Sony looks to replicate Indian model in Europe

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony Corporation is looking to replicate its Indian subsidiary's style of working in the European business by synchronising different verticals to have better growth, its Europe chief said today. Sony Europe's President Masaru Tamagawa joined the operations of the region in July last year and is highly appreciative of the business model in India, where he had led the company for five years from 2007.

"We want to replicate everything of India in Europe. The working style of various divisions, including product strategy, distribution channel and marketing, are very good in India and we want to replicate these in Europe," Tamagawa said on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show here.

Sony Europe wants to synchronise different verticals of the company like that in India to have better growth in the region, he added. Although Sony India's revenue contribution is very small compared to Sony Europe, Tamagwa said: "India is much ahead of Europe (in working style)." Sony Europe, which comprised the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Spain and Sweden, recorded net sales of 300.24 billion yen (about Rs 18,930 crore) during the quarter ending September 2012 compared to 293.49 billion yen (about rs 15,100 crore) in the year-ago period, up 2.3 per cent.

In contrast, the Indian operations' revenue contribution for the entire 2011-12 financial year was just Rs 6,313 crore. It is expecting 30-40 per cent growth in this fiscal. The newly appointed Sony Corp President and CEO Kazuo Hirai also emphasised the importance of developing economies in the company's overall growth. "When I was made the CEO nine months ago, my focus was to revitalise the business.

My aim is to drive growth in the emerging markets, where we are already strong," he added. The company's Indian operations, which is a part of Sony Corp's Asia Pacific business which also includes South Korea and Oceania, is targeting to treble its revenue to Rs 20,000 crore by 2015 even as its Japanese parent continues to suffer losses globally due to adverse conditions in major markets such as the US.

Besides, Sony India plans to increase its headcount by 500 people in the current financial year. This is in contrast to Sony Corp's decision to lay off about 10,000 people globally last year to cut operational cost. Sony Corporation today unveiled a range new products such as Xperia range of smartphones and 4K ultra high definition TV. These products will commercially be launched within next few months.