I don't know if this has been covered here before and if it has sorry.  I looked through the first 40 or 50 posts and didn't see anything so I thought I would post it because it really pisses me off.

http://kotaku.com/5712859/former-sony-exec-a-foreigner-never-shouldve-run-sony

Howard Stringer is the bossman at Sony, running the show. He's not Japanese, but a Welsh-born American. And according to one former Sony exec, a foreigner never should have run the company.

Koichiro Tsujino, who headed up Sony's Vaio division and was the president of Google Japan until earlier this year, gave a seminar in Tokyo earlier today, attended by New York Times reporter Hiroko Tabuchi.

According to Tabuchi, Tsujino gave a wide array of opinions on his former employer, such as how innovative the company used to be and perfecting hardware before it is released is too slow for the web era. Much of the seminar sounds like Tsujino dispensing words of wisdom to young business people.

Then the U.S.-educated Tsujino stated that Sony "should never have been run by a foreigner." According to Tabuchi, Tsujino refused to elaborate, saying he'll get in trouble. Perhaps Tsujino has his reasons, and perhaps they are well-thought out reasons. Shame he isn't willing to share those reasons.

Rumors were that Sony Japan brought over Stringer from Sony America in order to clean house and fire people. The thinking was that an outsider, who was not firmly entrenched in Sony Japan's corporate politics, would have an easier time making tough decisions.

Late last month, a report surfaced on Bloomberg that Sony is looking at replacing Stringer with one of the possible candidates being Sony Computer Entertainment boss Kazuo Hirai.

Unlike Stringer, Hirai isn't a foreigner.

I can honestly say I love the Japanese people they are a lil' strange to us Americans and I like it that way.   But I have never understood why they are so damn'd xenophobic.  From everything I have read about Stringer, he has been doing whats needed to be done with Sony overall which was basically cleaning house.  In other words getting rid of everyone who had been at Sony and were just suits with nothing to contribute.  ( Japanese companies basically hire for life, as long as you punch the clock and don't cause problems. Nothing to do with performance.).  And if they do end up giving him the axe I will probably never support another product that Sony makes, simply because I will not support a bunch of racist xenophobic bastards.  

I guess they get an "outsider" to come in and do the dirty work and then after they get rid of the blank suites they go back to business as usual.  They probably won't need to hire another foreigner until those guys get a little older as well.  SIGH.....

Well considering I work at Sony I certainly hope thats not that case. But I live in Australia and am Australian, so we don't have any Japanese business culture in our office at all (at least the part of Sony I work in).

1) There's something so amazing about the statement that all Japanese people are racist :P Saying "But I have never understood why they are so damn'd xenophobic." is racist.

2) The claim that Tsujino represents Sony Top brass in its entirety is of course an exaggeration

3) Hiring someone when their particular skills are needed, and then, when their particular skills are not needed letting them go is in no sense an action to be criticised. Indeed to do otherwise would be to betray the shareholders.

4) Surely the fact that they are willing to hire an American as their CEO surely shows that Sony execs are not xenophobic, nor do they employ racial discrimination. With those two out of the way, the only conclusion can be that they recognise that different cultures tend to nurture different characteristics in those it raises - to paint with a wide brush it is safe to say that being raised in America is more likely to encourage initiative and outspokenness, while being raised in Japan is more likely to encourage selflessness and politeness. When Tsukino refered to Stringer as a foreigner, he referred to his upbringing, not his ancestry. You may refer to this as racist if you like (I personally do not) but it is sure as hell not xenophobic

EVERY COUNTRY shows some form of xenophobia, it's not exclusive to Japan.

i bolded the important word

with regards to the topic title, I figured the next word along would be classed as the most important.

I also work at sony, but Sony in Japan.

What you guys have to realize is japanese companies are very much scared of foreigners taking over.

I can think of very few companies that have foreigners as presidents with headquarters in japan.

The big 2 that everybody is complaining about here in japan is sony and nissan.

Both companies were never known to lay off employees.

Once the companies get in trouble, they decide a lay off is something they have to do. Of course if the japanese president does it, it gives a bad image to the company. 

However, if you hire a foreigner and have him layoff people, japanese citizens will just blame it on foreign management.

Its a way of keeping the company's image crystal clear inside Japan. 

Also japanese presidents usually have trouble trying to layoff people, foreigners don't have as much trouble doing it.

By the way, I'm an American writing this reply. 

Oh, and Kaz Hirai might as well be an american, but he has a good japanese image to the japanese people.

He was really born and raised in other countries so he has an american way of thinking.

you may be on to something, especially since the article said stringer was specifically hired to fire people. grudge much? 

1

I bolded and underlined the other important word.

Very little critical analysis, either by the OP or by the dick who first posted this on Kotaku. I believe both people can be safely classed as the antithesis of Sony fanboy, and hence their respective motivations are exposed.

How many Japanese citizens are CEOs of top US multinationals, British multinationals, French multinationals...? CEO's are often hired on fixed term contracts, especially if they're hired to carry out specific, time limited tasks.

Whatever cultural purism exists within Sony it will be no different to the vast majority of Japanese companies. So why single out Sony as the object of moral outrage? damndl0ser and the Kotaku dude should boycott all Japanese products if they think Japanese culture is so morally bankrupt.

I wonder who is the real racist xenophobic bastard here?