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Forums - Sony - Sony on the brink of corporate upheaval, drastic changes

BenVTrigger on 04 January 2009
heruamon said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
neotea said:
Right now even though stringer say a focus on software and not hardware is not really words that are set in stone since on the whole the company is not happy with him and there are some people at the top who are looking to get rid of him.

 

 Looking to get rid of who?

 

 

Sir Howard Stringer...the non-Japanese CEO of Sony.  I'm not expert on Japanese culture, and I certianly don't want to make bias statements on Japanese culture as a whole, but expecting a entrenched corporate leaders in Sony to accept sweeping changes, which would include draastic changes in sony's structure is a bit much.  I'd more expect them to sack Stringer and go in a different direction.  BRD was his baby for a while now, and given how much was mortgage on it, he probably doesn't have much capital to implement more changes.

 

 so you honestly think that for a company going 11 billion in debt and still going further is gonna try to solve its problems by simply firing a CEO? while yes thats a possibility there is far more changes coming to sony than simply that



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heruamon on 04 January 2009
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
heruamon said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
neotea said:
Right now even though stringer say a focus on software and not hardware is not really words that are set in stone since on the whole the company is not happy with him and there are some people at the top who are looking to get rid of him.

 

 Looking to get rid of who?

 

 

Sir Howard Stringer...the non-Japanese CEO of Sony.  I'm not expert on Japanese culture, and I certianly don't want to make bias statements on Japanese culture as a whole, but expecting a entrenched corporate leaders in Sony to accept sweeping changes, which would include draastic changes in sony's structure is a bit much.  I'd more expect them to sack Stringer and go in a different direction.  BRD was his baby for a while now, and given how much was mortgage on it, he probably doesn't have much capital to implement more changes.

I see, so will canning this dude help any?

 

The pick was controversial, and the results haven't paid off, so I can't say if it will help or not, BUT the decision to make brd looking at sony' books over past 8 years, the Spider-Man years have been really good, but otherwise, they have been losing market share in nearly every aspect. 

 



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

neotea on 04 January 2009
BenVTrigger said:
heruamon said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
neotea said:
Right now even though stringer say a focus on software and not hardware is not really words that are set in stone since on the whole the company is not happy with him and there are some people at the top who are looking to get rid of him.

 

 Looking to get rid of who?

 

 

Sir Howard Stringer...the non-Japanese CEO of Sony.  I'm not expert on Japanese culture, and I certianly don't want to make bias statements on Japanese culture as a whole, but expecting a entrenched corporate leaders in Sony to accept sweeping changes, which would include draastic changes in sony's structure is a bit much.  I'd more expect them to sack Stringer and go in a different direction.  BRD was his baby for a while now, and given how much was mortgage on it, he probably doesn't have much capital to implement more changes.

 

 so you honestly think that for a company going 11 billion in debt and still going further is gonna try to solve its problems by simply firing a CEO? while yes thats a possibility there is far more changes coming to sony than simply that

If they can find a reason to use him as a scapegoat they will.

 



I TAKE NO SIDES

Squilliam on 04 January 2009
makingmusic476 said:
Squilliam said:
Given the number of consoles sold thus far, they would be wise to close down a few of their SCE studios to lower their overall operating expenditure. If HD Publishers lost money this generation and they target 100% of the HD market how can SCE studios be assumed to be profitable? Their big games tend to be expensive and long in development with an unknown quantity of bundling throwing us off their real sales figures.

 

Most HD-centric publishers release quite a few duds.  Sony is the opposite (outside of Lair, and they don't even own the developers).  I could see Sony ending the NBA series, and maybe making some small changes elsewhere, but their games in general sell very well.  7 out of the top 20 best selling ps3 games are published by Sony, and Resistance 2 should break into the top twenty in mere weeks.  Killzone 2, the next game in their line up, will probably outsell Resistance 2.

8 Million sellers in the database.

28 non Million sellers in the database.

Motorstorm -> Resistance 1 -> Gran Turismo 5P -> Uncharted -> Littlebig Planet -> Heavenly sword

or 6 of those million sellers have had official bundling and for the first 3 games the bundling was extensive. LBP I believe was bundled in the EU and Japan (with controllers)

 



Tease.

