HappySqurriel on 14 June 2007
"Roger Ehrenberg's business/stocks blog has dug up a Wall Street Journal article about Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer, which has some Kutaragi-related content that's of some interest. The WSJ article itself is subscribers-only, but Ehrenberg has lifted large portions of it (he's attacking Stringer's tenure as boss), and a lot of it concerns Sir Howard and his relationship with Ken Kutaragi. Or lack thereof. And Kutaragi's "relationship" with some of his colleagues. Or lack thereof.
"Take that, electronics division.
"Snap. I'm not in the console production business, but I'd imagine that if I was launching two very, very important pieces of consumer electronics hardware (namely the PSP and PS3), I'd be on good terms with the guys actually making the things. Otherwise you could have problems. Like conflicting feature lists, for example. Or delayed launches.
Mr. Kutaragi was notorious within the company for his reluctance to communicate with his bosses or other units. In 2005, Mr. Kutaragi hosted an event at a big electronics conference in Las Vegas to celebrate the U.S. launch of the PlayStation Portable handheld game machine -- one of the company's biggest products that year. He didn't invite executives from Sony's electronics division, which provided the parts.
"Take that, electronics division.
"The PS3 over budget? Well I never. Note the second snub to the electronics division.In developing the PlayStation 3 console, the device's latest iteration, Mr. Kutaragi went over budget on development costs without informing Mr. Stringer, according to a person familiar with the situation. When Mr. Stringer urged Mr. Kutaragi to have dinner with the heads of the electronics division, he did so just once a year, this person said. A spokeswoman for Mr. Kutaragi declined to comment.
"That sound you hear is the electronics division's poor little heart breaking.In September, Mr. Kutaragi announced Sony was halving shipments of the new PlayStation to the U.S. and Japan and was pushing back its European launch. At a news conference, Mr. Kutaragi blamed Sony's electronics group for failing to produce enough of a critical component, exposing his tense relationship with the division.
"Ehrenberg is highly critical of Stringer, and thinks Kutaragi should have been removed much sooner:
I don't care how legendary or historically successful a manager might be - if they are unable or unwilling to adapt to the culture, the vision you, as leader, have clearly communicated, they have to go. But not two years later, after the corrosive effect of doing things "their way" has already sunk in. Having a senior manager blame other groups for his group's woes? Raising concerns of investors, suppliers and customers alike? Unacceptable everywhere and at any time in any culture.
"Snap. I'm not in the console production business, but I'd imagine that if I was launching two very, very important pieces of consumer electronics hardware (namely the PSP and PS3), I'd be on good terms with the guys actually making the things. Otherwise you could have problems. Like conflicting feature lists, for example. Or delayed launches.
"Still, it raises an interesting point - a lot of flak is directed at people like Kaz, Phil Harrison and Jack Tretton for Sony's current "issues", but how much are they to blame when the top of the command chain is, if you go by the WSJ article, a complete mess?"
http://kotaku.com/gaming/sony/sonys-problems-start-at-the-top-241418.php
It has been rumored that Sir Howard Stringer has been at odds with Ken Kutaragi since he took control of Sony ...
I wouldn't be too surprised to hear that Sir Howard Stringer believed that $600 was way too much to ask consumers to spend on the PS3 in the first place.
