Kenichiro Yoshida (Kenichiro Yoshida)

Kenichiro Yoshida (Kenichiro Yoshida)

2018

Opinion on influence of artificial intelligence on Sony

On May 23, 2018 the CEO of Sony Kenichiro Yoshida made the statement that the company should build the strategy of survival around data analysis and use of artificial intelligence. Service companies, like Amazon and Google, restrict the Japanese giant in the field of entertaining technologies long ago and even threaten its existence, transfers the Financial Times edition.

Yoshida understands that the companies which are intensively using data (such as Google, Amazon and Facebook) have huge potential. After deep crisis in the field of consumer electronics Sony decided to focus attention on online games and strimingovy services for video and music. Now Sony aims to revive investments into entertaining content and technologies therefore one of the largest record companies EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion was purchased.

Kenichiro Yoshida

Besides, within new strategy the company will begin to collect more thoughtfully data from the users on a number of devices and platforms, including on PlayStation, financial services and mobile phones. Sony is not going to compete directly with huge platforms of data analysis, but as noticed Yoshid, the company could use more reasonably own database - for example, to analyze these 80 million active users of a cloud game service of Sony PlayStation Network - for creation of content which would correspond to preferences of users.

For this reason of Sony decided to continue promotion of strimingovy TV-service PlayStation Vue, despite appeals of some analysts to refuse fight in already crowded market in which Netflix dominates. However Yoshida considers that despite the low profit of service, he provides to the company the valuable information on preferences of the audience. Within the same strategy Sony is going to cooperate with the Japanese companies of the taxi to receive and use further data on vehicles, also applying algorithms of artificial intelligence.^[1]

Appointment of Sony as the head

On February 2, 2018 Sony announced that 58-year-old Kenichiro Yoshida holding positions of the financial head and executive vice president of the company will become the following chief executive of corporation.

Appointment will become effective the 2018th since April 1. Kenichiro Yoshida will replace the acting chief executive of Sony Kazuo Hirai who will pass to a post of the chairman of the board of directors of the company.

Also Sony informed that the position of the chief financial officer instead of Yoshid will be held by the head of mobile division and the head of strategic planning Hiroki Totoki.^[2]

Staff movement marks completion of restructuring and transition of the Japanese producer of electronics to the next stage - a growth phase. Being the right hand of Hirai, Yoshida was directly involved in strategy development which promoted recovery of business of Sony, Nikkei notes.^[3]

Kazuo Hirai got up at a wheel of Sony in 2012, having replaced Howard Stringer under the leadership of whom the company incurred four years in a row losses. The situation in Sony was depressing: the company did not even pay dividends according to the results of the fiscal year which expired in March of the 2015th. However the new head carried out structural conversions and reviewed the strategy of Sony.

Efforts of Hirai bore fruit: in 2018 Sony entered as the leading supplier of sensors of the image, the successful developer of computer games and the producer of popular PlayStation 4 video game consoles. Also the company gains stable income from sale of musical content and animation. Significantly affairs and on such the directions as production of TVs and smartphones improved.

Kazuo Hirai and Kenichiro Yoshida together worked on reorganization of the stagnating business within the strategy of One Sony to bring corporation out of an unprofitable status in which it stayed several years.

I consider that it has the width of experience and a view of perspective and also the unshakable qualities of the head necessary for management of Sony of various business and therefore is an ideal applicant for the movement of the company in the future, - reported Hirai, speaking about Kenichiro Yoshida.

Notes