Sony Mobile Communications Business Strategy

TASK

A) Main business strategies

Various organizations failed as they were not able to achieve their growth targets with respect to revenues and profitability. There are certain initiatives taken by them as a part of their strategic implementation but they do not always succeed (Hill and Jones, 2012). Certain reasons such as poorly invented strategies, indefensible expectations and improper consensus are responsible for unsuccessful results. According to the given case study, SMC is having key presence in the global markets. Still, it has been evidenced that company has an operating loss of Yen 1257.6m in the year 2013 for their sales (Wittmann and Reuter, 2013). It has been analyzed that proper study of various alternatives available for making effective business strategy is the key requirement. In order to ripe benefits in the long run, it is advisable to Sony Corporation to make review of various options. This is essential for them to support the future strategic decision making. The analysis and evaluation of key alternatives that SMC can adopt while considering its future strategy are as follows:

Market entry: With the help of this option, SMC can plan to deliver its goods and services to a new target market (Zolkiewskind and Feng, 2011). As analyzed from the given scenario, corporation is successful in developing its key presence in both developed and developing market. They had their operations in 40 nations of the world. Apple, Samsung and Nokia are the major competitors of SMC. In order to compete effectively with them in the long run, Sony has to make use of various innovative techniques. By using advanced devices in its multimedia segments, new market dimensions can be covered.

Substantive growth: The strategy where growth is implemented through acquisition, mergers and joint ventures, it is termed as substantive growth (Thompson, 2001). As per the case study, company has suffered an operating loss. Therefore, by implementing this strategy, synergy can be enhanced (Eshun, 2009). Sony can engage in activities such as purchase of additional market share. This can be helpful for grabbing the opportunity of sharing related business activities where technology or market can be given to other organization.

Limited growth: This strategy refers to gain maximum growth with the least amount of risk involved. As per the case study, Sony is dealing with 40 countries. It shows a clear sign of maximum risk associated with financial, economic, social and cultural factors for operating globally. By bringing smarter option of innovation in its multimedia products and in low risk variables, Sony can benefit in the long run (Kourdi, 2003). However, there is the possibility of fall in market share, reduction of profit margin and rising complexities.

Retrenchment: Retrenchment is the strategy where steps are taken for reducing certain activities. This is to bring financial stability in business by cutting expenses.. By adopting this business strategy, Sony can cut the level of staffing so that complete focus on its core competencies can be made (Peltin, 2015).

B) Selection of strategy for SMC

Value is the major proposition for Sony Mobile Corporation. It makes use of ample strategies depending on the situation and resources available to them. As analyzed from the given case study, organization is able to build strong goodwill and reputation in both developed and developing nations (Nastasi and Reverberi, 2007). It covered 40 nations for its expansion market strategies. However, operating loss was observed that is a reflection of uncovered aspects in strategy formulation. It shows compelling demand of designing new strategy for carrying out the business activities. Therefore, from the above mentioned business strategy, SMC is recommended for reinvention so as to move towards development.

As far as SMC is associated, the products and services produced by them are based on advanced technology thereby making them customer driven. They are required to work in its mobile segment as various competitors such as Apple and Samsung have already positioned them in an advanced way. The market entry strategy is suitable for Sony. This is because launching highly competitive goods would help them to gain larger market segment. It is analyzed that mobile segment of Sony earned 1.5trillion Yen with an operating income margin of 4% by FY 14 (Wallace, 2004). This strategy is justifiable on the account of reduction in its loopholes and increasing the goodwill among its competitors.

C) Roles and responsibilities of staff in strategy formulation

An activity of formulating and executing the business strategy in an organization is primarily in the hands of top level leaders. Strategic team is responsible for clarifying the mission and vision to other employees in company (Levy and Newell, 2002). They define corporate objectives; manage working of structure, culture and values. They play the role in addressing various issues such as leadership, organizational change, role of CEO and other general managers in strategic management. According to the given scenario, there are various departments where every position holder is assigned to carry out different job roles. However, every leader from Board of Director (BOD) to executive representative, strategic planning officer etc. plays the role of strategist. The roles and responsibilities of staff of Sony who are directly involved in strategy implementation has been assessed as follows:

Role of Board of Director (BOD): The BOD of SMC is responsible for governing the organization. They play major role of decision making. Besides this, they set strategic direction and evaluate the organizational performance (Teegen, Doh and Vachani, 2004). They underpin the business plans and strategies of corporation. They define the resources that are to be taken by effective matching of company’s capabilities with the selected strategies.

Role of executives and corporate planning staff: The major role in strategic management of organization is made by Senior Business Units (SBU). By playing the role of effective leaders, they act as an implementer. All defined strategic objectives are converted into action plan by their communication and monitoring role. (Falkner, 2003).

Role of consultants: The organization hires some external individuals or group of consultancy who offer their services in the organization. They give cost effective suggestions and opinions to company in making the strategic decisions (Galbreath, 2006). This proves to be very supportive to SMC.

