Sony Mobile Communications
Executive Summary
Sony Mobile Communications is one of the largest providers of electronics products in the world. It provides multimedia services such as phones, PC cards, and other accessories. The products have innovative applications that attract clients across the globe. Still, the products are combined with powerful technology applications for mobile music, imaging, entertainment, and communications. As a result, this creates an enticing brand, which creates business opportunities for mobile operators. The products are also desirable and fun for the market operators. Sony Mobile Communication target segment of corporate users, healthcare providers, entrepreneurs, professional people, and students. Currently, the market has expanded as many people embrace the emerging technologies. Most consumers want video, PDA features, and internet and this converts many from first time buyers to frequent and potential consumers. In future, the market will rapidly increase since technology has become an important tool in most daily activities such as communication and entertainment among others.
Introduction
Sony Mobile Communication formerly known as the Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication is a multinational mobile provider. It is a UK based Company that is principally engaged in manufacturing, designing, and developing mobile phone devices for its clients across the globe. According to Kodama (2008), the company is owned equally by Sony and Ericsson. The Company manufactures different products such as mobile phones, entertainment accessories, and PC cards. The company operates across different regions such as Asia Pacific, China, Europe, and America. The history of the Sony Mobile Communications dates back in the early 90s when Ericsson established the need to have a mobile brand that would transform the world with its features and services. During that period, Ericsson was in the mobile market for decades and was ranked as the third largest mobile providers in the world. However the company was struggling to meet its potential clients who by then did not understand the importance of purchasing the products because of its high cost. Despite its huge losses, the company had the inability to produce cheaper phones to attract clients with lower income. Following the establishment of the joint venture, the company released new models of mobile operating system. Thus far, the objective of this essay is to discuss the strategic reasons behind the success of the company. This essay will also discuss the potential barriers that hinder the company to achieve its goals and objectives and the actions that the company is taking to ensure success in the future.
The Company’s Vision
The Company’s vision is to become the best entertainment and communication brand. The company advertisements attract clients to do more than just communicating. It creates a strong ground for consumers to engage in entertainment experiences. Indeed, the Sony Mobile products blur the lines between entertainment and communication and this attract a wide number of clients across the globe. The Company specialities are mobile phones, innovation, services, telecommunication, and entertainment. Over the years, the technological increase has positively affected the company in its sales and revenues. The technological advancement in the world has expanded the use of the cell phones to meet the demands and needs of the society that oblige one to utilize technology on a daily basis. The complexity and success of the company can be analyzed by conducting a PEST analysis that lists all the macro-environment factors affecting the Company (Von, Ichijō, & Nonaka, 2000).
Target Market
The primary target segment is middle-upper income professionals. Secondly, the company targets students who mostly use portable devices such as cell phones. Thirdly, the company targets mid-size corporations who oblige the need to stay in communication with staff members and employees (Jin, 2011). The following section expounds more on the macro-environment of the Sony Mobile Communications.
PEST ANALYSIS
Political situation
For the past years, the company has been affected by the taxation, which that the UK government heavily consideres. The company has ensured that it observes the rules and regulations set by the UK government to anticipate its pricing strategy and profitability. With this, the company has ensured that it tax a specific amount ordered by the government. To some extent, this affects the company to perform its daily duties in that it has to compile to the rules and regulations ordered by the government. The company is very changeable in price instability depending on the amount or level of taxation (Steinbock, 2005).
Economic Situation
For the past decades, the economic recession has affected the company. This has hindered consumers to purchase the products because of its cost. With this in mind, the company has established the need to be strategic in its pricing and promotion. In pricing, the company has created a strong platform where clients can purchase its products well regardless of the economic recessions. Consumers have a chance to choose the best products that align to their income and social status. With economic recession all over the world, the company has been forced to lower its prices to attract consumers with low income. In so doing, this has affected the company to flourish and attain its goals and objectives in sales. Additionally, the economic recession has increased the need for the company to promote its products widely. For instance, the company offers discounts to attract most clients. With the tough economic recession all over the world, the potential market of the company has decreased as many people opt to first meet their basic needs before fulfilling their wants (Rogers, 2011).
