Sony is bleeding money - business strategy discussion

[MrFox]

He does have a point though, the PS4 is really sexy, I teared it down many times, and used thermal paste.

 

[dobwal]

Well the Reputation Institute that tracks reputation of the largest companies across 25 countries have regularly put Sony in the top 5 since at least 2010. In 2010 and 2012 they were number 2 in the world while they are were ranked number 5 in 2014. In Europe they were ranked #1 last year.

2014 http://www.reputationinstitute.com/...l_RepTrak_100_Press_Release_April_9_FINAL.pdf
2013 http://www.rankingthebrands.com/PDF/Global RepTrak 100 Report 2013, Reputation Institute.pdf
2012 http://www.rankingthebrands.com/PDF/2012 RepTrak 100-Global_Report, Reputation Institute.pdf

 

[patsu]

Want proof at sony's reputation ? Just look at all the divisions they've sold off or shuttered. Look at their cell phone division that continues to loose money quarter after quarter or their tv division that is doing worse and worse.

It might not work out the way you want. Microsoft is rich but at the same time, their reputation is also not that good overall.
They also lost a lot of money trying to roll out many things, but they have a monopoly in enterprise software to fuel their expense. So all is good.

 

[eastmen]

Well the Reputation Institute that tracks reputation of the largest companies across 25 countries have regularly put Sony in the top 5 since at least 2010. In 2010 and 2012 they were number 2 in the world while they are were ranked number 5 in 2014. In Europe they were ranked #1 last year.

2014 http://www.reputationinstitute.com/...l_RepTrak_100_Press_Release_April_9_FINAL.pdf
2013 http://www.rankingthebrands.com/PDF/Global RepTrak 100 Report 2013, Reputation Institute.pdf
2012 http://www.rankingthebrands.com/PDF/2012 RepTrak 100-Global_Report, Reputation Institute.pdf

Looks like sony releases different products in Europe , they had the best score there out of anyone.

It might not work out the way you want. Microsoft is rich but at the same time, their reputation is also not that good overall.
They also lost a lot of money trying to roll out many things, but they have a monopoly in enterprise software to fuel their expense. So all is good.

What enterprise software do they have a monopoly in ?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

What enterprise software do they have a monopoly in ?

Are you kidding? Windows, Office and Exchange.

 

[-tkf-]

Looks like sony releases different products in Europe , they had the best score there out of anyone.


What enterprise software do they have a monopoly in ?

Buy a Server 2008, get 5 cal included.
Buy a Server 2012, zero cals included, buy them on top of them
No upgrade prices, old cals doesn't cover the license need, so you have to replace every old cal with a new cal at full price.

They have so little competition in their market that it is simply scary, and the licenses show this.
I have slowly but very surely started to step away from anything microsoft where i can, not because i have a problem with their products, i actually like and prefer most of what they do over the competition. But they are simply milking us for to much money. So Apple and Google are enjoying our money instead.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

But they [Microsoft] are simply milking us for to much money. So Apple and Google are enjoying our money instead.

I hear Apple are really short of money

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Poor reputation leads to reduced sales. which leads to reduced profit.

That's not the only possible cause of reduced sales, and there's plenty enough posted here to show this argument of yours is bunk. You can have a great reputation but fail to compete with other companies, quite often because they're much cheaper with a worse reputation, but people value lower price over reputation and core quality. I've seen Xperia feature highly on Top Ten mobile lists, for example, but being highly regarded doesn't guarantee sales.

Sony may have a poor reputation with you, but the rest of the world ranks them fairly highly overall. Unless you can present real, impartial evidence to the contrary, you really should drop this line of discussion.

Here's another reputation link : http://www.forbes.com/pictures/efkk45mmlm/the-10-companies-with-the-best-csr-reputations/

Just admit you're wrong on this, Sony's reputation isn't in tatters, and the reason for their financial failures are due to other causes!

