"Sony in a year or two will be compared with Netflix, not
Panasonic," says Amir Anvarzadeh, head of Japan equity sales at
brokerage firm BGC Partners Inc.
Mr. Hirai still has to convince some skeptics that he can dream
big. While he gave his strategy the name "One Sony" when he became
chief executive in 2012, Mr. Hirai hasn't outlined a vision for how
the different pieces of Sony fit together or benefit each
other.
William Saito, a venture capitalist and technology consultant
who has done work for Sony, says he noticed about two years ago an
increase in the number of Sony engineers that came to him with
"projects in shoeboxes," or experiments developed on the side.
Many engineers were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of
internal interest in their work. "They were saying: 'Do you know
where I can go to keep these projects alive?'" he recalls. "Before,
the engineers were gods, and they were backed up by engineers. I
think they lost something there."
Mr. Hirai, Sony Mobile Communications chief Hiroki Totoki and
other executives are trying to reinvigorate Sony's employees by
encouraging them to come up with new business ideas.
At Sony headquarters in Tokyo, casually dressed workers now meet
in a "Creative Lounge" with the look and feel of a Silicon Valley
startup. The loft-style space has exposed ductwork, Eames chairs
and three-dimensional printers -- and is a center for Sony's
internal entrepreneurship program.
Early results include a watch based entirely on electronic paper
-- but no big breakthroughs.
While Mr. Hirai hasn't announced an overall plan for Sony's
consumer-electronics business, restructuring efforts have gained
traction. Except for the mobile unit, all of the
electronics-related businesses are expected to post a profit for
the fiscal year ended March 31, the first such achievement in a
decade.
Sony's CEO has shown enthusiasm for some consumer electronics,
calling himself a "camera nut." He likes to personally test
prototypes of Sony products such as stand-alone cameras and
headphones. And he takes a personal interest in experiments spotted
in tours of research sites.
Mr. Hirai approved the development of a projector that can
display a 147-inch ultra-high-definition image on walls and sells
for more than $40,000 in Japan. There's even a new Walkman that
delivers "high-definition audio," a snappier sound than the usual
smartphone can provide. It costs 120,000 yen (or $1,200 in the
U.S.), compared with 33,000 yen for the original Walkman in
1979.
Mr. Hirai says some members of Sony's board were skeptical when
he said last year that he wanted to separate businesses such as TVs
and audio products into autonomous companies under Sony's
parent-company umbrella.
Sony's music, motion picture and mobile arms have long been run
under that structure, which is supposed to improve financial
accountability. Some directors asked how the change would fit with
Mr. Hirai's "One Sony" plan, which called for more cooperation
between Sony's divisions.
The CEO got his way after a retreat last year with directors in
Hakone, a hot spring resort near Tokyo. He says he told the board
he would personally take charge of "balancing the centrifugal and
centripetal forces" at Sony.
He says now: "As we say in Japanese, we don't want all these
kites with no strings flying all over the place. But at the same
time, I want to make sure they have enough leeway to really manage
their own business and be accountable for it."
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