Business Strategy Report: Analyzing Sony Mobile Communications' Future

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sony Mobile Communications (SMC), focusing on its business strategies and potential for future growth. The report begins with an introduction to business strategy and its importance, followed by an analysis of SMC's current market position and financial performance, including an operating loss in 2013. It explores various business strategies such as market entry, substantive growth, limited growth, and retrenchment, recommending market entry as the most suitable strategy for SMC. The report then delves into the roles and responsibilities of staff in strategy formulation, from the Board of Directors to consultants, and examines resource allocation for effective strategy implementation, including financial, organizational, physical, human, and technological resources. Finally, the report highlights the importance of SMART objectives as a tool for strategic implementation, providing specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals for SMC to achieve its strategic objectives. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for SMC's future strategic direction.

Business Strategy

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
A) MAIN BUSINESS STRATEGIES.........................................................................................4
B) SELECTION OF STRATEGY FOR SMC............................................................................5
C) ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF STAFF IN STRATEGY FORMULATION..........6
D) RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW STRATEGY.............7
E) SMART OBJECTIVE AS A TOOL FOR STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION...................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: SMART Objectives...................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In today's 21st century, established corporations are learning to reinvent themselves with
business strategies to create wealth. The formulation of objectives for an organization is
challenging for getting desired outcomes (Thompson, 2001). Business strategy is a term which
refers to planning where a decision regarding successful implementation of long term goals is
made. The present report focuses on Sony Mobile Communications (SMC) which is one of the
manufacturers and providers of multimedia devices of Japan. With the provided case study,
analysis has been made on showing the suitable future strategy that should be adopted by Sony
Corporation. Further, the roles and responsibilities of staff members and resource allocation in
new strategy implementation have been recommended. Lastly, contribution of SMART
objectives which Sony can employ for achieving overall strategic implementation has been
presented.
TASK 2
A) Main business strategies
Various organizations failed as they were not able to achieve their growth targets with
respect to revenues and profitability. There are certain initiatives taken by them as a part of their
strategic implementation but they do not always succeed (Hill and Jones, 2012). Certain reasons
such as poorly invented strategies, indefensible expectations and improper consensus are
responsible for unsuccessful results. According to the given case study, SMC is having key
presence in the global markets. Still, it has been evidenced that company has an operating loss of
Yen 1257.6m in the year 2013 for their sales (Wittmann and Reuter, 2013). It has been analyzed
that proper study of various alternatives available for making effective business strategy is the
key requirement. In order to ripe benefits in the long run, it is advisable to Sony Corporation to
make review of various options. This is essential for them to support the future strategic decision
making. The analysis and evaluation of key alternatives that SMC can adopt while considering
its future strategy are as follows:
 Market entry: With the help of this option, SMC can plan to deliver its goods and
services to a new target market (Zolkiewskind and Feng, 2011). As analyzed from the
given scenario, corporation is successful in developing its key presence in both developed
and developing market. They had their operations in 40 nations of the world. Apple,

Samsung and Nokia are the major competitors of SMC. In order to compete effectively
with them in the long run, Sony has to make use of various innovative techniques. By
using advanced devices in its multimedia segments, new market dimensions can be
covered. Substantive growth: The strategy where growth is implemented through acquisition,
mergers and joint ventures, it is termed as substantive growth (Thompson, 2001). As per
the case study, company has suffered an operating loss. Therefore, by implementing this
strategy, synergy can be enhanced (Eshun, 2009). Sony can engage in activities such as
purchase of additional market share. This can be helpful for grabbing the opportunity of
sharing related business activities where technology or market can be given to other
organization. Limited growth: This strategy refers to gain maximum growth with the least amount of
risk involved. As per the case study, Sony is dealing with 40 countries. It shows a clear
sign of maximum risk associated with financial, economic, social and cultural factors for
operating globally. By bringing smarter option of innovation in its multimedia products
and in low risk variables, Sony can benefit in the long run (Kourdi, 2003). However,
there is the possibility of fall in market share, reduction of profit margin and rising
complexities.
 Retrenchment: Retrenchment is the strategy where steps are taken for reducing certain
activities. This is to bring financial stability in business by cutting expenses.. By adopting
this business strategy, Sony can cut the level of staffing so that complete focus on its core
competencies can be made (Peltin, 2015).
B) Selection of strategy for SMC
Value is the major proposition for Sony Mobile Corporation. It makes use of ample
strategies depending on the situation and resources available to them. As analyzed from the
given case study, organization is able to build strong goodwill and reputation in both developed
and developing nations (Nastasi and Reverberi, 2007). It covered 40 nations for its expansion
market strategies. However, operating loss was observed that is a reflection of uncovered aspects
in strategy formulation. It shows compelling demand of designing new strategy for carrying out

