Kaz Hirai Becomes Sony CEO, Asks "Holy Sh*t, Now What?"

[BrotherRool]

He needs to find new business areas and narrow their business portfolio?

There's a few companies doing that these days, Google being one of them. Putting more wood behind less arrows makes sure what products they do put out are up to scratch.

It's not about wood though. The specific examples he gave of new business areas were new product lines. Medicinal equipment etc. Narrowing a business portfolio means getting rid of product lines.

I can slightly see where you are coming from, but I really think it's far more likely to be business speak than any actual business strategy. If you think about it 'finding new business and getting rid of business that don't make a profit' is pretty much default. He's just picked the two things investors are worried about - company going stale and being left behind - company getting too large and collapsing under own weight - and said something nice and clever sounding that promises both things to them, never mind that they're pretty much contradictory.

I don't mind, it's the sensible thing to do. If you're taking over as CEO it's really really foolhardy to imagine you can suddenly just take the company in a new direction, and since you were pretty darn high up in the company beforehand, the chances are the company is kinda going in the direction you want anyway. The sensible thing is to take time building up authority and being comfortable in your position and gradually change the bits that aren't in line with what you feel. But you can't say that because it makes your appointment as CEO seem worthless.

I don't think it's particularly different from a Headteacher telling you that you were his best year ever and he's looking forward to hearing what you do in the future, or a new manager to a football club telling the fans that he's going to solve the budget problem and turn the team around and make them great again.

Maybe he's serious and we'll see a radical reduction in old products. If so I hope you'll forgive me for my presumption

 

[XMark]

Thanks to the internet, I can't see a picture of the guy without hearing "RIDGE RACER!" in my head.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Japanese isn't even that hard.

You clearly haven't ever studied it. Japanese is considered to be one of the harder languages to learn for a native English speaker. You have to learn not only a new set of words, but a completely different sentence structure, AND an alphabet that's probably only topped by Chinese in its complexity.

So either you just have a knack for learning new languages, or you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

 

[90sgamer]

Comment removed. Nothing to see here.

 

[uzo]

Why is everyone talking about Ridge Racer?

Side note ... that was the first game I played drunk. First of many, my friends. First of many.

No comment on article. Don't care.

EDIT:

Japanese isn't even that hard.

You clearly haven't ever studied it. Japanese is considered to be one of the harder languages to learn for a native English speaker. You have to learn not only a new set of words, but a completely different sentence structure, AND an alphabet that's probably only topped by Chinese in its complexity.

So either you just have a knack for learning new languages, or you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

No, he's right. It ain't that damned hard. The advantages of Japanese are that it is extremely logical. It makes sense. It's like the Latin of Asia. There's only 2 commonly used irregular verbs (kuru, to come; and suru, to do; which conjugate somewhat unusually).

The only reason, I think, Japanese has this reputation is it's one of the only languages, besides Spanish, that a native English speaker is likely to encounter. Ergo, it's hard `cause it ain't English.

The kanji actually make sense. Once you've learnt the first 200 or so, it's a piece of cake. Your brain at that point 'gets it', and they all just fit together. I remember a Japanese friend and I were discussing kanji, and he showed me the kanji for 'oya' (parent, basically). It's a combination of 3 other simpler kanji - one for tree, one for stand, and one for see. He explained it the way he remembered it as a boy - a person stands on top of a tree to watch you. It's your mother/father. Imagine a watchful parent, and it all makes sense.

I may be a bit odd, but Japanese has a tough reputation. But that's the extent of it. Most people are scared off by the written side of it. If you focus on the kanji to start, the rest of it slips into place very easily.

 

[Denamic]

Japanese isn't even that hard.

You clearly haven't ever studied it. Japanese is considered to be one of the harder languages to learn for a native English speaker. You have to learn not only a new set of words, but a completely different sentence structure, AND an alphabet that's probably only topped by Chinese in its complexity.

So either you just have a knack for learning new languages, or you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

Learning a new language usually means that you have to learn new words and sentence structure.
It's just how things are.

Swedish and English are both Germanic languages, thus being fairly similar, so I don't see any reason to why a native English speaker would have any more trouble than I have learning Japanese.
Maybe native English speakers are just bad at other languages because they don't need to learn any?

What I've learned is through lazy, half-assed self-study.
I'm good enough to follow a conversation or watch the news and such easily enough.
What I miss I can usually understand from context, and learn a new word in the process.
I might be able to hold a basic conversation, but it'd be a struggle due to my complete lack of practice actually speaking it.
All in all, I find it relatively easy to learn.
Once you get the basic sentence structure and know a few words, it should be pretty simple.

Learning it through translation is not a good idea though.
It's too different to serve as anything but as a means of entry into the language.
Other than that, it'll just prove a distraction and obstruction.
In fact, translation is a terrible way to learn any language, so ditch that method altogether.

I won't deny that kanji is a pain in the ass, though.
I barely know 50-ish kanji, which isn't even at elementary school level.
Though I haven't actually bothered to actively learn any more.

 

[Spud of Doom]

Sony medical, eh. That could be interesting.

There's nothing contradictory in "Sony needs to find new business areas, such as medical. We also need to select and narrow our business portfolio." actually. I think he's suggesting they find new areas and move to them, rather than expand to them.

 

[Griffolion]

He needs to find new business areas and narrow their business portfolio?

