COMPANY BACKGROUND 2
SWOT ANALYSIS 3
STRENGTHS 3
WEAKNESSES 4
OPPORTUNITIES 6
THREATS 7
Threat of Competitor 7
Threat of Buyer 7
Threat of Suppliers 7
Threat of Substitutes 8
Threat of New Entrance 8
Other threats 8
PROBLEMS / ISSUES 9
Lose of Market Share 9
Unethical Business Strategy 9
Product Disadvantage/Defect 10
Expensive Product, High Manufacturing Cost and Negative Profit 11
Differentiation 12
Over Confidence 12
Longer Software Development Cycle 12
Heavy Criticism from Media 13
SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14
Market Strategy 14
Product Strategy 14
Promotional Strategy 15
Pricing Strategy 15
Distribution Strategy 16
CONCLUSION 17
Exhibit 1 18
Exhibit 2 18
COMPANY BACKGROUND
Sony Corporation was founded in Tokyo, in 1945, by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, as the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (TTK)). The company built Japan’s first tape recorder called, the Type G. Then in early 1950s, TTK convinced Bell Laboratories to license its new transistor technology and became the first company to successfully apply the technology to consumer’s radios. In August 1955, TTK released the Sony TR-55; Japan’s first commercially produced transistor radio followed with Sony TR – 72 which was successful in both domestic and overseas market till early sixties. In 1958, TTK changed its name to Sony (derived from Latin word ‘Sonus’ for sound and English slang word sonny (to address a boy)). The company later expanded into televisions, stereos and home entertainment products with successful range of products such as Betamax (video recorder), Walkman (world’s first portable music player), Trinitron (television, Vaio (laptop) and the most successful Play