the business activities. Therefore, from the above mentioned business strategy, SMC is
recommended for reinvention so as to move towards development.
As far as SMC is associated, the products and services produced by them are based on
advanced technology thereby making them customer driven. They are required to work in its
mobile segment as various competitors such as Apple and Samsung have already positioned
them in an advanced way. The market entry strategy is suitable for Sony. This is because
launching highly competitive goods would help them to gain larger market segment. It is
analyzed that mobile segment of Sony earned 1.5trillion Yen with an operating income margin of
4% by FY 14 (Wallace, 2004). This strategy is justifiable on the account of reduction in its
loopholes and increasing the goodwill among its competitors.
C) Roles and responsibilities of staff in strategy formulation
An activity of formulating and executing the business strategy in an organization is
primarily in the hands of top level leaders. Strategic team is responsible for clarifying the
mission and vision to other employees in company (Levy and Newell, 2002). They define
corporate objectives; manage working of structure, culture and values. They play the role in
addressing various issues such as leadership, organizational change, role of CEO and other
general managers in strategic management. According to the given scenario, there are various
departments where every position holder is assigned to carry out different job roles. However,
every leader from Board of Director (BOD) to executive representative, strategic planning
officer etc. plays the role of strategist. The roles and responsibilities of staff of Sony who are
directly involved in strategy implementation has been assessed as follows:
 Role of Board of Director (BOD): The BOD of SMC is responsible for governing the
organization. They play major role of decision making. Besides this, they set strategic
direction and evaluate the organizational performance (Teegen, Doh and Vachani, 2004).
They underpin the business plans and strategies of corporation. They define the resources
that are to be taken by effective matching of company’s capabilities with the selected
strategies.
 Role of executives and corporate planning staff: The major role in strategic management
of organization is made by Senior Business Units (SBU). By playing the role of effective

leaders, they act as an implementer. All defined strategic objectives are converted into
action plan by their communication and monitoring role. (Falkner, 2003).
 Role of consultants: The organization hires some external individuals or group of
consultancy who offer their services in the organization. They give cost effective
suggestions and opinions to company in making the strategic decisions (Galbreath, 2006).
This proves to be very supportive to SMC.
D) Resource allocation for implementation of a new strategy
Strategic Implementation is majorly supported by five components namely, people,
structure, resources, culture and system. Among all elements, resource allocation is one of the
significant elements. As per the given case study, Sony Corporation is committed to work with
7500 employees as its human resources; mobile multimedia devices as its physical resources and
various other kinds (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2010). Given below is a brief description about types
of resources which are to be used by SMC: Financial Resources: Sony is involved with foreign market thereby making it necessary
to build its infrastructure at global level. Therefore, allocation of fund to various
departments is kept by considering its competitors in mind Organizational Resources: The growth and success of Sony Corporation is an evidence
of the structure type. By adopting Strategic Business Units (SBU), the effectiveness of
decision making can be worked over in a better manner Physical Resources: Sony Mobile Corporation is the fourth largest providing leader of
multimedia mobile phone devices such as phones, accessories and PC cards (Thompson,
2001). They have to work in order to invest in infrastructure and physical resources with
the growing market needs. Human Resources: Sony has been employing manpower of 7500 employees. Training is
the tool which has been applied for the growth of staff members (Wittmann and Reuter,
2013). It helps them in enhancing their knowledge and specified skills as their core areas
of development factors.
 Technological resources: The key identity of Sony is its advanced growth and
technological development. This is the aspect which keeps them ahead with their

competitors. The growth of sales and revenue are earned by highly advanced and quality
driven products and devices.
E) SMART Objective as a tool for strategy implementation
Objectives play a vital role in the strategic implementation of an organization. However,
in this advanced economy, companies need to be step ahead in all aspects. Therefore, Sony
believes in defining the SMART objectives effectually (Peltin, 2015). It is significant in
identifying the elements that supports as performance measure indicators. The success achieved
by SMC is measurable, specific, realistic, based on time factor and achievable. By setting goals
on the basis of these parameters, amount of action which is required to be made can support in
determining effective outcomes. This is the reason because of which strategic planning and
implementation of Sony has been traced on the basis of following given SMART objectives:
Illustration 1: SMART Objectives
(Source: Stephens, 2011)
 Specific: The objectives are defined on the basis of changes which are required to be
implemented. The core aspect of Sony Mobile Corporation is technological development.
The specific details of new, advanced and innovative use of development should be
presented well (Stephens, 2011). This is appropriate as it helps the top level manager for

making employees work easily. With respect to Sony, specific objectives are defined
such as “to become the leader of mobile devices in terms of multimedia phones”.
 Measurable: The objectives should be quantifiable in form of number, percentage or rate.
This is to make the objectives more close to the successful outcomes. This is adopted by
various organizations in an order to bring accuracy in their work performance. As per the
case study, SMC is going through low operating profits (Nastasi and Reverberi, 2007).
However, the efforts are made by this corporation on continuous basis to bring stability
The measurement are traced on basis of number of mobiles manufactured or sold, rise or
fall in price, market ratio etc. Examples of measurable objective set is like 15% increase
in profit margin of organization or making the manufacturing of mobile phones double to
enhance its market share by 25% (Galbreath, 2006). Attainable: Success of performance made is best measured in terms of its achievement.
Effective monitoring and controlling are the major tools that support work attainment.
There are various situations in an organization where work is defined with respect to
efficiency (Teegen, Doh and Vachani, 2004). This is essential for accomplishing the
organizational objectives on time. Relevant: This term implies to the relationship that exists in between work to be achieved
and the specified goals set by company. Use of various concepts, theories, literature
reviews etc. are considered for doing work. This is to connect the effective relevance of
work to be performed with respect to the best use of practices (Eshun, 2009). Relevancy
in the work done keeps an organization close to the latest updates.
 Timeline: It is vital to decide timeline for work to be done at the defined and reasonable
time duration. The significance of timeline in defining objective is to match resources
with the changing environment. As a SMART objective, Sony sets the time limit on the
basis of weeks, months and years by using various techniques such as Gantt Chart etc.
CONCLUSION
SMC is one of the organizations that work in its defined framework to set and defined
objectives. They plan their strategy to make others believe about its work and gain a unique
market position. Strategies act as a base provider for every organization. With the help of these

strategies, company can focus on its operations in a better manner. It helps in occupying the
position of successful reputation and goodwill over its other competitors at the global level.

REFERENCES
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