2003年度（2003.4～2004.3）　ワークショップ講演

目次へ戻る

Workshop held on July 3, 2003

Speaker: Mr. Kenji Tamiya, President of Sony University, Advisor to Sony Corporation
(Former Senior Managing Director of Sony Corporation, former President and Chairman of Sony Corporation of America)

Mr. Tamiya graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Osaka City University, and joined Sony following a period at a major trading company. He was held in high esteem by former Sony Chairman Morita, with whom he worked for many years. Mr. Tamiya worked abroad for over 25 years, including a long stay in the United States.

1. Sony as a venture business
Sony is now 57 years old, with annual sales of \7 trillion. The company was a forerunner of the venture businesses born in postwar Japan, and still maintains its entrepreneurial spirit. Sony guards that principle - no entrepreneurial spirit, no future for Sony. The company never stops progressing.

2. Four business paradigm shifts
Sony has been through business paradigm shifts four times over the past 57 years. The company would not still be here had it failed to cope with these major paradigm shifts or be prepared for them.
2-1. First paradigm shift - postwar period
Amid the postwar confusion, Mr. Ibuka set up Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Sony’s predecessor) in 1946. Ample foresight led him to initiate the transformation of military technology into civil technology.
1) Seeing the advantages of the transistor
　 Ibuka recognized the advantages of the transistor invented by Bell Laboratories, and worked to introduce transistor device technology. The then Ministry of International Trade and Industry, however, was reluctant to loan foreign currency to Ibuka’s newly founded company with its lack of name recognition, while it did supply major corporations like Hitachi and Toshiba with adequate foreign currency to introduce technology. It was a difficult situation for Ibuka.
　 Thus, Ibuka traveled himself to the United States and negotiated a license agreement for the transistor. The expense of royalties amounting to several times his company’s capital led to his success in acquiring a license, and thus he developed his own transistor devices.
2) Development of the pocketable radio
　 Expecting the age of vacuum tube radios to end and transistor technology to progress, Ibuka incorporated transistor elements into pocketable radios as one of his efforts to utilize transistors for consumer purposes. His leadership contributed significantly to their development.
2-2. Second paradigm shift - the early internationalization strategy of Mr. Morita～
Sony has two founders: Mr. Ibuka in technological development and Mr. Morita in marketing strategy.
Morita had been aware since around 1945 that the overseas market was more important than the Japanese market. He sold transistor radios in the American market.
He also changed the name of the company from Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to Sony, matching the company name to its brand. Quickly anticipating globalization trend of the 1980s, Morita then devoted himself to turning the operation of Sony toward globalization. This business paradigm shift owed much to Morita’s far-sighted leadership.
2-3. Third paradigm shift - a lesson from the failure of Betamax～
Sony failed with Betamax, a household VTR, in 1975. Betamax was actually superior to VHS technologically, but turned out to be inferior in commercial performance.
1) The lesson from Betamax
‘In the future, it will be hard to make a profit by relying only on hardware products in the electronics field. Software and content will be the key to further success.’
2) Trigger for strategic diversification
Understanding the importance of software and content, Sony Corp. purchased CBS Records in 1988, and bought out Columbia Pictures Entertainment two years later, gradually expanding its sphere of business. When all was said and done, the Betamax setback turned out to be the trigger for embarking on the strategic diversification policy that is still going on today. Other Japanese businesses like Matsushita followed suit, trying to start software operations, but gave up halfway through. Sony stuck to what it started, thanks to the far-sighted leadership of Mr. Ohga.
3) Success with the PlayStation
The PlayStation video-game machine was a latecomer to the market, but it sold well. Sony entered the PlayStation project via its CD technology, focusing its efforts on creating a fine software architecture born of the awareness that hardware and software must work hand in hand - a lesson from the bitter Betamax experience.
2-4. Fourth paradigm shift - IT and broadband business
In the age of IT and broadband communications, Sony now needs to create an effective business model that utilizes present resources to generate a multiplicative effect. In other words, Sony is now in the process of this paradigm shift.

