競爭如此激烈 索尼應放棄糟糕業務

The boy who cried wolf said something bad would happen, and it did not. Sony says something good will happen, and then it does not. It is the company that cried profits. This makes it hard for it to excite the market by, say, raising its targets. In its worst business – electronics – the problem is even worse. The company can do something radical, and leave the market unMoved. Sony announced in February that it would sell its PC unit. This was unexpected, bold and wise. The market shrugged: the shares’ returns since the announcement match the market’s.

嚷嚷着狼來了的男孩說有壞事發生，結果沒有。索尼(Sony)表示會有好事發生，結果也沒有。這是一家嚷嚷着會盈利的公司。這讓它很難以調高盈利目標的方式振奮市場。而在它最糟糕的業務部門——電子，這個問題更嚴重。該公司可以做激進的事，可市場仍不爲所動。索尼在2月份宣佈將出售個人電腦(PC)業務。這是出人意料、大膽和明智的。但市場反應平淡：其股票回報率自宣佈消息以來與大盤一致。

On Monday, though, the market showed a little credulity. Sony announced that it would form joint ventures with the China’s Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to make and sell Sony’s PlayStation game consoles in that country. The gaming business was unprofitable last year, but Sony is a technology leader in gaming and the market has only two real competitors. With the scale the China deal can help to bring, the business could be quite profitable. The shares rose 3 per cent. If the business is right, the market will hold out hopes for Sony Electronics.

然而本週一，市場顯示出一些被打動的跡象。索尼宣佈將與中國的上海東方明珠集團(Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group)組成合資企業，在中國生產並銷售索尼的PS(Play Station)遊戲機。去年遊戲業務沒有盈利，但索尼在遊戲領域是技術領先者，而且該市場只有兩家真正的競爭者。鑑於這筆中國交易可帶來的市場規模，該業務可能有相當的盈利。股價上漲了3%。如果該業務部門把握得當，市場將對索尼電子重燃希望。

Still, the most important thing is the unpopular work of getting out of irredeemably bad businesses. This means televisions first and foremost. At the company’s strategy meeting last week, it was announced that TVs would be moved into a separate unit. Prelude to a full divestment? Sony dismissed the idea, and stuck to its target of a nearly 20 per cent increase in unit sales, and a return to profits, for this year (Sony boss Kazuo Hirai said on Monday that the unit would be profitable even if it missed its unit target). But after a decade of losses, relentless deflation in TV prices despite technological advancements, and Sony’s lack of scale, a better TV business should not be the goal. The goal should be no TV business.

話雖如此，最重要的是退出無可救藥的壞業務這項不得人心的工作。這首先意味着電視業務。上週在這家公司的戰略會議上，它宣佈將電視轉移至另一獨立部門。此舉是要全面剝離的前奏嗎？索尼否認了這一觀點，並堅持今年達到其近20%的部門銷售增長目標和恢復盈利（索尼總裁平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai，見上圖)週一表示，即便未達到部門銷售目標仍可實現盈利）。然而在10年持續虧損、電視價格無視科技進步而一再無情下跌，以及索尼缺乏規模經營的情況下，一個更好的電視業務不應成爲目標。目標應該是沒有電視業務。