Sony Company Profile Michigan

Sony is a multinational conglomerate corporation that is based in Tokyo and has an American subsidiary, Sony Corporation of America, which is based in New York City. The company is known for manufacturing electronics, video game consoles and video, communications and information technology products. Sony also has six business operations, which include Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Ericsson and Sony Financial. Sony has many notable products that it has produced over the years, like the Walkman and the PlayStation. On top of that, Sony Music Entertainment is counted among the “big four” record companies in the U.S. along with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI.

The precursor to Sony, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Corporation, was established in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in Japan. They introduced the first tape recorder and the first commercially produced transistor radio in Japan. They didn’t build the first transistor radio ever created, but they were the first to make these radios commercially successful with the TR-55, TR-72 and TR-6 models. The name “Sony” is a combination of the Latin word sonus, meaning sound, and the term sonny, which was a familiar word to Americans. Sony went against the grain when choosing to spell the company name in Roman letters instead of Japanese Han characters, but they wanted to be able to market themselves to Western consumers.

In the many years they’ve been in business, Sony has undergone many mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in all its operations. In 1987 Sony acquired CBS Records Group, which went on to become Sony Music Entertainment. When Sony Music Entertainment merged with BMG in 2004, the company was then named Sony BMG Music Entertainment until 2008 when BMG sold their 50% share to Sony and the name changed back to Sony Music Entertainment. The company also acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment in 1989, which later become Sony Pictures Entertainment. And then in 2001, Sony went in on a joint venture with Ericsson AB and established Sony Ericsson, the company’s mobile phone division.

In the consumer electronics world, Sony has come up with its own technology standards that didn’t necessarily match those of others. Sony supported Betamax in the 1980s when companies were deciding on a format for videotapes. Betamax eventually lost out to VHS, though. Later, when electronics companies were trying to shrink the size of floppy disks, Sony came up with the 3.5-inch floppy, the smallest one at the time, and it was the industry standard until floppy disks became obsolete. Another notable standard from Sony was the MiniDisc format, a music storage format that was created to compete with Philips Digital Compact Cassette. The MiniDisc didn’t catch on, but some enthusiasts of the format still use it today.

Sony has made attempts at addressing impacts on the environment from the production of their electronics. To keep up with environmental standards, Sony has held an Environmental Conference since 1976. This helps the company stay on top of the effects they have on the environment and on global warming. In 2008 Sony introduced a “green TV.” The flat-panel TV offers less energy consumption without sacrificing screen quality.

Sony has used a variety of slogans and ad campaigns throughout its history to sell its electronics, video game consoles and other products. The company slogan is “Sony. Like no other.” They have launched both traditional ad campaigns on TV with commercials for their products and non-traditional campaigns through viral and guerilla marketing. Some of Sony’s campaigns were quite controversial, like when the company hired graffiti artists to spray paint ads for the PSP on buildings in major U.S. cities. Other ads like those for the PlayStation 2 with the slogan “Live in Your World, Play In Ours,” put the company on the map in the world of video game consoles.

Since Sony operates in so many different markets and areas of business, it has a large number and wide variety of competitors. In the consumer electronics market Sony’s biggest competitors are Panasonic, Philips and Sanyo. Sony Music Entertainment’s biggest competitors are Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI. Sony Ericsson’s competitors are Motorola, Nokia and Samsung. These are just some of the many companies that vie with Sony for a piece of their respective markets.