Sony to cut 10,000 jobs

Reuters
Sony Corp. said on Thursday that it would cut about 7% of its global network force and sell more than $1 billion in assets and post a loss this year.

With a restructuring plan that failed to excite some analysts, Sony hopes to reverse its fading fortunes and catch up with rivals such as Matsushita Electric Industrial.

"Sony and its peers all faced tremendous pressure in the marketplace, though we have a sense of urgency and we have a sense of purpose. We can and will compete vigorously." Howard Stinger, Sony's new chief executive, told a news conference.

To boost efficiency, Sony abolish the companies system that Stinger said was permitting different business units from communicating freely and working together for common goals. This cause overlap and missed opportunities in the market.

Sony unveiled plans to sell real estate, stocks and non-core assets worth ¥120 billion by 2007/08.

Sony has already cut 20,000 jobs and significantly lowered fixed costs under a previous three-year restructuring plan that was scheduled to end in the current business year.

"I think Sony is heading in the right direction," he said. "But whether it is attractive enough to buy or not is a question to be answered a bit later when things get clearer."
okay, I will admit that I have a dog in this one since I was one of the 277 people that lost their jobs when Sony closed.

When Howard Stinger commented about abolishing a system that prevented communicating freely and working together, he is absolutely correct.

I was working for Sony Springfield before their initial construction was completed and I was there to the end and we have missed in my opinion numerous opportunities for exactly the above reasons.

Of course my opinions are based on being a former business owner myself, and although Sony did to some wonderful things for our community and was very much involved in our local community, to me, it just "seemed" like they were not in touch with the marketplace and missed opportunities.

To be fair, I was not privy to management decisions and input so my opinion is based on an observation of a production employee.

Before Sony shut their doors in Springfield, it was rumored that the corporation was going to cut 1000 jobs, no way did we know at the time that when the new president of Sony America took over that we were going to be one of the huge chunks of the cuts.