Rough times for Sony. Even though it revealed a corporate gutting last month, a new report in the (UK) Times today says that even more could be on the way, ones that could see the abolishment of “several major divisions.” Sony has denied these allegations, as is its wont.
The new cuts would be announced after this week’s Consumer Electronics Show, as media outlets everywhere write their CES retrospectives, proclaiming winners and losers, trends and unfashionable pieces of junk.
The cuts themselves, again, which Sony flatly denies are going to happen, are sorta whatever, but the most interesting dynamic here is the growing east versus west split that, apparently, is tearing the corporation apart. The execs in the West (the US and Europe) want to teach the execs in the East (Japan) a thing or two about running a profitable organization. Key among them is Howard Stringer, its president. He doesn’t have as big a problem with shaking things up as his Japan-based bosses do. Different business cultures, I suspect.
As far as underperforming divisions go, one could look at the gaming division, which Stringer expects to be profitable by the FY ending in March, 2009, that is, the next one. Till that happens, the division is expected to keep losing money like it has a hole in its pocket.