Sony rose from the ashes of post-war Japan, with two partners in a bombed-out building in Tokyo, May 7, 1946. However, few people think of a Gates & Allen, Ben & Jerry’s success story when they think Sony, with its hundreds of products, 158,500 employees, a market capitalization of $36.3 billion (The New Normal, 2006) and $66 billion in sales (Sony.net, 2005).
Sony’s PS2 advertising is a good example of Sony staying “authentic” in the novel and emotional manner the target demo demands. But I do not see that very high-level of creative connectivity frequently supporting the other consumer brands. Imedia went so far as to say that, “unlike the product itself, Sony’s messages aren’t as sleek-looking and slick-sounding as one might expect.” That’s a generalization, but I generally agree. To be fair, “cutting edge” is not always appropriate, depending on what’s important to the target. But you can bet that Sony would love to have some of Apple’s customers.
Sony should be quicker in getting truly innovative products to market. One word: iPod. Think back to the disruptive product that was the Sony Walkman in 1979. Sony’s not leading the charge like it has
in the past. Samsung grabbed (and still holds) significant market share that could have been Sony’s in the DLP/LCD TV market, especially given Sony’s Trinitron brand penetration in conventional CRT’s. Another case is the PlayStation, which is now head-to-head with Microsoft’s XBox (a later entry into the market), but Sony essentially jumped in only after Nintendo took the first big leap.
Now, it is certainly sound business philosophy to enter the market only when ready, and to let early-entry competitors both educate the consumer and make errors you can then avoid. But Sony could be faster and be perceived as more of an innovative leader. Oddly enough, there is some sluggishness relative to the high value it places on marketing research. It would appear that the company is more conservative than its more nimble competitors in quantifying, comparing and interpreting marketing metrics prior to innovation and implementation.
Online zine The New Normal stated last year that, “Notwithstanding the continuing success of the PlayStation video game console and a monster year in 2004 from its movie studio, the Sony brand has taken some major hits in recent years. The company has been slow to take recognize changes in some of its core markets, most notably televisions and portable devices. Samsung has become a major factor in several categories that Sony used to dominate. Apple has all but taken over the portable music device market.”
Interestingly, a Fujitsu case study cites a similar challenge and proposes to have developed the solution: “Rapid changes in market needs and technological innovations shorten Sony’s product life cycles; as a result, Sony Marketing constructed a new sales SCM system linked to many of its business processes, including manufacturing, distribution and sales, the Demand Information Creation System and the Delivery Time Forecast System” (Fujitsu, December 2005). Basically, these deliver data on changing market needs directly to the assembly line to stop or otherwise slow production, mitigating “dead products” stacking up in warehouses. This does not, however, directly address anticipating and meeting a sudden or emerging market need.
To be continued….
Posted by: Colin Mangham