Sony appoints Welsh dragon as leader
Sony appoints Welsh dragon as leader
Mar 08, 2005: Sony has taken the unusual step of appointing somebody who is not from Japan as its latest CEO, and it hopes that the new Welsh-born appointee, who is now a U.S. citizen, will turn around its recent problems with its electronics sector.
Howard Stringer, 63, used to be a CBS executive, is responsible for making a success out of Sony's music and movie businesses. He has promised to link the electronics sector with the entertainment businesses.
It is very rare for a foreign person to take charge of a Japanese company, but Nobuyuki Idei, who has served as director, representative corporate executive officer, chairman and group CEO, said that Stringer has a deep understanding of Sony's great tradition and through his open management style, he will energise Sony Group.
"Sir Howard is an executive admired both within the Sony Group and in the wider business community. His global perspective allows him to bring Sony's electronics and entertainment groups together and to integrate their resources effectively.
"Naturally, Sir Howard fully understands Sony's longstanding spirit of freedom and open-mindedness. It has been the greatest honour for me to lead Sony for 10 yeas as this global company has transitioned from analogue to digital, integrated its electronics and entertainment cultures and moved into the broadband age.
"I have the highest expectations for Sony as it begins a new phase under a new management team."
Stringer said that Sony has an unparalleled legacy of boldness, innovation and leadership around the world.
"Together we look forward to joining our twin pillars of engineering and technology with our commanding presence in entertainment and content creation to deliver the most advanced devices and forms of entertainment to the consumer.
"We have clearly demonstrated in our US operations that we can achieve significant cross-company efficiencies, and at the same time both extraordinary quality and record returns. I believe the entire global organisation is hungry to make this same transition, and all of us in senior management are committed to achieving that goal."
Stringer, who was president of CBS from 1986 to 1988, and president of CBS Broadcast between 1988 and 1995, has denied that Sony was experiencing huge problems at the moment.
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