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ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET
Student’s name (Surname) Abdullah
(Given names)
Omar
Student’s I.D. number: 21837473 Phone number: +6017277369
Unit name Introduction to Electronic Business Unit Code MKW 1601
Title of assignment E-Business Research and Analysis
Name of lecturer
Name of tutor
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Tutorial day /time Wednesday – 2pm
Due date: 04/05/2012 Date submitted: 04/05/2012
All work must be submitted by the due date. If an extension of work is required, please complete and submit a Special
Consideration application (in-semester assessment task) form to your examiner/lecturer/tutor.
Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
If there are no substantial factors to indicate that plagiarism was accidental or unintentional, plagiarism will be treated as
cheating in terms of Monash Statute 4.1 – Discipline.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism means to take and use another person’s ideas and or manner of expressing them and to pass these off
as one’s own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement. This includes material from any source, staff, students or the
Internet – published and unpublished works.
Collusion: Collusion is the presentation of work which is the result in whole or in part of unauthorised collaboration with
another person or persons.
For further information see the university’s Plagiarism Policy at:
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/unisec/academicpolicies/policy/plagiarism.html
Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this will be reported to the Chief
Examiner, who will disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or refer the matter to the faculty manager.
Tick this box if this submission is a group assignment Care: each student must attach their own signed cover sheet to the assignment.
Student’s Statement:
I have read the university’s statement on cheating and plagiarism, as described in the Student Resource Guide (refer
http://www.monash.edu.au/au/pubs/handbooks/srg/srg-119.html)
This assignment is original and has not previously submitted as part of another unit/subject/course,
I have taken proper care of safeguarding this work and made all reasonable effort to ensure it could not be copied,
I acknowledge that the assessor of this assignment may for the purposes of assessment, reproduce the assignment and:
i. Provide to another member of faculty; and/or
ii. Communicate it to the university’s plagiarism checking service (which may then retain a copy of the
assignment on its database for the purpose of future plagiarism checking).
I understand the consequences for engaging in plagiarism as described in University Statute 4.1. Part III – Academic
Misconduct (refer http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/calendar/statutes/statutes04.html#Heading102)
I certify that I have not plagiarised the work of others or participated in unauthorised collusion when preparing this
assignment.
Signature ..................................................... Date……………………………………
Privacy Statement
The information on this form is collected for the primary purpose of assessing your assignment. Other purposes of collection include
recording your plagiarism and collusion declaration, attending to course and administrative matters and statistical analyses. If you choose not
to complete all the questions on this form it may not be possible for Monash University to assess your assignment. You have a right to access
personal information that Monash University holds about you, subject to any exceptions in relevant legislation. If you wish to seek access to
your personal information or inquire about the handling of your personal information, please contact the University Privacy Officer:
ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET
Student’s name (Surname) Chowdhury
(Given names)
Amid Hossain
Student’s I.D. number: 22469850 Phone number: +60193029802
Unit name Introduction to Electronic Business Unit Code MKW 1601
Title of assignment E-Business Research and Analysis
Name of lecturer
Name of tutor
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Tutorial day /time Wednesday – 2pm
Due date: 04/05/2012 Date submitted: 04/05/2012
All work must be submitted by the due date. If an extension of work is required, please complete and submit a Special
Consideration application (in-semester assessment task) form to your examiner/lecturer/tutor.
Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
If there are no substantial factors to indicate that plagiarism was accidental or unintentional, plagiarism will be treated as
cheating in terms of Monash Statute 4.1 – Discipline.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism means to take and use another person’s ideas and or manner of expressing them and to pass these off
as one’s own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement. This includes material from any source, staff, students or the
Internet – published and unpublished works.
Collusion: Collusion is the presentation of work which is the result in whole or in part of unauthorised collaboration with
another person or persons.
For further information see the university’s Plagiarism Policy at:
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/unisec/academicpolicies/policy/plagiarism.html
Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this will be reported to the Chief
Examiner, who will disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or refer the matter to the faculty manager.
Tick this box if this submission is a group assignment Care: each student must attach their own signed cover sheet to the assignment.
Student’s Statement:
I have read the university’s statement on cheating and plagiarism, as described in the Student Resource Guide (refer
http://www.monash.edu.au/au/pubs/handbooks/srg/srg-119.html)
This assignment is original and has not previously submitted as part of another unit/subject/course,
I have taken proper care of safeguarding this work and made all reasonable effort to ensure it could not be copied,
I acknowledge that the assessor of this assignment may for the purposes of assessment, reproduce the assignment and:
iii. Provide to another member of faculty; and/or
iv. Communicate it to the university’s plagiarism checking service (which may then retain a copy of the
assignment on its database for the purpose of future plagiarism checking).
