Assessing Employee Capabilities and Abilities: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

This assignment reports on the strategic planning process of Sony Mobile Communication, highlighting the importance of vision, mission, and objectives in shaping business strategies. The report concludes that a new market entry strategy, specifically joint venture, is recommended to enhance market share and customer base. The strategy's success is attributed to its ability to align with the company's overall goals and objectives. Additionally, the report emphasizes the significance of balanced scorecard basics in evaluating business performance and making strategic decisions.

BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR SONY
CORPORATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ......................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2 ......................................................................................................................................................3
3.1 Four options available with SC to adopt for developing its future strategy....................................3
3.2 Justification for selecting appropriate strategy................................................................................4
4.1 Roles and responsibilities of Sony Corporation workforce who are involved in strategy
implementations ...................................................................................................................................6
4.2 Assessment of estimated resource requirement by SC to implement new market entry strategy...6
4.3 SMART objective develop by Sony to achieve its strategic implementation ................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
A business strategy can be described as the plans and actions which a business undertakes in
order to attain the desired objectives. These strategies are basically the plans of actions which are
developed by the managers of company in order to achieve operational and organizational goals in the
most effective and efficient manner (Thompson, 2010). Similarly, with the help of this project report,
researcher will discuss about the strategic planning activity for Sony Corporation. Therefore, in the first
part of assignment, the researcher will identify certain tools for conducting efficient strategic planning
and later their implementation in Sony Mobile Communication (SMC) with the help of power point
presentation.
Furthermore, researcher has discussed about different strategies which are available with Sony
Corporation (SC) to implement in their business. In addition to this, a selection of one effective strategy
is being made by the researcher which can be adopted by SC in future. Lastly, a study is made on
several duties and responsibilities that will be required by the cited firm will be discussed.
TASK 1
Covered in power point presentation
TASK 2
3.1 Four options available with SC to adopt for developing its future strategy
There are four types of strategies available with SC to adopt for developing its future strategy.
These options are discussed as below:
Market Entry
A market entry strategy can be defined as entering into a new market for delivering the goods
and services to a newly identified location. This strategy assists company to develop plans in order to
transfer the goods and services in different locations. It has been observed that there is a huge
competition in the digital market and every auto-mobile company is trying hard to become leader in its
business. For this purpose, companies are trying to expand their market internationally so that they
would be able to make a market stand in the entire world (Palmer, Wright and Powers, 2015).
However, Sony Corporation is facing competition with companies like Samsung and Apple that
has successfully expanded in market in many countries. Therefore, one option that is available with SC
to remain ahead of its competitors and to lead the market is by making entry into those areas where it
has not started its business yet. This will help company to increase the market share and to make its

products available in all parts of the world (Ibrahim, 2015).
Substantive Growth
Another option which is available with the cited company is by adopting substantive growth
strategy which can be done by mergers and acquisition. Mergers refer to combining of two business
organizations in order to conduct their operations (Laufs and Schwens, 2014). This could be achieved
by entering into partnership with similar types of business or different firms which are dealing in
different lines of commercial enterprise. However, cited company can go for mergers as it has the
ability to get along with different business lines apart from the business in which it is dealing. For
example, it can merge its business with the retail firm to attain substantive growth in its business
(Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger, 2014). Furthermore, since company has strong market power, it
can also go for acquisition that is by taking ownership of another organization.
Limited growth
Furthermore, an option of limited growth strategy is also available with Sony Corporation.
Through this, the cited company will grow its business at a very slow and restricted speed; as a result,
limited risk has to be faced by firm (Dahl, 2015). However, the negative effect of this strategy is that it
is a time consuming process. But, apart from this, positive affect can also be analysed that is it will
assist the cited firm to remain in market for much longer time period. Further, this strategy suggests the
low speed growth which can lead Sony to lack behind its competitors (Khanagha, Volberda and Oshri,
2014).
Retrenchment
The last choice which is available with Sony Corporation is to adopt retrenchment strategy. This
strategy is effective at times when SC is facing inefficiency in any of its products due to poor economic
condition of country in which Sony Corporation has spread its market (Carey, Knowle and Clark,
2014). For example, cited company is facing the problem of inefficiency in its product that is mobile
phone in UK. Therefore, if Sony Corporation faces problem of inefficiency in one of its products say
for example, TV, then in that case, company can follow retrenchment strategy by taking three important
steps, that is, asset decrease, price reduction strategy and revenue generation strategy can be
implemented (Jeston and Nelis, 2014).
3.2 Justification for selecting appropriate strategy
From all options which are available for SC, the marketing planner of cited company has

