Strategic Management of Sony Corporation - Case Study Example

 Strategic Management Question 1(i) Structural characteristics of the TV manufacturing industry from the point of view of the Five Competitive Forces (Porter) framework Threat of New Entrants Low Rivalry Moderate Bargaining Power of Suppliers Moderate Bargaining Power of Buyers Moderate Threat of Substitutes High Source: (Marconi, 2010). Question 1(ii) Sony Strategy Using the Resource-Based View of the Firm Framework The resource-based view is quite significant in comprehending how to make use of the capabilities of the firm so that it can accomplish sustainable competitive benefit. It comprises tangible resources, intangible resources as well as human resources. The strategies implemented by Sony will be judged by using the resource-based view framework (Peng, 2008). Sony Corporation is considered to be one of the successful companies in the world. It works in numerous industries such as electronics, financial services, films, games as well as music. The company is acknowledged for creating value for customers, which is highly admired. It is because of this fact that Sony has managed a combination of resources such as capabilities as well as core competencies that have permitted the company to design a strong sustainable competitive advantage. It was noted that the company in the month of May’ 2011 decided to sell nearly 27 million television sets in the month of July of the year 2011. However, it could manage to sell only 22 million television sets in the month of July 2011. Intangible resources of the company are those non-physical assets that are used by it in order to manufacture goods and services, or are expected to create future productive advantages. The Sony brand is generally quite recognizable as well as trusted in the globe. It focuses on superior quality, style as well as innovation. The company’s employees are considered to be the key drivers towards success. However, it has been found that the company had reduced 30000 jobs and commenced joint manufacturing venture. Furthermore, since the year 2000, the company has been losing its market value by a considerable amount (BusinessWeek, 2011). Question 1(iii) Sony Strategy Using the Competitive Advantage (Porter) Framework A company which is able to maintain its profits and thereby surpass the average of its industry is said to possess a competitive advantage over its rivals. According to Michael Porter, there are two types of competitive advantage. They are identified to be cost advantage and differentiation advantage (Worldscibooks, 2012). It has been observed that Sony is taking measures in order to improve the image as well as the audio quality of its Bravia range of LCD televisions that forms the basis of its current television line-up. It is customizing its product offering so that it is capable of meeting specific regional market requirements. The company aims at enhancing the functions as well as the performance of LCD models so that it is capable of differentiating itself from the other competitors (Sony, 2012). Sony aims at following differentiation advantage which generally takes place when a company is capable of establishing a premium price in the marketplace from its differentiated products surpassing the cost of offering the differential characteristics (Blackwell Publishing, 2011). Sony needs to recognize the customers and the way in which its products can meet their needs. When the performance of the television business of Sony is undermining, it becomes imperative for the company to adopt differentiation advantage so that it can maintain the competitive advantage in both the short as well as the long-run. The company even make use of various 3D contents in order to speed up the growth of 3D entertainment (Scribd, 2012). Question 2 (ii) Comcast Strategies from the Perspective of the Resource-Based View of the Firm Framework Comcast Corporation is performing quite well in areas of media, communication as well as entertainment sectors. It is generally involved in the business of cable systems via Comcast Cable which is one of the country’s biggest video service providers. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company is learned to act effectively enough for keeping a close watch on the issues that tend to hamper their effectiveness to a considerable extent. The tangible resources for the company are its customers. It has been observed from the case study that the company was capable of reaching out to nearly 80% of its subscribers. An intangible resource for the company is its strong reputation for being capable of completing successful financial transactions. The company endeavors to focus attention towards making constant innovation so that the customers’ needs and wants can be fulfilled. It has been observed that the company is working closely with the leaders in technology as well as content providers so that it can deliver its ‘next-generation Xfinity TV’ to its customers (Grover, Lowry, & Edwards, 2010). Xfinity TV assimilates technology, the application as well as content from numerous leaders in the industry. It cooperates with Facebook so that social applications can be introduced in television manufacturing industry which will make it easier for the customers to share their experience as well as the opinion about a particular brand with their friends. The company integrates with ‘thePlatform' which is the pioneer in video making owned by Comcast. ‘thePlatform’ is introducing its cloud-based video making system named ‘mpx’ as one of the content administration related infrastructures for the service (Comcast, 2012). Question 2(iii) Comcast Strategy from the Perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) Framework The core competencies of Comcast are that it offers products and services to its customers which tend to be technologically advanced in comparison to its competitors. It is the factor of technological advances which is considered to be capable of making the provided content quite convincing. For instance, through video-on-demand services, the customers are capable of watching television whenever they want. The company is more focused towards product rather than the market. There is a risk that the major advances in the technology will not be able to meet up with the demand of the customers. It has further been observed that the company offers service bundles which are priced