Sony to "Abolish of fundamuntally alter ..." whole divisions?

[Elandyll]

The situation isn't very bright for Sony between the International economic crisis and the Yen situation, and they are apparently going to take drastic actions in 2009 to adress this:
http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/4392.html

Sony Facing Corporate Upheaval?
According to the UK's TimesOnline, Sony company sources have said to expect a series of "sacred cow-slaying" procedures that will be radical enough to "abolish or fundamentally alter many of Sony's long-established business practices."

This restructuring is expected to be announced after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and not a moment too soon as far as most analysts and investors are concerned. The majority of these major changes will be "imposed on Sony's domestic Japanese operations in the form of factory closures and the abolition of several major divisions," and investors have asked president Sir Howard Stringer to really take charge. A Credit Suisse analyst, Koya Tabata, recently said that the focus of the company's research and development must be on software, and the important thing is to "improve organizational strength in the areas of development [and] purchasing and marketing." Evidently, a lot of the problem centers on an internal clash between the Japanese branch of Sony and its U.S. and European divisions, perhaps fueled by their non-Japanese president in Stringer. Sometimes, massively large companies like Sony really need to get back on the same page, and if that means laying waste to certain aspects of your business, than so be it.

Sony, on the other hand, has denied that any such drastic changes will be taking place. They told Reuters they have "no such plans," so perhaps all of this is just more so-called journalistic hearsay. But either way, they do need to resolve a few things and it'll be interesting to see what happens. By the way, in case you're wondering: no, the PS3 and PSP isn't going to be canceled; they're not shutting down PlayStation. That's the kind of bizarre, illogical reaction you might see online, but people with brains won't really pay any attention.

Now, to my knowledge, Sony has the following divisions:

Sony Computer Entertainment (Game division, Ps2 / PS3/ PSP, Game dev.)
Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia (Movies) + studios (like Screen Gems) and participations in others (cf MGM)
Sony Pictures Home Entertainement (SPHE)
Sony Television (could be part of Sony Pictures Ent., not sure)
Sony Music (ex Sony BMG)
Sony Video Professional (Professional Broadcast - Core Business)
Sony Consumer Electronics (Audio, camcorders, TVs, DVD+BR, etc. Consumer level - Core business)
Sony Electronics (batteries, memory, consumables like tapes or DVDs, but also the main corp. - Core Business)
Sony financial Holdings
Sony Computers (Vaio - part of Sony Electronics)

[edit]Forgot: Sony- Ericsson (Cell Phones)

They say that whole factories are going to be closed, so .. I guess the divisions most likely to be touched are the ones that produce things:

So, what do you think is likely to be hit?

Consumer electronics? (TVs, Audio, Camcorders, players...)?
Pro Electronics (Broadcast TV equipment)?
Vaio Computers?
...
Gaming division ?

[york weir]

I see the computer market taking a hit before gaming or consumer electronics.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by york weir

I see the computer market taking a hit before gaming or consumer electronics.

I would have to agree.
The PC computer division is pretty far from their "core" business", and with the margins (or lack of) in the computer market...

Now I also know that the LCD TV division has been taking a big hit last year.
This being said, I just can't imagine Sony without its display division, or without the other component where they haven't made any sparks lately, aka the Portable Audio products division (kindof the emblematic "walkman" division).
With the huge amount of competitors these days and dwindling margins, I wonder if Sony would be thinking about dropping its LCD -Projectors- products though...
I also cannot imagine a world where Sony doesn't make Pro Cameras or Decks anymore... Not sure how well Sony Professional Video (Or Sony Professional Media) is faring these days though.

[york weir]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

I would have to agree.
The PC computer division is pretty far from their "core" business", and with the margins (or lack of) in the computer market...

Now I also know that the LCD TV division has been taking a big hit last year.
This being said, I just can't imagine Sony without its display division, or without the other component where they haven't made any sparks lately, aka the Portable Audio products division (kindof the emblematic "walkman" division).
With the huge amount of competitors these days and dwindling margins, I wonder if Sony would be thinking about dropping its LCD -Projectors- products though...
I also cannot imagine a world where Sony doesn't make Pro Cameras or Decks anymore... Not sure how well Sony Professional Video (Or Sony Professional Media) is faring these days though.

I had heard around here that LCD's were literally flying off the shelves due to the upcoming Feb 2009 conversion so I would have thought the TV market for them was okay.

It's a little sad to see the portable market leave them so far behind. Back in the day you said walkman and people knew exactly what it was. It was like coke and pepsi. It didn't matter the real brand name, a portable cassette player was a walkman.

