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Q1. How did Sony become a diversified company? What was the rational for entering the entertainment sector? Was it a good choice?
Sony first ventured into diversification in 1961 when it created Sony Enterprise Co. in order to manage the Sony building in Ginza. Gradually, Sony moved into the space of retailing, took interest in a French restaurant named Maxim’s, ventured into Sony Travel Service and also became an importer to sports equipment and luxury goods.
Over a period 50 years, the company either acquired or started new subsidiaries, most of which are shown below: Year | Company (created or allied with) | Industry | 1963 | Joint Venture (JV) with CBS bought out by Sony | Entertainment | 1965 | JV with Tektronix | Measuring equipment | 1969 | Sony Magnescale | Instrumentation for magnetic scales | 1975 | JV with Union Carbide | Battery business | 1979 | Sony Creative Products | Cosmetics | 1979 | JV with Prudential Insurance | Life Insurance | 1980’s | Sony Vaio | Computers | 1989 | Acquisition of Columbia Pictures | Entertainment | 1993 | Started manufacturing digital cameras | Imagining | 1993 | Started Sony/ATV in JV with Michael Jackson | Music publishing | 1996 | Sony Computer Entertainment | Video games and consoles | 2001 | Initially JV with Ericsson, bought out by Sony | Mobile telephony |

Sony’s decision to set foot in the entertainment sector possibly stems out of co-founder Akio Morita’s analogy of electronics hardware and entertainment content being the “two wheels of a cart”. Morita himself is credit in history as the creator of the Sony Walkman, the world’s first commercially available portable music device. Being involved in creating the hardware, the medium and the content seemed logic at that point in time, since it gave Sony a competitive advantage. None of Sony’s rivals had foothold in all 3 aspects, thereby

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