Sony has had its ups and downs over the past few years, and there's no denying that the company isn't quite so hot as it once was. According to one former Sony chief, there's a reason for this ... a foreigner at the helm.
Koichiro Tsujino, ex-Sony Vaio chief and ex-Google Japan president, recent gave a seminar where he shared several opinions on the PS3 platform holder. According to Tsujino, Sony was once innovative, but has become too slow for the Internet era and too quick to kill off projects before they get a chance.
After giving Sony a dressing down, he then dropped a rather controversial bombshell, stating that the company, "should never have been run by a foreigner." He was referring to current Sony CEO Howard Stringer, but refused to elaborate for fear that he'd get into trouble.
Unfortunately, that refusal to elaborate just makes him sound rather racist. At the very least it compounds the stereotype of the xenophobic Japanese businessman who doesn't trust those fork-tongued round-eyes. Maybe he has a point, but damn, that's a harsh and potentially offensive way of putting it.
What do you reckon? Should a Japanese company remain in the hands of the Japanese forevermore, or was Tsujino being a bit bigoted?
[Via Hiroko Tabuchi's Twitter]
Contest:
4:20 PM on 12.13.2010 | 
I'm sure what he means is that the current head is out of touch with a lot of the userbase - namely Europe and the US.
Other than Kevin Butler, who was their only real good ad campaign, they've sucked at exposure (even then, I think he's ran his course, as all he does now is bash the competition).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAgTzYD2uOM&feature=related
Rofl
Kaz Hirai will run Sony into the ground (if he's named as Stringer's successor) if he's anything more than a figurehead.
I agree he needs to elaborate on what he means, cause it just sounds like he thinks anyone other Japanese isn't smart enough to come up with innovative idea's which isn't the case, but sony does seem to cancel a lot of things lately that put the playstation as one of the great game systems.
I can't wait for Chinese companies to start buying Japanese companies, damn place will party like it is 1999.
I don't see race mentioned? Knowledge about market. Self reliance. Promoting from within.
Next you are going to tell me that labor unions or "American Made" can some how be reduced to some slanderous unsupported argument.
"Sounds like" is an artifact of the listeners listening.
You don't get to be that level of executive without self censoring everything you say. The story is dysfunctional communication makes for dysfunctional organizations.
Sony might want to foster a save space for executives to communicate ideas freely without fear of reprisal. It doesn't, and thus it is dysfunctional. That is the story implicit in what was said.
Whoah WHOAH....
Coming from Jim Sterling!
Damn. Better watch out Mr. Tabuchi!
Japan and it's people have lost their teeth and now they're barking without any bite.
Ummm....Howard Stringer is from Wales.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93KrnZ0UJQk
Oh wait, it's a Jim Sterling article, so expecting any real effort beyond "he said WHAT, why that would be a perfect slow news day posting" would be kind of like asking Tyler Perry to write a white character who isn't a stereotype... of write any character that isn't a stereotype... or hell, write anything that hasn't been in 300 other sitcoms already... aww, fuck it. I'm tired.
I'm sure Howard wishes he could match MS and 360, toe to toe, and offer services up to scratch, but those backwards old fools probably vote him down. Besides that, japanese business culture is a weird thing and they aren'tthe best at bending to other winds, and think globally, especially when it comes to the net.
As an example, look at all those bad recent Sony decisions, and the good ones that have taken far too long to impliment (cross game voice chat, paid PSN service, demos for games as standard). These should be sorted, but I think the old farts won't et them, and thus think in a too japanese centric way. The ball game has changed and MS are leading, and just like Nintendo once being caught out by Sony, they've been caught too by MS. Howard might be running the show, but its still japanese money he's spending. I also think too much damage has been done this gen, by the japanese themselves, from CEO etc to gamers.
Sadly, little will change at Sony, until the overall mindset of those suits does, Howard included or not. Meanwhile, Apple's ring in the hat, continues to make ripples that (with MS) could easily push Sony out of industry importance. And with this rubbish (company infighting doesn't help, does it?), and Sony's jealous criticisms of Kinect, alongside how much Move has SHIPPED, NOT ACTUALLY SOLD (Sony love using that trick on words, to hide bad sales), they are running scared, IMO.
come to think about it Iwata is japanesse, yeah, he has a point there...
I'm sorry, but I've owned a Vaio and it was by far the worst computer I've ever owned. Within 3 months of the purchases the video card blew out because the "mid sized" case was actually really too small and was so badly designed that the CD/DVD drives sat at the top above an open air space in the case design that served absolutely no purpose. The power supply sat on top of the video card and the only vent for air circulation was a half inch wide by 6 inch long (about that, I still have the computer somewhere but I'm not about to find it and measuring tape to find out). After jumping through hoops trying to get customer support to help, I used their limited warranty, which only covered replacing the video card and low and behold 3 months later the new card blew the same way the old one did.
Couple all that with all the recalls you hear about Viao products around that time, with over heating and literally blowing up and causing fires you can't say that THIS guy was doing anything amazing outside of apparently starting Skynet.
Frankly, his comments about Sony's projects being ended too soon and the company being too slow for the internet era are HILARIOUS. Sony's projects do 2 things usually: They fail horribly and they lose a ton of money trying to sell a product that they tell is we can't live with out but obviously can. Or they force their product so hard that you have absolutely no choice but buy it. And the formers outweighed the latter. If they didn't at least a few of their more pricey projects they'd end up bankrupt.
And as far as being too slow for the internet age.. well.. they probably don't have much of an internet presence if their computers keep burning down homes, but honestly their forcing their way into everyones homes through Blu-ray, the PS3 and 3D TV no one, not even the Japanese, want, so why should we worry that their internet presence is a little slow? I really doubt Samsung or other competitors are THAT much on the forefront of the internet hive mind either.. When your force feeding the masses your "OMG MUST HAVE OR YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TECHNOLOGY AGAIN" products what does it matter?
The headlining comment is so typical, I can't even be bothered to make a comment other then "that's typical". He's just another business man who's running his mouth. It won't matter in the end that it sounded racist, it'll matter that he's making an ass of himself and ruining his honor and we'll probably never hear from him again. Which honestly couldn't be too soon.
but in many ways i agree with him, because originally, in the times of akio morita, the Sony business was fundamentally based on certain Japanese family values, which meant that the Sony corp wasn't just a business, but it was a lot like a family where people shared ideas and loved what they did and weren't afraid to make mistakes, i think some of these values were what drove Sony's innovation during those days. I wish Tsujino elaborated on his idea more as most people are just taking it as outright racism. though i must say Howard Stringer has been a great leader for Sony so far and has gotten Sony back into profitability.
Jeremy
thesonypony.blogspot.com