在一场日前于东京举行的企业策略演示文稿会议上，日本大厂 Sony 首席执行官平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai)重申，电子产品业务部门仍是该公司的“第一优先”；同时Sony将进一步扩展娱乐与金融服务业务──这两个部门今日是整个Sony集团的支柱。
Sony在稍早之前所公布的最新财报结果显示，这家日本消费性电子大厂已经不再是一家“电子厂商”(请点击这里查看
《索尼，你还是消费性电子企业吗？》)，该公司几乎所有的利润都来自娱乐与保险业务，而电视与移动设备业务表现则是拖累；对Sony首席执行官来说，权衡非电子业务与不赚钱的电子业务之利弊，并非是简单任务。
在演示文稿会议上，平井坦承Sony计划“深入讨论”由拥有该公司6%股权、来自私募股权机构Third Point的行动派投资人Dan Loeb所提的建议案；Loeb主张Sony应该考虑将其音乐与电影业务部门部分剥离。
平井解释，上述提案是有关于将Sony娱乐业务的15~20%股权独立并IPO，而不是出售整个娱乐业务部门：“我们将召开董事会着手讨论此案。”但他并未提供董事会将对此案做出结论的时间表。
此外Sony也在演示文稿会议中指出，该公司正在朝向将电子业务于两年内恢复年度营业利润5%的轨道前进──平井的目标是在截止于2015年3月的会计年度，达到营业利润5%、营业额6兆日圆的的目标。
Sony首席执行官平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai)
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从 Sony的财务预测中可以看出，其电子业务复苏之路将会十分艰难，而这家公司恐怕也很容易在全球市场的快速变化中受到冲击；做为Sony电子业务的三大支 柱──游戏、移动与影像──之一，游戏业务的本会计年度(截止于2014年3月)销售额预测仍维持在1兆日圆，但营收获利率则由原先的8%调降为2%。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
第2页：笔记本电脑从移动设备业务中独立出来
第3页：一场豪赌？
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• 日三大半导体厂商获利回升，加强核心事业
• Sony世界摄影大奖得主公布
• 索尼，你还是消费性电子企业吗？kTdesmc
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尽管最新一代游戏机PlayStation4 (PS4)预计于今年稍晚上市，Sony还是选择降低业界的期待，至少在本会计年度与下一会计年度；该公司表示：“Sony的目标是大幅扩展PS4相关业务模式，并在截止于2016年3月31日的下一财务年度，进一步推动其成长。”
在 移动设备业务部分，Sony决定将该公司的笔记本电脑产品营收从该部门独立，理由是“反映过去一年市场与产业环境所经历的变化”。将PC产品营收排除于移动设备业务部门之后，Sony也将该部门的销售额目标由原先预测的1.8兆日圆调降为1.5兆日圆，但营收利润则维持在4%。Sony未透露PC部门的业绩目标，仅表示将在本会计年度让该业务恢复获利。
同时Sony也调降了影像业务部门的销售额目标，由原先的1.5兆日圆降为1.3兆日圆，主要是反映全球一般小型数码相机市场的萎缩。不过Sony对于其影像业务前景仍抱持高度期望，表示将可在本会计年度藉由其影像传感器、专业/消费型产品等业务，达到10%的营收利润。
Sony的最新财报预测(FY14)
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本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
第3页：一场豪赌？
相关阅读：
• 日三大半导体厂商获利回升，加强核心事业
• Sony世界摄影大奖得主公布
• 索尼，你还是消费性电子企业吗？kTdesmc
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一场豪赌？
分析以上Sony的最新消息，有几项重点浮上台面──也许Sony正在豪赌什么，或是正计划开发新应用。如Sony特别指出，影像传感器是该公司强项，并打算将把新一代传感器技术应用于不同的终端产品；该公司并表示，正在开发能进一步扩展传感器应用领域的新技术，包括能感测可见光以外光谱的传感器，以及能侦测、分类不同型态信息的传感器。
至于移动设备业务方面，Sony的重点不只是在智能手机，还有平板电脑；该公司并未透露未来的新产品/类别开发计划，只表示将推出“以Xperia Z手机之成功为基础的新一代高竞争力产品”，进一步提升移动设备的“视(Watch)”、“听(Listen)”与“创造(Create)”体验。
在游戏业务方面， Sony显然将聚焦于内容与服务，稳固获利来源；该公司也将串流式PlayStation游戏视为关键，打算利用去年收购的Gaikai公司之云端技术，让用户在不同的设备上都能享受PlayStation游戏体验。
相对于Sony对影像、移动设备与游戏业务的重视，该公司的电视业务显得薄弱；虽然Sony誓言让电视业务恢复获利，却似乎没有相关新策略。在演示文稿会资料中，Sony提及将为液晶电视添加新一代影像处理引擎 X-Reality PRO、扩展其4K产品，并打造符合新兴市场需求的产品，不过这一切看来似乎不足以让亏损的电视业务翻身。
前面所提的Loeb提案，是基于认为若将20%的Sony娱乐部门股权公开上市，将可募得重整Sony电子业务的足够资金，同时该公司的股东也能藉由此部分业务分割短期获益；但这对Sony更长远的未来发展是否有利，仍有待观察。
更具体地说，这种募资策略是否真能有效拯救Sony的Bravia液晶电视与VAIO笔记本电脑业务，是让人质疑的；不过此举仍可能有助于Sony进一步投资其影像传感器业务──毕竟此业务在目前所有的Sony电子产品中，是唯一的赢家。
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Judith Cheng
参考英文原文：Sony’s dilemma: Short-term gain vs. long-term strategy，by Junko Yoshida
相关阅读：
• 日三大半导体厂商获利回升，加强核心事业
• Sony世界摄影大奖得主公布
• 索尼，你还是消费性电子企业吗？kTdesmc
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Sony’s dilemma: Short-term gain vs. long-term strategy
Junko Yoshida
Sony CEO reiterated that restoring its electronics business is the company’s priority. But how exactly is a partial spinoff of its entertainment divisions going to help? In a corporate strategy briefing held Wednesday (May 22) in Tokyo, Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai of Sony Corp. reiterated that restoring Sony’s electronics business is his company’s “top priority,” while the company will further expand entertainment and financial services -- two divisions propping up the entire Sony Group today.