I understand the consequences for engaging in plagiarism as described in University Statute 4.1. Part III – Academic
Misconduct (refer http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/calendar/statutes/statutes04.html#Heading102)
I certify that I have not plagiarised the work of others or participated in unauthorised collusion when preparing this
assignment.
Signature ..................................................... Date……………………………………
Privacy Statement
The information on this form is collected for the primary purpose of assessing your assignment. Other purposes of collection include
recording your plagiarism and collusion declaration, attending to course and administrative matters and statistical analyses. If you choose not
to complete all the questions on this form it may not be possible for Monash University to assess your assignment. You have a right to access
personal information that Monash University holds about you, subject to any exceptions in relevant legislation. If you wish to seek access to
your personal information or inquire about the handling of your personal information, please contact the University Privacy Officer:
ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET
Student’s name (Surname) Hassan
(Given names)
Ifaz Khorshed
Student’s I.D. number: 22104364 Phone number: +60178465912
Unit name Introduction to Electronic Business Unit Code MKW 1601
Title of assignment E-Business Research and Analysis
Name of lecturer
Name of tutor
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Dr. Uchenna Cyril Eze
Tutorial day /time Wednesday – 2pm
Due date: 04/05/2012 Date submitted: 04/05/2012
All work must be submitted by the due date. If an extension of work is required, please complete and submit a Special
Consideration application (in-semester assessment task) form to your examiner/lecturer/tutor.
Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
If there are no substantial factors to indicate that plagiarism was accidental or unintentional, plagiarism will be treated as
cheating in terms of Monash Statute 4.1 – Discipline.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism means to take and use another person’s ideas and or manner of expressing them and to pass these off
as one’s own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement. This includes material from any source, staff, students or the
Internet – published and unpublished works.
Collusion: Collusion is the presentation of work which is the result in whole or in part of unauthorised collaboration with
another person or persons.
For further information see the university’s Plagiarism Policy at:
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/unisec/academicpolicies/policy/plagiarism.html
Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this will be reported to the Chief
Examiner, who will disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or refer the matter to the faculty manager.
Tick this box if this submission is a group assignment Care: each student must attach their own signed cover sheet to the assignment.
Student’s Statement:
I have read the university’s statement on cheating and plagiarism, as described in the Student Resource Guide (refer
http://www.monash.edu.au/au/pubs/handbooks/srg/srg-119.html)
This assignment is original and has not previously submitted as part of another unit/subject/course,
I have taken proper care of safeguarding this work and made all reasonable effort to ensure it could not be copied,
I acknowledge that the assessor of this assignment may for the purposes of assessment, reproduce the assignment and:
v. Provide to another member of faculty; and/or
vi. Communicate it to the university’s plagiarism checking service (which may then retain a copy of the
assignment on its database for the purpose of future plagiarism checking).
I understand the consequences for engaging in plagiarism as described in University Statute 4.1. Part III – Academic
Misconduct (refer http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/calendar/statutes/statutes04.html#Heading102)
I certify that I have not plagiarised the work of others or participated in unauthorised collusion when preparing this
assignment.
Signature ..................................................... Date……………………………………
Privacy Statement
The information on this form is collected for the primary purpose of assessing your assignment. Other purposes of collection include
recording your plagiarism and collusion declaration, attending to course and administrative matters and statistical analyses. If you choose not
to complete all the questions on this form it may not be possible for Monash University to assess your assignment. You have a right to access
personal information that Monash University holds about you, subject to any exceptions in relevant legislation. If you wish to seek access to
your personal information or inquire about the handling of your personal information, please contact the University Privacy Officer:
Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr.
Uchenna Cyril Eze for his guidance, patience and encouragement in helping me complete this
project on time.
My deepest gratitude to my family members, to whom I owe all my achievements, and also to
my friends for their support. I am also indebted to my friends and course mates who assisted
and encouragement me throughout the period of this research.
Abstract
This report begins by giving an introduction that provides a brief background of Sony,
purpose of the report and highlights of the electronic marketplace. Further research has been
carried out on the e-business components of Sony: a) organization, b) technology and
c) value of the e-business system.
The report also highlights the possible e-business issues that Sony faces and might face in the
future. Most common threat on business is security. So its importance is emphasized in the
report. The marketing channels that Sony uses in its electronic business model have been
explained as well.
