Kaz Hirai diventa Presidente e amministratore delegato di Sony

[Turrican3]

Sony names Kazuo Hirai as President and CEO; Sir Howard Stringer to become Chairman of the Board of Directors

TOKYO, Japan – Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced that Kazuo Hirai has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2012. Sir Howard Stringer, currently Chairman, CEO and President, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors in June, 2012.
Mr. Stringer recommended to the Sony Board of Directors that Mr. Hirai, currently Executive Deputy President, be his successor as President and CEO. Mr. Stringer will continue as Chairman of Sony Corporation until his ascension to the Board Chairmanship, which will become effective upon Board approval following the annual meeting of shareholders in June, when the current Chairman, Yotaro Kobayashi, will retire. Mr. Hirai is also expected to be appointed to the Board at the June shareholders meeting.

Comment from Sir Howard Stringer
"Three years ago, I started to work with the Board on succession plans, and in February, 2009 we named a new generation of leaders to be my management team. Among them was Kaz Hirai, who had distinguished himself through his work in the PlayStation ® and networked entertainment businesses. Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now."

Comment from Kazuo Hirai
"As challenging as times are for Sony now, were it not for the strong leadership of Sir Howard Stringer these past seven years, we would have been in a much more difficult position. I am grateful to Sir Howard and to the Board for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with everyone at Sony more closely than ever before to build a strong future for our customers, shareholders, partners and employees. The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony's diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways."

Comment from Yotaro Kobayashi, Chairman of the Board
"The Board is grateful to Sir Howard Stringer for all he has done to help Sony travel such a long and vital way down the road from an analogue to a digital company. He has clearly recognized the importance of connecting our tremendous products with networks and content so that our devices come fully alive in the hands of consumers. We agree with Sir Howard that Kazuo Hirai is the right man at the right time to lead Sony. He has a unique capacity to inspire people, to build teams, to make the tough decisions, and to think with clarity and foresight about the challenges we face and how to surmount them. We are also pleased that Sir Howard has accepted our request to remain with Sony after June as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His leadership and experience will be of immeasurable assistance to us all."

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201202/12-018E/index.html
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201202/12-018E/12-018E.pdf

Importante passaggio di consegne per il colosso nipponico: dal 1 aprile Hirai prende il posto di Sir Howard Stringer come Presidente e amministratore delegato. Stringer comunque non esce di scena, assumendo il ruolo il presidente del consiglio di amministrazione dell'azienda (a partire da giugno)

[maxam]

Con Stinger la Sony ha attraversato uno dei suoi momenti più bui. Ha perso fette di mercato ovunque, a partire dal suo core business, che sono le TV.
Per non parlare poi di intrattenimento e telefonia.

Speraimo che Hirai sappia portare una ventatata di novità in grado ri riportare l'azienda ai livelli che - almeno storicamente - meriterebbe.

[Turrican3]

After Sony's disappointing third-quarter financial report today, soon-to-be President and CEO Kazuo Hirai took the stage to discuss his plans for saving the troubled company. His four-point plan consists of building on Sony's core competencies, getting its TV house in order, figuring out where it can cut costs, and speeding up innovation.

-    Re-enforcing Sony's core businesses: Hirai recognized that digital imaging and gaming are Sony's strong suits, and stated that he plans for the company to capitalize on its assets in these areas in order to strengthen its position in the growing mobile market, which will become a big focus for the company after it takes full control of the Sony Ericsson partnership. In addition, the new CEO wants to apply the advances the company has made in digital imaging to the medical industry, hopefully turning it into a future core business. He also wants to leverage Sony's gaming assets by building unique mobile products only Sony can provide.

-    Pulling together Sony's TV business: Hirai believes TVs will continue to be at heart of home entertainment, but LCD TVs have been commoditized and Sony can't waste any more time futzing around in this market. Sony divested of S-LCD last year and the new CEO plans to continue on this asset-light approach, being selective about the use of resources, and considering collaborations with other companies in order to reduce costs. At the same time, he believes the company can use its proprietary Crystal LED and OLED technologies to create compelling TV products.

-    Transforming Sony's business portfolio: Sony has diverse businesses, which has been good for the company in some ways, but it needs to figure out which of its products are becoming commoditized products without added value so that it can either get rid of them, or make better use of collaboration to reduce costs.

-    Accelerating Innovation: Hirai believes Sony is well-positioned to make the medical area a future core business. Sony has a lot of innovations in sensors, signal processing, lenses, and displays, and can create innovative products by applying these to endoscopy, X-Ray diagnostic equipment and ultrasound. The company was reportedly interested in acquiring a 20-30 percent stake in Olympus (although Hirai refused to comment on the proposed deal), which would be a perfect fit given its strengths in both imaging and medical equipment. The soon-to-be CEO also added that Sony needs to strengthen ties between its R&D and business groups, a movement that he is spearheading.

