Worst Business Strategies!

The Golden Miller

Dunno if a topic like this has ever been done before, but I think it's interesting. Was reading a piece in the paper the other week, and what seemed like a trivial strategy at the time, nearly caused a full scale collapse of this company. The company in question being Sony, who are reviving in recent years in fairness. Sony up to the early 00's were by far the biggest market leader, when it came to home entertainment and the technology sector, and often invented the technology themselves. Pioneered pretty much everything we take for granted now, from portable music to cameras, TV's to gaming. Either Sony invented it or pioneered it. Even Hawk-eye is a Sony technology. And they'd still make the cameras and parts for most other phone companies to this day.

But in the early 2000's, off the back of the successfull CD Walkman/Discman, Sony created the MiniDisc Walkman and MP3 Walkman. So they had a choice of which one to market and push. And chose the MiniDisc player. Apple in effect, came in, with a poorly built but well marketed rip off of the MP3 Walkman, and it took off like wildfire, the Ipod. Sony did finally try and push their MP3 Walkman but it was too late.

This was the point, where Apple started to become the giants we see today, and Sony had one of the biggest falls from graces a modern tech giant has ever had. And this led to big changes in Sony, and everything seemed to go wrong for them at this point, releasing their grip on nearly every market they controlled, bar the PlayStation.

It's fascinating something so trivial as deciding to push a MiniDisc player as oppsed to an MP3 player, could have such a huge seismic shift in the tech and home entertainment sector. It was deemed the worst business strategy in modern times in whatever paper I was reading the other week. Interesting nonetheless I find! Apple can thank Sony for this fcuk up, which opened the door for them, and ripped off their technology, and still do to this day!

thomil

For me, it’s got to be Walmart’s push into Germany. They entered the German market in 1997, taking over two struggling local retail chains and basically transferred their US Business Model over to Germany basically unchanged. That included their greeters, union-busting practices, questionable employee codes of conduct, surveillance measures and weird cult like “warm-up” routines.

They soon learned the hard way that this just didn’t fly in Germany. The greeters and always smiling cashiers were seen as creepy by customers, product quality was lower than customers expected, whilst prices were not low enough to entice them to buy anyway. Their anti-union practices got defeated in court time and time again, as did their Stasi-like employee surveillance which was completely against the law in Germany, whilst the code of conduct, which amongst other things banned any type of intimate relations between employees, was completely torn to shreds by the courts.

To add to all of that, Walmart Germany found itself confronted with an economic slump in the country, whilst at the same time being confronted with the rise of a new discount retail chain that was moving to challenge both discount market leader Aldi and Walmart: Lidl. In the end, despite running 85 stores all over the country, Walmart ended up leaving the German market in 2006, not even lasting a decade, having accumulated a 3 billion USD loss.

The Golden Miller

I've read somewhere too that the government selling Eircell was one of the most short sighted ideas they ever had. Sold it for cheap, not realising how the phone market would grow. Then had to buy their way back in with Meteor, costing them like ten times the price they sold Eircell for.

Then looked it up, and it seems they sold Eircell for over 2 billion, and bought Meteor for like 400 million, so don't really know now. Was possibly good business in the end. Hard to find information on it tbh

L Grey

I think it was Kodak who invented the digital camera and spent millions developing it.

Only to pull out of producing it in order to concentrate on their photo film business.

By the time they realized the market switched from film to digital - it was too late.

By then, other companies were already marketing their own digital cameras.

Hande hoche!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122932521#Comment_122932521

Kodak is a fascinating brand, with its history. Went from a pioneering company with its own nuclear reactor at one stage to having its brand slapped on cheap batteries.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058383590/worst-business-strategies

That didn't happen. The mini disc was a good 15 years prior to the MP3player and others were on the market way before Apple. Apple made MP3 players popular but ripped off Creative more than Sony

z80CPU

Eircom phone shares. I bought eircom shares.

Very bad image of Eircom for a decade after but now largely forgotten.

In hindsight, this was always going to pit the public against the pension funds and both had very different perspectives on why they bought the shares.

Hande hoche!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122933719#Comment_122933719

The Creative zen, that takes me back. Being a snowflake, I had a iRiver.

Lewis_Benson

Donald Trumps strategies.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122933719#Comment_122933719

The technologies of both were invented years prior to when either was released, companies tend to stagger out technological advances, to get a more efficient return for the products life span.

It was Sony who brought out the MP3 technology, but even if Creative put it on the marker first, weren't deemed a credible threat, which they weren't.

As you say the MiniDisc technology was invented years before, but was only "pushed" by Sony after they felt the Discman had ran its life cycle. "CDs" were invented back in 82 by Sony, but only "pushed" when the cassette was deemed to have run its life cycle, under the guise of it being a new technology to the mass population, circa the late 90's.

Sony invent most of this stuff, the others rip it off. Look at who supplies the parts to this day, for most of the top phone brands, it's Sony. Their hardware remains the best. Their Xperia phones not on the market in Ireland at the minute due to poor sales, but people should import one from the UK. If your buying Apples "latest" phone, your actually getting outdated Sony "technology", compared to what Sony are saving for their Xperia phones.

The Golden Miller

Sounds like a similar scenario to IBM pulling out of the hardware side of things

Ash.J.Williams

Nokia. Owned the market then dropped the ball purposely with smartphones

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935224#Comment_122935224

Why would they do it purposely?

The Golden Miller

Smartphone/touchscreen technology, a collaboration of IBM/Sony/Philips, with Sony again dropping the ball on pushing the technology

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935238#Comment_122935238

There's tonnes of reading if you want to look. Here's a quick copy and paste.