The analysis has been done through research from sources such as books, websites and
various articles where information about the company has been published. The opportunity
discovered through the analysis is to come up with a detailed illustration of how Sony
functions in the E-market.
Table of Contents Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................... 4
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 5
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. 7
1. E-Business System ................................................................................................................. 8
a) Name and purpose of the system:- .................................................................................. 8
b) 1.2 The E-Marketplace:- ............................................................................................. 8
2. Research into e-business components:................................................................................... 9
a) Organization...................................................................................................................... 9
i) Possible Internal organization Functions:- ..................................................................... 9
ii) Firms, Suppliers and Business Partners involved with the systems: ............................. 9
iii) Business process associated with the system: .............................................................. 9
b) Technologies ............................................................................................................. 10
i) Hardware, Software and network: ............................................................................. 10
ii) Payment systems and security technology:- .......................................................... 10
c) Value of e-business system ........................................................................................... 11
i) Tangible benefits ....................................................................................................... 11
ii) Intangible benefits ................................................................................................. 12
iii) Alignment with the vision and mission of the organization: ................................. 13
3. E-Business Issues ................................................................................................................. 14
i) Security and privacy issues: .......................................................................................... 14
ii) Marketing issues:....................................................................................................... 16
4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 17
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 18
List of Tables
Table 1: Displaying appropriate customer service and the resulting customer satisfaction .... 13
1. E-Business System
a) Name and purpose of the system:-
Sony was founded in 1946 and since then it has become a pioneer in audio and video
electronic equipment both for consumer market and business market. In the 1990s when the
internet was growing popular, Sony launched its website to benefit from the e-business
concept that was rapidly gaining widespread interest at that time. Over time the website
(www.sony.net) has become an e-commerce hub for Sony which facilitates the selling of its
products to customers and also helps provide customer support.
b) 1.2 The E-Marketplace:-
Sony operates a sell side private e-market place because it is owned and controlled by a
single company. It is a storefront: a place where buyers and sellers meet electronically to
facilitate the exchange of goods and achieve secure payment in order to conduct business
(Mcquitty & Peterson, 2000)The website of Sony (www.sony.net) has several features such
as catalogue, payment gateways, order tracking, customers service etc. Moreover, Sony uses
intermediaries such as Amazon to sell its products online to exploit a broader market (Sony,
2012). Sony’s payment system has been mainly outsourced to various payment service
providers namely Visa, MasterCard and so on, to provide consumers with a secure payment
facility.
2. Research into e-business components:
a) Organization
i) Possible Internal organization Functions:-
Much of the success of the Sony e-business model can be attributed to the
effective sales and marketing operations and the efficient business operations
of the company (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2002)The website provides catalogue
and all the relevant details of the product, provides an easy to use online order
and payment system and also provides shipment tracking of the system.
Product related customer services as well as problems solving tools are also
provided. Thus it can be concluded that the Sony website mainly caters to the
sales and marketing department of its operations and also establishes an easy
to use sales system for the consumers.
ii) Firms, Suppliers and Business Partners involved with the systems:
Sony has developed partnerships with many ‘third party’ companies to retain
its competitiveness in the electronics business sector. It has a strategic
partnership with the application service provider Altoros. Altors helps Sony
remain competitive by developing web based service applications and services
for Sony faster than its competitors (Customers Speak, 2012). As a result Sony
has reduced its operating cost and capture greater market share increasing its
profitability. Another strategic alliance of Sony is with BroadVision, a leading
and cutting-edge software developer (BroadVision Sets Date to Announce
Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Results, 2011). BroadVision has used its soft
wares to develop web based applications and also develop the one to one
marketing for Sony. Also its software has helped Sony to improve its support
service which has helped to enlarge its customer base.
iii) Business process associated with the system:
Several of the business processes are combined to provide the quality and the
product to the Sony consumer. Sony uses mySAP Customer relationship
management system to select targeted customers and launch a series of target
marketing campaigns for individual customers (Adorna, 2006). In addition to
the targeted marketing Sony also offers customer support through its FAQ and
regular product updates on its online catalogue. The website also permits
download of software and manuals for its products to enhance customer
services. Such close marketing alongside good services like free software
updates builds a strong relationship with customers.
b) Technologies
i) Hardware, Software and network:
Sony is known for constantly upgrading their networks and also for upgrading
its software as well as hardware. They specially use Microsoft® Commerce
Server and Microsoft® SQL Server technologies have been put in place to
drive more customer penetration and build online customer loyalty.
Microsoft® Commerce Server includes crucial components for establishing
and expanding online customer focused businesses by allowing product
catalogue setup, and an on-going administration and personalization. On the
other hand, Microsoft® SQL server permits extensive OLAP(online analytical
processing) and data mining functionality, thereby facilitating better decision
making (Microsoft Corporation and Intel Corporation, 2006).
ii) Payment systems and security technology:-
Sony protects its online customer exchanges through the use of SSL protection
of its website. This is very hard to break by hackers. Also Sony customers
have to login online by using their own accounts. Thus authentication of the
identified customers helps make their products secure. Moreover,
communications to and from Sony only takes place on the email account of
the customer registered under Sony. Accordingly, it is understood that through
such online interactions with Sony are secured.
As mentioned earlier, Sony uses Mastercard and Visa credit cards to secure
online payment. By having the secured payment by Visa card logo, customers
have to directly use password created for online payment with the respective
Visa card. The process usually involves TAC (transaction authorization code)
numbers which is only sent to the customer’s registered phone number
(Combaluzier, 2000). This further secures the online transaction. The SSL
protocols are another means of security which helps to protect the online
payment system.
c) Value of e-business system
i) Tangible benefits
The value of e-business in today’s world is irrefutable and new concepts are
on the rise revealing the benefits of such systems. The concept of shortening
the supply chain or "disintermediation" caused by electronic commerce is a
relatively new concept. According to one researcher, the word has only been
around for three or four years. In its widest sense, disintermediation means the
elimination of intermediaries such as distributors and retailers (Barros,
Billante , Deley, & Nores, 1998)
Among the many benefits the e-business system of Sony provides are,
boosting profit, improved productivity, enhancing various relationships,
opening new marketing channels, and the list goes on. Already enjoying its
highly populated and dedicated consumer base, Sony responds to its global
consumers by taking the advantage of the value of information technology in
e-business environment. Similarly, Sony is able to capitalize on new
opportunities by taking the open platform of the internet resulting in removal
of geographical and physical barriers. Another notable benefit is the direct
customer advantages:
- Web stores are open 24 hours a day,7 days a week
- Access to numerous search systems that makes the customer’s search
activities much easier
- Global accessibility from all over the world
Through expansion, Sony can target customers worldwide subsequently
increasing both its sales volumes and sales revenue. Another thing in effect is
the growing customer enlargement which enables Sony to establish itself as a
universal brand, helping it to build its business goodwill; thereby successfully
vying for international customers’ loyalty. The e-business system helps the
online store to attract and target the right segments and aids in the retention of
loyal customers by catering to their needs which will ultimately sustain long
term profitability and reduce costs. Even though e-business environment is
becoming increasingly competitive and electronically linked (Henderson,
Dooley, Boehlje, & Akridge, 2001). Sony’s brand reputation quite efficiently
rules out the former.
E-business encourages the exploration of multi-channel marketing (Banta
Corporation White Paper, 2004)Online marketing strategies are more efficient
as most of its customers are highly regular internet users and substantial online
buyers. The novel and inexpensive marketing approach permits Sony to carry
on personalized marketing and focus on customer needs. This is evident in the
company’s website (www.sony.net) where it is mentioned that it continues to
be more than just about the product but also about the people who use it and is
fuelled by customers demand.
For instance, digital marketing permits the online store to tag its content with
metadata unfolding it in micro format where other organization like
Facebook’s open Graph Protocol and Google Rich Snippets power such
metadata to facilitate sharing of information and improve search engines
therefore increasing the site’s visibility and popularity compared to that of the
rivals. Online marketing similarly allows the firm to save both time and cost
by designing tailored-made advertising campaigns and catalogues via inferred
data of the shoppers (Chao & Wei, 2010), customer profiles and their
shopping history which helps in boosting sales and demand (Anumba &
Ruikar, 2008)
ii) Intangible benefits
Strategic position, customer service and quality of life are the intangible
benefits favouring the firm. The integrated systems used by ‘sony.net’ enable
necessary customer services upgrades to improve the firm’s strategic position.
Sony’s main focus on customer care is executed with the help of some 2000
customer service staff, resulting to customer satisfaction followed by a
strengthened strategic position.
Like most click-and-mortar organization, Sony understands the importance of
customer satisfaction, as an important element of competitive quality which
results in customer loyalty. Its site’s image as been improved by its strong
customer services and the aftermath is over one million hits per month
supported by regular usage of thousands of customers. By 2006, only 7 years
into e-business Sony, had over 170,000 visitors to its web site every day and is
regularly placed in the top ten UK ranking for shopping and classified sites in
the ‘ Shopping Appliances and Electronics’ category. The following table
displays appropriate customer service and the resulting customer satisfaction:
Table 1: Displaying appropriate customer service and the resulting customer satisfaction
Employers of Sony are provided with the latest technology, appropriate and up-to-date
software, and networking requirements. In addition, it also provides ease of communication
among the employees, the customers and the suppliers. The hassle of administrative paper
work and processing time for employees when focusing on challenging work is also
eliminated by wise supply chain management .The employees are highly trained to deal with
technical problems and the site engages into one employee for one customer rule, thus
improving the employees’ motivation and accuracy.
iii) Alignment with the vision and mission of the organization:
Vision: ‘Sony will be the most comprehensive entertainment company in the
world' or 'the world will look to Sony for comprehensive entertainment’.
Sony has been very successful in steadily establishing itself as one of the
leading providers of audio/video electronics and information technology
products for the consumer, academic, and the corporate world. Sony
manufactures electronic appliances that heavily support the IT industry and its
course into the gaming market has also seen fireworks. The company’s deep
involvement in the music and movie industries (i.e. Sony BMG and Sony
Customer service Customer Satisfaction
Customer Relationship The CRM software is able to forecast the wants of a customer. Sony has user
profile covering shopping history and personal information of the customers where
employees have direct contact with them. Personal emails are sent to them which
are addressed to their names and products are suggested based on their shopping
preferences.
Service and Support Customers are able to track shipment through the site and separate services exist
for handling returns and any past questions asked will be visible in the user’s
profile. Sales activities are supported by dealer locator and accessory finder.
Furthermore, repair and service are available in its site as well.
Privacy and Security The site in its contract states that the customer profile is confidential. It also
ensures that customers are safe and are not victims of fraud by reserving the right
to check any credit cards background. The site uses user ID/ password, firewalls,
server segregation, application controls and Secure Socket Layer (SSL).
Pictures) has given Sony a competitive advantage in the entertainment
industry and today Sony is seen to be universally acclaimed.
Mission: ‘Bring new technologies, content and services together in
unprecedented ways that enable people to re-shape their perception of the
world and enhance their lives’.
Sony has been at the cutting edge and a leading innovator of some state of the
art of technologies for more than 50 years; certainly impacting the way people
live. Its innovation has become a part of popular culture, including the first
magnetic tape and tape recorder introduced in 1950 until the latest Hi-scan flat
screen TVs. Undoubtedly, Sony has been multitudinously successful in
accomplishing its mission in becoming a leader in product innovation,
principally based on the on-going R&D (Research and development)
initiatives and convergence of various technologies.
3. E-Business Issues
i) Security and privacy issues: A website’s security and privacy keeps customer satisfied and secured,
safeguarding the organization’s image. However, online businesses are often
victims of security issues like hacking, malware attacks, botnets, and phishing
which lead to privacy issues like identity theft and customers’ information
exposure.
Sony has been seen in numerous incidents to be highly concerned with security
not just limited to tis web stores. In the wake of an April hack that took down its
PlayStation Network for almost a month in 2011, Sony hired a former
Department of Homeland Security official to head up information security and
privacy issues. Philip R. Reitinger was named Sony's senior vice president and
chief information security officer (Albanesius, 2011)
The fact that security and privacy issues are closely linked to customer loyalty and
data loss can incur very high cost highly encourages Sony’s security and privacy
concerns to be of gigantic importance. Widely known as the PlayStation Network
outage, it was the result of hackers accessing to some 77 million accounts under
PlayStation Network and Qriocity services (Richmond & Williams, 2011). As a
result users of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles were restricted
from participating in online games (PlayStation Network Restoration Begins,
2012). Furthermore, a ‘consumer class action’ was filed against Sony, connecting
to the data cracks in its Sony PlayStation and related services and the company
suffered a significant cost (BBC News, 2011).
A privacy policy has been established by Sony in Europe in cooperation with the
Federation of European direct marketing (FEDMA). FEDMA is the first trade
association whose data protection code of practice, which was developed in
negotiations with the European Data Protection Authorities (article 29 working
group) and recognized by the EU Commission (Sony, 2011).