Hirai went on to say that since 2009 he's been focused on producing products befitting of the name Sony — "wonderful products" with a focus on creating a compelling user experience. In fact, Kaz came back to the subject of user experience repeatedly, stressing that creating great hardware just isn't enough. Responding to a question about management changes, Hirai also said he wants to focus on the free exchange of ideas, and build an executive management team that will challenge his ideas, rather than surround himself with a bunch of yes-men.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/2/2765928/kaz-hirai-4-point-plan

Questa la "ricetta" di Hirai per il rilancio dell'azienda.

[G4_News]

Sony Establishes New Management Structure
- To Drive Revitalization and Growth of Electronics Businesses and Deliver Compelling User Experiences as “One Sony” -

Tokyo, March 27, 2012 - Sony Corporation (“Sony” or “the Company”) today announced the establishment of a new management structure. Led by President and CEO Kazuo Hirai, these changes are intended to drive revitalization and growth across Sony's core electronics businesses, and deliver compelling user experiences through convergence of the unique assets in place throughout the Sony Group. With Mr. Hirai at the center of a management team that will work together with the heads of each business group and platform, this new business structure is intended to establish rapid and optimized decision making processes as “One Sony,” that significantly reinforce and accelerate Sony's overall business management. The changes are effective April 1, 2012.

Under the leadership of Mr. Hirai, Corporate Executive Officers Masaru Kato, EVP and CFO, and Tadashi Saito, EVP and CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) will oversee the Sony Group's overall financial management, corporate and business strategies. With respect to the electronics businesses, in addition to Mr. Kato and Mr. Saito, Shoji Nemoto, Corporate Executive Officer and EVP who will oversee technology strategy, and Kunimasa Suzuki, Corporate Executive Officer and EVP, who will oversee product strategy, will take key roles in the management team that will support Mr. Hirai and work together with the heads of each business group, platform and headquarters function to quickly engage in the revitalization of Sony's electronics operations.

Sony is positioning digital imaging, game and mobile as the three core pillars of its electronics business, and going forward aims to concentrate its resources in these areas to further reinforce the businesses. Sony also plans to accelerate its efforts to drive innovation and new business creation. Mr. Nemoto will be assigned overall responsibility for technology strategies, and will work together with Tomoyuki Suzuki, Corporate Executive Officer and EVP, who will oversee Sony's core device technologies, to create new businesses and enhance the R&D operations that are the foundations for Sony's next generation of technological innovation. Mr. Nemoto will also implement a process of stringent selection and focus in the area of R&D, to enable the Company to optimize resource allocation. As Officer in charge of the User Experience (“UX”) & Product Strategy and Creative Platform, Kunimasa Suzuki will assume responsibility for planning and design in relation to all consumer related products and services, with the aim of strengthening horizontal integration and enhancing the user experience across Sony's entire product and network service lineup. He will also oversee the mobile business that Sony has identified as one of its core electronics business areas, including smart phones, tablets and PCs.

The Home Entertainment Business, including the TV business (which is continuing to address the challenge of enhancing profitability), will be overseen directly by the CEO, Mr. Hirai, who will also be Corporate Executive Officer in charge of these businesses. The device and semiconductor businesses, an area where Sony is excelling with its industry-leading image sensors and other device technologies, and the core device R&D activities which support these businesses, will now be led by Tomoyuki Suzuki. The area of medical technology is also expected to grow significantly in the future, and Sony's medical-related businesses that had been dispersed across multiple units will now be integrated into a dedicated medical business unit to be overseen by Hiroshi Yoshioka, Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President.

In the area of sales and marketing, Haruyasu Nagata, currently President of Sony (China) Co., Ltd will be appointed SVP and head of the Global Sales and Marketing Platform, with the aim of strengthening Sony's global sales and marketing activities, particularly within emerging markets where significant market growth is anticipated. Nobuki Kurita, currently President, Sony Marketing (Japan) Inc. will be appointed President, Sony (China) Co., Ltd. Hiroshi Kawano will be appointed President, Sony Marketing (Japan) Inc., while continuing his current role as President, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan*.

*A division of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., overseeing the business in Japan

[...]

Organizational Changes (as of April 1, 2012)

Consumer Products & Services Group (“CPSG”) and Professional Device & Solutions Group (“PDSG”) to be abolished.

Home Entertainment Business Group to integrate personal audio business and be newly established as Home Entertainment & Sound Business Group.

Personal Imaging & Sound Business Group, CPSG to be realigned as Digital Imaging Business Group

Medical Business Unit to be newly established.

R&D Platform and Common Software Platform to be realigned as System & Software Technology Platform, Advanced Device Technology Platform and Corporate R&D.

Quality Center to be integrated into Manufacturing, Logistics, Procurement and CS Platform and the platform to be renamed as Manufacturing, Logistics, Procurement and Quality Platform.

UX, Product Strategy and Creative Platform, UX & Product Strategy Group to be newly established.

[...]

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201203/12-043E/index.html

Proseguono le ristrutturazioni in casa Sony, per quel che riguarda il gaming la novità di rilievo è la soppressione della divisione Consumer Products & Services Group, il cui business Playstation confluirà nella neonata divisione Home Entertainment & Sound Business Group sotto la diretta supervisione di Kaz Hirai.

