Strategic Analysis of Sony Corporation: Business Strategy Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sony Corporation's business strategy, focusing on evaluating different strategic options for future growth. It examines the current market position of Sony, highlighting challenges such as declining market share and intense competition. The report evaluates four potential strategies: market strategy, substantive growth strategies, limited growth strategies, and retrenchment strategies, ultimately justifying the selection of substantive growth strategies as the most appropriate approach for Sony. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of staff members during strategy implementation, emphasizing the importance of predicting future strategies, aligning the business, and representing change. Furthermore, the report identifies the necessary resources, including physical and human resources, required for effective strategy implementation and concludes with the application of SMART objectives to guide the process. The analysis underscores the need for Sony to innovate and expand its presence in emerging markets to regain its competitive advantage and increase market share.

Business Strategy
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
3.1 Evaluating four different options that can be adopted by Sony Corporation while selecting
its future strategy.........................................................................................................................3
3.2 Justification of chosen strategy..............................................................................................5
4.1 Roles and responsibilities of staff members at the time of implementing strategy...............6
4.2 Resources that are required to allocate and utilize effectively while implementing strategy7
4.3 SMART objectives for directing the process of strategy implementation.............................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Business strategy includes various types of processes, tools, techniques and instructions
that are used by the management of company to achieve their organizational goals as swell as
objectives. It is also considered as a long run planning with the help of which business focuses to
move towards the path of success by fulfilling their overall objectives (Teece, 2010). By
considering this aspect, the present report will focus on evaluating the business strategies of
Sony Mobile Communications (SMC) which is one of the leading companies in the market of
various mobile devices. Further, this is a Japanese company established in 1946 after the merger
of Masaru Lbuka and Akio Morita. In the present time, company serves products such as smart
phones, television, accessories, digital cameras and home cinema as per the needs of
requirements of customers.
As business entity deals in consumer electronics so its mission is to render high quality
unique products to its customers in reasonable prices (Montgomery, 2011). Along with this,
company focuses to adopt different types of strategies on the timely basis so that they can
maintain their leading position in the marketplace. Even Sony has availability of various
strategies but this report is also going to discuss additional strategies that can be followed for the
purpose of future growth. At last, selection and justification for a new strategy of company will
be done.
TASK 1
Attached in PPT
TASK 2
3.1 Evaluating four different options that can be adopted by Sony Corporation while selecting its
future strategy
In the electronic market, Sony Corporation has a leading position as it offers high quality
electronic products with the availability of unique characteristics. Main focus of company is to
focus on adopting the best strategies on the regular basis so that innovative products can be
delivered to the customers with full effectiveness. In the past years, it has been noticed that sales
of company has been minimized to a great extent due to availability of slowdown in world
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economy (Wang and Shyu, 2008). Along with this, appreciation in Japanese currency is also one
of the reasons due to which market share of company is minimizing. In the present era,
competition among businesses has become so intense and because of that, maintaining its leading
position in the market has become very difficult for the company. So, by considering all these
issues, it is essential for the management of Sony Corporation to adopt new strategy on the
regular basis so that its decreasing market share can be increased and competitive advantage can
be gained in an effective manner. In context of electronic market, different strategies that Sony
can consider are as follows:
Market strategy: It is one of the popular strategies that helps in attaining high market
share in less time and it is a types of planned tool by which products and services are offered in a
new market. With the help of this strategy, business can be expanded effectively in both the
national and international market. Here, market research is conducted before entering into a new
market (Chesbrough and Appleyard, 2007). For the success of this strategy, company should
focus on penetration pricing and advertisement methods so that more customers can be attracted
towards products as well as services. However, this strategy assists Sony Corporation to enhance
its market share along with enlarging its presence in the emerging countries of the world.
Substantive growth strategies: Main focus of this strategy is to enhance the growth and
development of business to higher level. Therefore, it is used by the management of company to
gain higher development as well as growth in less time. According to this strategy, Sony
Corporation should emphasize towards innovation and by this, it is required for them to include
new features in their phones on the regular basis so that attention of customers can be gained in
an effectual manner (Advantage of substantive growth strategies, 2016). Along with this, it can
focus on linking with other business entities which have availability of latest technologies as well
as unique strategies.
Limited Growth strategies: This strategy is used to attain growth in long duration with a
slow pace as such type of organizations do nor prefer to take higher risks (Berman and Hagan,
2006). Use of this strategy will be beneficial for Sony when it is at the peak level and it only
wants to maintain that level with less investment. But as per the preset situation when company
is facing various issues related to decrease in sales, this strategy will not be suitable as it will
lead towards low economies of scale.
