ibuka's company that made them commercially successful for the first time. In August 1955, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo released the Sony MK-55, Japan's first commercially produced transistor radio. They followed up in December of the same year by releasing the Sony TR-72, a product that won favour both within Japan and in export markets, including Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. Featuring six transistors, push-pull output and greatly improved sound quality, the TR-72 continued to be a popular seller into the early sixties. In May 1956, the company released the TR-6, which featured an innovative slim design and sound quality capable of rivaling portable tube radios. It was for the TR-6 that Sony first contracted "Atchan", a cartoon character created by Fuyuhiko Okabe, to become its advertising character. Now known as "Sony Boy", the character first appeared in a cartoon ad holding a TR-6 to his ear, but went on to represent the company in ads for a variety of products well into the mid-sixties. The following year, 1957, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo came out with the TR-63 model, then the smallest (112 71 32 mm) transistor radio in commercial production. It was a worldwide commercial success.
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From the University of Arizona, Professor Michael Brian Schiffer, PhD, says, "Sony was not first, but its transistor radio was the most successful. The TR-63 of 1957 cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics." By the mid-1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5,000,000 units by the end of 1968. Sony's headquarters moved to Minato, Tokyo from Shinagawa, Tokyo around the end of 2006.
Origin of name When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a romanized name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TKK. The company occasionally used the acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name. The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words. One was the Latin word "Sonus", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was "Sonny", a familiar term used in 1950s America to call a boy. The first Sonybranded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955 but the company name did not change to Sony until January 1958. At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui, had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval.
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iF product design gold awards Digital Still Camera Cyber-shot DSC-T700 Digital Still Camera Cyber-shot DSC-T77 Active Style Headphones Series
iF product design awards 2009 BRAVIA EX1 Picture Frame LCD TV (This product is not available for sale in the Middle East) OLED TV XEL-1 (This product is not available for sale in the Middle East) Home Theater System DAV-F500 Digital Camcorder Handycam DCR-SR85/75/65/55/46/45/36/35(E) & Soft Carrying Case LCS-SRC HDV Camcorder HVR-Z7 Digital SLR Camera 350 Digital SLR Camera 900 Digital Photo Frame Canvas Online VGF-CP1 Digital Photo Frame S-Frame DPF-V Series Active Speaker System Sountina NSA-PF1 Headphones MDR-EX500 Linear PCM Recorder PCM-D50 (This product is not available for sale in the Middle East) Digital Audio Player WALKMAN S Series USB Flash Drive Micro Vault USM-LX/L Series
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Sony India has won an award at the Avaya Global connect Customer Responsiveness Awards 2006 held at Mumbais ITC Grand Central on January 19, 2007 Sonys recently launched D-SLR camera, the 100 has been awarded the prestigious EISA award for the Best Consumer Camera for the year 200607. EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association).
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Managerial Aspects.
Representative Corporate Executive Officers
Howard Stringer: Chairman, CEO and President Ryoji Chubachi : Vice Chairman Officer in charge of Product Quality & Safety and Environmental Affairs Kazuo Hirai : Executive Deputy President Officer in charge of the Consumer Products and Services Businesses Corporate Executive Officers Hiroshi Yoshioka : Executive Deputy President Officer in charge of the Professional, Device & Solutions businesses Keiji Kimura : EVP Officer in charge of Intellectual Property and the Disc Manufacturing business Nicole Seligman : EVP and General Counsel Masaru Kato : EVP and CFO
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S.W.O.T Analysis.
Strengths
Sony able to create high quality products for its customers. History of products shows that the business is very reputable. Engineers have learnt from the past failures and so they can produce and work better The company is very competitive towards other companies.
Weaknesses
Within the last few years Sony has been making a loss with a few of its products. Sales of all products are seemingly starting to slow down. The company has no sense of direction and is not being managed properly.
The
functional departments within the organisation are not communicating with one another and so productivity has decreased.
Opportunities
The engineering department has increased in size and so therefore are working harder. Sony is known not to copy any of its competitors and so more reputation is gained The marketing department has increased advertising techniques in order to attract new customers Sony is trying to sell their high quality products cheaper to attract customers
Threats
Sony Corporation has competitors which are more powerful, such as Microsoft. Recent reports show that most of their products are forged and sold as fakes, which means that some of Sonys reputation is decreased. Sony also lacks the direction of strategy which means its competitors could be doing better. Competitors achieving most of Sonys customers due to the fact that their products are achieving various market types.
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VAIO laptops
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Z610 a 3G mobile
Radio
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Storage Devices
Pen drives
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Financial Highlights.
Sony Corporation and Consolidated Subsidiaries-Years ended March 31
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Balance Sheet.
Period Ending Assets Current Assets Cash And Cash Equivalents Short Term Investments Net Receivables Inventory Other Current Assets Total Current Assets Long Term Investments Property Plant and Equipment Goodwill Intangible Assets Accumulated Amortization Other Assets Deferred Long Term Asset Charges Total Assets 12,240,000 7,796,000 10,578,000 8,495,000 7,272,000 46,381,000 71,099,000 11,159,000 5,659,000 4,719,000 8,874,000 8,058,000 155,948,000 12,752,000 6,202,000 11,657,000 6,908,000 6,711,000 44,230,000 56,714,000 10,787,000 4,697,000 4,055,000 8,412,000 8,798,000 137,694,000 30-Mar-2011 30-Mar-2010
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Liabilities Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Short/Current Long Term Debt Other Current Liabilities
30-mar-2011
30-mar-2010
Total Current Liabilities Long Term Debt Other Liabilities Deferred Long Term Liability Charges Minority Interest Negative Goodwill
Total Liabilities
124,972,000
105,953,000
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Stockholders' Equity Misc Stocks Options Warrants Redeemable Preferred Stock Preferred Stock Common Stock Retained Earnings Treasury Stock Capital Surplus Other Stockholder Equity
30,743,000
31,741,000
20,365,000
22,989,000
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Conclusion Bibliography
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Conclusion.
Sony Corporation has a long history of innovative development, strong branding, and excellent quality that has made it a technological leader for many years. Sony's family-like organizational culture, where employees are treated like members of a family, has produced a creative environment where innovation and technology can thrive. Sony's primary market is technology, but over the years, the company has branched out into other areas, namely gaming and entertainment. Some of its hottest new products include the LIBRIT e-book reader that can store up to 500 downloaded books, using electronic ink technology and a paperback-sized screen for displaying them (Shim). Another technological breakthrough is the device being touted as a "real-life matrix," that can stimulate a person's brain with ultrasonic pulses to add taste, smell, and sensation experiences to the movie or game-playing experience (Hogan & Fox, Block). Sony's latest release is the DVDirect Recorder, with its computer-free capability to burn digital photos and home videos onto DVD discs; the recorder allows users to transfer both media in real-time from a camcorder or VCR tape or record digital images to DVD (Boukis). Sony's marketing is tailored to each product and its respective market. In 2001, in spite of a faltering economy, it brought out the latest phase of its platformbased marketing approach that showcases multiple new digital homeentertainment, personal audio/video and computing products; Sony's strategy seemed to be that in such discouraging times, people just want to have fun. Here by it can be concluded that Sony has great strengths in its strong branding and many decades of excellent reputation for quality which has taken the company to great achievements of it history and made it a well-known brand all-over the world
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Bibliography.
www.sony.net In.finance.yahoo.com www.wikipedia.org www.google.in
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