Sony Corporation: Opportunity Analysis Report (Trimester 1, 2020)

This report presents an opportunity analysis for Sony Corporation, focusing on its potential within the consumer electronics market, specifically its mobile phone product line. The analysis begins with an overview of the company, its mission, and the current challenges it faces. It then delves into a comprehensive market situation analysis, examining both the macro and micro environments, including political, economic, social, and technological factors, as well as competitor and consumer analyses. A SWOT analysis is conducted to identify Sony's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report concludes with a discussion of marketing initiatives and goals, outlining strategies to leverage opportunities, address weaknesses, and achieve specific targets such as increasing market share and profitability within the smartphone segment. The report aims to provide a strategic plan for Sony to regain its market position and enhance its financial performance.

Opportunity Analysis for
Sony
Student Id Number
7003MKT Marketing Foundations
Lecturer: Dr Anita Love
Trimester 1, 2020
Word count: (should be 1500+/- 10%)
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction to the Company...................................................................................................... 3
Company Description and Problem Statement...........................................................................3
Company Analysis............................................................................................................ 3
Market Situation..................................................................................................................... 4
Market Overview................................................................................................................. 4
Macro Environment Analysis.................................................................................................. 4
Political Analysis.............................................................................................................. 4
Economic Analysis............................................................................................................ 4
Social Analysis................................................................................................................. 4
Technological Analysis....................................................................................................... 5
Micro Environment Analysis................................................................................................... 5
Competitor Analysis.......................................................................................................... 6
Competitive market Summary.............................................................................................. 6
Consumer Analysis............................................................................................................ 7
SWOT Analysis................................................................................................................ 8
Marketing Initiative and Goals.................................................................................................... 9
References........................................................................................................................... 10
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Introduction to the Company
Company Description and Problem Statement
Sony Corporation was founded in Japan in 1957 and operates in the segment of consumer
electronics, professional electronics, financial services and gaming entertainment. Sony owns
the largest music entertainment in the business world (Watkins et.al,2012). The company has
experience of 60 years in the field and is well renowned for quality and integrity in its
products. Sony mainly recognized for innovation, quality, services and integrity (Hur
et.al,2019).At present the company is struggling to all the aspects that are mentioned. This
report includes strategic plan and for that detailed analysis of company’s strengths,
opportunities, threats and weaknesses are taken into consideration. Further, this strategic plan
purpose is to strengthen or recoup the bottom line of the company as well as its good image.
The aim of this marketing plan is to highlight one product line of Sony Corporation that is
mobile phone. This report mainly focuses on the external and internal environment of Sony
Corporations. Apart from that this plan emphasizes on the marketing strategies, marketing
mix, promotion strategies and initiatives taken by Sony. At last SWOT analysis is taken as
the vital part which is included in this marketing plan.
Company Analysis
Sony mission is “to commit to develop a wide range of innovative products and multimedia
services that challenge the way consumer access and enjoy digital entertainment”. With that
organization is striving to develop new world with its innovation and technology that can be
experienced on a variety of different products. Sony corporation has the capability to
innovate new products with attractive features and differentiate is products from competitors
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in the market (garrou,2018). At present the company has strong product portfolio, and large
market share.
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Market Situation
Market Overview
This campaign will be run in the telecommunication industry as the mobile phone launch by
Sony will target consumer electronics industry and in that middle and high level income
customers. This industry contributed 40 precent in the growth at the global level and
estimated to add up to around 1.7 billion units in 2020 (Appiah et.al,2019). By looking into
the market growth and opportunity it can be said that Sony Corporation can run this
campaign effectively in this target market.
Macro Environment Analysis
Political Analysis
Political factors include governmental activities, stability and decision of the government.
These factors directly impact on operations of the company. Some of political factors that
impact on Sony Corporation in this industry are political stability in the developed countries,
government support to digital age and support for data security in Australia (Zahid and
Saeed,2019).
Economic Analysis
Economic factors include employment rate, growth rate, and exchange rate fluctuations. The
factors that impact on Sony Corporation operations are growth of developing markets, high
economic growth of developed markets and improving standard of living in developing
countries. All that can give an opportunity to the company to tap these untapped markets
(Gerte et.al,2018).
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Social Analysis
Social factors are the changing preferences of customers, changing demographics and
changing trend in the industry. Social factors that can impact on Sony Corporation activities
are shift of people towards digital transactions and digital technology, increasing use of
online gaming, and trending e commerce sites and use of internet increase the demand of
smartphones in the market.
Technological Analysis
Technological factors include technological trends and innovation in the industry, and in
consumer electronics these factor have major influence on the operations and strategies of the
company. The factors that can influence Sony’s operations are introduction of high quality
cameras in phones, huge expenditure by companies on R&D. All these technological changes
might impact Sony strategies.
Hence from the macro analysis factor it can be said that political factors such as government
support to digital age prove to be an opportunity, moreover economic factors such as
economic growth is taken as threat and opportunity both and social factors are the biggest
influencer and give more opportunities for the company but on other side changing
technology leads to obsolesce of current technologies that is taken as threat.
Micro Environment Analysis
Competitors: The competitors for Sony in this industry are Samsung, Apple, Panasonic, and
Xiaomi. These are the leading player in the consumer electronic industry as amongst that
Samsung is the leading player with market share of 46.6 per cent and after that Apple covers
36.6 per cent and reaming share by other players in the market.
Customers: The customers for Sony can be those who are tech savy, use smart phones of
high technology, age between 18-65, high income and medium income group. The company
offer phones on various platforms such as online and offline platform. Further, smart phones
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are available for those who are phone addicted, video gaming addicted and use phone for
business processes. The features of phone would be provided on the basis of needs and
demands of these customers and all the features are customized and innovative.
Collaborator: Sony can collaborate with companies that provide quality and add value in its
products such as processor, camera quality and high end software for smart phones.
Hence, from the micro factor analysis it is considered that the company can face threat related
to competition in this industry as the big players like Apple and Samsung has strong presence
in the market with its innovative products in order to survive in the market Sony need to
launch products that can gain first mover advantage.
Competitor Analysis
Direct competitors are those that offer same services and products in the market but with
some uniqueness but targeting and competing in the same target market. Sony Corporation
might face direct competition from Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo in the market. Some of
strategies of competitors in this market are explained below:
Competitive market Summary
Competitor Target
Market
Positionin
g
Product Pric
e
Promotion
al
Distributio
n
Samsung Males and
Females
age
between
18-65
Pioneer
brand
with
quality
and
affordable
price
Affordabilit
y and
innovation
AU$
253
4
Digital
and
traditional
tools
E
commerce
sites and
retail
outlets
Xiaomi Teenagers
and young
adult
Technolog
ical
products
in limited
budget
Innovation
and easy
to use
AU$
189
0
Social
media
marketing
and sales
promotion
E
commerce
sites and
retail
outlets
Oppo Young
adult with
and
profession
als
Stylish
and mid
range
phones
Selfie
camera
quality
AU$
255
5
Social
media
marketing
and tv ads
E
commerce
sites and
retail
outlets
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POS: points of similarity
From considering the above analysis it can be said that the point of similarities can be
distribution strategy, and target market. As it is seen that there is the same channel of
distribution this industry.
POD: points of difference
The difference is in the position strategy and product attributes as with the innovation and
strong R&D the company positioned itself in the market as high end and medium end
provider of smartphones with luxury status. Hence, product attribute and positioning
strategies will be the difference.
Consumer Analysis
The consumer analysis include complete information about the customer base that the
company is going to target or their characteristics that are:
 Most of smart phone buyers opt for online sites such as Flip kart and Amazon in order
to buy smart phones
 Purchaser of smartphones are mainly between the age of 20-35
 The key elements that they keep in mind while buying smart phones are brand image,
convenience of shopping, price, and product features.
 Moreover, most of upper class segment prefer Apple brand and high price model of
Samsung and middle and lower income group people buy Samsung and Oppo,
 The customers in smart phone industry in Australia initiate purchase when there is
any new technology and innovation in the market, secondly because of needs and
social influence (Haba et.al,2017).
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SWOT Analysis
 Strengths (S): The brand image, innovation and technologies and skilled human
resources are the strengths by which the company can get advantage and compete in
the market. The major competitive advantage for the company is its innovation (Hsu
and Nguyen,2019).
 Weaknesses: This includes losses that Sony is experiencing from the mobile unit and
poor marketing mix by the company in some of segments.
 Threats: The threats that are identified from above analysis is related to competition
and changing technologies and slow economic growth that impact directly to the
company performance (Gerte et.al,2018).
 Opportunities: Some of opportunities that the company can take advantage of are
digital age, and the resources that the company have with that the company can
target the higher segment and take advantage of favourable political conditions.
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Strengths
Brand Image
Skilled human resource
New technologies and
innovation
Weaknesses
Expensive
Decreasing market
share because of
ineffective marketing
mix
Opportunities
Digital age and
increasing growth
Lot to gain in the smart
phone unit
Threats
Stiff competition from
Samsung,Oppo and
Xiaomi
Instability in economy
at gllobal level