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Retrenchment strategies: This strategy assists business entity to minimize the level of
operational losses and with this, it also aids in reducing its expanses to a higher level. According
to this strategy, Sony should focus on stopping the production of products whose sales is
decreasing continuously and which is moving business towards the path of failure (Goll, Brown
Johnson and Rasheed, 2008). Along with this, they can reduce their number of employees for the
purpose of minimizing cost and this has been done by Sony in 2002 for dealing effectively with
financial crises. Further, this strategy can also be considered by the management of company in
future for the purpose if maintaining economic stability.
3.2 Justification of chosen strategy
In the present time, main objective of company is to serve customers with the innovative
and unique products as well as services. Along with this, Sony is popular for delivering high
quality products in the marketplace. But now days, main issue faced by the company is related to
decline in its market share and main reason for that is regarding less growth as well as
development associated with its practices and products (Dong-Hun, 2010). In order to overcome
this situation, substantive growth strategies are the effective ways by which business can move
effectively towards to maintain its growth as well as development. According to this strategy, it
is required for Sony Mobile communication to include new features to its products on the regular
basis so that growth can be attained with full efficiency and number of customers can be
increased to a higher level. Use of this strategy will be beneficial for increasing the market share
of company and moving towards the high sales performance. Furthermore, this strategy moves
company towards the way to link with other business entities which have accessibility of latest
technologies and unique practices related to marketing as well as innovation.
Along with this, by considering this strategy, company has opportunity to move towards
the emerging economies such as India, Brazil and China which have availability of more
population and most of individuals prefer to use electronic products of high quality as well as
unique features (Singer, 2006). Before moving towards any emerging nation, it is required for
conduct proper market research as well as in-depth investigation so that requirements of
customers can be achieved with full effectiveness and huge market share can be captured. In
terms of quality and innovation, Sony is the main player in the electronic market and due to
which, it has potential to attract more number of customers in the market. It also uses a slogan of
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improving the life of people by rendering them products based on new technology. Due to
availability of high quality, working with emerging economies will be more beneficial for the
company as people of India and China focus on paying good amount of money in the return of
innovative electronic goods (Johnson and et.al., 2013). By considering the above aspects, it can
be said that considering substantive growth strategy will be beneficial for Sony as with the help
of this, level of growth and development can be increased by ensuring the availability of new
technologies, features and applications in products as well as services along with enhancing the
level of marketing practices in emerging economies.
4.1 Roles and responsibilities of staff members at the time of implementing strategy
Strategy implementation is one of the essential functions of every organization which
assists in achieving the goals and objectives of business in an effectual manner. In case of Sony,
there are various staff members who are associated with the practices of strategy implementation
and play several roles as well as responsibilities while executing strategy at the workplace. These
roles and responsibilities are as follows:
Roles of staff members that are associated with strategy implementation
In case of Sony, while implementing strategy, roles of individuals are divided on the
basis of three major areas including predicting future strategy, aligning the whole business entity
while delivering strategy and representing change. Description of these roles are as follows:
 Predicting future strategy: Here, individuals related to strategy implementation focus on
selecting the better strategy and after that, communicating with all the external and
internal parties about the same (Demil and Lecocq, 2010). Internal parties include all
types of employees available at the different levels of management and on the other hand,
external parties are related to different stakeholders such as government, shareholders and
customers.
 Aligning the whole business entity while delivering strategy: Here, individuals associated
with strategy implementation emphasizes to involve the commitment of other employees
at the workplace so that strategy can be executed with full effectiveness. Along with this,
training is provided to make them able to deal effectively with new strategy.
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 Representing change: Here, organizational change is involved by the persons who are
responsible for implementing strategy (Galbreath, 2006). For the change, they focus on
identifying loopholes and on the basis of these errors, further improvements are done.
Responsibilities of staff members who are responsible for strategy implementation
In context of Sony, external parties and middle level managers are the major individuals
who have responsibility to perform practices related to strategy implementation. Here, decisions
made by top level management are implemented by the middle level managers as they work as a
link between lower level employee and higher level management. At the workplace of Sony,
there are thousands of employees so communing with all them about the availability of new
strategy is the major responsibility of middle level managers (Teece, 2010). In case of external
parties, consultants play an effective role in guiding company to implement strategy in a
systematic manner. Along with this, government influences them to follow ethical consideration
while applying strategy and according to shareholders, strategy implementation must be
profitable for them.