selected new market entry strategy to implement in its business. The reason behind selecting this
strategy is that this will help Sony to enhance its consumer base with much more increased profit
margins (Naidoo and Wu, 2014). As a result of this, SC will able to increase their net income and
revenues. However, it has been observed that Sony is dependent on UK market till now to a great
extent for the purpose of sales and increasing profits. Therefore, entering in the new market will help
cited company to increase its market share plus developing the brand image in different markets
(Palmer, Wright and Powers, 2015). Implementation of such strategy into action will come with lots of
roles and responsibilities which the top authorities have to perform (Karakaya and Stahl, 2015). This
will include conducting market research of international market in order to determine the countries and
markets in which SC can enter and establish its presence. This is the top priority of senior staff of cited
company to perform environmental audit as it will assist them to understand different trends which are
prevailing in the current market and customer’s needs and wants can be determined as well.
Furthermore, top level authorities will also have to analyse the suitability and availability of required
resources for putting the entry strategy into action. This assessment will help to identify the capability
of company to meet the desires and expectations of stakeholders in new market (Edelman and
Manolova, 2015).
In addition to this, adopting new market entry strategy will assist Sony Corporation to gain
access to a wide variety of resources and expert personnel which will enable the firm to provide more
advanced and superior quality goods or services to the targeted audience. However, while giving
justification for chosen strategy, it may not be wrong to say that brand name of Sony will get enhanced
and company will be able to capture the larger audience (Page, 2015). As a result, Sony Corporation
would be able to sustain and retain its market position for prolonged time period. Also, mentioned
enterprise will generate huge profits and revenues will get increased which will assist the cited firm to
perform its operating activities in an efficient and effective manner. This will also improve the chances
of company to become leader and to expand its business operations globally. There are various options
available with Sony Corporation to make market entry in new location such as franchising, joint
ventures and licensing along with wholly owned subsidiaries and so on. But by looking at the nature of
its operations as well as regulations prevailing in UK and the new market location that is China, wholly
owned subsidiaries can prove to be very helpful (Storey, 2014).

4.1 Roles and responsibilities of Sony Corporation workforce who are involved in strategy
implementation
Implementation of any plan or strategy into an action comes with lots of duties and tasks to be
performed by the members of company who are directly involved or associated with implementing that
plan. At the time of entering into new market with the technique of wholly owned subsidiary in case of
Sony Corporation, several departments will also be developed which will consist of human resource
section, marketing department, finance division and so on (Jayaram, 2014).
Therefore, the duties which are associated with these formed departments are discussed below:
Finance Department
The main duties and responsibilities of personnel working under finance department are
required to maintain a logbook on daily and weekly basis which will assist the managers to make
effective financial decisions. These financial staff members will also be responsible to determine the
data regarding economic status of new market location. This economic status data will give information
regarding the feasibility that whether firm should implement the new market strategy in China or not.
Also, finance officials will be responsible to determine the appropriate organizations that will help SC
in getting required finance for making the new market entry (Boies, Lvina and Martens, 2015).
Human Resource Department
Another department which has been established is related with human resource section that will
be responsible for selecting talented workforce in the cited organization. This section will enable
company to operate its various activities in the most effective and efficient manner. The other duties of
this section are related with providing training and development to its existing staff to ensure and
enhance the motivational level of staff. As a result, more improved quality of products can be delivered
(Gamble and Thompson, 2014).
Marketing Department
Main duties and responsibilities of this department are related with conducting environmental
auditing with relation to external and internal conditions. This assessment of internal and external
market and business condition will assist the cited firm to tap the latest demand of its consumers and
competitor’s marketing activities. Also, marketing analysis will help company to make the decisions
related with pricing of its products and promotional activities to be adopted to make the consumers
aware about goods and services which are offered by Sony Corporation (Villalonga, 2014).

