Sony is bleeding money - business strategy discussion

It's in both reports; Pg 5 of the first one and on the second one it's listed in the TOC as pg.100, Methodology. And you don't need to own a product from a brand to have a perception of that brand. That's what marketing is for.

@RudeCurve - Thanks for the links. Interesting stuff.

 

I know that you dont have to own a product to have a perception. Thats why I asked about the methodology. I didnt read the methodology of course so I dont know how they contacted the research. It all depends on the questions you ask from the sample.

 

IMHO the "power" of a brand should be decided by 3 factors alone:

1) Does it easily create fanboys?

2) Is it able to instil a religious devotion in the fanboys?

3) Is it able to draw in the fanboys to such an extent that they relinquish all sense of logic and reason?

... ergo, Apple wins every time

twisted: I kid i kid)

 

More like you are 100% correct.

 

Can i start off by saying Sony are not bleeding money or in financial trouble they have $12billion in cash reserves. Only in the gaming world would people say the the sceptics are having there day after the worst economic crash in decades, and a devastating earthquake/tsunami. Sony have invested very heavily into there software in the last few years and we'l see the fruits of that in the coming years!.

 

Display technology:
I remember when the first LED TV-s came out, back then there was lot of talk about RGB LED-s. Once a while , RGB LED talk ceased and all we see is white plus local dimming at most. It turns out Toshiba said white whatever was good enough:
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090414/168714/

- Dont spend $$$ on RGB, sell crosstalking 3DTV-s with fake spec instead, leaking blue light.
- Great job guys, you did it. ^^

 

Perhaps RGB LED isn't worth the money with RGB OLED on the horizon? Maybe it was considered better to invest in that tech than spend the money on RGB LED only to get superceded within a few years.

 

When I was undergrad we looked at Sony case study in one of my tute, so as I understand it, Sony is an example of company that's highly organic, they foster competitions within the company, So I imagine, Sony music and their hardware division, don't go along, each division do their own thing to come up with the best thing.

This method work for them but the changing market condition has somewhat restructure them. But I'm sure there are still lots of fighting between their divisions. They make an interesting case study, because they're quite disorganise as company and it shows, but that's how Sony is founded by its founder, that's what make Sony, Sony. Not a company that I want to work in that's for sure.

 

Good thinking, they could be more agile in this business.


And off topic ..I were a CEO or Stringer would have a team of observers (or at least someone who is a counselor that you are aware) to search for possibly as good ideas to see what various reviews/opinions on good websites / forums(like Beyond3d ) can offer in addition to your company.

 

Inorganic quantum dot LED stuff seems much more solid to me than OLED, With OLED longevity still seems an issue with university research going on to prevent brightness drop & stuff. Generally I don't beleive in an eventual OLED takeover.

Oh, and meanwhile RGB LED finally went mainstream with DLP this year, laser also expected in following years.

 

Whatever experimental technologies are out there, there are no alternative, real-world produced screens to compete with OLED either now or in the coming years. If I were a TV company a few years ago wondering where to invest, and having to choose LED or OLED, the advantages of OLED would have me wanting to be a big player in that field as it's clearly going to be desirable in many applications. I wouldn't sink serious money into research for products from 2005-2015 into any fringe technology that is a long way from being mainstreamed.

This is only as an explanation for the abandonment of some TV techs (SED anyone?). the fact Sony have invested heavily in OLED is only going to be good for them.

 

Sony for example, has good laser .

http://www.sony-asia.com/pressrelease/asset/384732/section/hqpressreleases

 

Sony on the operating level are actually in very good shape for the future. Sony have done all the restructuring, made several smart acquisitions and i think they'l be looking at 8-10% operating margins once the economy, Japan gets back to normal. As far as Sony 's fiscal this year goes they had to factor in the expected $2billion cost of the earthquake, spend several hundred million buying mobile phone patents and before the fiscal year ended they bought the Cell chip plant off Toshiba. Even then $4billion losses were paper losses or paper gains!.

As far asApple stealing sony thunder i think Sony just became to big and bloated for there own good. As far as ps3's concerned it's done 2 things for them so far. 1. Bluray, but was it worth it?, 2. Opened up the possibility of a 3DWORLD. And 3. Cell?.

 

So are we going to do a thread on the FY 2011 earnings report?

Choice snippets. Whole thing:

Code:

 
Sales and operating revenue		      ¥7,181.3 billion      (-0.5%)
Operating income 		                ¥199.8 billion    (+528.9%)
Income before income taxes 		        ¥205.0 billion    (+661.8%)

NPS (division that includes PS3):
35.6 billion Yen of operating income on 1.579 trillion Yen of revenue.

 

I thought SNE reported on the 25th?

 

Pretty good results, but hard to make heads or tails of some of it. NPS for example inclues Bravia TVs, BRD players, Home Theater (stereo/audio), consoles, PCs, and networked services such as Qriocity.

Basically NPS is everything that isn't Phones, Music, Movies, professional (BRD pressing for example) and financial services.

Still, it's nice to see Sony posting positive operating income despite recording a loss to its shareholders (the valuation allowances).

Also interesting that while Q1 - Q3 of FY 2011 posted positive operating income, Q4 of FY 2011 posted a loss (73.4 billion Yen). Hopefully that isn't going to herald a general downward trend in FY 2012. Net loss in Q4 (388.8 billion Yen) also completely wiped out all profits from the first 3 quarters, although again, that is mostly due to the 300 some odd billion Yen valuation. Still a loss is a loss. Especially since that loss directly impacts the stockholders.

Also interesting is that Revenue was generally flat between FY 2010 and FY 2011. With a few notable exceptions. Movies and Music had fairly large YoY reductions in revenue. Meaning that most of the profits and positive operating income was not due to growing the corporation but instead due to cost cutting and elimination of jobs.

So while revenue dropped ~33 million Yen YoY, consolidated income rose ~178 million Yen YoY. Sony basically cut fat out of the company but growth was stagnant and slightly down.

Regards,
SB

 

In their own words:

 

No - Bravia TVs, BRD players, Home Theater (stereo/audio) is all under "Consumer, Professional & Devices" division.