They don't need a manager, they need a VISIONARY!
Make no mistake, Sony is done. Over. Kaput. A mature business that couldn't seem to find its way after the death of its visionary founder. Kind of like...Apple Computer. Except Steve Jobs didn't die, he was just EXILED! And then returned. To not only save the day, but REINVENT THE COMPANY!
That's what Michael Eisner did at Disney. He invented a new PARADIGM! HE came up with the idea of putting has-been actors in cheap movies. AND, had the visionary Jeff Katzenberg to oversee and then blow up the animation business. And with both these engines running, Eisner then MONETIZED them and Disney's other assets by merchandising the HELL out of them.
What has Howard Stringer done?
He's essentially destroyed Sony Music.
Sure, Tommy Mottola had to go. But, and use a Chris Rock voice while reading here, couldn't he AT LEAST have found somebody who knew SOMETHING about music? I mean there was NO ONE available to run one of the largest music companies in the world except for a NEWS MAN? I mean couldn't Howard at least have found a LAWYER, or an MBA? Somebody who brought SOMETHING to the table?
And what has Andy Lack done?
Sliced and diced and arranged a merger with BMG.
This is like removing the car stereo from a twenty year old Mercedes-Benz and installing a Volvo engine. Sure, it RUNS, but nobody WANTS IT! And, it's not going to run FOREVER!
Kids want the new, the different, that which SHINES!
Hell, didn't Sony prove this with the PLAYSTATION?
But rather than anoint the overseer of THAT grand slam, which is CONTINUING to pay dividends with the PS2 and the new hand-held gaming system, the board gave power to a man who doesn't speak Japanese and never presided over the creation of ANYTHING!
THIS is a recipe for extinction. For today's modern electronic companies are like a Bob Dylan song. "He not busy being born is busy dying."
Nothing is being born at Sony.
They missed out on plasma/flat-screen TV.
They missed out on hand-held music players.
Mr. Stringer got rid of the company's TV production arm.
And for making the NUMBERS look right, he gets the TOP GIG?
God, look at John Sculley. Apple was INCREDIBLY profitable when he ran it. Until the business fell right off a cliff. For he stopped innovating, and just charged more and more for eventually stale products to make the NUMBERS work. Mr. Stringer's making the NUMBERS work, but what's the PLAN? Sure, you've got to staunch the bleeding, but then you've got to march FORWARD!
I see NO innovation in the American enterprises Mr. Stringer oversees.
AND, this is the man who pronounced the iPod "DOPI".
There IS no real synergy between Sony's hardware and software. Because this isn't the kind of synergy that makes a DIFFERENCE anymore. No, electronics are a commodity, built by contractors in China. And movies and music are expensive creations made by people...not even using the equipment Sony manufactures in most cases. Whereas APPLE COMPUTER knows that you use software to ENHANCE hardware, to set your product apart, to create seamless solutions to problems that have not even been FORESEEN by the marketplace.
Sony is a brand name from the past. That is now worth next to nothing amongst the impressionable younger sector. Hell, kids prefer the products of the nimble SAMSUNG!
Since corporate boards are now liable for their decisions, they're playing it safe. Directors figure they can't get sued if they hand the reins to somebody who can make the trains run on time.
But making the trains run on time doesn't do much for you if suddenly everybody starts taking a JET to their destination.
When you're in a crisis, you don't take baby steps. You throw the long ball.
Andy Lack could have reinvented the paradigm. LOWERED COSTS across the board, functioned like an indie and embraced new distribution models. INSTEAD, he railed against piracy and looked at ways to squeeze fat from the existing model.
The major labels are going to be marginalized. Sony Music already has been.
But it's not only the music company, it's the TV business, the portable electronics business, the...
Someone is needed to change the culture to one of innovation.
Like Carly Fiorina at HP, Howard Stringer is not the right person.
Carly could make PLANS, she just couldn't understand the MARKETPLACE! She could MESMERIZE insiders at Davos, she just couldn't motivate people to BUY HP's products. Certainly not at a profitable price point.
Howard Stringer's the same deal. For a while Wall Street will think the company's stabilized. The stock won't be volatile. Everybody will give the enterprise a chance.
But make no mistake, Sony's in a death spiral.
They need an inventor, an engineer, someone who knows about CREATIVITY to both inspire and direct people.
Instead they've got another overpaid male who can make nice with suits and cover up what is a disaster.
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