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Marketing Initiative and Goals
The Sony Corporation will offer Smart phone in order to come back in the market and the
highlighted features for the phone from which the company can get competitive advantage in
the market is “Foldable phone”. These phones are made firstly to target high class income
group people and business man. By launching this the gaols that the company can achieved
are:
 To be valued brand in the consumer electronics or smart phone industry
 To maximize sales of Sony Corporation and cover 25% of market share in Australia
by 2022.
 To establish the company in Smart phone segment and make it profitable unit of Sony
Corporation by 2025
The above goals are linked with the mission of the company and help in to improve the
financial position of the company in the market. Further, with that aims and goals the
company will turn its weaknesses that are its non-profitable units into profitable units.
Further, market share of the company if improved leads to benefit at the global level and help
in to grab the opportunities that are prevailing in the smartphone industry at the global level.
Hence, with this marketing initiative the company can gain competitive advantage and can
utilize its resources efficiently for growth and development.
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References
Appiah, D., Ozuem, W., Howell, K.E. and Lancaster, G., 2019. Brand switching and
consumer identification with brands in the smartphones industry. Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 18(6), pp.463-473.
Garrou, P., 2018. Sony refocuses on smartphones for 5G.
Gerte, R., Enam, A., Konduri, K.C., Ramachandran, N. and Dalal, D., 2018. Understanding
the Psychological Factors Underlying Smartphone Related Distracted Driving: Exploratory
Analysis Using a Nationwide Survey (No. UCNR25-34).
Haba, H., Hassan, Z. and Dastane, O., 2017. Factors leading to consumer perceived value of
smartphones and its impact on purchase intention. Global Business and Management
Research: An International Journal, 9(1).
Hsu, Y. and Nguyen, M., 2019. Customers’ Switching Intention among Smartphone
Brands. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 10(6).
Hur, U., Park, M., Kim, G., Park, Y., Lee, I. and Kim, J., 2019. Data acquisition methods
using backup data decryption of Sony smartphones. Digital Investigation, 31, p.200890.
Watkins, J., Hjorth, L. and Koskinen, I., 2012. Wising up: Revising mobile media in an age
of smartphones. Continuum, 26(5), pp.665-668.
Zahid, M. and Saeed, M.U., 2019. Dynamics of political usage of smart phones: Examining
relationship of exposure patterns and polarization among young voters. Journal of Media
Studies, 31(2).
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