We Will Survive

“When Sony Corp. announces what are expected to be improved earnings next Thursday, the results will highlight a new television set that wouldn't have been possible three years ago.

“Unlike traditional products that were designed entirely in Japan, this TV set was invented largely by Sony engineers in Mexico using off-the-shelf parts...

“The new line is one piece of a crucial culture shift needed to pull Sony out of a long downturn. In the year ended March 31, profit is expected to have doubled and sales to have risen by 25%, compared with three years earlier...

“It shows Sony managers are starting to get the hang of collaborating better, says Chief Executive Howard Stringer. ‘We're not in the bunker anymore. We're blinking in the sunlight,’ he says...

“Sony's consumer-electronics business still faces huge challenges. Competition from Samsung Group and upstarts such as Vizio Inc. has forced Sony to cut prices, and it is still struggling to earn consistent profits in the business. Meanwhile, the threat of a U.S. recession and a stronger yen, which diminishes the value of its overseas earnings, is threatening to derail much of the progress achieved so far...

“Though engineers at Sony tend to work on the same kind of products for their entire careers, [Katsumi] Ihara has set a goal of shuffling about 5% of consumer-electronics managers between products to encourage idea-sharing.

“The new cooperation has yielded other small results. Closer work between the television and camera units resulted in a feature on the television that automatically adjusts the picture to an optimal resolution for photos when a Sony single-lens-reflex camera is connected to it. Users can also get a single remote control for a Sony television and a Blu-ray disc player for the first time...

“‘We're showing signs of life everywhere, but I don't feel ready to celebrate,’ says Mr. Stringer. ‘We've got a long way to go.’”

(“Sony's Newest Display Is a Culture Shift -- A Low-Cost TV Shows the Way To Better Profits.” Yukari Iwatani Kane. Wall Street Journal: May 8, 2008. pg. B.1)

TWIN THREATS of stiffer competition and a shrinking market lend us the opportunity to revisit and renew our heart and soul -- our core competence.

Note: We cannot linger longer in Plato's cave (i.e., "the bunker"); we cannot go it alone.