Assessment on "Marketing Plan for Digital Camera Situation Analysis"

Assessment 13 pages (4433 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Marketing Plan for Digital Camera

Situation Analysis

Sony Corporation is a global leader in the research & development, design and manufacturing of optics-based products including high-resolution digital cameras for personal and professional use. The HDNA technology the company has pioneered is redefining high definition digital photography for the amateur and professional photographer alike (Smith, 2008). Sony also has exceptional control and skill in manufacturing, which has given the company the ability to quickly translate innovations into completed products (Chang, 2010). The Sony corporate culture puts a very high value on taking ownership of innovation and the development of digital platforms and products that liberate consumers to live as the choose (Cooper, 2000). This is the mission their engineers are on and one that energizes their business analysts in constructing new approaches to product development, customization and service (Chang, 2010). Given the strength of the Sony corporate culture to innovate, it has succeeded where other purely technology-driven companies have failed. To understand why this is, an analysis of the company is presented in this section including a PESTLE Analysis, Internal Analysis and SWOT Analysis. Each of these provides a varying glimpse into the approach the company takes to managing innovation, customer relationships, and long-term growth.

PESTLE Analysis

The PESTLE framework continues to provide strategists, analysts and academicians with the insights that are critical for understanding how the company's internal core competencies and strengths are best aligned to opportunities while alleviating threats. Sony has created a brand known for rapid, creative and ingenious innovation that looks to help consumers enjoy entertainment while attaining mobility and freedom of movement at the same time (Chang, 2010). The innovations in MP3 players and previously, in the Sony Walkman, exemplify this innate strength of the company. Due to the rapid pace of innovation, Sony has enjoyed significant success with its channel strategies and development of selling and services globally. With this core competency and strength in perspective, the following PESTLE analysis is provided:

Political factors: Sony has been fortunate in that it has not been involved in the more contentious aspects of the American-Japanese balance of trade. The very contentious time between the United States and Japan during the 1980s when Toshiba was accused of dumping memory chips, disk drives, laptops and selling sophisticated milling machines to the Russian Navy to make their noise signatures so low they were not detectable on sonar (Nwachukwu, 1993). This incident, still recalled by the older members of the U.S. Congress and Senate when the balance of trade is discussed in government, illustrates how just a single subsidiary (Toshiba Machinery Company) with a lack of ethics can nearly bring a global conglomerate from being blacklisted from its largest market (Nwachukwu, 1993). Sony only was partially impacted by this incident and has since long been able to overcome any association with Toshiba because of the incident. Today, in 2011, Japanese managers from the previous generation and sharing the accounts of how this violation of trust with their most dominant trading partner, the U.S., nearly cost Toshiba the laptop market and their right to operate in this nation (Ohishi, Naoto, 1993). The Toshiba Machinery Company story is a cautionary tale that many Japanese managers are using to permeate authenticity, transparency and trust throughout their organizations. Sony has one of the most advanced ethics training programs in the industry and regularly has Toshiba executives, now retired, visit and speak about the need for ethics and transparency in dealing with global governments (Ohishi, Naoto, 1993). Because of this communicative and collaborative approach to managing knowledge throughout the Japanese high technology industry, the current generation of Sony executives has alleviated any of these types of major ethical gaffes or errors in judgment. In conclusion, on this factor, which can be a major impediment to global growth for any Japanese manufacturer, Sony has been very focused on learning form past mistakes to excel at political lobbying and the development of effective relationships.

Economic Factors:

With the majority of revenue generated by Japanese companies from exports, Japanese companies have become very adept at analyzing and predicting economic cycles in their core markets (Johansson, Ikujiro, 1987). The Japanese are also by nature a highly collaborative culture, with risk mitigation through communication being a high priority (Ohishi, Naoto, 1993). With these factors in mind, the Japanese approach to economic turbulence is to trim back all fixed costs and minimize variable expenses, as currency fluctuations can cause significant impacts on their profitability. Due to all of these factors, Japanese manufacturers are also more focused on how to create new products that quickly, within months, capture significant market share as this is the phase when the majority of profits are generated (Nwachukwu, 1993). The global recession has made Japanese manufacturers concentrate more than ever on how they listen to and react to customers as well, as Panasonic regularly rotates its senior management teams through foreign markets (Johansson, Ikujiro, 1987).

Another strategy Japanese manufacturers are relying on to alleviate economic turbulence and disruption is to create knowledge sharing networks with their suppliers. Toyota has been one of the leaders in creating supply chains that are also knowledge sharing networks (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). This approach to creating a knowledge-sharing network also spreads risk evenly throughout a supply chain, which significantly reduces inventory exposure costs. Toyota pioneered this approach to creating knowledge-sharing networks with suppliers which alleviated being too invested in one set of suppliers from one geography, thereby spreading risk throughout their global supply chain (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). The knowledge sharing aspects of the network also continue to streamline communication and collaboration was well (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000).

