Howard Stringer taking over as Sony chairman and CEO

Something big could be happening at Sony—the company's board of directors is gathering tomorrow to appoint Sir Howard Stringer as its first non-Japanese chairman and CEO. Stringer, who is currently the head of Sony Corporation of America, would succeed current chief Noboyuki Idei.

We hesitate to read too much into this, especially since Stringer is already a company man, but it's always a big deal when a major Japanese corporation puts a foreigner in the top spot and this could very well mark a big turning point for Sony and its future strategy. For the past several years the company has been riven with infighting between its entertainment and electronics divisions, and they've done a really poor job adjusting to the new realities and of the global electronics business—apart from the massive success of the PlayStation, Sony has been caught flat-footed in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Apple, Samsung, and about a zillion anonymous Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers (for example, Sony's the number 2 seller of DVD players in the US, number one is a company called CyberHome). Anyway, we're definitely very, very curious to see what new direction Stringer ends up taking the company (if any), but in the meantime you have to feel really bad for Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment and the guy who helped create the PlayStation. Everyone had just assumed for years that he was going to take over after Idei retired, and obviously that's not going to happen now. 

[jd @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

sony's screwed

[Paperless @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

i hope that guy makes sony psp ocme faster to europe i cant wait!!

[Ronen Lasry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

how's his japanese?

[dibbs, in search of self @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

i admit to being a bit of a sony fanboy, but i think that that attraction came from sony's japanese image, which i loved. im not a xenophobe, but now that an american will head it, i fear sony will go the way of the american car: slow, big, ugly, and inefficient. after i get my psp & ps3, i think sony will be off my product list...sonys screwed...

[MarkT @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

....... you reckon he's American???? SIR Howard Stringer doesn't sound like the name of an American to me. Sir Willy Gates might feel he's missing out on something!

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Nope, even though he's the head of Sony Corporation of America, Stringer is actually from Wales.

[Robert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Since I am a foreigner living in Japan I have to respect that Sony picks their management based on skill and experience rather than nationality. Look at Nissan's Carlos Ghosn, he sure turned that company around.

[Fazal Majid @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Carlos Ghosn is an engineer. Stringer is a bean-counter who did most of his career in the media division. Sony's core electronics business is failing because it hasn't invested enough in new technologies like plasma or LCD, probably because their management was distracted by the glamour of their media side. Also, the media business forces the hardware side to cripple their products with extensive DRM, which makes them even less attractive to consumers.

Translation: Sony is indeed screwed. The sad thing is, this will confirm Japanese prefudices about non-Japanese executives, that Ghosn had begun to change.

[willikers @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Sir Howard is a very, very capable executive. This is excellent news for Sony, and even better news for the PSP as a mainstream convergence device for Sony-sourced media of all sorts - gaming, music, video. I'm quite pleased.

[OddManOut @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

"i think that that attraction came from sony's japanese image"

At least we still have 'Thanko'...

I agree though in part. For many years now something being Japanese was kinda synonymous with it being high quality, innovative, and either down right cool or down right strange or a delicious combination of both.

Of course, that sort of thinking is slightly naive. Japan has put it's share of out-and-out BAD products on the market as well as well.

Though I will miss the aura of Japanese-ee cool that comes from an ostensibly all Japanese company, I also agree with those who say that this could be very good for Sony. Maybe all this guy is gonna do is help keep the books in order and make sure the various divisions spend more time and Japanese-ee-nous on producing cool stuff, and less time fighting each other.

Is having a Gai-Jin at the helm such a big price to pay to have the Vaio XXXX, PSP2/3/4, PS4/5/6 not suck or cost $500 (more like $2500 for the Vaio) ?

All that said I (in my ignorance) think Kutaragi would have been a better choice.

What I really wonder is what the Japanese people think about this. I know they find caucasians fascinating to a certain extent, but I wonder if they're gonna like having one of them running an iconic company like Sony...

[hello @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

robert, nissan is not really nissan anymore it's renault and they picked carlos ghosn, and they are making a profit now cutting corners on great japanese designs. and as much as I dislike sony most of my electronics are sony, and I don't care who's in charge, sony's are always close to being perfect but they never are, maybe sir what ever could change that.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Forget Sony and Japan. South Korea is the new Japan.

[silentio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

on another note, if you scroll the page really fast up and down, the image looks kind of 3D.

[nojetlag @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

He is british so there is hope that Sony will keep some level of corporate culture(not the artificial marketing one), therefore still has a future ;-)

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Did you see this guy's picture? I thought Benny Hill was dead.

IronChefMorimoto

[Rich @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

To 4 & 5... Although born in Cardiff, and thus a cave dwelling troglodyte, Stringer has actually been an American citizen since 1985. He even served in 'Nam -- which I guess makes him a proper American...

[Elijah @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Silentio - you sir, are a genius.

[djfs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Hello.. Nissan is still Nissan..The guy at the top though from Renault is just someone who came to cut costs. The engineers are still Japanese and I wouldn't be surprised if Renault nicked alot of Nissan's technology for themselves, though having said that, Renault and Nissan are actually partners. As most analysts say, Renault got the better long term deal beacuse it could access Japanese technology, Nissan got the short term finance it wanted to survive..