Sony Corporation
Sony is a Japanese company that is well known throughout the world. The company is one of world’s largest electronics, video, communication, video game consoles, and information technology producer. The following information is how this electronic giant started. In 1945, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, who are founders of Sony, started a company named TTK (Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo), which means Tokyo Telecommunication Engineering Corporation in Japanese, in Tokyo and created the very first tape recorder in Japan. The company’s business remains stagnant in the first 10 years.
Fortunately, in 1955, the company’s product TR 55,a transistor radio, was tremendously successfully in several countries such as Japan, Canada, and Germany. At that time TTK (Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo), company becomes a notable company, but there was a conflict with Japanese railway company, which also known as TTK. In addition, many Americans have trouble pronouncing its name. As a result, in 1958, TTK it changed to Sony. Another remarkable success occurs when Sony’s Walkman was introduced to the market in 1979. More than 220 million walkmans had been sold worldwide at that time. What is also worth noticing is the Sony’s most successful production Play Station 2. Sony is said to earned $250 billion US by selling upwards of 230 millions Play Station 2. Today, Sony is an electronic giant with revenue excess of 7.730.0 trillion yen (77.20 billion US). However, this company has been encountering difficulties recently. “Sony recently announced its first annual loss in 14 years ($1 billion) with a forecast of another losing year. Upwards of 16,000 people are in the process of losing their jobs at Sony.” (Supply Chain matters) Accordingly, there is a huge decline in the company’s income and Sony has started to lay off its employees. Moreover, Sony anticipates another loss next year. “ Sony expects a net loss of 120 billion yen ($1.26 billion), in the business year ending in March 2010, after a loss of 98.9 billion yen ($1.03 billion) in the fiscal year that just end. (The New York Times) There are two major factors in this significant decline. First of all, the stronger Japanese inflates production cost in Japan and decrease revenue from overseas.
Furthermore, Sony is facing more competition and losing its power “Once an electronics powerhouse and stylish innovator, Sony’s dominance has been usurped in almost everything it makes by rivals with sharper marketing and less expensive products that are easier to use.” (The New York Times) For instance, the sale for Sony’s Walkman and VAIO Laptop was