SONY - LEADERS of INNOVATION

Introduction
It has always been seen that the culture of any organization is set by the vision of its founder and subsequently by the persons leading the organization. The corporate culture, of the organization, revolves around the ideals of these persons, conveyed and demonstrated, in various ways to there colleagues, at various levels, of the organizational hierarchy.
The multinational Japanese organization, SONY, is no exception.
Starting from its founding days in 1950s, it has been led by exceedingly dynamic, innovative visionaries.
The following extract gives glimpses of the extraordinary innovations, that the organization embarked on, to become and remain the world leaders in the electronics industry of entertainment.
Sony : Innovative Leaders at the Helm - Always
The founder of SONY, Ibuka inspired in his engineers a spirit of innovation and pushed them to reach beyond their own expectations. He also fostered an exciting working atmosphere and an open-minded corporate culture. In the founding prospectus, he wrote of his wish to build a company whose employees gained satisfaction and pleasure from their work and his desire to create a fun, dynamic workplace. In 1953 Ibuka urged his engineers to improve production methods with the goal of creating a consumer product, the transistor radio.
The company’s name was changed from Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to "Sony" by combining two words, by the co founder, Morita. One is "sonus" in Latin, which is the root of such words as "sound" and "sonic." The other is "sonny" meaning little son. The words were used to show that Sony is a very small group of young people who have the energy and passion towards unlimited creation.
As a proponent of global localization, Morita familiarized himself with local economies and set up manufacturing plants all over the world. Morita, conceived the idea of the Walkman® personal stereo. His excitement and faith in the product’s future success, in spite of the initial failures, was the true driving force behind its existence.
Kazuo Iwama, a detail-oriented person, became the president of Sony in 1976. Sony launched the Betamax® video cassette recorder in the early 1980s.
Norio Ohga, became president of Sony in 1982 and was responsible for bringing Sony into the modern age and injecting it with a unique sense of style through product planning, stylish product design and innovative marketing. During his tenure, Sony was transformed from an electronics company into a total entertainment company through the establishment of the music, pictures and gaming businesses.
During his tenure, Sony acquired CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989, which today form Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) – two of the world’s largest content producers. SME has produced a string of best-selling albums through some of the best artists in the world.
Through Ohga’s persistence, the Sony PlayStation® game console was launched in Japan in 1994 with only eight titles. (It was launched worldwide in 1995.)
Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman and CEO, played a key role in moving Sony into the digital network era by emphasizing the integration of AV and IT products. He was responsible for Sony’s image campaign, "Do you dream in Sony?" and helped coin the term "digital dream kids." The premise of the campaign was to provide shareholders, customers, employees, and business partners, who come into contact with Sony, with the opportunities to create and fulfill their dreams.

Idei is credited with reinventing Sony’s business model for the networked society. By complementing Sony’s core competencies with partnerships and collaborations from other companies, Sony is on its way to becoming a Broadband Entertainment Company.

Sony Corporation’s President and COO Kunitake Ando was in charge of Sony’s global electronics operation. He was responsible for Sony’s introduction of the VAIO® personal computer in 1996, and helped Sony become one of Japan’s leaders in information technology products.
The desired corporate culture in Sony, is best described in the following excerpts of its Chairman of the Board : : "In April of every year a large number of new employees join the company. And what I always say to them is that we have many marvelous assets here. The most valuable asset of all are the four letters, S, O, N, Y. I tell them, make sure the basis of your actions is increasing the value of these four letters. In other words, when you consider doing something, you must consider whether your action will increase the value of SONY, or lower its value."


Summarizing Sony’s present Corporate culture :
Sony helps Dreamers to Dream

Sony is a company devoted to the CELEBRATION of life. They create things for every kind of IMAGINATION. Products that stimulate the SENSES and refresh the spirit. that always surprise and never disappoint. INNOVATIONS that are easy to love, and EFFORTLESS to use, things that are not essential, yet hard to live without.

Sonyites are not there to be logical or predictable. They are there to pursue INFINITE possibilities. They allow the BRIGHTEST minds to interact freely, so the UNEXPECTED can emerge. They invite new THINKING so even more fantastic ideas can evolve. CREATIVITY is their essence. They take chances. They EXCEED expectations. They help dreamers DREAM.

Sony: The Leader in Product Innovation

The new millennium is here and Sony has plenty to celebrate. The company’s approach – doing what others don’t – has paid off, in the form of great products that people covet

Sony innovations have become part of mainstream culture, including: the first magnetic tape and tape recorder in 1950; the transistor radio in 1955; the world’s first all-transistor TV set in 1960; the world’s first color video cassette recorder in 1971; the Walkman personal stereo in 1979; the Compact Disc (CD) in 1982; the first 8mm camcorder in 1985; the MiniDisc (MD) player in 1992; the PlayStation game system in 1995; Digital Mavica camera in 1997; Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player in 1998; and the Network Walkman digital music player in 1999.

But Sony is not just the market leader in consumer electronics.

Through research and development, the company has made considerable inroads in the areas of professional broadcasting (with the creation of the Betacam, DVCAM, HDCAM and 24P formats); mobile communications (with digital phones and the CLIE handheld); PCs (with VAIO notebook and desktop computers); storage and media (with the invention of the floppy disk, AIT and DTF drives, and the Memory Stick) and, now, the Internet.

Sony’s vision is not necessarily about refrigerators talking to toasters. It’s about bringing to market products that capture the imaginations of consumers and enhance their lives in the process.

In the future, Sony will perhaps create entirely new forms of entertainment, blending movies, computer generated worlds, games and music. Sony has the vision, technology and content to forge a direction in consumer entertainment that no other company can match.