Social Cultural analysis
Population growth in the world has led to the great expansion of the use of cell phones. To meet the needs and demands of people, the Company has manufactured products that foster communication and entertainment. According to Nilsson, Andreas, & Jönsson (2006), technology has created a strong platform for people to communicate effectively regardless the geographical barriers. Products such as cellphones and the internet have enabled many to communicate and have fun effectively. In the 21st century, most people heavily depend on mobile communication. With this, Sony Mobile Communication has become the best option that consumers can choose to buy products that satisfy their needs. As people depend more on cellphones, Sony Mobile Communication has flourished in its sales and revenues. This has created a strong ground for the company to sell its products effectively in that many understand its importance. Still, it has helped the company to flourish in its advertising and marketing strategies in that many people already the need that the company is solving in the society (Singh & Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA Center for the Study of Mobile Devices and Communication, 2009).
The education growth in the world offers opportunities for the company to increase its sales and revenues. Over the years, one of the company target segment has been students. With this, the educational growth assures the company it shall always be on the lead to fulfil its goals and objectives. Additionally, the cultural perception of technological devices enables the company to flourish. As mentioned earlier, technology has become a vital tool for communication and entertainment in the society. In today’s society, many people have tremendously embraced technology in their daily activities. With positive technological perception, the company has been in the lead to meet its goals and objectives set annually (Ahlgren & Dahlberg, 2008).
Technological Situation
The increase use of technology in the world has created a strong platform for the company to convert its first clients to frequent and potential clients. The company has ensured that its products are in a high technology to attract the modern society that is technologically oriented. The high use of internet has also affected how the company operates. The company has been in a better position to attract clients worldwide, which in turn has increased growth. The usage of E-Technology has offered great opportunities to expand its market in different regions across the globe. In future plans, the company has established the need to increase technological linkage in various places such as colleges, universities, hospitals, and other institutes that mostly uses cellphones and the internet. In turn, this will create better opportunities for the company to attract a wide number of consumers from different institutions (Stålenhag & Modig, 2006).
Internal Factors
In this case, this essay will analyze the organization, performance, and clients in order further conduct the SWOT analysis. For the past years, the company has been committed to satisfy the needs of both the business and students. The company has established that communication is a vital tool that the society cannot survive without. The company hopes to meet the societal needs by improving its products, supply chain, and logistics. Still, it is utilizing the recent technological devices such as internet to attract clients across the globe. The company strictly compiles to laws and regulations in relation to electronic and electrical devices. Still, the company has initiated the green innovation strategy that makes its product most preferable to many consumers. According to Frantzich (2010), the aim of green innovation has been to protect the environment. This company has ensured that it distributes its products globally without comprising the environmental impact (Datamonitor Firm, 2000).
SWOT ANALYSIS
At this point, it is important to conduct a SWOT analysis to fully understand what is contributing to the company success or failure.
Strengths
First, the company has a strong brand that attracts clients across the globe. The brand attracts most consumers in that it has innovative features such as touch screen, camera, video clips, and the internet just to name a few. With this, Sony Mobile Communication works well in the modern society that heavily regards the mentioned features. Secondly, the mobile products are compatible, which means that the phone can work well in any mobile network. Thirdly, the company’s products are easy to use and this attracts most consumers to purchase in that they are assured of how to use the product without any difficulties (Wilson, 2011). Fourthly, the company is known to offer essential gadgets with great innovation in technology such as videophones and PDAs music. Fifthly, the company sells its products at a reasonable price and this explains why it has succeeded in the past years. Lastly, the company offered quality products such as resistance screen, light and durable metallic finish, and a software that suite resistance to the computer viruses (Fagerlund & Körner, 2010).