4.2 Assessment of estimated resource requirement by SC to implement a new market entry strategy
Without availability of resources in terms of man, machines, materials and money, it will
become impossible for SC to implement its new market entry strategy into action in the most efficient
and effective manner (Eyler, 2014). Therefore, resources act as the most vital part in putting the action
into working situation.
Personnel Resources
The first and foremost requirement which is felt at the time of implementing strategy is related
with tapping professionalised and highly expert workforce in company. These personnel will assist in
meeting the deadlines and targets of Sony Corporation effectually (Radoševic, 2015). Human resources
are the one that will help company to implement its new market strategy and bring it into the workable
situation.
Physical Resources
Other resources which are required by cited company during execution of new market entry
tactics is the accessibility to different tangibles and physical assets such as land on which company will
be established, office furniture and other related equipments, machines and so on. Without availability
of these assets, carrying out of new market entry strategy will be not possible (Ibrahim, 2015).
Capital resource
Non-availability of financial resources will act as a hurdle at the time of execution of the
adopted strategy by Sony Corporation. Therefore, funds are required for carrying out several activities
like initial purchase of land, furniture acquiring, recruiting staff, conducting several promotional
activities and so on. Therefore, if funds are not available with SC then stoppage of work can take place.
As a result, the operations of company are not going to be run smoothly (Budayan, Dikmen and
Birgonul, 2015).
4.3 SMART objective developed by Sony to achieve its strategic implementation
For the purpose of implementing a strategy in the operations of business, there is availability of
different aspects which a business has to consider. However, a SMART objective development will be
effective for Sony Corporation to attain the longer success of business operations (Slack, 2015).
SMART objectives stand for Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Realistic and Time.
Therefore, SMART objectives which managers of SC have identified are as follows:
 To enhance the market share by 7%.

 To increase the sales of its mobile sectors by 60% within 1 year.
 To make the public aware of brand image in every part of world within 3 months. To attend to customers inquiry through marketing team by 20% till the end of 2015.
Balanced Score Card
The technique which marketing manager can adopt for checking practicability and capability of
its newly implemented strategy of making new entry in market can be done by the balanced scorecard.
This method is dependent on four pillars which are:
Financial Perspective
The financial perspective will help company to identify operational financial gain with
company and check return on capital employed by it with respect to implementation of strategy
(Brueller, Carmeli and Drori, 2014).
Customer Perspective
With the help of this perspective, mangers will be able to know about the customer’s
satisfaction level and their level of retaining Sony products (Spender, 2014).
Business process perspectives
This will help to check the process which is being used in company to develop and market the
products. This is done on the basis of measuring quality, cost, production and order fulfilment (Palmer,
Wright and Powers, 2015).
Learning and growth perspective
For achieving the goal of plan which has been implemented, another aspect which has to be
measured is related with employee’s capabilities and abilities, motivational level, retention power, and
so on (Balanced Scorecard Basics, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it can be concluded that several business strategies have been
formulated due to which it has become essential to identify the pros and cons of each tactic and then
making the selection of single strategy to operate its business. Therefore, it can be concluded that
vision, mission and objectives of Sony Mobile Communication played a crucial role in influencing and
impacting the strategic planning process for company. Further, it can be analysed from the report that
new market entry strategy was suggested as the best tactic available with cited company and through

the help of joint venture, this strategy can be implemented. The reason for recommending this strategy
was that it would assist the firm to enhance its market share along with increase in customer base.

REFERENCES
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