[Wiizpig]

[Mystic]

[Frozzo]

Piena fiducia in Hirai (anche perchè peggio di Stringer è umanamente impossibile fare) però mi aspetto un ritorno in qualche posizione di Kutaragi, che era l'unico ad avere una visione chiara della sezione Entertainment.

[Wiizpig]

No no, è semplicemente una parodia di una rivista  :P

[Mystic]

No no, è semplicemente una parodia di una rivista  :P

[Turrican3]

No no, è semplicemente una parodia di una rivista  :P

Anfatti, come pesce era proprio improbabile visto com'è strutturata "l'intervista".

Più che parodia però lo definirei l'opera di un genio del male, per quanto è bastarda dentro.

mi aspetto un ritorno in qualche posizione di Kutaragi, che era l'unico ad avere una visione chiara della sezione Entertainment.

Hmm, non lo so, in ultima analisi IMHO tutto si può dire fuorchè PS3 sia stata un flop... ma al tempo stesso se non ha fatto sfracelli come il predecessore è in buona parte colpa (sempre IMHO! ) delle scelte di Kutaragi che si sono rivelate non proprio felicissime.

In tutta onestà Hirai non mi è proprio simpaticissimo (l'arroganza del "CW is over" ad esempio se la poteva risparmiare) tuttavia lo riconosco come dirigente capace, per quel poco che si può intuire dall'esterno.

[Frozzo]

Hmm, non lo so, in ultima analisi IMHO tutto si può dire fuorchè PS3 sia stata un flop... ma al tempo stesso se non ha fatto sfracelli come il predecessore è in buona parte colpa (sempre IMHO! ) delle scelte di Kutaragi che si sono rivelate non proprio felicissime.

Per quanto ne so io la scelta (economicamente suicida) del Blu-Ray l'ha imposta Stringer, il Kuta era contrariato per via del costo complessivo, chiaro che potrei aver letto fonti "avvelenate".
Poi non so, è difficile dire se Ps3 sia un flop (dai 140 milioni di Ps2 ai 60 di Ps3 la caduta è stata rovinosa, i bilanci parlano di un progetto in rosso di miliardi di euro durante questi anni) o meno (in fondo sono sempre 60 milioni, secondo posto worldwide e vendite in crescita), dipende molto da come guardi il tutto.

[Turrican3]

Secondo me (e non lo dico per "giocare" a fare il super-partes, la mia adorazione per Nintendo è più che nota) nel campo home a 'sto giro non c'è stato un vincitore a tutto tondo.

- Microsoft ha fatto molto meglio che al giro precedente, ma ha "alterato" strategia in corsa con Kinect mandando in crisi un po' dell'utenza più affezionata e messo un pesante interrogativo sull'affidabilità ad inizio gen;

- Sony è passata dallo stradominio totale di PS2 al secondo posto in coabitazione, pure lei qualche problema di troppo di affidabilità e un nuovo supporto cinematografico che non si è riuscito ad imporre con le stesse percentuali bulgare del DVD;

- Nintendo ha sì stravenduto ma pure lei ha dovuto fare i conti con un cambio di strategia che son sicuro abbia arrecato qualche danno, inoltre il Wii è in caduta libera da oltre un anno e ritengo che con buona probabilità abbiano dovuto giocoforza anticipare di un annetto il lancio del successore;

insomma tanto per cambiare generazione moooooolto atipica, ma vabbè, si era capito da un pezzo.

[G4_News]

In un comunicato stampa Sony illustra la ristrutturazione che dovrebbe rilanciare l'azienda sotto la guida di Kaz Hirai. Nei giorni scorsi in seguito ad una pesante revisione al ribasso delle perdite per l'anno fiscale conclusosi il 31 marzo si erano diffuse voci di tagli consistenti (circa 10mila dipendenti) sul personale, adesso confermate.

Questi i cinque punti chiave:

1. rafforzamento dei core business: Digital Imaging, Game, Mobile
in particolare riguardo alla divisione che si occupa del brand Playstation, Sony punta su PS3, PS Vita e l'ecosistema HW/SW a contorno, e prevede di incrementare le vendite arricchendo il catalogo titoli in digital delivery e i servizi in abbonamento su PSN/SEN, nonchè di ampliare i contenuti e i dispositivi compatibili PlayStation®Suite;

2. ripristino dell'attivo nella divisione TV entro il 31 marzo 2014 (FY13);

3. espansione delle attività nei mercati emergenti;

4. creazione di nuove opportunità di business e spinta all'innovazione;

5. riallineamento delle attività e ottimizzazione delle risorse.

[maxam]

4. creazione di nuove opportunità di business e spinta all'innovazione;

Ahahahahahah, come dire: sarò bello e intelligente.
Quella è una wishlist, non una strategia industriale. 

[Turrican3]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-06/sony-forecasts-annual-loss-as-hirai-turnaround-stalls-on-tvs.html
www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/us-sony-results-restructuring-idUSBREA1509A20140206

Nuova ristrutturazione per Sony: riduzione delle spese, tagli al personale per 5000 unità, vendita della divisione PC e spin-off dei TV, in rosso per 10 anni di fila, che andranno a confluire in una nuova sussidiaria.

Le uniche buone notizie vengono dal versante PS4, partita decisamente bene.