RSSIs Sony CEO Stringer's Job in Danger?
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published October 9, 2006, 12:53 PM
In an unusual public comment made during a gathering of high-ranking business executives this morning in Barcelona, Sony Advisory Board Chairman -- and, as some still see it, chairman -- Noboyuki Idei is quoted by Reuters as having commented that he expects the next CEO of his company to be someone from the "young generation," about 40-45 years of age, and specifically Japanese.
"I think it is very important for Japan to open up the country and communicate with other countries," Idei reportedly said, in response to a question about whether he believed Sir Howard Stringer was the right choice to serve as CEO. Idei did respond in the affirmative before giving this explanation, and he did not say how soon such a change would be made.
Since a corporate reorganization in March 2005, Stringer's role was elevated from Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of America to Chairman and Group CEO of Sony Corporation worldwide. Idei, in turn, stepped back from his Group CEO role, originally to become Chief Corporate Advisor, although he has been referred to recently as Chairman of the Advisory Board, and thus as Chairman as well. Sony's organizational chart has always been a masterpiece of juxtaposition.
Sony has recently been the bearer of bad tidings for the electronics and media markets. Recently, Sony has had to deliver news of shortages of blue laser diodes necessary for Blu-ray player and recorder devices, which apparently triggered even worse news that the company's key consumer product, PlayStation 3, will have its availability scaled back drastically in North America and Japan, and delayed altogether in Europe.
Stringer has previously referred to both PS3 and Blu-ray technologies as pillars of the company, and critical to the success of the entire corporation going forward.
At the time Idei stepped down from his executive position, some in the Japanese Business press, including the Herald-Tribune/Asahi, speculated that Idei may have been pressured to do so by members of the advisory board. However, as part of the reorganization, Idei was able to add members to the board, thus perhaps consolidating his position there.
If the advisory board is feeling a bit despondent about Stringer's performance, Idei could be registering it subtly, though honorably, through a symbolic act such as this.
Prior to being appointed Chairman and CEO of Sony in America, Sir Howard was briefly an executive with a video firm formed by three regional Bell companies that have since changed allegiances, and before that spent three decades as a journalist, then an executive, with CBS. Sony shares traded moderately lower in early afternoon trading Monday.
Howard Stringer is a total muppet, and should have been ditched over a year ago.
They need someone young agreed, but not Japanese I think...
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|nah Japanese...much better thinking. Afterall, why else does the world love anime! Even you guys that might hate it know it's infectious! :)
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|Even you guys that might hate it know it's infectious! :)
So is the black plague.
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|there's good and bad
current example: sprint commercial...you people are crazy! good crazy or bad crazy...good crazy
;0)
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|Good black plague and bad black plague?
What? ;>
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|Yeah, good black plague kills off people like Hitler, bad black plague kills people like me.
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|lol
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|Bad Plague! Bad Plague!
Go sit in the corner until you can stop killing the good people!
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|Heh... More good news for Sony.
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|Sony should be required to hire a monkey, the monkey would fling a hot poo at every idiot on the board every time they come up with some new way to screw their customers. That would be uber-pownage.
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|""young generation," about 40-45 years of age, and specifically Japanese."
How blatantly racist. If you said that in the US, you'd get sued. Immediately, and rightfully. This isn't a modeling job.
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|Its only racist if Japanese wasn't also a nationality, and didn't have its own culture. It is no worse than a US company wanting a "young" American CEO.
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|Why would an international public company limit itself to a single nation or nationality for it's decision maker? That is quite banal thinking IMO.
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|Because Sony is a historically Japanese company. Y'know, being founded in Japan and all.
That said, Japan is a little xenophobic, or perhaps even racist, and Stringer's inability to right the ship probably only reinforces their view.
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|Japan is a little xenophobic, or perhaps even racist...
And even if Japan were not (generally) racist, its culture's attitudes and philosophies about work differ greatly from the West's.
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|Exactly, I know that japanese philosophy is strinctly to work for the people, rather than for personal gain. If Sony makes profit, my understanding is that it is reinvested into the country, not individuals.
Its easy to just say they are racist, but if that were the case Stringer wouldnt have been hired in the first place. They tried a white male and they simply didn't like the results.
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|This is so sweet! Boycott ALL Sony products.
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|goes to show you need to hire people that are passionate about what they're in...
it's like those roles you see where you know someone is clueless about their industry but are hired because of some believed and assumed managerial experience.
Experience helps, but passion is a whole lot better
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|The last 18 months have been pretty bad for sony. I don't know if they will pull out of it. It all started with the Rootkit. Then PS3 delays, and more delays, and still more delays. Then PS3 availability issues. Blu-ray (as of right now) seems to be losing out to HD-DVD. The future looks a little grim right now. It's hard to tell if the PS3 will flop being the XBOX has been out for a year and the Wii will be half the price of the PS3 and doesn't sound like availability will be a problem.
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|It will be interesting. I know a few PS3 fanatics, but not many. Just this weekend I asked some friends what they were going to buy at release time. Half said PS3, but surprisingly they all said they were getting the Wii too. This is in no form a basis for the market. But with guaranteed shortages for the PS3 and their current blu-ray movie technology staying behind HD-DVD, one has to wonder how bad Sony will get it.
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|Xbox360 has been out a year, but it's sales are REALLY poor, especially outside the US... Won't take long to decimate the existing userbase with the right competition, be it WII or PS3...
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|Man, I remember you from a few months back. Yap your mouth all day, but without proof. Please back up your statements, specially if they are overly exagerated.
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|It's easy to find the poor sales figures for Japan and Europe, it's called Google. YOu may have heard of it...
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|Then post this information. Don't just tell me to use Google. From everything I've read. The only place the 360 is doing poorly is in Japan, and that's just because they're like that with every foreign company. Only a few foreign companies have managed to be really successful there like Apple and IBM.
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|Thank you mrow, basically what I was going to say.
Marky, just back up your radical statements.
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