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SONY CORPORATION

Sony Corporation commonly known as Sony is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in

Tokyo, Konan Minato, Japan.

HISTORY:

Sony Founded by Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka originated in the wake of World War 2. In

1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in a in Tokyo. The company had $530 in

capital and a total of eight employees. The next year, he was joined by his colleague, Akio

Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo TTK for short (Tokyo

Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).

The company built Japan's first tape recorder which was called the Type-G. In 1958 the

company name was changed to Sony when they realised that the name the company chose

was already in their domestic market and their American clients found it difficult to spell sothey eventually came up with the name Sony derived from sonus, the Latin word for sound,

and also from the English slang word "sonny" meaning son.

Now coming to the present profile of the company , the headquarters is situated at Konan

Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The companyspresent chairman is Howard Stringer and president

and CEO of the company is "Kazuo Hirai".

The company has 4 main basic platforms

They are:-

1. Electronics2. Music3. Motion pictures4. Finance services

Working out with new strategies in the business, Sony has been the top players in the

conglomerate market even since it started

As its a conglomerate it deals with different and diverse range of products and services like:

PRODUCTS:-

1. Consumer electronics.2. Semi conductors.3. Video games.4. Media.5. Computer hardware.6.

Telecommunication equipment.

7. Medical equipment.

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SERVICES:-

1. Financial servicesinsurance

Banking

Credit finance

2. Advertising.TELECOM:

In telecom industry Sony in the year 2001 founded Sony-Ericson by jointly venturing with the

Swedish company Ericson .the company profits rose in 2003.

The company launched First multimedia capable mobile phone. The company started focusing on smart phones later on.

The Sony Corporation has acquired the Erricson for $1 billion in the year 2012.

COMPUTER GAMING CONSOLES:

The Sony Corporation with the partnership of Nintendo ventured into gaming industry but in the year

1991 had its separate entity.

In 1994 the Sony Corporation came up with playstation console for gaming. In 2000 it had developed playstation 2. In the year 2005Sony came up with its portable vession of the playstaion console. In 2003 Sony came up with playstation 3 which has the implementation of blue ray format forthe first time. Playstaion 4 is the latest gaming console released by Sony which came in the year 2013.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Sony Pictures Entertainment SPE:

It mainly deals with the production and distribution of motion pictures and also televisionshows.

It has got 12.5% of market share in this field.

It was ranked third among the top four production houses. Some of the main famous films it dealt with are:

1. Men in black

2. Spiderman

3. Karate kid

Acquisitions:

It acquired Columbia Pictures in the year 1989 for $3.4 billion.

It gave foundation for Sony Corporation to become a giant in entertainment industry.

MUSIC:

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It is the second largest recording music company controlled by Sony Corporation of America.

Some of the popular singers the company has been in contract with are:

Michael Jackson. Akon. Eminem. Beetels. Usher.

In the year 2004 the company had an joint venture with Beetels Mann AG called Sony

BMG.

Acquisitions:

It acquired Famous music in the year 2007.

The company has acquired BeetelsMann AG in 2008 by purchasing complete shares of it.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing:

This was originally founded as Associated Television (ATV) in the UK in 1955 and later

spread into America. In the year 1991 ATV has merged into Sony and became Sony Music

Entertainment acquired 50% of the company share in 1995.

Acquisitions:

Purchased Grace Note in 2008 which is a digital music company.

FINANCIAL SERVICES:

Sony financial holdings:

SONY LIFE SONY ASSURANCE SONY BANK SONY SECURITIES

Its head quarters is located in Tokyo.

It accounts for more than half of Sonys earnings.

The main strategy of Sony is its low fees not going with its brand.

The company was profitable till the year 2000.

Its market capitalization came down from $100 billion to $18 billion dollars.

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In 2012 the losses were about $6.36 billion dollars.

Its strategy to overcome the losses is to reduce the workforce and to take help from the parent

company electronics, which comes under corporate parenting.

The company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and

professional markets. Sony is ranked 87th on the 2012 list of Fortune Global 500.

Organisation Structure: