SummaryAt the start of the 21st century, Japan's leading electronics manufacturer, Sony Corporation, was facing operational and financial stagnation. Reported losses were enormous, even for a conglomerate as large as Sony, net profit in 1999 fell to $121.83 billion from $179 billion in 1998 and the decline continued until a record 16 .75 billion dollars in 2001. Shareholders were worried because the stock price was falling even though senior management made some structural changes: assets were sold and the workforce was reduced by 17,000 people. Sony had the only choice to reform its structure, strategy and innovative products as it was losing the war to its competitors in the market. This is why “Transformation 60” was launched as a restructuring plan for three more years. However, the problems were bigger than Sony anticipated and none of the goals were achieved. Furthermore, the restructuring planned to create divisional companies, but limited itself to cutting internal ties. The expected convergence appeared to lead to divergence as competitors continued to expand their market power. All planned efforts to achieve 10% operating margin were ruined, while investors grew impatient and put pressure on the CEO. This discontent and the failure of the reform led to the resignation of the current CEO who was replaced by Howard Stringer, of Welsh origin, whose fame came from Hollywood where his restructuring plan resurrected the cinema market of Sony. Stringer stuck to its well-known policy of job cuts and executive replacements while integrating a new management structure of centralized decision-making to prevent further progression of the "silo" problem and re-establish the lost link between divisions. Additionally, Stringer had to create an additional avenue for the company as it was not middle of paper...... conditions for other companies. well-known brand throughout history - divisional structure to manage productions of different scales Weaknesses: - lack of vision and motivation - ignoring innovations and use of changed technologies - unsynchronized divisions known as the problem of “silo”, lack of communication Opportunities: - Newly chosen CEO and his strategy - Provision of all resources to meet demand - Integration of centralized decision making - Opportunity to be more dynamic through new strategy and new structure Threats: - focus on the cinema and music sector, which can lead to losses due to piracy - lack of vision leads to an unclear future and strategy - still non-dynamic management with late decisions - unsynchronized divisions can lead to uncontrollable circumstances