Intercultural management: case of Sony

Résumé du document

Sony Corporation is one of the leaders and main manufacturers in several industries including communications, information technology, electronics, and entertainment. This Japanese company has faced a huge number of challenges since its foundation in 1946. Being a major actor in motion pictures, games, music, and electronics forced Sony to do business everywhere around the world. The company created several branches called Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and others in order to separate its business activities. At the same time, we must also keep in mind the fact that this is a Japanese firm, with its own culture and specific characteristics. How did Sony conquer the US and Europe despite the cultural barriers? Did its specific culture affected Sony in a positive or a negative way in this global quest? I will try to analyze what happened and why Sony became such a successful brand in so many industries in spite of key problems.

Extraits

[...] This strong brand image was built based on the Japanese identity of Sony. To internationalize the image of the company would distort the brand towards the vision of the consumer. That's why I would recommend keeping Howard Stringer just for a short period. He has to complete his objectives, which include making the different units of Sony fully collaborate with each other. He already won the high definition format war against the HD-DVD. This victory of Sony's Blu-Ray format was the first accomplishment since the Sony United project of Howard Stringer. [...]

[...] If we apply this to the business environment, this corresponds to spiritualism versus materialism. The long-term view corresponds to spiritualism, and this is what Sony is about. Nobuyuki Idei was hoping for someone able to prepare Sony for the future of digital business. He tried to use Sony's cross-cultural identity as a source of competitive advantage. Howard Stringer is there to prove that Sony is not that Japanese anymore, and is going to adapt itself to the changing world. Now let's see some other points. [...]

[...] Furthermore, we will analyze two interesting cases that reflect intercultural management in Sony and how to handle culture clashes. As the consumer electronics market is evolving at a high pace, Sony can't afford to make costly mistakes due to cultural differences, as it could affect negatively its brand image. Furthermore, if properly handled, these cultural differences could lead to a high competitive advantage for Sony. Analysis and Recommended Course of Action Problem Top Management and Corporate Culture Sir Howard Stringer was promoted from CEO of the American branch of Sony to CEO and chairman of the whole Sony Corporation in 2005. [...]

[...] However, it is true that having an international manager is rather adapted to the current situation of Sony. Every industry in which Sony is involved (music, consumer electronics, videogames, and others) has an international scope. So an open-minded and experienced person seems to be the correct choice. But I believe that Howard Stringer is not the perfect person for the job. What I would recommend beyond anything else is to preserve the brand image of Sony. This is where its strength comes from. [...]

[...] The electronics market is evolving at an extremely high pace, which puts a high pressure on each competitor. Sometimes companies try to find allies in order to launch joint ventures or to impose a new format in the electronics industry. This explains why some electronics industry battles have become a war between two alliances: the last one was the Blu-Ray Disc alliance led by Sony versus the HD-DVD alliance led by Toshiba. Each electronics company tries to keep a competitive edge over its opponents. [...]