similar to its competitors and aims at reaching a large number of customers. The company, Comcast has invested in Clearwire so that it can head-off cord cut. It can be stated that it would be prudent for Comcast to make use of both cost advantage as well as differentiation advantage strategy in order to beat the competition and to gain competitive advantage. The company receives high competition from substitutes such as Telcos as well as Satellite. In order to beat such competitors, it would be vital for the company to identify the reasons behind the customers switching to the mentioned competitors. If the reason behind switching is cost then Comcast needs to lower its price in comparison to its competitors while maintaining the quality of the product. On the other hand, if it is found that the customers switch to the competitors because of the product features then Comcast needs to tailor its products in order to meet the needs and the demands of the customers (The Bodhi Tree group, 2012). Question 3(i) Structural Characteristics of the Online Retail Industry, From the Point Of View of the Five Competitive Forces (Porter) Framework Threat of New Entrants High Rivalry High Bargaining Power of Suppliers High Bargaining Power of Buyers High Threat of Substitutes High Question 3(ii) Wal-Mart Online Strategy, From the Perspective of the Resource-Based View of the Firm Framework Although the sales of Walmart.com is less than one-fifth of Amazon.com, it has been observed that its new category named WalmartLabs is making use of social media as well as mobile apps. The online business of Wal-Mart has been struggling since the time it first ventured into cyberspace. It has been analyzed that Walmart.com’s total sales have been nearly US$6 billion per year. The company used to establish numerous Supercenters each year in the late 1990s which can be considered as one of the tangible resources of the company. However, since the last two years, it has been observed that it is focusing upon cutting the developments of its store in the United States by nearly half. It has been observed that the Chief Executive Officer of the company named Mike Duke has invested nearly US$11 billion cash hoard for improving its utilization of the Web. The main objective of @WalmartLabs is to make use of the social media along with mobile apps so that the shoppers are capable of spending more at Wal-Mart’s physical stores. By focusing upon such online activities the reputation of the company can be improved to a considerable extent. The company created @WalmartLabs with the intention to make use of this specialist Research & Development (R&D) unit in order to describe the future of commerce by coordinating with social media, mobile as well as the retail sector (Stokes, 2012). It has been observed that the company has increased difficulties for other players to enter by creating electronic data interchange system so that the relationship with the vendors as well as suppliers can be improved. Question 3(iii) Wal-Mart Online Strategy from the Perspective of the Competitive Advantage (Porter) Framework It can be observed that the main competitor of the Walmart.com is Amazon.com. The other competitors of the Walmart.com are eBay as well as Provide who can be considered as the major players in the online retailing business. One of the significant issues related with the online retailers is with inventories as it holds huge inventories which become quite difficult to dispose of along with management of inventories and huge discounts related with clearing out the products which are unsold tend to be the crucial issues for online retailers (Tracy, 2005). @WalmartLabs evaluates an application permitting Facebook users to offer gifts while remaining within the Facebook website. Furthermore, in order to differentiate itself from its competitors, it has been observed that the CEO of the company has bought an online trader, whose main task is to evaluate home delivery related to fresh groceries which were ordered over the net. The company is interested to provide vital updates in its iPhone as well as iPads apps in the stores of the United States (WalmartLabs, 2012). It can be mentioned that the company needs to make use of both cost leadership as well as differentiation advantage strategies in order to compete effectively with its competitors such as Amazon.com and thus increase the sales and the revenues of the company. References Blackwell Publishing. (2011). Differentiation advantage. Retrieved from http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/grant/pdfs/CSA5eC09.pdf Businessweek. (2011). Sony’s TV business keeps fading to red. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/sonys-tv-business-keeps-fading-to-red-08042011.html Comcast. (2012). Press release. Retrieved from http://www.comcast.com/about/pressrelease/pressreleasedetail.ashx?prid=1097&SCRedirect=true Grover, R. Lowry, T. & Edwards, C. (2010). Revenge of the cable guys. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_12/b4171038593210.htm Marconi. (2010). Television manufacturing wars of today & industry battles of tomorrow. Retrieved from http://www.marconipacific.com/TV-Manufacturing-Wars-March2010.pdf Peng, M. W. (2008). Leveraging resources and capabilities. Retrieved from http://www.utdallas.edu/~mikepeng/pdf/PDFB4Ch4-0706FINAL.pdf Sony. (2012). Sony transformation to revitalize electronics business, generate growth and drive new value creation. Retrieved from http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/info/strategy2012/pdf/pressE.pdf Scribd. (2012). 2010. Marketing and promotion plan. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/31683168/Sony-Bravia-Marketing-Plan Stokes, J. (2012). Walmartlabs: taking big data into retail. Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/marketing/walmartlabs-taking-big-data-into-retail-0176299 The Bodhi Tree Group. (2012). Internal context. Retrieved from http://thebodhitreegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Comcast-SWOT.png Tracy, P. (2005). Separating the winners from the losers in the online retail industry. Retrieved from http://web.streetauthority.com/cmnts/pt/2005/03-10.asp WalmartLabs. (2012). Mobilising our social customers. Retrieved from http://walmartlabs.blogspot.in/ Worlscibooks. (2012). Competitive advantage and value creation. Retrieved from http://www.worldscibooks.com/etextbook/7171/7171_chap07.pdf Read More