 

[Reggy72]

I'm new here and neither a programming enthusiast nor related to the industry, just a passionate gamer, nevertheless Sony's current troubles have been in the works for the last 20 years at least, how do I know? Let me explain via the vertical slice that I witnessed fifteen years ago. At this time in my career I was working in middle to high end recruitment in the finance sector so I crossed many paths with different individuals from many industries and Sony happened to be one of them, I will disclose no names nor direct locations and the finer points are hazy with me at best, but the story I heard was applicable to the whole Sony manufacturing group across the globe. This particular facility was at the time based in England and was a direct arm of the Japanese parent company, its role was to manufacture DVD players that were distributed into the European market, my contact informed me that Sony's only point of focus from the Japanese management was the plant turnover figures with little care for actual running costs or loses that this facility was running into, any attempt by my contact to address such issues reverse the loss making and general wastage was frowned heavily upon by the Japanese hand, the problem seemed to stem from what I was told from the old guard who didn't accept that change was necessary in an increasingly competitive market, the ironic thing with this story the the upper management team within this facility had taken the steps to prepare a proposal of change that would have kept this small arm relevant on the P&L sheet, but this fell once again of deaf ears hence this particular contact looking to get out before the roof came down, imagine this scenario across the whole manufacturing group in a market where Sony's dominance of particular products was being eroded worldwide with a bury their heads in the sand attitude could partially explain the state the group finds itself into today. I wish I could add the finer points in particular but I've forgotten them to be perfectly honest.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Paragraphs are awesome. Really awesome.

 

[BRiT]

but they have a monopoly in enterprise software to fuel their expense. So all is good.

Linux, java, Oracle, IBM RedHat and multitiude of others say otherwise.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

@Reggy72 : the issues of Sony's Old School Japanese structure are well known, but an attempt to change them began with Stringer, and Hirai is clearly making further reform and actually seemingly making some progress to. I don't think modern Sony can be equated to Sony of 15 years ago. Modern Sony is the beaten down prize-fighter of 15 years ago trying to get back up.

We see the same arguments regards Nintendo.

 

[eastmen]

@Reggy72 : the issues of Sony's Old School Japanese structure are well known, but an attempt to change them began with Stringer, and Hirai is clearly making further reform and actually seemingly making some progress to. I don't think modern Sony can be equated to Sony of 15 years ago. Modern Sony is the beaten down prize-fighter of 15 years ago trying to get back up.

We see the same arguments regards Nintendo.

I disagree. Nintendo's handhelds have always been rock solid and all their systems made them money and the ds/wii combo was a grand slam for them . The wii u is the first real major stumble for them but the 3ds and some of their mega games can keep them afloat.

Sony is like the titanic , it has a huge gapping wound across its side and taking in tons of water so quickly that no matter how much they try and dump to close up the wound they keep sinking.

So in your other post you said for me to admit I was wrong , sure I guess some people out there still think sony is a good brand but it doesn't matter , sony is going to keep shuttering more business . The ps4 is doing well for them but all consoles have a rise and fall and when this generation gives way to another one sony will be in no postion to shoulder a ps3 level flop , i'd wager even a xbox one miss step could do the company as a whole in and I bet the generational change will happen within the next 5 years and by that time they will be out of cell phones and most likely would have gone through with their plan to sell off their music division .

They will be left with video games , tv/movies and home loans at that point.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Sony is like the titanic , it has a huge gapping wound across its side and taking in tons of water so quickly that no matter how much they try and dump to close up the wound they keep sinking.

Could you quote or link to the figures you're using for this analysis? Sony's financial situation has improved measurably quarter-on-quarter, year-on-year, solidly for the last three years. Shedding unprofitable business operations and downsizing others costs money up front but saves money over the long term.

Sony's 2014 Q3 report will be published on Wednesday but using their 2014 Q2 report you can see that their gaming division produced in $200m profit for those 3 months.

Their goal for some years has been to turnaround or chop unprofitable divisions (which the are doing) and build on profitable ones: Gaming as above, Imaging Products & Solutions (IP&S) made $184m,
Home Entertainment & Sound (HE&S) made $73m, Devices made $271m, Music made $108m, Financial Services made $437m.

Your analysis bears no relation to reality, and certainly not to Sony's financial filings.

 

[eastmen]

Sure it doesn't , that's why sony's own emails talk about them selling their music division. That's why their cell phones continue to fail to take off and sony will be laying off another 1000 people from that division and are open to new options for the division including a sale
http://www.androidcentral.com/sony-...one-division-including-sale-and-joint-venture

Like I said sony has a gaping wound and is sinking , yes they have slowed down the amount of water they are taking on but they continue to on more water.