Weaknesses
To some extent, the company has encountered difficulties expanding into the Chinese and Asian. There is less interest in the Chinese market since there are more substitutes sold at affordable process. There is less interest and hype in Asia market in that Smartphones is widely used and best known. Secondly, there are many substitutes in the market, which consumers can choose from. Thirdly, with tough economic recession across the globe the company has been forced to lower its prices to attract many clients. Fourthly, the company allocates more of its resources in advertising and marketing, and this creates the need to sell more to attain the cost used in campaigns (Kim, 2009).
Opportunities
First, as technology advances, there are great opportunities for the Sony Mobile Communication to expound in its sales and revenues. With the emerging technology, the company will attract a wide number of clients across the globe. Secondly, upgrading in exciting features will allow the company to attract many clients. Thirdly, education growth offers new opportunities for the company to increase in its sales in that students are among the target segments (Hing-Yi, Wang, & Hsin-Pin Fu, 2009). Fourthly, as Sony Mobile Communication partners with other mobile phone companies, the company will reduce costs in marketing and increase its revenues (Sabat, 2005).
Threats
For the decades, there has been stiff competition from other cellphone producers in the world. The company is competing with big companies such as Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Alcatel, LG, HTC, Sagem, Philips, Palm, and Huawei among others. The increased competition hinders the company to target all populations in that it shares its market share with the mentioned companies. Secondly, as many become advanced with technological skills, Smartphones have become easy to use more than ever. There is a threat that many companies may enter into the market, which in turn would increase more competition. With the new entrants in the market, the company has not been privileged to fully convert its first clients to frequent and potential buyers. Thirdly, the increase of Chinese market products creates a strong threat to the company in that the market offers more features and options at affordable prices. This creates the need for the Sony Mobile to lower its prices to attract a wide number of clients. Fourthly, Black berry has been the biggest threat to the Sony Mobile Communications in that it has the longest and the best history in mobile devices. The brand is also known to attract most business people. With this, the company has not fully met the business people who are widely captivated by blackberry features and services. To fully attract the business world, the Sony Mobile should ensure that its features align with those of Blackberry (Kimiloglu, Nasir, & Nasir, 2010).
Exploitation of opportunities
Studies document that, the company has increased in its growth since its establishment (Zakaria, Garanca, & Sobeih, 2012). This research continues to show how the company has exploited the opportunities better than other companies. As mentioned earlier, the company has embraced the opportunities created by the emerging technologies. It has ensured that its products utilize the high technology that is friendly and ease to use. The company has also embraced the opportunities offered by the innovative technology by providing products that foster entertainment experiences. With this, the company has been in the lead to meet the needs of the modern society in the arena of entertainment and communication. The company has embraced offered by the population growth across the globe by producing many products that meet the needs of today’s society. Some of these products include cellphones that have enabled people to communicate effectively with one another regardless of geographical distance. Increasing customer satisfaction and value has been the very aim of this company that has enabled the company to expand its market across the globe. Typically, globalization has been the main tendency of most businesses. The technological advances in communications and travel have been the main driving force behind it. The new communication facilities such as the ones offered by the Sony Erickson have allowed people to communicate at ease without the need to walk in miles (Temporal, 2005). The global concern about the environment and pollution has affected the packaging of cellphones. The company portrays its need in protecting the environment by posting a message that beseeches consumers to dispose the packaging material well. The good leadership and enable the management company to flourish in its decision making. The management team has created a strong culture where employees understand how to foster customer satisfaction and value. Lastly, the company designs innovative products that create an appealing media experience to its target segments (Berl & de Meer, 2011).
To sum up, Sony Mobile Communication is a perfect illustration of a company that is flourishing. The company has innovated products that meet the needs of communication and entertainment. To fully meet its target segments, the company is diligently working hard to minimize its pricing, innovates better products, and foster customer satisfaction. With this, the company hopes to achieve its goals and objectives in future while converting new clients to frequent and potential clients.
References
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