4.2 Resources that are required to allocate and utilize effectively while implementing strategy
It is essential for the management of Sony to allocate and utilize all the resources in an
effectual manner while implementing strategy so that associated goals and objectives can be
achieved with full effectiveness. As company’s main focus is on substantive growth strategies
for the purpose of enhancing market share so major resources that are required to be allocated
and utilized effectively are as follows:
Physical resources: In case of Sony, machines, stores and warehouses are considered as
physical resources which put its huge impact on the production process. As it has been advised to
the company to adopt substantive growth strategies so proper allocation and utilization of
physical resources are must so that more customers of customers can be served in a better way
and market share can be increased effectively (Resources needed for strategy implementation,
2007).
Human resources: In order to deal effectively with the demand of emerging economies,
it is essential for company to have sufficient amount of human resources who must be trained
and experienced. Along with this, it is also required for company to retain the experienced
employees by rendering them more opportunities as well as healthy environment.
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Financial resources: Without finance, business entity can’t be able to implement
strategy in an effectual manner (Montgomery, 2011). Due to this, they need to select appropriate
resources for the purpose of generating finance. In case of Sony, Bank loan is the best source as
due to its goodwill and reputation in the market, every bank wants to make business relationship
with it.
4.3 SMART objectives for directing the process of strategy implementation
In case of Sony, management of the company uses balance score card method which
helps in updating the overall strategy in an effectual manner and focuses on linking the SMART
objectives with the long term planning of business. Along with this, such technique assists in
dealing with organizational change and due to this, it leads to achieve the mission, vision as well
as goals of company to a higher level (Dong-Hun, 2010). With the help of balance score card
method, SMART objectives can be set and fulfilled effectively and For SONY, these objectives
are as follows:
 To enhance the profitability of company by 30% till the end of 2016.
 To increase the return of investment by 10% till the end of September 2016.
 To minimize employee turnover by 30% till the end of 2016.
 To reduce the level of wastage by 20% till the end of September 2016.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been evaluated that business strategy plays an effective role
in enhancing the growth of company. In the present market, competition among businesses
impacts the business strategies to a higher level and therefore, it is also affecting the practices of
Sony Corporation. According to the report, substantive growth strategy will be more suitable for
the company by which business can move effectively towards the growth and development.
Along with this, it will also help in enhancing the market share of Sony to a great extent.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Berman, S. J. and Hagan, J., 2006. How technology-driven business strategy can spur innovation
and growth. Strategy & Leadership. 34(2). pp.28-34.
Chesbrough, H. W. and Appleyard, M. M., 2007. Open innovation and strategy. California
management review. 50(1). pp.57-76.
Demil, B. and Lecocq, X., 2010. Business model evolution: in search of dynamic
consistency. Long range planning. 43(2). pp.227-246.
Dong-Hun, L., 2010. Korean Consumer & Society: Growing Popularity of Social Media and
Business Strategy. SERI Quarterly. 3(4). p.112.
Galbreath, J., 2006. Corporate social responsibility strategy: strategic options, global
considerations. Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in
society. 6(2) pp.175-187.
Goll, I., Brown Johnson, N. and Rasheed, A. A., 2008. Top management team demographic
characteristics, business strategy, and firm performance in the US airline industry: The
role of managerial discretion. Management Decision. 46(2). pp.201-222.
Johnson, G. and et.al., 2013.Exploring strategy text & cases. Pearson Higher Ed.
Montgomery, C. A., 2011. Resource-based and evolutionary theories of the firm: towards a
synthesis. Springer Science & Business Media.
Singer, A. E., 2006. Business strategy and poverty alleviation. Journal of Business Ethics. 66(2-
3). pp.225-231.
Teece, D. J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range
planning. 43(2). pp.172-194.
Wang, D. S. and Shyu, C. L., 2008. Will the strategic fit between business and HRM strategy
influence HRM effectiveness and organizational performance?. International Journal of
Manpower. 29(2). pp.92-110.
Online
Advantage of substantive growth strategies. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.ehow.com/info_7759598_advantages-substantive-growth-business-
strategies.html>. [Accessed on 7 May 2016].
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Resources needed for strategy implementation. 2007. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www2.southeastern.edu/sacs/qep/qep_sections/summary_of_resources_needed.pd
f>. [Accessed on 7 May 2016].
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