Social Factors: Demographics globally continue to shift to an emphasis on Baby Boomers, Millennial workers, and their health care needs, which is completely re-ordering the structure of many institutions globally. Social networks have also re-ordered how people, organizations and groups communicate globally, breaking down barriers between companies and customers in the process (Bernoff, Li, 2008). In addition, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are now redefining and remaking brands by customers' perceptions and satisfaction levels first, and secondarily on communications spending, public relations and advertising (Bernoff, Li, 2008). This social change has major opportunities for Sony in their product development strategies, including the development of entirely new cameras that allow for quick, one-click sharing of images and videos to YouTube, Flickr and other video sharing and photo social networking sites (Bernoff, Li, 2008). Given the recent events in Egypt including how quickly the Internet was shut down to silence dissenting voices to the government there, ironically that action showed just how powerful social media and social networks have come. For Sony, this new openness and focus on freely sharing video and digital content online underscores their development and market focused strategies for the long-term. There is a combining of social networks and the broader social actors they represent. For Sony, designing products that capitalize on these factors is crucial for their growth. The design-in requirements for social media and social networking is a given, as these factors continue to reshape how society communicates, shares and collaborates both on an individual and corporate level.

Technological Factors: As the Sony culture is one that values innovation and initiative on technological projects higher and with more regard than any other, the focus on developing new product is critical to not only their survival but also the cultural continuing to evolve as well (Chang, 2010). The founders of Sony defined innovation practices and roles with a deliberate focus on making new product development the greatest strength of their business (Ohishi, Naoto, 1993). That emphasis on creating an organizational structure that can effectively deliver innovation is also seen in how Sony creates a shared knowledge network that replicates the approach taken by Toyota (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). Sony has more patents than the top five electronic manufacturers combined in Japan, a feat accomplished through the development of its entrepreneurial approach to allowing engineering to nurture their projects from prototypes to business units (Chang, 2010). All of these factors illustrate how committed Sony's founders are to innovation and how they have created systems to nurture and grow these aspects of their business over time.

Environmental Factors

Sony's ability to innovate also applies to its ability to sense what is most critical for its key customers for a sustainability and green or energy-efficiency standpoint as well. The importance of green computing, low-power consumption laptops and systems, and the development of highly recyclable product designs are a major priority within Sony, as sustainability of products is a design objective (Olenick, 2010). Sony is managing to transform the focus on sustainability or green products into a competitive advantage by unleashing the innovation it has, creating entirely new systems and processes to meet user's requirements in these areas. The concentration on making product lines capitalize on environmental factors is just a segment of the companies' strategy for taking the rapid changing occurring globally and working it to their advantage. As many nations now require corporations who are… READ MORE

How to Reference "Marketing Plan for Digital Camera Situation Analysis" Assessment in a Bibliography

Related Assessments:

Marketing Response There Are Several Significant Advantages Term Paper

Marketing

Response

There are several significant advantages of using qualitative measurements in marketing research. The most significant is the ability to capture the voice of customers that may have evaded… read more

Term Paper 8 pages (3792 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Advertising / Marketing / Sales

---

Marketing Strategy Plan Term Paper

Marketing Strategy Plan

Firm Chosen: Eastman Kodak Company.

About Kodak:

Kodak has come a long way ever since it was founded by George Eastman dating back to 1888 with the… read more

Term Paper 7 pages (2585 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

Nokia N95 Cell Phone Marketing Plan Term Paper

Nokia N95 Cell Phone Marketing Plan

This is a marketing plan for the introduction of the Nokia N95 Cell Phone. A serious entry into the burgeoning field of PDA's, or… read more

Term Paper 16 pages (4468 words) Sources: 15 Topic: Computers / IT / Internet

---

Business Plan for a New or Fledgling Business Venture Business Plan

Business Organisation

Marketing Plan

Production Plan

Management & Labour Plan

Financial Plans

Projected Income Statement

Cash Flow Forecast

Projected Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Equity

Key Targets

Business Plan for… read more

Business Plan 10 pages (3242 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

EZ Tracker: Analysis of International Business Opportunity Business Plan

It is now one of the key players in a global economy providing the largest market for consumer goods while supplying a huge chunk of manufactured products. This is why… read more

Business Plan 40 pages (10645 words) Sources: 10 Style: MLA Topic: Advertising / Marketing / Sales

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>