MEDIA COMPANY CASE STUDYTASK 1 UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURE AND OWNERSHIP OF

THE MEDIA SECTOR

Denni Hepburn

Sony

Sony began in Tokyo in 1946. They began with the name TTK, the initials of the company, ‘Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo’. The acronym for this turned out to be, ‘Totsuko’. However, this was in Japan, so when they vitiated USA, they discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing it, therefore they changed it. They came up with ‘Sony’ by ‘Sonus’ being a mixture of Sound and Music, and ‘Sonny’ meaning ‘boy’ in the 1950s in America.

Sony originated as a sound company, creating the Tape recorder in Japan called Type-G. And created the Walkman in 1979. From then they have generated in many different sectors. This makes them a cross media product. Sony are well known for the popular Play Station in 1995. Sony have since produced cameras, computering with the Vaio brand , TVs, films (Spider-Man, The Karate Kid, and Men in Black) and telecommunications. They have really taken over electronics.

Created and Shared

Sony was created by two friends, Masaru Ibuka and Aiko Morita. They came together with Vaio when creating their brand of computers. With their mobile brand they came togther with Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, therefore becoming Sony Ericsson. Their most popular work was the PlayStation. With this they didn’t come together with any other company. They gained 61% of global console sales by selling over 150 million units. This broke Nintendo's long-standing lead in the market.

Vertically/Horizontally

Sony have mastered in many different sectors. Sometimes vertically, with Vaio and Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson. Them joining up with these companies can be a good idea because they share their skills and share the risk if their idea fall through. However, sharing the profit may be unfair or they may just not be getting enough when shared.

Sony have also worked horizontally when creating the Play Station, Tape Recorder and the Walkman. This can be a good plan because they will gain all the profit. On the other hand, this can be a bad idea because if they didn’t make any sales, it will just be their own company at risk. This can leave them bankrupt.

Competitors

Sony’s competitors vary in their different sectors. In the Film/TV industry, they come against FOX and Universal Studios. In the telecommunications industry their competition are people such as Apple and Blackberry. In the game industry they come against Xbox and Nintendo. With cameras they battle with Canon and Nikon.

With Sony being a large company and working in so many different industries, they won’t be threatened by other large companies, such as, Apple.

Customers/demographic

Sony are more popular for their Play Station 1/2/3 and PSP, this is because it was the most affordable game console it it’s time. With their fast thoughts they came up with the PSP and this is where they made most of their money. This caught the eye of boys and men. The high quality in the games were impressive and was very high tech for a game device.

Changes in organisational structure Sony began by being a music company. They created the first Walkman and the first Tape recorder. It was in 1995 when they came up with the Play Station 1. This was a very big turn for Sony because it was the most popular game console in it’s time. This was a very big change for the company because they were going into a different industry. After the release of the PS1, at the same time as releasing the PS2 and 3, they began to team up with Vaio when releasing the laptop. This can be a good idea for most companies because it extends the brand, however, if they are not familiar with the industry, they might not satisfy their buyers.

Problems with Sony

The brand can take wrong turns when joining up with other brands, it loses meaning, becoming a fine but not distinctive player in the electronics world. This is a problem. It’s not that much of a branding issue. Sony just doesn’t have great products, according to reviews by critics. It fell behind on the flat-panels, insisting on charging high prices for mediocre products and let manufacturers from other countries (Korea, Singapore) lead the way. It had a failed and cumbersome partnership on the smartphone front with Ericsson.

Bibliography

Nathan, John, Sony: The Private Life, http://www.nndb.com/company/712/000053553/bibliography/, 1999, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Simonandschuster.