[mikejet]

Get rid of their Vaio and portable player lines. Focus entirely on PS3/Blu-ray/TV. Also, STOP MAKING CRAPPY EXPENSIVE CELL PHONES.

[camper]

I thought the Vaio's had trouble years ago, they almost cancelled them then. I see that and the consumables going (memory, tapes, etc), with some streamlining taking place in each of the other divisions.

camper

[york weir]

I wonder if they'll try to cut back on the proprietary developments in the future. It has to be very costly to come out with a format for every conceivable market they want to compete in whether they're a hit or a loss.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by mikejet

Get rid of their Vaio and portable player lines. Focus entirely on PS3/Blu-ray/TV. Also, STOP MAKING CRAPPY EXPENSIVE CELL PHONES.

the cell phones are a joint venture and theyre awesome..what are you talking about!

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by xtop

the cell phones are a joint venture and theyre awesome..what are you talking about!

Other than the Xperia, I've never liked the Sony cell phones. Their Symbian feels sluggish. Plus I'm a Nokia and LG lover so :P

[york weir]

I never owned a Sony cell phone but my brother had one years ago. It seemed fine for the time. I mostly had nokia's until my work switched to nextel then I was forced on to motorola. When I quit there it's been the iPhone.

[phlydude]

my last sony ericsson W600i was a iphone wannabe 2 years before the iphone launched...only downside was that the memory was not upgradable.

Internet, phone, camera, bluetooth capability and music player all in one...and it worked like a modem if you had the right codes for Cingular's (now AT&T) network. I personally liked the sony phones I had with sprint when PCS was the new service in 1997 and with my Sony Ericsson phones on Cingular

but I would say that the Computer side will get cut
Music will be next (production and distribution of "hard" materials - ownership of music properties and digital distribution will still go on)
Then lastly, they will dump their financial services on some US bank that will get bailed out by the tax payer...double dipping on the avg. US consumer

[AranhaHunter]

I don't think they'll get rid of Vaios because they're unveling some new Vaios (hopefully with Linux based OS) or Cell phones because Howard Stringer has hinted that they might buy Ericsson's share of the venture.....if anything it's the robotics division and some electronics division that are not making them any money that will go.

[Steelmaker]

I'm sure the the M$ fanboys are just chomping at the bit. They're probably just HOPING that Sony will scrap PS3.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I'm sure the the M$ fanboys are just chomping at the bit. They're probably just HOPING that Sony will scrap PS3.

Well, Microsoft has its own problems. And the XBox division is $7 billion in deficit at this point.

Shareholders might like MS to concentrate on core. I doubt there is a "lose whatever you like to beat Sony" attitude among the ownership.

Gary

[york weir]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I'm sure the the M$ fanboys are just chomping at the bit. They're probably just HOPING that Sony will scrap PS3.

I doubt either are getting out anytime soon.

[STARSCREAM]

Yeah, they aren't scrapping games division, no way. Probably cell phones and computers.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I'm sure the the M$ fanboys are just chomping at the bit. They're probably just HOPING that Sony will scrap PS3.

I don't think they will have too much to sing about, a large proportion of EDD could be cut in their internal review, whether that is from Zune or Xbox, IDK as Mac Office is the only safe product in that division.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs when people are hoping that 12,000 people at SCE will lose their jobs.

[AranhaHunter]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

It is a pretty sad state of affairs when people are hoping that 12,000 people at SCE will lose their jobs.

I don't even call them fanboys, I call them spoiled little brat kids. Those are real people with real families that need their financial support and to wish for them to lose their job is nothing short of childish and stupid. There was rumors that MS was letting 15000 employees and contractors go and I didn't hear anyone celebrating that (with good reason).

After those kids grow up and get a real job and their mommy and daddy don't support them anymore, they'll realize that having your job, your bread and butter, taken away from you really ****ing sucks. Thankfully I still have my job but I know more than a couple of people that lost their jobs in these tough times.

[xtop]

Originally Posted by mikejet

Other than the Xperia, I've never liked the Sony cell phones. Their Symbian feels sluggish. Plus I'm a Nokia and LG lover so :P

well..they didn't even make the phone. htc did

they have awesome phones, just not in the us

[xtop]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

I don't think they will have too much to sing about, a large proportion of EDD could be cut in their internal review, whether that is from Zune or Xbox, IDK as Mac Office is the only safe product in that division.

It is a pretty sad state of affairs when people are hoping that 12,000 people at SCE will lose their jobs.

that's sad to hear as well

but i don't think anyone hopes for that, what kind of sense does that make? i mean... where did steelmaker even pull that one from? who hopes for any of the consoles to go away