Stringer's answer to Sony's current cash flow problems has been to shut factories and sack up to 20,000 staff.
According to some observers, this may not happen, as all Stringer has delivered to date is back-to-back losses, which are the first since Sony listed in 1958. Currently Sony is losing money from just about everything it makes for the consumer electronics market.
In Australia, local boss Carl Rose has struggled to hold onto market share as competitors move in.
Recently Sony Australia was able to claw back market share in the flat-panel TV market, from a low of 14 per cent to 30 per cent, giving the company level pegging with Samsung. To get there, Sony gave away PS3 gaming consoles, slashed prices and offered extended warranties for its Bravia TVs, which are now being made by third party manufacturers because of the mass sackings and the closing of Sony factories by Stringer.
2010 is a big year for Sony, with the company set to spend millions on a major new marketing imitative wrapped around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, designed to shore up the Sony brand. Sony is also set to launch new OLED TVs along with new 3D TVs. Stringer has also said that Sony will expand into online services and electric car batteries to spur sales growth.
BusinessWeek said that Sony, which pioneered the portable-music industry with its Walkman players in the 1970s before ceding the market lead to Apple, will start selling TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles that can show 3D images from next fiscal year. 3D products, excluding content, will generate more than 1 trillion yen in 12 months to March 2013, Sony said last month.
