Sony withdrawing from non-focus and defocused markets like Vietnam

May 27, 2019 | 10:32

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Sony Corporation on May 21 held its Corporate Strategy Meeting for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2020, aiming to reduce overall costs by 57 per cent for 2020 through non-focus and defocused regions, including Vietnam.

sony withdrawing from non focus and defocused markets like vietnam

Sony non-focus and defocused regions, including Vietnam

In addition to strengthening each of its individual businesses, Sony will pursue further synergy across them through co-operation between its content IP and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) services, as well as technology, in order to continue its evolution as a “creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology.”

During the meeting in Tokyo, when talking about the transformation of its smartphone business, Sony revealed that they consider Japan, Europe, Taiwan, and Hong Kong the focus regions. In addition, the slides shared at the meeting showed that the corporation has withdrawn from certain regions such as India, Australia, Canada, South America, Africa, Middle East, and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.

Sony map on smartphone business transformation, source: Sony

The regions listed above have been considered as non-focus and defocused regions.

Alongside providing details on a regional basis, Sony also talked about its aim to reduce operating costs by 50 per cent and overall costs by 57 per cent in the 2020 fiscal year compared to 2017.

This is aimed to help make the smartphone business profitable in the long run.

Last year, Sony sold 6.5 million phones globally, seizing 1 per cent market share, collecting $879 million, a deep loss compared to a year before.

A recent report of Nikkei claimed that Sony is set to cut its mobile division workforce by half by 2020. This could result in roughly 2,000 employees either losing their jobs or getting moved to a new business division at the company.

In addition, Sony closed down its smartphone plant in Beijing and shifted production to its plant in Thailand.

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