Business The Sony Way
This book tells the story of Sony and helps us understand the foundations of this company's success through a variety of anecdotes.
Author(s): Shu Shin Luh
Publisher: Capstone
Date of publication: 2003
Manageris opinion
A small electronic equipment firm founded in the ruins of post-war Tokyo, Sony is now one of the most powerful consumer electronics and entertainment companies in the world. “Business the Sony Way” paints the story of this unusual company to show how it came to be so successful.
This book does not purport to perform a deep theoretical analysis. Its greatest value resides in the telling of the many anecdotes that breathe life into what Sony has done, and give the inside story on the invention of many products that are now part of our everyday lives. For this reason, and also thanks to the author’s particularly clear style, this book can be easily read from cover to cover like a novel. For those who like to skip around, however, the following tips will be useful:
– Chapters 4 and 6 recount the details of the two sagas that typify how Sony operates – the phenomenal success of the PlayStation and the much more chaotic story of the Columbia TriStar film studios. These captivating stories form a good introduction to the subjects covered in the book.
– Chapters 1 and 2 take us back to Sony’s origins, by placing emphasis on two of its distinctive characteristics – a strongly cohesive family spirit and early globalization. Cited examples include the invention of the transistor radio and expansion into the U.S.
– Creativity is one of Sony’s universally recognized strengths. Chapter 3 shows how creativity is fostered internally, using examples such as the Trinitron color TV and the Tape-Corder. This chapter can be completed with a perusal of chapter 9, which shows how Sony was able to reconcile its innovative culture with the periodic need to forge alliances with competitors.
– Those most interested in the marketing dimension are advised to go to chapters 7 and 8, which use the Walkman and the My First Sony product range to illustrate how Sony worked to become a household name.
– Finally, chapters 5 and 10 describe Sony’s future prospects, while pointing out the new challenge of finding synergies between the branches of a global company that is presently highly diversified.
