marketing
CASE STUDY - SONY CORPORATION
A record number of Sony Corporation shareholders, total 9,500, gathered in a posh hotel in
Tokyo on 27th June 2012 waited anxiously for the new chief to reveal revival plan and strategies for Sony. This was Kazuo Hirai‘s first interaction with the share holders. Board of Sony
Corporation had announced him as the new Chief Executive in February 2012 and he had taken over charge in April 2012. Kazuo Hirai, 51 years old new CEO, first asked the outgoing
American national CEO and now the Chairman of Board Howard Stringer to talk the shareholders. Howard Stringer British born American national CEO of Sony Corporation from 2005 to 2012 deeply regretted the record loss of 457 billion yen ($ 5.75 billion) for the year 2011- 2012.
According to Stringer, the poor performance of the current year was a result of the earth quake in
Japan and the floods in Thailand.
Shareholders became increasingly restless, one share holder shouted at the peak of his voice:
―Stringer, how can you justify your salary of $ 3 million per year. The company has been losing money since 2005 and you have been drawing such huge salaries and only talking‖.
Another old share holder stated: ―the share price of Sony stock is now only 10% of Samsung‘s share price, and 2% of Apple Inc.‘s. This is your performance Howard Stringer for Sony
Corporation.‖ He also questioned why Stringer had been retained as the Chairman of the Board
This case has been prepared on real life events by Naveed M. Khan , Assistant Professor at
Bahria University, Karachi campus. This case has been developed only for class discussions
as they had had enough of Howard Stinger era from 2005 to 2012. ―He has not been able to turn around the company; he has been promising results every year with zero delivery‖.
At that point, the newly appointed CEO, Kazuo Hirai, got up from his chair and requested all the shareholders to remain calm. He communicated clearly to everyone that
A record number of Sony Corporation shareholders, total 9,500, gathered in a posh hotel in
Tokyo on 27th June 2012 waited anxiously for the new chief to reveal revival plan and strategies for Sony. This was Kazuo Hirai‘s first interaction with the share holders. Board of Sony
Corporation had announced him as the new Chief Executive in February 2012 and he had taken over charge in April 2012. Kazuo Hirai, 51 years old new CEO, first asked the outgoing
American national CEO and now the Chairman of Board Howard Stringer to talk the shareholders. Howard Stringer British born American national CEO of Sony Corporation from 2005 to 2012 deeply regretted the record loss of 457 billion yen ($ 5.75 billion) for the year 2011- 2012.
According to Stringer, the poor performance of the current year was a result of the earth quake in
Japan and the floods in Thailand.
Shareholders became increasingly restless, one share holder shouted at the peak of his voice:
―Stringer, how can you justify your salary of $ 3 million per year. The company has been losing money since 2005 and you have been drawing such huge salaries and only talking‖.
Another old share holder stated: ―the share price of Sony stock is now only 10% of Samsung‘s share price, and 2% of Apple Inc.‘s. This is your performance Howard Stringer for Sony
Corporation.‖ He also questioned why Stringer had been retained as the Chairman of the Board
This case has been prepared on real life events by Naveed M. Khan , Assistant Professor at
Bahria University, Karachi campus. This case has been developed only for class discussions
as they had had enough of Howard Stinger era from 2005 to 2012. ―He has not been able to turn around the company; he has been promising results every year with zero delivery‖.
At that point, the newly appointed CEO, Kazuo Hirai, got up from his chair and requested all the shareholders to remain calm. He communicated clearly to everyone that