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Inner turmoil at Sony
Deusfaux
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know we just had that thread that's locked, but as far as I could see it was mostly about the PS3 specifically, whereas this article is about the company as a whole and the disconnect between CEO Howare Stringer and his Japanese board of directors. Insightful:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6342
Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer
Ken Kutaragi: The thorn in Sony CEO Howard Stringer's side
In the past year, Sony as a company has been defined greatly by two events: the delayed launch of its PlayStation 3 gaming console and the battery recall that affected millions of customers. According to an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a lot of the negativity surrounding both is the result of internal strife in the company and a cultural disconnect between Sony CEO Howard Stringer and his Japanese executive team.
Much of the blame for the delay of the PS3 last year has been placed on Ken Kutaragi. Kutaragi, widely regarded as the father of the PlayStation repeatedly went over budget with PS3 development, yet failed to keep Stringer abreast of the problems.
Kutaragi blindsided Stringer again in a board room meeting with the announcement that the Japanese-market 20GB PS3 would have its price cut by 20%. “It wasn't financially one of my best moments," said Stringer. "The budget implications were self-evident. [But] I agreed because I wanted the launch to be successful."
Kutaragi also did his best to resist communication with key executives in other Sony divisions. Kutaragi famously held a Las Vegas launch party for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), yet failed to invite the heads of Sony electronics division -- the division that actually provides the components to make the PSP function.
After the missteps with the PS3, Kutaragi was "promoted out" of his position as President of Sony Computer Entertainment and was named chairman and CEO of SCEI.
Stringer goes on to say that the reluctance of his Japanese executive team to report problems to him was even more prevalent with the massive battery recall, which sparked in August of 2006. Instead of hearing the news directly from Sony employees, Stringer was first contacted about the problems by Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer.
Stringer then, however, made a critical mistake by siding with his Japanese executive team and decided to remain quiet on the matter. The goal was to limit the vastness of the problem to Sony's components division. The reality of the matter was that the lack of response to the recall led to customers and the press to attack Sony as a whole, which did nothing for the company's reputation. Stringer likened the steady trickle of recall announcement from various notebook manufacturers to "a kind of Chinese water torture."
Some of the blame can be placed on Stringer. He decided not to have a permanent residence in Japan and instead lives in a hotel when he is in the country. He does, however, own homes in England and New York. "Mr. Stringer has no background and he's not in Japan managing the day-to-day," said Fitch Ratings analyst Tatsuya Mizuno. "Sony's DNA is in electronics...so the top management needs to understand what's going on there."
Stringer acknowledges that even a token residence in Japan would go a long way in promoting a synergy within his company. "[I should have] faked it better -- I mean that seriously," said Stringer. "I should've put the flag up the flagpole and said here's my residence in downtown Tokyo -- I'm here! -- even if it's less practical than living where I live, and much less comfortable and friendly."
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6342
Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer
Ken Kutaragi: The thorn in Sony CEO Howard Stringer's side
In the past year, Sony as a company has been defined greatly by two events: the delayed launch of its PlayStation 3 gaming console and the battery recall that affected millions of customers. According to an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a lot of the negativity surrounding both is the result of internal strife in the company and a cultural disconnect between Sony CEO Howard Stringer and his Japanese executive team.
Much of the blame for the delay of the PS3 last year has been placed on Ken Kutaragi. Kutaragi, widely regarded as the father of the PlayStation repeatedly went over budget with PS3 development, yet failed to keep Stringer abreast of the problems.
Kutaragi blindsided Stringer again in a board room meeting with the announcement that the Japanese-market 20GB PS3 would have its price cut by 20%. “It wasn't financially one of my best moments," said Stringer. "The budget implications were self-evident. [But] I agreed because I wanted the launch to be successful."
Kutaragi also did his best to resist communication with key executives in other Sony divisions. Kutaragi famously held a Las Vegas launch party for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), yet failed to invite the heads of Sony electronics division -- the division that actually provides the components to make the PSP function.
After the missteps with the PS3, Kutaragi was "promoted out" of his position as President of Sony Computer Entertainment and was named chairman and CEO of SCEI.
Stringer goes on to say that the reluctance of his Japanese executive team to report problems to him was even more prevalent with the massive battery recall, which sparked in August of 2006. Instead of hearing the news directly from Sony employees, Stringer was first contacted about the problems by Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer.
Stringer then, however, made a critical mistake by siding with his Japanese executive team and decided to remain quiet on the matter. The goal was to limit the vastness of the problem to Sony's components division. The reality of the matter was that the lack of response to the recall led to customers and the press to attack Sony as a whole, which did nothing for the company's reputation. Stringer likened the steady trickle of recall announcement from various notebook manufacturers to "a kind of Chinese water torture."
