The Global Entertainment industries The case of Sony

The beginning: post war Japan 1946 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering “create a stable work environment where engineers who had a deep and profound appreciation of technology could realise their mission and work to their hearts content” Sony = Sonus (latin for sound) + Sonny

Milestones 1950 Japan’s first tape recorder 1955 Japan’s first transistor radio 1960 World’s first transistor TV 1968 Colour TV 1971 Philips develop first practical VCR ‘ In the seven years it took them to develop the second generation, the Japanese had launched at least three generations of new products’ Kotler (1994) Simultaneous new product development 1979 The Walkman ‘personal portable sound’

The trauma of Betamax Terpstra Case Betamax - superior quality VCR system exclusively made by Sony Rivals develop VHS system, cheaper and widely-licensed -> more made and sold far more films released on VHS -> higher sales 1988 Betamax discontinued Lessons - content (not quality or innovation) drives sales of hardware? –need for alliances to create networks of value- delivery systems (Kotler)

Sony’s response 1988 acquires CBS records 1989 acquires Columbia Studios + Gruber/Peters production vertical integration to protect supply chain Back-catalogue (3,500 films) Electronic engineering can be copied Creative talent cannot Rival, Matsushita, buys MCA/Universal

Hollywood meets Tokyo -a clash of cultures Grueber and Peters bought from Warners for their expertise (Batman etc) spent $200m on Culver City studios High budget blockbuster films flop : – Last Action Hero cost $120m lost $40m stories of lavish entertaining and favouritism Sony’s profits and net worth fall Matsushita sell MCA to Seagrams George Michael sues Sony to escape from his contract

Sony today 1,080 subsidiaries worldwide Artists Production Software Hardware Merchandise Sony Music Aerosmith, M Carey Dylan, Springsteen Jackson, Streisand Sony Pictures Charlies Angels Dawson’s Creek Riki Lake Culver City Studios Sony Music Studios and disk manufacture Sony Computer Entertainment PLAYSTATION Software design Consoles Sony Electronics TV, VCR, Camcorders, CD,Minidisk, Walkman WAP phones, DVD Distribution ColumbiaTristar film distribution Cable channels Sony Consumer Products Value Chain

The present DVD joint venture Sony Toshiba Philips Warner Polygram regional coding Result -faster adoption than the VCR Playstation 2 - the ultimate integrated machine –games, internet, music, video –"both an electronics company and an entertainment company“ The challenge of Microsoft –this time Sony has the content (FT 20/11/01)

A new format war – High Definition DVDs –Blu-Ray: Sony, JVC, Philips –HDDVD: NEC, Toshiba Sony buys MGM to increase its content library ‘Will people buy new TVs and DVD players just to get better picture quality?’ Steve Busfield, Tuesday November The Guardian

Sony and Music a low-margin, consolidated, quaintly anachronistic business, catering to an ageing clientele move the industry towards the revenue model of subscriber television joint venture with BMG

Sony BMG 50/50 joint venture –controls more than a quarter of the total market –and nearly a third of new releases Who controls the legal music download market? Sony wants to use market power to set standards. to favour its digital encoding standards, online store and playback devices exclusive content deals, co-promotions and preferential licensing Osman Eralp The Guardian Thursday June 10, 2004

Content E-retailing Format Hardware I-tunes Sony Connect I-pod Walkman DRM software The battle over Digital Rights Management Steve Jobs 6/2/7 / Rights to songs from the 4 major labels Authorised devices ‘Gateways’

Core business under attack hit by cheaper rivals such as Samsung of South Korea and Dell of the US fallen behind domestic rivals such as Sharp in liquid crystal display TVs PS3 late in the shops v Microsoft I –Pod v Walkman Has the leader become a follower?