Playstation May Play Too Much

Good BusinessWeek article Titanio - didn't realize Kutaragi felt his honor attacked to that degree after the shake-up. Ironically I think his intra-departmental manners aside, he would have made a great CEO; his ideas of what was wrong with Sony were right on the mark IMO. But of course diplomacy does count for a lot in that role.

Anyway I hope that PS3 and Stringer can help pull Kutaragi out of whatever funk he might feel himself in post-demotion.
 
I wonder if Kutaragi actually has quite a bit of power with Stringer? Kutaragi definitely is a smart man and likely is the reason Sony is even alive today... A lot of the things Stringer seems to be doing seem like what Kutaragi would like for the company as well, and PS3 seems to be given quite a bit of backing by the company (in terms of division support). It's kind of sad to see Kutaragi get the 'shaft' of sorts, especially with what he was responsible for at Sony, but I'm also glad he is still very much in control of the playstation line (which he might have had to give up somewhat if he was full out CEO).
 
I think he's probably a little smug now that Sony has latterly accepted some of the things he was preaching about (less focus on the proprietary etc.).

This is an interesting quote from that article:

"Kutaragi nitpicks about the smallest of details," says Takeshi Natsuno, senior vice-president at mobile operator NTT DoCoMo (DCM), and a friend of Kutaragi. "Most engineers aren't used to that. But if you want a breakthrough product, you need someone like him."

Before his demotion, Kutaragi had publicly berated Sony execs for the company's go-it-alone strategy on everything from digital music players to movies. He lobbied hard to get rid of copyright protections that made shuffling digital content between gizmos a headache. Privately, he expressed frustration at the internal resistance to his efforts to reform the consumer-electronics division.
Click to expand...
 
My understanding is that Kutaragi is still given special consideration outside of the 'normal' corporate structure of Sony and reports directly to Stringer rather than through any of the other executives or board intermediaries, so I think for all intents and purposes he's given total control of his Playstation fiefdom, contingent on his incorporating any ideas Stringer absolutely mandates of course.

Still, I imagine Stringer consults him on decisions related to the electronics and semiconductor units, if only because he used to run those. Stringer's a good guy though, and a consensus builder, so I doubt any consultation with Kutaragi would be to an extent that the other department heads feel their toes are being stepped on.

As the father of Playstation, the man behind Cell and Sony's fab build-up initiative, and the man responsible for Sony's LCD venture with Samsung, there must be a sense that Kutaragi's ideas and initiatives still color certain divisions, even after his being removed from their helms.
 
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blakjedi said:
Kutaragi is to Sony as Jobs is to...
Click to expand...
...unemployment.

:p

PS. That's not supposed to be interpreted as Kutaragi ending Sony like jobs would end unemployment. Jobs are the best thing that can happen in a period of high unemployment.
 
Kutaragi

xbdestroya said:
My understanding is that Kutaragi is still given special consideration outside of the 'normal' corporate structure of Sony and reports directly to Stringer rather than through any of the other executives or board intermediaries, so I think for all intents and purposes he's given total control of his Playstation fiefdom, contingent on his incorporating any ideas Stringer absolutely mandates of course.

Still, I imagine Stringer consults him on decisions related to the electronics and semiconductor units, if only because he used to run those. Stringer's a good guy though, and a consensus builder, so I doubt any consultation with Kutaragi would be to an extent that the other department heads feel their toes are being stepped on.

As the father of Playstation, the man behind Cell and Sony's fab build-up initiative, and the man responsible for Sony's LCD venture with Samsung, there must be a sense that Kutaragi's ideas and initiatives still color certain divisions, even after his being removed from their helms.
Click to expand...

Kutaragi is like Sony chief but Stringer is hired to make layoffs & cuts. If Kutaragi make layoff then everyone in Japan will hate Kutaragi and Sony. Because stringer is foreigner then no one will expect "honor" behaviour. So everyone wins.
 
wireframe said:
...unemployment.

:p

PS. That's not supposed to be interpreted as Kutaragi ending Sony like jobs would end unemployment. Jobs are the best thing that can happen in a period of high unemployment.
Click to expand...

I would imagine he means Steve Jobs, otherwise it would have been "jobs are to..."
 
ihamoitc2005 said:
Kutaragi is like Sony chief but Stringer is hired to make layoffs & cuts. If Kutaragi make layoff then everyone in Japan will hate Kutaragi and Sony. Because stringer is foreigner then no one will expect "honor" behaviour. So everyone wins.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know about that. The Western CEO as butcher theory certainly has some credence, but all the same Stringer is still very much in charge. I think that Kutaragi is given respect and his space, but I hardly think he's pulling strings from behind the scenes. Stringer seems 100% in charge and supported, and it's his ability to win support and build consensus among those who otherwise dislike each other that inspired Idei to give him the title.

Anyway I'll be interested to see who becomes CEO when Stringer steps down. There's of course always Kutaragi, but Stringer seems very close to Chubachi as well.
 
Stringer is doing what Kuturagi suggested all along, which of course is what any half-wit would've done...brought Sony's divisions together. And everything seems to be centred around PS3.

Re: first article. I don't think consumers will be confused about PS3's value as a gaming machine, but it may be hard to convince them that it is used for anything else.
 
Daryl said:
They had BETTER include a HD in *every* box or I will xconsider Sony to have slapped me in the face.

They better get it right. No splitting the market like MS.
Click to expand...
Err, everyone expects Sony to do everything MS has done wrong/poorly absolutely perfectly. Sony will never win.


Btw- They already said if there is no HDD no game will use it except MMOs, I think...
 
Direction

xbdestroya said:
Well, I don't know about that. The Western CEO as butcher theory certainly has some credence, but all the same Stringer is still very much in charge. I think that Kutaragi is given respect and his space, but I hardly think he's pulling strings from behind the scenes. Stringer seems 100% in charge and supported, and it's his ability to win support and build consensus among those who otherwise dislike each other that inspired Idei to give him the title.

Anyway I'll be interested to see who becomes CEO when Stringer steps down. There's of course always Kutaragi, but Stringer seems very close to Chubachi as well.
Click to expand...

I do not think Kutaragi is detail manager, but he is for "direction" of company and this is why Sony has "reorganization" with Kutaragi division as center position. Stringer who has CEO title is maybe more like "administration" type but really I think he is "butcher" man.

Also, stringer looks like giant "butcher" man but Kutaragi is like little nerd man no?

Giant Stringer with scared man
http://www.variety.com/graphics/photos/vpage2004/vtimewarner_stringer.jpg

Little Ken and PS3, PS3 looks very large!
http://www.mtv.com/shared/media/news/images/p/Playstation_3/sq-scea-ken-ps3-reveal.jpg
 
Daryl said:
They had BETTER include a HD in *every* box or I will xconsider Sony to have slapped me in the face.

They better get it right. No splitting the market like MS.
Click to expand...

Well, Sony's promised nothing in this regard. Kutaragi has already intimated that it's very unlikely.
 
Eh, I'm just joking.

I just remember all this "slapped in the face" talk when Xbox 360 didn't have a HD standard. And all this anger.

PS3 wont have a HD standard because guess what, they're a bad idea. They divert cost from what matters, the chipset. I think people inutuiiytivle know this, and that's why most people aren't upset the PS3 wont have one.
 
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