BenVTrigger on 04 January 2009
neotea said:
BenVTrigger said:
heruamon said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
neotea said:
Right now even though stringer say a focus on software and not hardware is not really words that are set in stone since on the whole the company is not happy with him and there are some people at the top who are looking to get rid of him.

 

 Looking to get rid of who?

 

 

Sir Howard Stringer...the non-Japanese CEO of Sony.  I'm not expert on Japanese culture, and I certianly don't want to make bias statements on Japanese culture as a whole, but expecting a entrenched corporate leaders in Sony to accept sweeping changes, which would include draastic changes in sony's structure is a bit much.  I'd more expect them to sack Stringer and go in a different direction.  BRD was his baby for a while now, and given how much was mortgage on it, he probably doesn't have much capital to implement more changes.

 

 so you honestly think that for a company going 11 billion in debt and still going further is gonna try to solve its problems by simply firing a CEO? while yes thats a possibility there is far more changes coming to sony than simply that

If they can find a reason to use him as a scapegoat they will.

 

 

 oh i know and i'm not saying he won't be fired but i think that would only be one of several changes to take place within Sony.  You don't fix an 11 billion dollar debt by firing one person



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neotea on 04 January 2009
BenVTrigger said:
neotea said:
BenVTrigger said:
heruamon said:
Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
neotea said:
Right now even though stringer say a focus on software and not hardware is not really words that are set in stone since on the whole the company is not happy with him and there are some people at the top who are looking to get rid of him.

 

 Looking to get rid of who?

 

 

Sir Howard Stringer...the non-Japanese CEO of Sony.  I'm not expert on Japanese culture, and I certianly don't want to make bias statements on Japanese culture as a whole, but expecting a entrenched corporate leaders in Sony to accept sweeping changes, which would include draastic changes in sony's structure is a bit much.  I'd more expect them to sack Stringer and go in a different direction.  BRD was his baby for a while now, and given how much was mortgage on it, he probably doesn't have much capital to implement more changes.

 

 so you honestly think that for a company going 11 billion in debt and still going further is gonna try to solve its problems by simply firing a CEO? while yes thats a possibility there is far more changes coming to sony than simply that

If they can find a reason to use him as a scapegoat they will.

 

 

 oh i know and i'm not saying he won't be fired but i think that would only be one of several changes to take place within Sony.  You don't fix an 11 billion dollar debt by firing one person

True thats why i find the situation highly unlikely but not impossible.

 



I TAKE NO SIDES

madskillz on 04 January 2009
neotea said:
Not trying to cater to expectation of fans. At the moment its more about big investors, shareholders, and maybe even not by a long shot corporate takeover or merger, and staying alive.

This - and this is the only thing that matters. They are like 90 percent of every other biz out there - to make money. They aren't doing a public service - they aren't stopping little children from being blown away by land mines, they are a company looking out for number one. So what if you are a fan of said company - they are doing what they want and listening to no one.

Investors, the board of directors and large shareholders are the ones calling the shot, not the guy buying KZ2 or LBP, or the guy spending $10 to see a Sony flick. They help out, but the big wigs are the ones calling the shots, regardless if you want them to trim some major fat off the gaming division or not.

 



irstupid on 04 January 2009

ha unless you have the dumbest stockholders in the whole world then maybe.

but yea firing him won't make any difference to the stockholders. They will wait and see what the new changes happen with the new guy, or with the current guy. Real business isn't like sports. You can't just fire a coach and all the fans are happy, and start thinking of super bowl



Seraphic_Sixaxis on 04 January 2009

Consider him canned then. :P



richardhutnik on 04 January 2009
makingmusic476 said:

The focus of research and development must be on software, he said, adding: “The most important thing is that, to improve organisational strength in the areas of development, purchasing and marketing, it will be necessary to further concentrate power in the hands of [Sir Howard] and unless this is achieved we believe [Sony] will be unable to close the gap with competitors such as Apple and Nintendo.”[/quote]

Sony runs right into the strengths of Microsoft and Nintendo if the argument is the future is in software.

One has to also be concerns that Sony might end up being in a similar situation Atari was in during the crash of the early 1980s.  Out of nowhere they post large losses, and that causes the bottom to fall out of the videogame business.  Atari retrenches.  I wonder what happens to the videogame business if, in 2009, Sony sudden announces they are out of the videogame business.  That is a megaton I am not sure anyone here can fathom, nor the fallout.