At a time when Sony’s latest financial results show that the Japanese consumer electronics giant is no longer an electronics company (nearly all of its profit comes from its entertainment and insurance units, while the company’s TV and mobile businesses are dragging down the bottom line), juggling pros and cons of the company’s non-electronics businesses and its unprofitable electronics divisions is no easy task for the CEO.
Sony's CEO Kazu Hirai
During the briefing, Hirai acknowledged that Sony plans to “thoroughly discuss” the proposal made by an activist investor Dan Loeb from Third Point. Loeb, who owns 6 percent of Sony, is urging the Japanese company to consider a partial spinoff of its music and movie divisions.
Explaining that the proposal is about spinning off 15 to 20 percent of Sony’s entertainment business in an IPO rather than selling off the entire entertainment division, Hirai noted that “we are going to start the discussion at a board meeting.” He refrained, however, from talking of a timeline for the board to reach a conclusion.
During the briefing, Sony also noted that it is “on track” to reach an annual operating margin of 5 percent in the electronics business within two years. Hirai reiterated his goal to achieve an operating profit margin of 5 percent on sales of 6 trillion yen in the fiscal year to March 2015.
Lowering expectations
Several tweaks and “realignments” Sony made in its predictions -- including lowering its profitability targets for its videogame operations -- illustrate that the road to recovery in the electronics business will be treacherous, and the company will be vulnerable to rapid changes in the global market.
Of the three pillars of Sony’s electronics business -- games, mobile and imaging -- games is where Sony decided to lower the target for operating income margin. While maintaining its sales target at 1 trillion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2014, Sony expects its operating income margin to decrease from a previously predicted 8 percent to 2 percent.
Despite its upcoming PlayStation4 (PS4), scheduled for roll-out later this year, Sony has chosen to tamp down industry expectations, at least during the current and next fiscal years. “Sony aims to significantly expand its business model around PS4, to transition the business to further growth in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 (“FY15”) and beyond,” the company said.
Tweaks and realignments
As for the company’s mobile business, Sony decided to separate the company’s notebook PC revenues from the mobile sector. The company said the decision reflects “the changes the market and business environment have undergone in the past year.” By taking PC revenue out of its mobile business, Sony lowered the sales target for its newly defined mobile sector from, originally, 1.8 trillion yen to 1.5 trillion yen, while maintain its target for operating income margin at 4 percent. While providing no specific sales or margin target for its PC business, Sony simply said it plans to return the PC business to profit in the current fiscal year ending March 2014.
Sony is also lowering the sales target of its imaging business from the originally predicted 1.5 trillion yen to 1.3 trillion yen, most likely reflecting a shrinking market for compact digital still cameras worldwide. Nonetheless, Sony is holding high hopes for its imaging business, hoping to achieve “an operating profit margin of more than 10 percent across the image sensor, professional and consumer categories by the end of the current fiscal year.”
Sony's FY14 targets for sales and income margin
Tweaks and realignments lead Sony to lower targets in some
Placing bets
Parsing Sony’s announcement, a few highlights emerge -- where Sony might be betting big or planning to develop new applications.
Noting that imaging sensors are “a particularly strong category for Sony,” Sony is committed to commercializing “new sensor technologies capable of differentiating finished products,” the company said. Perhaps more important, Sony is also developing technologies “that further expand the range of sensor applications,” according to the company. Such applications include “sensors capable of sensing beyond the visible light spectrum, and sensors capable of detecting and categorizing different types of information,” the Japanese company explained.
As far as the mobile business is concerned, Sony’s emphasis is not just on smartphones but on tablets. Without offering any specifics on new products or new product categories, the company noted that it plans to launch “new and highly competitive products that build on the success of Xperia Z.” Sony intends to roll out the new product (or a new product category) which will “further elevate the mobile ‘Watch,’ ‘Listen,’ and ‘Create’ experiences.”
In its games business, Sony’s is clearly focused on content and services as a stable profit source. Sony also sees streaming PlayStation games as critical. The Japanese company’s plan is to leverage the cloud technologies of Gaikai Inc., acquired last year. With that, Sony hopes to allow users to enjoy the PlayStation experience “across a wide range of products.”
While Sony stressed its focus on the imaging, mobile and game divisions to lift the company’s overall electronics business, its TV business is likely to remain the weak link.
Although Sony says it’s committed to returning the TV business to profitability, the company appears to lack new strategies. In the briefing material, Sony talked about adding a new image processing engine called “X-Reality PRO,” enhancing audio video quality and expanding its 4K LCD TV lineup, while tailoring products that meet the needs of the emerging markets. Nothing, however, jumps out as revolutionary enough to turn around the money-losing TV market.
Short-term gain
Private equity fund manager Dan Loeb’s proposal is based on a belief that taking up to 20% of the entertainment division public would free up capital to overhaul Sony’s electronics business. While Sony’s shareholders could benefit from the short-term gain for the partial spinoff, how it benefits Sony’s long-term future is far from clear.
More specifically, it’s doubtful if there is even a credible strategy for Sony to use capital raised from the partial spinoff to save its struggling Bravia TV or Vaio notebook computer businesses.
One could, however, argue that it might help Sony to invest further in its imaging sensor business -- a clear winner among all Sony electronics products today.
责编：Quentin
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