SONY - LEADERS of INNOVATION

Introduction
It has always been seen that the culture of any organization is set by the vision of its founder and subsequently by the persons leading the organization. The corporate culture, of the organization, revolves around the ideals of these persons, conveyed and demonstrated, in various ways to there colleagues, at various levels, of the organizational hierarchy.
The multinational Japanese organization, SONY, is no exception.
Starting from its founding days in 1950s, it has been led by exceedingly dynamic, innovative visionaries.
The following extract gives glimpses of the extraordinary innovations, that the organization embarked on, to become and remain the world leaders in the electronics industry of entertainment.
Sony : Innovative Leaders at the Helm - Always
The founder of SONY, Ibuka inspired in his engineers a spirit of innovation and pushed them to reach beyond their own expectations. He also fostered an exciting working atmosphere and an open-minded corporate culture. In the founding prospectus, he wrote of his wish to build a company whose employees gained satisfaction and pleasure from their work and his desire to create a fun, dynamic workplace. In 1953 Ibuka urged his engineers to improve production methods with the goal of creating a consumer product, the transistor radio.
The company’s name was changed from Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to "Sony" by combining two words, by the co founder, Morita. One is "sonus" in Latin, which is the root of such words as "sound" and "sonic." The other is "sonny" meaning little son. The words were used to show that Sony is a very small group of young people who have the energy and passion towards unlimited creation.
As a proponent of global localization, Morita familiarized himself with local economies and set up manufacturing plants all over the world. Morita, conceived the idea of the Walkman® personal stereo. His excitement and faith in the product’s future success, in spite of the initial failures, was the true driving force behind its existence.
Kazuo Iwama, a detail-oriented person, became the president of Sony in 1976. Sony launched the Betamax® video cassette recorder in the early 1980s.
Norio Ohga, became president of Sony in 1982 and was responsible for bringing Sony into the modern age and injecting it with a unique sense of style through product planning, stylish product design and innovative marketing. During his tenure, Sony was transformed from an electronics company into a total entertainment company through the establishment of the music, pictures and gaming businesses.
During his tenure, Sony acquired CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989, which today form Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) – two of the world’s largest content producers. SME has produced a string of best-selling albums through some of the best artists in the world.
Through Ohga’s persistence, the Sony PlayStation® game console was launched in Japan in 1994 with only eight titles. (It was launched worldwide in 1995.)
Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman and CEO, played a key role in moving Sony into the digital network era by emphasizing the integration of AV and IT products. He was responsible for Sony’s image campaign, "Do you dream in Sony?" and helped coin the term "digital dream kids." The premise of the campaign was to provide shareholders, customers, employees, and business partners, who come into contact with Sony, with the opportunities to create and fulfill their dreams.

Idei is credited with reinventing Sony’s business model for the networked society. By complementing Sony’s core competencies with partnerships and collaborations from other companies, Sony is on its way to becoming a Broadband Entertainment Company.

Sony Corporation’s President and COO Kunitake Ando was in charge of Sony’s global electronics operation. He was responsible for Sony’s introduction of the VAIO® personal computer in 1996, and helped Sony become one of Japan’s leaders in information technology products.
The desired corporate culture in Sony, is best described in the following excerpts of its Chairman of the Board : : "In April of every year a large number of new employees join the company. And what I always say to them is that we have many marvelous assets here. The most valuable asset of all are the four letters, S, O, N, Y. I tell them, make sure the basis of your actions is increasing the value of these four letters. In other words, when you consider doing something, you must consider whether your action will increase the value of SONY, or lower its value."


Summarizing Sony’s present Corporate culture :
Sony helps Dreamers to Dream

Sony is a company devoted to the CELEBRATION of life. They create things for every kind of IMAGINATION. Products that stimulate the SENSES and refresh the spirit. that always surprise and never disappoint. INNOVATIONS that are easy to love, and EFFORTLESS to use, things that are not essential, yet hard to live without.

Sonyites are not there to be logical or predictable. They are there to pursue INFINITE possibilities. They allow the BRIGHTEST minds to interact freely, so the UNEXPECTED can emerge. They invite new THINKING so even more fantastic ideas can evolve. CREATIVITY is their essence. They take chances. They EXCEED expectations. They help dreamers DREAM.

Sony: The Leader in Product Innovation

The new millennium is here and Sony has plenty to celebrate. The company’s approach – doing what others don’t – has paid off, in the form of great products that people covet

Sony innovations have become part of mainstream culture, including: the first magnetic tape and tape recorder in 1950; the transistor radio in 1955; the world’s first all-transistor TV set in 1960; the world’s first color video cassette recorder in 1971; the Walkman personal stereo in 1979; the Compact Disc (CD) in 1982; the first 8mm camcorder in 1985; the MiniDisc (MD) player in 1992; the PlayStation game system in 1995; Digital Mavica camera in 1997; Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player in 1998; and the Network Walkman digital music player in 1999.

But Sony is not just the market leader in consumer electronics.

Through research and development, the company has made considerable inroads in the areas of professional broadcasting (with the creation of the Betacam, DVCAM, HDCAM and 24P formats); mobile communications (with digital phones and the CLIE handheld); PCs (with VAIO notebook and desktop computers); storage and media (with the invention of the floppy disk, AIT and DTF drives, and the Memory Stick) and, now, the Internet.

Sony’s vision is not necessarily about refrigerators talking to toasters. It’s about bringing to market products that capture the imaginations of consumers and enhance their lives in the process.

In the future, Sony will perhaps create entirely new forms of entertainment, blending movies, computer generated worlds, games and music. Sony has the vision, technology and content to forge a direction in consumer entertainment that no other company can match.