SONY EVOLVING

HUMAN RESOURCE
CHALLENGE

Participants : Pradeep Sharma, Aniket Kadekar, Aniruddh

Kendurkar, Santosh Mane, Makrand Kulkarni, Naresh
Balasubramanian & Saifudeen Khan, Vinod Singh

1
Facts

 Sony was established in 1946 in Tokyo by

Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita.
 Sony is producing and marketing Play Station
(home video game system), TV, digital and video
cameras, computers and music players.
 They have manufacturing plants in China, Japan
and Malaysia. Other Plants in Britain, Mexico,
Spain and US

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Facts

3
Facts

 In 2001, the Japanese yen’s appreciation against

the dollar and euro leads high cost for sony and
that decreased profitability of the company and
Sony closed 16 plants from 70 to 54.
 Sony hired Sir Howard Stringer as chairman and
CEO has to close 11 plants, cut more than 10,000
jobs and shifts component manufacturing to low
cost locations.
 Sony operates in many countries, so national
environment of sony differs in terms of culture,
legal system, economic conditions, technology
levels and infrastructure. 4
Facts

 HR philosophy -> Entrepreneurial spirit, creative

thinking and strong communications skills, diverse
talent (example – former chairman Norio Ohga – an
opera singer, a licensed jet pilot and an orchestral
conductor).
 Ohga’s education of arts helped Sony to introduce it’s
first tape recorder, firm’s most successful product.
 Sony uses online training system for easy
development of personnels all around the world.
 Sony follows an “integrity approach” to foreign
manufacturing operations and attempts to maintain
work place standarts that exceed local requirements.
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Interpretations

 The main aim of Sony is to be progressive in

international human resource management.
 Criterias of Sony are entrepreneurial spirit,
thinking creatively and strong communication
skills when Sony is recruiting new employees.
 HR managers of Sony are spending much time
with employees,linking firm’s objectives and
strategies in order to achieve important tasks.
 Firstly managers are identifying the jobs and
then they are looking for talents that they need
to hire for the job.
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Interpretations

 Trainees are on duty to find ways to use their

talents to advance the company.
 Sony is attempting to establish a universial
standard of employement, offering superior
working conditions and locally relevant wages
and benefits at all locations.
 At the corporate social responsiblity, sony is
focusing on creating link between its business
and the environment.

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Interpretations
 Sony has code of conduct which sets the basic
internal standards to be observed by all
directors, officers and employees in order to
make strong corporate governance, business
ethics.
 Sony’s basic policies are concerning ethical
business practices and activities, including
respect for human rights

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Assumptions
 Sony takes action on social, environmental and
financial performance.
 At the social level, Sony improves the quality of
life standards by providing better educational
systems.
 At the environmental level, Sony avoids air
pollution by using less harmfull raw materials.
 At the financial level, sony provides better
wages and salaries to its employees.
 At workforce, Sony came up with new and
innovative alignment strategy. Ex – Britain CRT
factory 9
Three Key Learnings

 From International Business point of view, organization's

HR should focus on entrepreneurial spirit, creative
thinking , strong communications skills & diverse talent

 Sony’s CSR policy -> Sony has code of conduct which

sets the basic internal standards to be observed by all
directors, officers and employees in order to make strong
corporate governance and business ethics.

 Sony operates in many countries; so national

environment of Sony, differs in terms of culture, legal
system, economic conditions, technology levels and
infrastructure. 10
Case Related Questions
Q1. Japanese MNEs usually follow an ethnocentric
orientation in international staffing in which manager’s
from headquarters hold key subsidiaries positions.
Sony is shifting away from this model. What approach
should Sony follow for staffing its subsidiaries? When
recruiting expatriates for foreign operations, what
characteristics should Sony emphasize in order to
ensure it has managers who are most adept at working
abroad? What steps should the firm take to ensure its
expatriate candidates are adequately prepared for
long term international assignments?

.
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Case Related Questions
Ans. 1
 Sony should follow the below mentioned points
for staffing its subsidiaries
Provide positive working environment
Recognize, reward and reinforce right behavior
Involve and engage resources linking the firm’s
objectives and strategies
Develop the skills and potential for achieving
important tasks
Evaluate and Measure
. 12
Case Related Questions
Ans. 1
 Characteristics which should Sony emphasize
in order to ensure it has managers who are
most adept at working abroad provide
positive working environment for long term
duration
 Set up strategic long term job objectives
 Have individual motivation with linking
professional goals
 Training and Talent development programs
. 13
Case Related Questions
Q2. Sony face challenges in finding suitable talent for its
operations in China and Europe. What steps should Sony
take to ensure it has an adequate pool of international
managers and other talent for world wide operation?
What should Sony do to promote global mind sets?
Ans 2.
• Identifying most promising recruits
• Counsel to do what they are passionate about
• Qualified candidates to be offered 2 years formal
course

. 14
Case Related Questions
Ans. 2
• Modules of firms operations and business practices.
• Through On-line training, TrainNet.
• Coaching and mentoring through established network.
• Mgmt. interviews internally to identify potential
managers.
• Executive fast-track candidates – must be fluent in
English + 2 more languages, international experience
and passion to take an international roles.
• Sony’s Mgmt. identifies the right candidate and recruit/
promote at the right place and the right job.

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Case Related Questions
Q3. What is your view of Sony’s training efforts?
What steps could Sony take to improve its
training in light of its multi-country operations?

Ans3. The current training system for trainees

with online system like TrainNet and highly
customizable training packages which includes
multi-lingual trainings, for building up future
senior managers, we feel that current training
system is comprehensive enough to cater the
future needs
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Case Related Questions
Q4. Sony has experienced labor relations
problems in Indonesia and elsewhere. What
strategy should management follow to improve
labor relations? What can top management do
to reduce the number and severity of labor
difficulties that Sony might face in the future?

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Case Related Questions
Ans4. To reduce the number and severity of
labor difficulties that Sony might face in the
future, it should apply similar strategy which
was followed in Britain during shut dows of
couple of factories for CRTs. They applied
following techniques –
a. Worked with Unions to create enhanced
packages
b. Find new job opportunities in the region
c. Align and Train employees for newer
technologies
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Case Related Questions
Q5. What is your view of Sony’s efforts at
coporate social responsibiliy(CSR) in
international operating? What steps can Sony
take to improve CSR in organizing and
managing its operations around the world
particularly in developing countries and
emerging markets?

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Case Related Questions
Ans5. At the corporate social responsibility, Sony is
focusing on creating link between its business and
the environment.
 Sony has code of conduct which sets the basic
internal standards to be observed by all directors,
officers and employees in order to make strong
corporate governance and business ethics.
 Sony’s basic policies are concerning ethical
business practices and activities, including respect
for human rights.
 Managers are researching the standards of all
countries that it operates and it gives value its
employees according to the standards. 20
Case Related Questions
Ans5.
 Sony can take action on social, environmental
and financial performance.
 At the social level, Sony can improve the
quality of life standards by providing better
educational systems.
 At the environmental level, Sony can avoid air
pollution by using less harmful row materials.
 At the financial level, Sony can provide better
wages and salaries to its employees.
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Three Key Perceptions as an
International Business Manager
1. Reflective Thinking – Management should
know that actions today may be crucial for
entry to new markets tomorrow. Exploiting
low workplace standards in one country can
ruin reputation and jeo-paradize entry to
new markets

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Three Key Perceptions as an
International Business Manager
1. Ethical Reasoning -
1. Managers ensure that wages in foreign
factories provide viable, fair standard of
living
2. Sony provides all facilites to temporary
employees too which is a good ethical
practice
2. Multicultural and Diversity

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