There's a few companies doing that these days, Google being one of them. Putting more wood behind less arrows makes sure what products they do put out are up to scratch.

It's not about wood though. The specific examples he gave of new business areas were new product lines. Medicinal equipment etc. Narrowing a business portfolio means getting rid of product lines.

I can slightly see where you are coming from, but I really think it's far more likely to be business speak than any actual business strategy. If you think about it 'finding new business and getting rid of business that don't make a profit' is pretty much default. He's just picked the two things investors are worried about - company going stale and being left behind - company getting too large and collapsing under own weight - and said something nice and clever sounding that promises both things to them, never mind that they're pretty much contradictory.

I don't mind, it's the sensible thing to do. If you're taking over as CEO it's really really foolhardy to imagine you can suddenly just take the company in a new direction, and since you were pretty darn high up in the company beforehand, the chances are the company is kinda going in the direction you want anyway. The sensible thing is to take time building up authority and being comfortable in your position and gradually change the bits that aren't in line with what you feel. But you can't say that because it makes your appointment as CEO seem worthless.

I don't think it's particularly different from a Headteacher telling you that you were his best year ever and he's looking forward to hearing what you do in the future, or a new manager to a football club telling the fans that he's going to solve the budget problem and turn the team around and make them great again.

Maybe he's serious and we'll see a radical reduction in old products. If so I hope you'll forgive me for my presumption

I don't disagree with you. My statement merely referred to Hirai's statement of reviewing existing product lines. If you take Google as a case in point, Larry Page (on his reclamation of CEO status) made a similar statement and now things like App Inventor, Wave, Buzz and many more "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" products are now being shut down to concentrate on the more successful products like GMail, Search and Android. Perhaps Hirai will be doing something similar with product lines that are not pulling their financial weight.

Sony is also, what I call, a giant of the old times. And many of such giants like Phillips, Sagemcom and Siemens do what Hirai is saying to do, IE become an OEM vendor in medical areas. But I do think that Hirai is right in saying that Sony are headed for trouble if they don't take some sort of action.

 

[FEichinger]

But Hirai will also drop the ax when needed, saying he intends to review Sony's entire product lineup and pull the plug on those that can't compete.

...And then, in the console wars, there were two. :V

This, really ... It sounds more and more as if Sony were pce'ing out of the console business.

As for the Japanese language, btw ... Gotta agree with the "The Kanji are tough, but that's not even their fault, so ... easy!" crowd. Far more logical and structured than English, German or French. (All of which I did learn ...)

 

[Zen Toombs]

It's quite obvious what he has to do. He has to hit the giant enemy crab in the weak point for extra damage.

Incorrect. He must attack the weak point

[HEADING=2]FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE![/HEADING]

Much more different from extra damage. *nod nod*

 

[BrotherRool]

I don't disagree with you. My statement merely referred to Hirai's statement of reviewing existing product lines. If you take Google as a case in point, Larry Page (on his reclamation of CEO status) made a similar statement and now things like App Inventor, Wave, Buzz and many more "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" products are now being shut down to concentrate on the more successful products like GMail, Search and Android. Perhaps Hirai will be doing something similar with product lines that are not pulling their financial weight.

Sony is also, what I call, a giant of the old times. And many of such giants like Phillips, Sagemcom and Siemens do what Hirai is saying to do, IE become an OEM vendor in medical areas. But I do think that Hirai is right in saying that Sony are headed for trouble if they don't take some sort of action.

Fair enough, expanding whilst shrinking is viable business tactic.

I am a little worried for Sony, they've been reporting some huge losses in recent times but hopefully they'll pull through

 

[Griffolion]

I don't disagree with you. My statement merely referred to Hirai's statement of reviewing existing product lines. If you take Google as a case in point, Larry Page (on his reclamation of CEO status) made a similar statement and now things like App Inventor, Wave, Buzz and many more "throw it at the wall and see if it sticks" products are now being shut down to concentrate on the more successful products like GMail, Search and Android. Perhaps Hirai will be doing something similar with product lines that are not pulling their financial weight.

Sony is also, what I call, a giant of the old times. And many of such giants like Phillips, Sagemcom and Siemens do what Hirai is saying to do, IE become an OEM vendor in medical areas. But I do think that Hirai is right in saying that Sony are headed for trouble if they don't take some sort of action.

Fair enough, expanding whilst shrinking is viable business tactic.

I am a little worried for Sony, they've been reporting some huge losses in recent times but hopefully they'll pull through

In a sense I'm sure they will pull through, but they definitely will be not the same as before. They've been sleeping in the comfort of their past success while their competitors (both old and new) have caught up and surpassed them. What I'd like to see is Sony return to a more innovative mentality that will spark some very creative and brilliantly compelling products. Also, they really need to quit with this 90's era thinking that people still appreciate proprietary memory systems. Seriously, just give us a micro-SD slot or a standard micro-usb port.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

He takes the place in April 1st? xD Imagine if this all turns out to be an April Fools Joke.

 

[duchaked]

never been that invested in Sony, but I've always thought this guy was pretty cool

 

[Double A]

sony basically used to be apple.

how the mighty have fallen.

As Movie Bob would argue, how the unbelievably lucky have fallen.

 

[Leg End]

Finally, sum respect up in this *****.

Taking bets, he restores the company back to the PS2 era vs. runs the company into the ground.

I bet former because I actually like him.