To combat unfortunate happenings Sony Corporation has made significant
enhancements to the data security (Sony, 2011) (Seybold, 2011) (Sony, 2012):
- Using of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption when collecting or
transferring sensitive data: SSL is the most widely used technology for
creating a secure communication between the web client and the web
server. SSL encryption is designed to make the data unreadable by anyone
but Sony.
- SNEI (Sony Network Entertainment International) and its third-party
experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of its
network.
- Automated software monitoring and configuration management to help
defend against new attacks.
- Enhanced levels of data protection and encryption
- Enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network,
unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns
- Implementation of additional firewalls
- Orders placed over the Sony website are subject to strict verification
policies, a manual checking process to ensure that the card being used is
not being misused by another party. It also developed its own shipping and
billing policies to provide customers with protection from credit card
fraud.
- Sony is registered with VeriSign site identification authorities. This allows
customer’s Internet browser to confirm the identity of the website they are
using before any personal information is sent. If the site users are using is
not the authorized Sony site, users will be notified that the site looks
suspicious with an error message, before you send any personal
information.
- The Sony databases are stored with secure network architecture and are
protected by many Sony security measures. Customer’s credit card
information is not stored in any Sony database .i.e. Sony of Canada Ltd.
maintains strict enforcement of Private Information Management to ensure
that its customers are the best protected and not at risk. Information held
by Sony is not shared and protected under our Privacy Policy.
- The company has also initiated a number of ways to maintain its network
infrastructure like an early-warning system for suspicious activities that
could signal an attempt to compromise the network.
To summarise, the company’s e-commerce security strategy involves a mix of prevention and
detection measures to safeguard the confidentiality of data in the information system and
further uplift online trust towards the organization.
ii) Marketing issues: Although Sony has already established itself as an electronic giant globally, the
fact that e-business is still somewhat new in today’s world makes it prone to
fluctuations in demand and supply of its products. Most customers are reluctant to
buy online which is supported by the existence of high level of scam and
fraudulent activities feeding on credit card numbers and personal information.
Moreover, fierce competition invited by new companies means Sony faces the
challenge of short product lifecycle and changes in prices of the competitors’
products due to technological innovation. Another issue is shopping cart
abandonment; more than 60 per cent of online shoppers abandon purchases before
completing the credit card transaction, according to Gartner Group Inc. (Chin,
Wafa, & Ooi, 2009). Sony requires a swift sales turnaround of its product, as the
type of products it sells is most likely to get backdated (innovation in electronics
is exponential in new age) and hence prevention of obsolescence of its inventory
is critically necessary.
In order to combat marketing issues Sony marketing constructed a new sales SCM
(Supply chain management) system linked to many of its business processes,
including manufacturing, distribution, and sales. Two such schemes are given
below:
- Demand information creation system:
This system collects the actual data from Sony’s volume resellers. By
processing inventory and other related information it is able to predict the
demand for the next 33 weeks for the product under consideration. These
forecasts are then sent to EMCS (the division responsible for production)
and thereby necessary adjustments are done (Sony Marketing (Japan) Inc.,
2004).
- Delivery time forecast system:
It provides delivery time answers to order requests by collecting
production plan and inventory information. When there is no inventory, it
confirms the production finish dates by reference to the production plans
in the factories. If there are no production plans, it looks for replacements
products .When handling mixed orders, for instance PCs and displays,
whichever is the later product delivery time is the delivery time provided.
This systems database contains up to ten million entries and process one
hundred thousand orders a day and is able to calculate delivery times
within 0.1 of a second (Sony Marketing (Japan) Inc., 2004)
4. Conclusion Moreover, Sony can also utilize its strong brand name and adopt a brand extension strategy to
market new product categories and boost sales in the initial stage. Finally, in order to survive
profitably in the long run Sony Corporation may carry out on-going marketing research and
continue to develop innovative products that effectively fulfil customer needs, wants and
demand.
Bibliography
BroadVision Sets Date to Announce Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Results. (2011,
January). Retrieved April 26, 2012, from BroadVision:
http://www.broadvision.com/en/investor_information_pr_earnings_Q42010.php
Customers Speak. (2012). Retrieved April 22, 2012, from Altoros Systems:
http://altoros.com/customers_speak.html
PlayStation Network Restoration Begins. (2012). Retrieved May 2, 2012, from Sony
Entertainment Europe: http://uk.playstation.com/psnlatest/
Adorna, C. (2006). Sony Design Center Accelerates Product Design Lifecycle and Improves
Knowledge Retention. Los Angeles: Sony.
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