PDF [4833KB] - Sony
PDF [4833KB] - Sony
PDF [4833KB] - Sony
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While continuing to be a company that evokes<br />
fascination and excitement, the management<br />
team is working together to build a foundation<br />
for future growth<br />
How did <strong>Sony</strong> perform in the fiscal year<br />
ended March 31, 2004 vis-à-vis its mid-term<br />
corporate strategy TR60?<br />
Sales for the fiscal year ended March 31,<br />
2004 increased 0.3% to ¥7,496.4 billion. Due<br />
to restructuring expenses, operating income<br />
fell 46.7% to ¥98.9 billion.<br />
In the Electronics segment, we focused on<br />
strengthening our product lineup. Sales of flat<br />
panel televisions increased significantly. We<br />
expanded our LCD and plasma television<br />
product lineups, and Grand Wega, our rearprojection<br />
television achieved substantially<br />
higher sales, especially in the U.S. We introduced<br />
several new DVD recorder models,<br />
which led to an increase in our market share<br />
from late 2003 to the spring of 2004. In the<br />
intensively price competitive digital still camera<br />
market, the success of our best selling<br />
product, contributed to profitability. We also<br />
retained our leading market share in the video<br />
camera market, which remains the most<br />
profitable category in the Electronics segment.<br />
In the PC market, another area of fierce<br />
competition, we significantly increased profitability<br />
in our VAIO business by focusing on<br />
value-added models.<br />
In the Game segment, total cumulative<br />
production shipments of the PlayStation 2<br />
(PS2) consoles surpassed 70 million units.<br />
Software remained strong, too, as the annual<br />
number of units shipped increased, proving<br />
that the PS2 business is still in its peak years. In<br />
the Music segment, past restructuring initiatives<br />
have resulted in significant improvements<br />
in profitability, allowing us to record an operating<br />
profit, compared with an operating loss<br />
in the previous year, despite the continued<br />
contraction of the global music industry. The<br />
Pictures segment achieved record-breaking<br />
revenues on a U.S. dollar basis due to higher<br />
sales within the television business. In the<br />
Financial Services segment, higher insurance<br />
revenues, along with an improvement in<br />
valuation gains and losses from investments,<br />
contributed to an increase in both revenue<br />
and profit. In April 2004, we established <strong>Sony</strong><br />
Financial Holdings Inc. (SFH). This financial<br />
holding company will play a pivotal role in our<br />
drive to create synergies among our life insurance,<br />
non-life insurance and banking businesses,<br />
and to increase the total value of our<br />
financial services business.<br />
What are <strong>Sony</strong>’s primary objectives for the<br />
fiscal year ending March 31, 2005?<br />
I view the current fiscal year as a time for <strong>Sony</strong><br />
to firmly execute the fundamental strategies<br />
that were formulated in the previous fiscal year.<br />
In the Electronics and Game segments, we<br />
will accelerate our convergence strategy and<br />
one of the goals is to introduce highly attractive<br />
products in both the home and mobile<br />
electronics categories. In the home electronics<br />
category, we intend to accomplish this by<br />
aggressively pursuing superior display picture<br />
quality and increasing the speed and capacity<br />
of storage devices. We will introduce a rearprojection<br />
television with a high resolution<br />
display device and a home server with more<br />
than a terabyte of storage capacity. In the<br />
mobile electronics category, through close<br />
cooperation with <strong>Sony</strong> Ericsson Mobile<br />
Communications AB, we will promote the<br />
convergence of our electronics products and<br />
wireless technologies in products such as<br />
cellular phones and wireless LANs. New<br />
mobile products in the pipeline include<br />
PlayStation Portable (PSP), a handheld video<br />
game system, and a cellular phone equipped<br />
with FeliCa, a contactless IC card technology.<br />
We will also continue to invest strategically in<br />
key components such as semiconductors.<br />
Examples of ongoing development projects<br />
include the Cell, a next generation multi<br />
purpose microprocessor; imaging devices like<br />
CCDs and CMOS image sensors; display<br />
devices; and storage devices.<br />
As for our entertainment business, our<br />
entertainment and electronics businesses<br />
joined forces in May 2004 to launch a music<br />
download service called Connect in the U.S.,<br />
and to introduce new <strong>Sony</strong> products compatible<br />
with this service. We will see more convergence<br />
between our entertainment and<br />
electronics businesses. At the same time, we<br />
will continue to strengthen our capabilities in<br />
content development and develop new business<br />
models for the coming network era.<br />
I firmly believe that <strong>Sony</strong> will remain a<br />
leading consumer brand in the 21st century.<br />
<strong>Sony</strong> will continue to be a company that<br />
evokes fascination and excitement among its<br />
shareholders and investors, as well as among<br />
its customers, employees and other stakeholders.<br />
The management team is dedicated<br />
to building a new foundation that will support<br />
expansive growth in the years ahead.<br />
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