Sony Corporation is an electronic giant and one of the world s largest media conglomerates based in Japan. Sony was founded in 1946 in Tokyo, Japan, by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, with a start-up capital of 190,000 yen and about 20 employees. Today, it has a strength of 180,500 employees all over the world and an annual turnover of $70.303 billion. Akio Morita played a significant role in founding, building and expanding the company with his wonderful leadership qualities. He played a key role in improving relations between the US and Japan after World War II, which enabled Japan to emerge as an economic power in the global market. In 2007, Sony ranked the 64th company in the Fortune 500 list of companies. Till the 1990s, Sony enjoyed market leadership in many product categories due to its innovation. Many products introduced by Sony were new to the world. While competitors copied or launched similar products in the market, Sony went ahead and introduced advanced technology in the products. It emerged as a trendsetter and its competitors followed. In the early 1990s, competitors like LG, Samsung, Apple iPod and Microsoft Xbox had challenged Sony in a few of these product categories. Sony’s operating margin also came down drastically over the period. In 2005, Howard Stringer became CEO and Chairman of the Sony Corporation and implemented many measures to achieve the turnaround. Experts opine that eventhough Sony is facing intense competition in some of its product categories, its brand image remains very strong due to its policy of innovation and gives it the edge over its competitors.
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