D) Resource allocation for implementation of a new strategy

Strategic Implementation is majorly supported by five components namely, people, structure, resources, culture and system. Among all elements, resource allocation is one of the significant elements. As per the given case study, Sony Corporation is committed to work with 7500 employees as its human resources; mobile multimedia devices as its physical resources and various other kinds (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2010). Given below is a brief description about types of resources which are to be used by SMC:

Financial Resources: Sony is involved with foreign market thereby making it necessary to build its infrastructure at global level. Therefore, allocation of fund to various departments is kept by considering its competitors in mind

Organizational Resources: The growth and success of Sony Corporation is an evidence of the structure type. By adopting Strategic Business Units (SBU), the effectiveness of decision making can be worked over in a better manner

Physical Resources: Sony Mobile Corporation is the fourth largest providing leader of multimedia mobile phone devices such as phones, accessories and PC cards (Thompson, 2001). They have to work in order to invest in infrastructure and physical resources with the growing market needs.

Human Resources: Sony has been employing manpower of 7500 employees. Training is the tool which has been applied for the growth of staff members (Wittmann and Reuter, 2013). It helps them in enhancing their knowledge and specified skills as their core areas of development factors.

Technological resources: The key identity of Sony is its advanced growth and technological development. This is the aspect which keeps them ahead with their competitors. The growth of sales and revenue are earned by highly advanced and quality driven products and devices.

E) SMART Objective as a tool for strategy implementation

Objectives play a vital role in the strategic implementation of an organization. However, in this advanced economy, companies need to be step ahead in all aspects. Therefore, Sony believes in defining the SMART objectives effectually (Peltin, 2015). It is significant in identifying the elements that supports as performance measure indicators. The success achieved by SMC is measurable, specific, realistic, based on time factor and achievable. By setting goals on the basis of these parameters, amount of action which is required to be made can support in determining effective outcomes. This is the reason because of which strategic planning and implementation of Sony has been traced on the basis of following given SMART objectives:

Specific: The objectives are defined on the basis of changes which are required to be implemented. The core aspect of Sony Mobile Corporation is technological development. The specific details of new, advanced and innovative use of development should be presented well (Stephens, 2011). This is appropriate as it helps the top level manager for making employees work easily. With respect to Sony, specific objectives are defined such as “to become the leader of mobile devices in terms of multimedia phones”.

Measurable: The objectives should be quantifiable in form of number, percentage or rate. This is to make the objectives more close to the successful outcomes. This is adopted by various organizations in an order to bring accuracy in their work performance. As per the case study, SMC is going through low operating profits (Nastasi and Reverberi, 2007). However, the efforts are made by this corporation on continuous basis to bring stability The measurement are traced on basis of number of mobiles manufactured or sold, rise or fall in price, market ratio etc. Examples of measurable objective set is like 15% increase in profit margin of organization or making the manufacturing of mobile phones double to enhance its market share by 25% (Galbreath, 2006).

Attainable: Success of performance made is best measured in terms of its achievement. Effective monitoring and controlling are the major tools that support work attainment. There are various situations in an organization where work is defined with respect to efficiency (Teegen, Doh and Vachani, 2004). This is essential for accomplishing the organizational objectives on time.

Relevant: This term implies to the relationship that exists in between work to be achieved and the specified goals set by company. Use of various concepts, theories, literature reviews etc. are considered for doing work. This is to connect the effective relevance of work to be performed with respect to the best use of practices (Eshun, 2009). Relevancy in the work done keeps an organization close to the latest updates.

Timeline: It is vital to decide timeline for work to be done at the defined and reasonable time duration. The significance of timeline in defining objective is to match resources with the changing environment. As a SMART objective, Sony sets the time limit on the basis of weeks, months and years by using various techniques such as Gantt Chart etc.

CONCLUSION

SMC is one of the organizations that work in its defined framework to set and defined objectives. They plan their strategy to make others believe about its work and gain a unique market position. Strategies act as a base provider for every organization. With the help of these strategies, company can focus on its operations in a better manner. It helps in occupying the position of successful reputation and goodwill over its other competitors at the global level.

REFERENCES

• Eshun, J., 2009. Business incubation as strategy. Business Strategy Series. 10(3). pp. 156-166.
• Falkner, R., 2003. Private environmental governance and international relations: exploring the links. Global Environmental Politics. 3(2). pp. 72-87.
• Galbreath, J., 2006. Corporate social responsibility strategy: strategic options, global considerations. Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society. 6(2). pp. 175-187.
• Hill, C. and Jones, G., 2012. Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach. 10th Ed. Cengage Learning.
• Kolk, A. and Van Tulder, R., 2010. International business, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. International Business Review. 19(2). pp. 119-125.
• Kourdi, J., 2003. Business strategy. London: Profile.
• Levy, D. L. and Newell, P. J., 2002. Business strategy and international environmental governance: Toward a neo-Gramscian synthesis. Global Environmental Politics. 2(4). pp. 84-101.
• Nastasi, A. and Reverberi, P., 2007. Foreign Market Entry Strategies under Asymmetric Information. Review Of International Economics. 15(4). pp. 758-781.

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