Reinventing the Millennium

The high-level lists submitted by Ryoji Nakahachi and Yoshihisa Ishida have been reviewed by all parties before the meeting.

Sony's situation is rather bizarre.

Both the CEO and the CFO resigned one after another, but this was not enough to calm everyone's anger over the huge losses. Whether in New York or Tokyo, mainstream voices called for more senior executives to be responsible for this matter.

Of course, there is also the intention to cleanse the former leader Stringer's faction.

The final result was the dismissal of 12 group executives.

Including Stringer and Katsumi Ihara, a total of 14 senior executives are responsible for Sony's huge losses this time.

To match this, Sony will once again launch a wave of layoffs of at least 10,000 people around the world, but this will not be implemented until the new CEO takes office.

In these days of fraud by Japanese companies, Sony is not completely confused and has reached some consensus.

Close factories, sell assets, cut businesses, and lay off employees.

Although it is somewhat similar to the methods used to deal with the crisis in the previous two rounds, according to experience, it will definitely have some immediate effects.

As for whether the newly promoted people can do a good job, as the saying goes, they are already bad enough, they can't get worse, right?

"There is no need to go into details about the company's situation. The shareholders' meeting is coming soon. If possible, I believe everyone still hopes to submit a consensus-based job nomination to the shareholders." Fang Zhuo flipped through the list and performed his today's tasks in an orderly manner.

He has participated in quite a lot of meetings, including high-level meetings, board of directors, shareholders' meetings, and extraordinary shareholders' meetings over the years. Some meetings were like a war, and some were just routine meetings. Even though he was not rich in experience, he had plenty of experience.

Fang Zhuo glanced slightly out of the corner of his eye, saw the expressions of everyone at the moment, and suddenly smiled: "But the most important thing about this nomination is the CEO. Once this is decided, everything else can be negotiated slowly."

"The current position of CEO of Sony is not that easy to fill. I see that the media is already talking about the sinking of Sony's commercial aircraft carrier. Therefore, according to Chinese parlance, the new CEO is appointed when the army is defeated and is in danger. "

Fang Zhuo said this sentence first in Chinese and then in English.

Many Japanese executives in the conference room knew this sentence. Ryoji Nakahachi and Yoshihisa Ishida, who knew Chinese, had different expressions. Sony was sinking. Who was the hero who could stand up?

"I have already talked with both Ryoji Nakahachi and Yoshihisa Ishida, but maybe Hoyle and Fleming both need a clearer judgment on who is best suited to guide Sony's recovery."

Fang Zhuo looked at the row on the left, almost all of which were shareholder representatives representing foreign institutions.

Hoyle, Fleming and others nodded, and Sony's successor was as unclear as its current situation.

Sony's operations have always been internally closed. The last time Stringer succeeded Nobuyuki Idei, it was rare to receive a certain amount of push from foreign shareholders. This time, he had to participate.

Fang Zhuo then looked at the row of shareholder representatives and Sony executives belonging to the Japanese local faction on the right, and said: "Nakagawa Yu, Shimada, you know the current situation within Sony better than we do. I believe you can abandon personal interests at such a juncture and work for Suitable advice for Sony’s recovery.”

Compared with the Westerners on the left, the Japanese were much more excited. Nakagawa Yu and Shimada Keiichiro stood up and bowed when they were named. Their attitudes are self-evident.

Fang Zhuo handed the picture to the two parties involved: "So, Nakahachi Ryoji and Ishida Yoshihisa, what are your thoughts on Sony's future?"

There is no mandatory voting today, and there is no way to select CEO candidates according to the formal procedures of the board of directors and the nomination committee. It is more of a discussion in front of many important people.

If the loser is not convinced, they can try again at the shareholders' meeting in the afternoon. As for the consequences, if the consensus at this meeting is not consistent enough, there may be trouble.

There were 5 board directors, 8 representatives of major shareholders, and 7 group executives in the conference room.

Fang Zhuo listened to Nakaba Ryoji starting to speak without hesitation, and he estimated everyone's bias in his heart. Maybe the more powerful Nakaba Ryoji had a higher impression score.

