I think this is brilliant because I have worked for a big British company in my younger years and it was impossible for employees to be heard as the idea man / women were highly paid individuals and for a regular employee to be heard was pretty much impossible, nor would you be taken seriously.
What Sony has done here for its employees is open up doors to be creative and pitch ideas regardless how low you are in the company structure. It's figured out a way to create a structure using an existing structure on how they can:
1) manage it easily
2) give more opportunities to employees that wouldn't be on the radar as their positions might be really low
3) minimise financial risk
4) maximise creativity within the company at all levels
I get people not being happy as Sony is seen as a large conglomerate, but anyone working for a big company will understand what this means for the regular person in that company, is a huge opportunity and essentially it is for them.