Why Sony Can Be Considered a Multinational Corporation

Based on the question from the case study, I consider Sony to be a multinational corporation (MNC) because there are sufficient evidence which shows that Sony satisfies some criteria’s that is used to recognize multinational corporations such as:

• Size

There is no doubt that in terns of size Sony is big. It has an annual sale of $50 billion and with over 100 product lines. Sony Corporation has the Walkman, pioneered transistor radios, videocassette recorders, the Walkman, gaming brand play station, the audio CD and many more. The sales of color TV in the Sony Company sets account for over 10 percent of the global market. In terms of market value, Sony is ranked no.58 among the firms that are global. Sony earned an estimated $68 million in revenue for the year 2017; it is ranked among the companies that are most innovative in the year 2016. From the sale of its game play station; it sold over 20 million units as of 2016 (statista).

• Structure

Sony has a very good and strong structure, in which its one of the most recognized brands. Sony is sold worldwide and it is the most recognized brand in the United States. With regards to ownership, Sony has make possible foreign ownership by recording its stock on 23 stock exchanges, and foreigners own 23% of its stock. In terms of its citizenship of its top management, Sony has offered foreigners top foreign jobs.

• Performance

When performance is used to measure the degree of Sony being a multinational corporation, the company satisfies different dimensions of performance. First of all, 80% of Sony’s sales are from abroad. About 30% of Sony’s overall sales are from the U.S., which exceeds the overall sales that is generated in japan. Regarding abroad assets, Sony has largely invested in both human and physical assets. Its global workforce accounts to 160,000 and in many countries it has manufacturing operations. Sony has a TV manufacturing facilities in wales, china, the U.S, Malaysia, in addition to its technology center in Taiwan. The TV manufacturing of the company in the United States began in 1972. Some properties of Sony corporations include Sony music entertainment, computer science lab that is in Tokyo, and Sony pictures image works in California. Sony owes most of its success to acquisitions to enterprises that are already successful, though its top segment is the games and network division (Goetz).

• Behavior

In terms of the dimension of behavior in multinationality, it is more complicated to measure than the dimension of performance and structure. There are several bits of idea that describes Sony’s international orientation. For example, the Japanese executives in Sony Company speak better English than other Japanese in other Japanese companies. For cheap labor, Sony has shifted its production center to Malaysia and china. Executives that are not Japanese hold the positions of country managers, and some among them serve as directors.

In conclusion, Sony is one of the most international corporations in Japan. It has shift towards international integration basically within its planning, design activities and research. The strategy of globalization has made it possible for Sony to gain revenues and pay their bills in the same currency. Unlike many Japanese companies that do not want other foreigners as their top management teams, Sony is much more successful because of that.