Some of the blame can be placed on Stringer. He decided not to have a permanent residence in Japan and instead lives in a hotel when he is in the country. He does, however, own homes in England and New York. "Mr. Stringer has no background and he's not in Japan managing the day-to-day," said Fitch Ratings analyst Tatsuya Mizuno. "Sony's DNA is in electronics...so the top management needs to understand what's going on there."
Stringer acknowledges that even a token residence in Japan would go a long way in promoting a synergy within his company. "[I should have] faked it better -- I mean that seriously," said Stringer. "I should've put the flag up the flagpole and said here's my residence in downtown Tokyo -- I'm here! -- even if it's less practical than living where I live, and much less comfortable and friendly."
Deusfaux on
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If they lack even that much professionalism, their hijinks in the last year make more sense.
"I would not be surprised if Sony as a whole are in serious financial trouble before the end of the next 10 years."
I stand by that statement.
you can ask the rest of my A-level economics groups, or various other people who you have no way of contacting. ;p
He was talking about LewieP's prediction.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
For one, how many Japanese companies have been helmed by foreigners?
What's more, Ken Kutaragi has been seen as a savior who can do no wrong for 10 friggan years. Very few have questioned him, and his motives, and his sense. I started to back when I saw the PS2 controller (again, I can't prove this).
Howard Stringer has a problem on his hands. And getting things better is going to require things to get a LOT worse here for a bit.
Seriously, Sony, guys, as an old fan of your good, non-overpriced consoles, you guys gotta straighten this shit out. Internal communication, the PR problems, everything.
Getting rid of Kutaragi would be a good start.
I know what this means and frankly SRK brand humor does not work too well on PA (although I love SRK and the humor). For those who do not frequent SRK (shoryuken.com forums) I'll explain. when someone says "blah blah blah met a girl, blah blah blah" people will ask for pics of the girl. the common tagline to ask the poster to put up a pic of her would be "pics or it didn't happen". This is to make the poster prove his story is legit and that he is not lying. My guess is that he is asking for proof of LewieP's prediction. There is also other SRK centric humor such as a staircase and pushing to deal with girl problems (when they are bitchy or pregnant) and the ever popular posting of “this thread is like/makes me want some Digiorno” this is posted when a thread does indeed not deliver.
With that out of the way
I'm not surprised at all. I mean third parties could not even get a hold of Kutaragi. And they were throwing themselves at him in order to get an exclusivity deal for their games on PS3. So him not really talking to Howard Stringer either is somehow not surprising.
Then again, it's also interesting to see how Sony's handling being run by a gaijin, i.e. badly. Part of it is certainly Howard Stringer's fault... not even having a residence at the company's frickin' headquarters? It's not as if they don't pay him enough for that. But keeping him out of the loop on big decisions isn't good at all, especially the whole exploding battery thing. I wonder if, had he been in the loop more, he could have made a few smoother decisions on the PS3... such as removing hardware-based BC to save money BEFORE models with it in come out and people get pissed when it's removed. Or actually pursuing more PS3 exclusives, as GTA and Assassin's Creed apparently were interested in being PS3 exclusive before they got shot down.
Then again again, I understand Sony has had horrible communication between its business units for decades, so this might ultimately not be anything new.
Dude, it's not a request made only on "SRK". It's an internet joke.
That's why it's funny! Sheesh.
I've only seen it over there. but now this is getting way off topic.
So that sony. I hear they have have 1 krazy ken.
This ultimately has led to a very large disparity between quality levels between thier different deptartments. For example tons of thier consumer electronics have turned to crap over the years. It used ot be owning a "sony" stereo was a big deal. Now they're just another mid of the road brand. However thier professional level video equipment and such are still the gold standard. Thier professional video decks and such are virtually a 100% monopoly mostly because the damn things last for like a decade. This is funny to me uz I'm often one of the "olol sony" people even though I usually say it surroudned by about 200,000 dollars worth of sony equipment.
Meanwhile, back in reality, it wasn't funny. Maybe it was somehow funny in the deeper regions of your cerebrum but once it clawed it's way out, feasting on whatever grey matter it happened to pass on the way, all humour was lost. Nobody laughed. Nobody else but you found it funny. That's the problem with internet culture - one man's comedic meat is another forum's stupid, idiotic, comedy poison.
I don't actually own much Sony stuff. I have my PS2 and my PSP but besides that all I have is some rather poor-quality headphones and some nearly depleted AA batteries. I don't know anyone who owns a Sony TV or anything along those lines.
God. It feels so good to get to say that. Serious or not.
I don't think it has to do with him being a foreigner. Japanese companies are funny, but they do care about profits. I think it's an issue with Sony, not the culture.
As for Ken, they should just stick him at a fish canning plant like they did that guy from Matsushita Panasonic.
The PR spin disaster that was discussed on the 1up Yours podcast leads me to believe this is actually the case.
The company needs a major org chart revamp.