3. Corporate climate of Sony - The Founding Prospectus
1) In the Founding Prospectus of Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, Mr. Ibuka emphasized the motivation to work: “To establish of an ideal factory that stresses a spirit of freedom and open-mindedness, and where engineers with sincere motivation can exercise their technological skills to the highest level.” The restoration work in postwar Japan was somewhat similar to that in Afghanistan. Under such circumstances, Mr. Ibuka drew up a strong founding prospectus. The two founders had very high aspiration and foresight. This shows us that a founder needs to be deeply ambitious.
2) “We shall seek expansion not only for the sake of size.” - the entrepreneurial spirit
Sony has become a large-scale corporation, but still retains its original motto, “We shall seek expansion not only for the sake of size.” - the entrepreneurial spirit. For example, the company is constantly in a process of trial and error, implementing organizational reforms like the transfer of authority, to avoid the pitfalls of a gigantic outfit.

4. Conflict with a U.S. moviemaker
U.S. filmmakers once filed a lawsuit against Sony, and Mr. Tamiya took charge of defending the company. The focal issue was whether a person who used a household video recorder was breaking the law (copyright infringement). In the end, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals judged that the Sony-made household video recorder was illegal.
1) What time is it?
Expecting a come-from-behind win in the Federal Supreme Court, but likewise prepared for defeat, Sony lobbied for favorable amendment of the law.
The lobbying activities included a protest advertisement in the Wall Street Journal: “What time is it?” This phrase was meant to protest the moviemakers’ reliance on an old code to claim that use of home video recordings was illegal. At the dawn of the software industry, it would stifle a bright future where people could watch any content anytime on a household video player. Thus, the moviemakers’ watches were out of order, leaving their owners behind the times. The ad was indeed challenging.
In the ensuing court battle, Sony expressed its conviction that the company provided people with good technology that was in fact changing the lifestyles of Americans. Sony further argued that the infant software industry would be profitable to the film industry after all, and, most of all, Sony would protect the right of American consumers to enjoy that profitable technology. A settlement was suggested, but Sony continued the fight because it had promised consumers through its protest ad it would protect their rights and a settlement would be a form of betrayal of that promise. Besides, Sony believed that the law would be amended in its favor even if it lost the lawsuit in the Federal Supreme Court.
2) Victory in the Federal Supreme Court
Sony won the case in the Federal Supreme Court by a 5 to 4 decision. The Chief Justice, Warren Berger, cast the deciding vote. If Sony had lost the case, it would have been liable for huge damages.

5. Culture of business diversity - progress of Sony
Today, Sony does business in a variety of fields, including movies, music, video-games, life and non-life insurance, Sony Bank, IT related, and SKY PerfecTV!. In the process of integrating these business entities, Sony has incorporated various corporate cultures into its business operations. Thus, people of differing corporate cultures work together within the Sony group to contribute to the progress of the organization.
1) Anecdote about a dinner meeting with executives of CBS Records one year after the acquisition of CBS Records
The Sony staff had been forewarned that record company personnel usually dressed casually, so they appeared for the meeting in jackets, but without neckties. Unexpectedly, the CBS people came to the dinner table in suits and ties. It seems the CBS side had studied the culture of the electronics companies as earnestly as the Sony side had studied that of the record companies. These sartorial miscues were the result.

6. Unchanging thing
The founding sprit and the Sony brand will never change. Sony sells 5 hundred million products annually worldwide, and purchasers of Sony products are connected through the Sony brand. That connection includes their trust in the Sony brand, so it remains important.
The Snow Brand group took 80 years to establish its brand in dairy business, and lost credibility in a single moment. Indeed, 80 years of constant effort evaporated in the blink of an eye.

Reporter: Ishizaki/Sakamoto

▲このページのトップへ