If the playstation segment of the company starts to take on water itself there will come a point where sony will sell that off

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Sure it doesn't , that's why sony's own emails talk about them selling their music division. That's why their cell phones continue to fail to take off and sony will be laying off another 1000 people from that division and are open to new options for the division including a sale

I wouldn't be remotely surprised if Sony were to sell its music business and it makes sense to do it while it's worth something. It wasn't that long ago that their music division was producing a billion dollars of profit per year but traditional music publishing has taken a hit from streaming services. Last quarter Sony's division made a little over $100m, which is a nice tidy sum, but it's slowly eroding year on year.

Mobile Communications (MC) lost Sony $1.78Bn in that quarter and that's why the unprofitable part of the business is being shut down.

Like I said sony has a gaping wound and is sinking , yes they have slowed down the amount of water they are taking on but they continue to on more water.

Except it's not sinking, it's floating. Higher in the water each year. Look at the numbers.

If the playstation segment of the company starts to take on water itself there will come a point where sony will sell that off

Except they won't. Daniel Loeb has been trying to persuade Sony to spin out PlayStation for years and they won't do it. You don't sell off potentially highly profitable parts of your business unless you desperately need the money. And PlayStation ran at a loss for the early years of PS3. Sony don't. They got control of their loss spiral about a year ago. I know as a Sony hater you don't want to hear this, but it's the truth. Sony aren't going anywhere, they'll just be a bit smaller once they've lost the loss-making parts of the business.[/QUOTE]

 

[rockaman]

I hear Apple are really short of money

That's exactly what Apple will say when they see a 14% chunk of that foreign stashed cash disappear soon.

Plus.... what's so good about all that cash reserve they are too scared to bring back to the US to use?

 

[eastmen]

I'm sorry I forgot that losing 1.2B last quarter is a good thing. This quarter they have the hack to blame things on , the next quarter I doubt will be much better as their mobile division will continue to loose them money

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I disagree.

Former Nintendo executive describing how Nintendo's corporate structure holds it back:

In many interviews, you’ve spoken publicly about how difficult it was to pass policies and get things done at Nintendo. For example, in your Kotaku interview you said, “I absolutely did try to fight internally to change whatever I could.” In your IndieGamerchick interview, you said, “Unfortunately, it was hard to get the changes I needed because no one could hear me over the ringing of all the cash registers.”

But why was it so difficult to get things done at Nintendo?

Is there a lot of bureaucracy, additional layers of management, and red tape?

Is it because NOA offices are not very autonomous, and you need to always report to Japan (NCL)?

Adelman: Nintendo is not only a Japanese company, it is a Kyoto-based company. For people who aren’t familiar, Kyoto-based are to Japanese companies as Japanese companies are to US companies. They’re very traditional, and very focused on hierarchy and group decision making. Unfortunately, that creates a culture where everyone is an advisor and no one is a decision maker – but almost everyone has veto power.

Even Mr. Iwata is often loathe to make a decision that will alienate one of the executives in Japan, so to get anything done, it requires laying a lot of groundwork: talking to the different groups, securing their buy-in, and using that buy-in to get others on board. At the subsidiary level, this is even more pronounced, since people have to go through this process first at NOA or NOE (or sometimes both) and then all over again with headquarters. All of this is not necessarily a bad thing, though it can be very inefficient and time consuming. The biggest risk is that at any step in that process, if someone flat out says no, the proposal is as good as dead. So in general, bolder ideas don’t get through the process unless they originate at the top.

There are two other problems that come to mind. First, at the risk of sounding ageist, because of the hierarchical nature of Japanese companies, it winds up being that the most senior executives at the company cut their teeth during NES and Super NES days and do not really understand modern gaming, so adopting things like online gaming, account systems, friends lists, as well as understanding the rise of PC gaming has been very slow. Ideas often get shut down prematurely just because some people with the power to veto an idea simply don’t understand it.

The last problem is that there is very little reason to try and push these ideas. Risk taking is generally not really rewarded. Long-term loyalty is ultimately what gets rewarded, so the easiest path is simply to stay the course. I’d love to see Nintendo make a more concerted effort to encourage people at all levels of the company to feel empowered to push through ambitious proposals, and then get rewarded for doing so.

 

[-tkf-]

Looks like sony releases different products in Europe , they had the best score there out of anyone.

Well as long as you admit their reputation is fine, then cool. You know, be objective instead of aggressive subjective