But for him, and for Yi Ke, the next most important thing is to intervene in the actual operations and executive arrangements of Sony Sensor Company, and take advantage of Sony's decline to use the law of having breasts to gain further control over technical cooperation. .

As for whether it is Nakabachi or Ishida, the former is acceptable, while the latter may be slightly more in line with Fang Zhuo's aesthetic of Sony's successor.

Judging from the contacts during this period, Ishida Yoshihisa lacks a higher-level strategic vision.

This has to mention Kazuo Hirai, who is lonely in New York at the moment.

Regardless of Nakabachi, Ishida or Hirai, when talking about Sony's future, everyone inevitably mentions reform and cutting costs, but Hirai also mentioned changes to Stringer's overall strategy for Sony.

In order to reform Sony, Stringer put forward the slogan "Sony united" to break down departmental barriers and create a "unified Sony". However, in essence, many businesses were done in the form of subsidiaries, and many businesses were ultimately split off. subsidiaries.

Sony and Ice Core sensor companies also developed based on this situation.

The performance of these subsidiaries is mixed. The best one is still Sony sensor, and the worst one has been abolished.

Fang Zhuo asked Stringer face-to-face in New York why he did this, and got a statement that "competition between companies can maintain sufficient competitiveness." According to his own speculation, Japanese companies like Sony are ecologically closed, and Stringer It may be that they are using this method to gain more dominant power and better deploy faction manpower.

Hirai Kazuo talked about the company's overall strategy, believing that it should build "One Sony", cut off the unhealthy and corrupt flesh, and reunite the strength.

Stringer is letting it go, but Hirai Kazuo is going to take it.

During this period of time, Fang Zhuo had not heard any systematic thinking in this regard from Nakabachi Ryoji, Ishida Yoshihisa or even Yoshioka Hiroshi. Judging from this comparison, anyone in the conference room would be fine.

Of course, it is also possible that Nakahachi Ryoji and Ishida Yoshihisa are hiding their clumsiness, or there will be such strategic adjustments in the future, then... we will verify it later.

Fang Zhuo thought silently, while Nakabachi Ryoji and Ishida Yoshihisa got into a heated argument at the last moment. The two had differences about Sony's future development focus.

Yoshihisa Ishida believes that Ericsson can acquire Ericsson's shares in Sony Ericsson mobile phones and focus on the development of smartphones and smart tablets. Ryoji Nakahata believes that it will be difficult for Sony to achieve greater breakthroughs in this field.

"The smartphone market has taken shape. As Mr. Fang once said, the first half of the smartphone competition is over." Nakahata Ryoji quoted the words of the head of Yike, "Sony is very good in the fierce competition in the second half. It’s hard to get too many advantages, and there’s no better ecological position.”

Ishida Jiajiu glanced at Mr. Fang and saw that he had no intention of speaking, so he continued to refute.

At this time, Hoyle of BlackRock Group suddenly interrupted: "Mr. Fang, do you think Sony can still make a breakthrough in smartphones?"

Fang Zhuo didn't expect Hoyle to cue him and think about the answer.

Nakaba Ryoji knew that this answer might promote changes, and immediately reminded: "Mr. Fang, you said that the competition in the first half is over."

Fang Zhuo looked at the eagerness on Zhongbo's face, felt Ishida's gaze, then looked at everyone present, and said slowly: "I did say this, but objectively speaking, I also have historical limitations. Sexual, that’s just what I thought at the time.”

He paused and didn't mind expressing his thoughts: "The global smartphone market still has an ecological niche."

Nakaba Ryoji's face darkened and sweat formed on his back.

Yoshida Ishida took a deep breath, then said without hesitation: "Yes, Sony still has a lot to do in the smartphone market."

Yes, we can’t make any more mistakes. Stringer, who was born as a journalist and has almost no understanding of technology and production, became the head of a famous consumer electronics company. Looking back, this matter is already very unreliable.

Now, Yoshihisa Ishida, who has a technical background and is in charge of Sony Computer Entertainment, must pay special attention to his professional judgment on smart mobile terminals. (End of chapter)