Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. Sony innovated technologies including the transistor radio in 1955, the first all-transistor television in 1960, the Walkman in 1979, and the compact disc in 1982. Today, Sony continues to drive industry growth through innovative products across its electronics, game, entertainment, and financial services sectors.

1. ABOUT SONY
The Sony Group is primarily focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products &
components), Game (such as PlayStation), Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music),
and Financial Services (such as insurance and banking) sectors. Not only do they represent a
wide range of businesses, but they remain globally unique. Their aim is to fully leverage this
uniqueness in aggressively carrying out their convergence strategy so that they can continue to
emotionally touch and excite their customers.
Sony was founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. The two complemented each other
with a unique blend of product innovation and marketing savvy, and formed a company that
would eventually grow into a more than $60 billion global organization.
Sony innovations have become part of mainstream culture, including: the first magnetic tape and
tape recorder in 1950; the transistor radio in 1955; the world’s first all-transistor TV set in 1960;
the world’s first color video cassette recorder in 1971; the Walkman personal stereo in 1979; the
Compact Disc (CD) in 1982; the first 8mm camcorder in 1985; the MiniDisc (MD) player in
1992; the PlayStation game system in 1995; Digital Mavica camera in 1997; Digital Versatile
Disc (DVD) player in 1998; and the Network Walkman digital music player in 1999.
Today, Sony continues to fuel industry growth with the sales of innovative Sony products, as
well as with the company’s convergence strategy. Examples include: VAIO notebooks that raise
the bar in both form and function; digital cameras that capture pictures on a floppy disk, CD-R or
Memory Stick; a handheld device that lets you store and view photos as well as moving photo;
MiniDisc recorders with a digital PC Link to marry high quality digital audio with downloadable
music; DVD/CD multi-disc changers that playback both audio and video; digital network
recorders that pause, rewind and fast-forward "live" television using a hard-disc drive; and Hi-
Scan flat screen TVs that deliver near HDTV picture quality through Digital Reality Creation
(DRC) circuitry. Sony’s future brand success will be determined by how the company meets the
challenges of change. Sony has always led the market in terms of innovation. But in a digital
networked world, products will no longer be developed with just hardware in mind. The
convergence of technologies – consumer electronics, computing and telecommunications – is a
reality, with new competitors forming and consumer mindshare up for grabs.

2. Company Name - Sony Corporation
Founded - May 7, 1946
Founders: Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka.
Headquarters 1-7-1 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0075, Japan
LIFE AT SONY:
Sony aims to create a workplace that inspires employees to pursue new challenges and grow by
realizing their creative and innovative potential. Sony also strives to further enhance motivation
and encourage personal growth through on-the-job learning, as well as access to a variety of
programs tailored to different regional needs, including education for next-generation business
leaders, management skill improvement training, and training aimed at enhancing the abilities
and skills of individual employees.

3. DIVERSITY AT SONY:
With the dizzying pace of change in the operating environment, including the rise of global
competition and the diversification of customer needs, companies are under increasing pressure
to provide products and services that accurately reflect the customer's viewpoint, offer innovative
ideas and create new value. Sony recognizes that nurturing the diverse characteristics and ideas
of its employees-irrespective of nationality, culture, race, gender and the presence or absence of
physical limitations-is crucial to the evolution and growth of its businesses and is actively
promoting the creation of a diverse workforce worldwide, as well as to create work environments
conducive to mobility.
In addition to efforts to encourage diversity tailored to regional and local needs, Sony has
established a dedicated section, the Diversity Development Department. Guided by the concepts
of diversity and inclusion, the department not only promotes diversity but also seeks to create
working environments in which diversity is embraced, respected and accepted. This department
promotes activities at Sony Corporation and assists and coordinates activities at Sony Group
companies.
CULTURE AT SONY:
Sony culture emphasizes "a spirit of freedom and open-mindedness," and a fighting spirit to
innovate. Founder Masaru Ibuka crafted this vision in Sony's Founding Prospectus, and the

4. philosophy is embedded in our company DNA, embodied in our employees, and seen throughout
our history. Learn more about our spirit, people, and history by following the links.
CAREER PATH:
Global horizons for business call for global career paths. Sony emphasizes business and
engineering tracks that broaden employee experience by taking advantage of our numerous
functional roles and geographies. To find out what career roles and company locations match
your interest, please follow the links.
ISSUES:
 Examine the adverse implications of frequent restructuring at Sony Corporation.
 Analyzing the impact of competition in global consumer electronics industry on Sony.
 Evaluate the strategies being adopted by Sony to regain lost market share.
 Appreciate the importance of innovation and introducing new technologies in the
consumer electronics industry.
 Critically study the latest restructuring plan proposed by Stringer in February 2009 and
evaluates its efficacy.

5. CULTURAL CHALLENGES FACED BY SONY:
 Sony has developed a website which is available in the different languages which has been
further categorized on the basis of Regions the countries belong to. For example it is dived
Continent wise.
 Then country wise also they have made the websites.
 They also use different languages to script their sites. In fact they have used National
language of every country.
 They have also made micro sites. Eg : www.sony.jp , www.sony.cn etc.
 It’s all done to provide more ease and convenience for the customers.
 They also give assistance to particularly translate a particular site.
 Thus to sum up Sony is facing problem by diversification as they have to study different
cultures , languages and even they have to make separate websites for different countries.
 All the products of Sony are available online and company is capable to cater a mass market
through its online marketing.
 Workforce Diversity is one of the challenges faced by the company. Even Marketing and
catering the product to different markets and after sales service are the challenges the
company needs to work upon.