Reliability Thinking Killed The Sony Walkman

Justin ZupnickMPD 400 - Intro to Product Design & Development

The thinking that killed the Walkman.


“Free and open minded” entrepreneurial spirit flourished under Sony’s co-founders Masaru Ibuka & Akio Morita (Solis, 2013; Tabuchi, 2012)

Embrace the mystery.

PLAY.

EXPERIMENT.

DEVELOP FOR UNREALIZED MARKETS.

“Don’t you think a stereo cassette player that you can listen to while walking around is a good idea?”

Sony co-founder & Honorary Chairman Masaru Ibuka wanted to listen to music on his long flights across the Pacific Ocean.

He asked one of his engineers for a playback-only stereo device to be hacked together.

The Sony Walkman launched within 4 months product development time.

(Sony, n.d.)(Martin, 2009)


The Walkman as innovation

Launched July 1, 1979.

Sold for ¥ 30,000 (~$150 USD at the time)(History.com, 2009)

Photo source: http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5861062/sony-walkman-at-35

(Chiesa, 2009)

Sales Target ActualAfter 2 years 1.5 million 2 million

After 5 years 7 million 10 million

The fall.According to the New York Times (Tabuchi, 2012), Sony lost $6.4b in 2012 and share prices declined to where they stood during peak Walkman years around the mid 1980s.

Jan 2000 – Sept 2016 (-76%)Retrieved via Google Finance on September 23, 2016


Reliability thinking creeping in.• Increase # of models, colors, options • Technological substitution• Follow the competition• Brand exhaustion



CEO Nobuyuki Idei’s brought in a “tatewari” leadership style, creating a vertical hierarchy, splitting up departments.

Provided incentives for top, older engineers to leave in order to recruit younger talent. They took jobs with the competition.

Stringer continued thinking in the short-term with more organizational streamlining and cost cutting. (Solis, 2013)

dividing vertically, vertical split, top-to-bottom sectioning, division into sections, splitting lengthwiseDefinition from JapanDict(retrieved from web, 2016)tatewari

縦割り

Nobuyuki Idei , CEO 1999-2005 Howard Stringer, CEO 2005-2012

Heuristic protection mushroomed.

Engineers avoided collaboration leading to focus on hardware over software.

Managers kept information locked & sealed.

User experience displayed no sense of unification.(Harlan 2012)

(Franzen, 2014)

Beginning to solve the “mystery”• Focus on new products and technologies. Accept that the company

does not need the Walkman brand to continue.

• Entrepreneurs in Japan are currently experiencing a lack of inspiration and avoiding risky ventures (Fifield, 2016). Now is the time to dedicate funds for incubating internal startups that will begin exploring high-risk “mysteries.”

• Break down department divisions and open up knowledge base to encourage intersectional thought and collaboration.

• Unify the user experience at both hardware and software levels.Justin ZupnickMPD 400 - Intro to Product Design & Development

ReferencesChiesa, V., & Frattini, F. (2011). Commercializing Technological Innovation: Learning from Failures in High-Tech Markets*. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 28(4), 437–454. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00818.x

Fifield, A. (2016, June 22). Japanese entrepreneurs face a special challenge: The 'wife block' Retrieved September 24, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japanese-entrepreneurs-face-a-special-challenge-the-wife-block/2016/06/21/1df476ca-324c-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

Franzen, C. (2014, July 01). The history of the Walkman: 35 years of iconic music players. Retrieved September 24, 2016, from http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5861062/sony-walkman-at-35

Harlan, C. (n.d.). As Apple and dominate, Japan's tech giants are in a free fall. Retrieved September 24, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.comSamsung /world/as-apple-and-samsung-dominate-japans-tech-giants-are-in-a-free-fall/2012/09/28/04c6eb36-0944-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html

Martin, R. L. (2009). The design of business: Why design thinking is the next competitive advantage.

Solis, B. (2013, December 5). The Rise and Fall of Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp and How to Survive Digital Darwinism - Brian Solis. Retrieved September 24, 2016, from http://www.briansolis.com/2013/12/the-rise-and-fall-of-sony-panasonic-and-sharp-and-how-to-survive-digital-darwinism/

Sony Corp (ADR). Retrieved September 24, 2016, from Google Finance https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1474693352979&chddm=1641784&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:SNE&&fct=big&ei=1QjmV_nDBoH12Ab6vaz4Dg

Sony Corporation Global Headquarters. "Promoting Compact Cassettes Worldwide." Sony History. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Tabuchi, H. (2012). How the tech parade passed Sony by. The New York Times.

The first Sony Walkman goes on sale. (2009). Retrieved September 24, 2016, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-sony-walkman-goes-on-sale


https://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1474693352979&chddm=1641784&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:SNE&&fct=big&ei=1QjmV_nDBoH12Ab6vaz4Dg




Reliability Thinking Killed The Sony Walkman

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