Cocky leadership, a lack of vision, and inferior technology were the unholy trinity of errors that contributed to Nokia’s downfall. They ignored implied customer feedback, lost customer loyalty, and unlike most companies in the mobile phone space, failed to keep up with evolving services and tech.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935250#Comment_122935250

I understand that. Hardly "purposefully" though as oppsed to willfully ignorant. Lucky in the first place really, to piggyback off Sony and Philips

coolbeans

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935168#Comment_122935168

You're way overstating this. Sony make camera modules/sensors for phones but that's it. Sony uses everyone else's equipment for hardware like screens, chassis, semiconductors and batteries etc. They do not supply the parts for the top brands aside from the camera modules/sensors where they retain a competitive advantage. Quite the opposite in fact.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935317#Comment_122935317

It's not really overstated. It's mainly their camera modules they supply now specifically for other phone brands, because most companies stole much of their technology over the decades. Well broke it down, and worked on it.

Philips another pioneering brand, often worked alongside Sony. as their European counterpart. The birth and commercial growth of companies like Samsung for example, is based on breaking down what Sony/Philips pioneered first, and undercutting them in the market.

We can spin it whatever way we want, camera's to TVS to portable music to CD's was invented by Sony, or pioneered by them. If they didn't invent it, they improved it.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935317#Comment_122935317

Sony dont use "everyones else equipment". Obviously when you say "screen" are disingenious. They dont make "screens" themselves obviously. What your saying is Sony should own the creative process to every part they use, or are the "same as the rest".

Your being disingenious. Your trying to imply other companies using Sony technology (not just phones btw) and selling it under their own brand as they weren't able to make it themselves, is the same as Sony not creating primary parts themselves. Nonsense.

ctrl-alt-delete

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122933719#Comment_122933719

I had quite a few Creative players back in the day, starting with the nomad 3.

Loved my Zen vision:M back in the day as an all round media player.

Creative were the superior product for me, but Apple had far superior marketing.

I'm sure there were court cases between the two back in the day too.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935354#Comment_122935354

Why would there be court cases between those two? Neither had a leg to stand on in that regard. Both stole from Sony. The whole portable media device concept and market was created and pioneered by Sony, from casettes, to CD's, to MP3's.

Both couldn't believe their luck with Sony tripping over themselves failing to push the technology, and messing up on technicalities owning the technology and stopping others using it.

The rest poor knock offs in terms of quality. The Zen and Ipod did become more popular then the (MP3) Walkman, so if Apple did try to sue Creative, or vice versa, trying to bluff everyone they invented the technology, it would of been brilliant. Both getting exposed publicly for ripping off Sony. Both of them knew better though!

coolbeans

@ the golden miller.

Disingenuous? I'm just telling you the truth. Look, your responsesis illogical and a bit weird. I'm out. Good luck talking to yourself.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935368#Comment_122935368

The truth? I mentioned in my opening post, phone companies specifically use Sony cameras. When I expanded and said "many other parts", its was more an inferal of stolen technology.

How is what I said weird? You were disingenious, saying Sony use other companies parts all the time. Apple for example, marketing and promoting a Sony camera, on their device as their own, isn't the same as Sony obtaining primary parts in fields they aren't in, to build a product. It's simply not the same. That was your implication, that "Sony do it too", what I accused Apple and Samsung off.

They don't. Sony innovate, the rest copy and steal. What modern "technology" has Apple or Samsung created? Sony at their lowest ebb, even came out with Hawk-eye, another innovation changing modern sports

HBC08

It's a bit annoying trying to read this thread as I think it's a good topic but the OP is on ignore,it's making it unreadable.

magicbastarder

Energiser batteries stealing the idea of using a bunny as their mascot, from Duracell. Sales of energiser actually fell during the period of the campaign, and Duracell claimed that people had come to associate rabbits so much with Duracell (the Duracell bunny has been around 15 years before energiser started with their bunny) that when people saw the energiser ads, they boosted Duracell instead.

Mrs OBumble

I worked for a postal company that (for a while) offered average-weight pricing to business: during a reference-week each quarter, they had to weight all the parcels they posted using their commercial franking machine. During the rest of the quarter, they didn't have to weigh every parcel, they just got a per-parcel price based on the average weight. Saved them and the post-office a whole heap of paperwork.

Except - during the reference week, they made sure to only post lighter-weight items with their frank. Heavier parcels waited until next week, or were lodged individually at a post-office and paid for in cash. And during the rest of the quarter, lighter weight parcels were treated the same way.

Marketing genius at its best. Cost the company a fortune.

z80CPU

The SONY Bloggie

In response to something like the iPod nano 5th generation which had a camera.

Owned bloggie. Launched in a blaze of publicity and after 12 months, quietly ignored by Sony.

littlefeet

I was at a Christmas market today it was really bad, most of it at the level of first year technology project and costing €20 euro each, one stall appeared to have purchased cakes from a baker sliced them and tried selling them at about 20 times the cost no one was buying anything.

The I realised it's the person renting the stall that's making the money.

The moral being it's not always to be person producing the goods that makes the money.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122935168#Comment_122935168

Again not true. Sony didn't invent MP3. Mini discs were released to the public around the same time MP3 were first created. MP3 players were emerging from hobbyists and small companies while I am sure Sony did work on digital storage players they were not producing or thinking about MP3 players.

Apple did a blinder on popularizing MP3 players with many people not even knowing of the concept until they came along. Creative does own a lot of the patents that all MP3 players have to pay them for so it was a great win for them.

cml387

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122933642#Comment_122933642

The people who developed the digital camera went to Apple, where they brought out the Apple Quicktake. We had one at work. It stored the pictures to 31/2 inch floppy disk.

Hande hoche!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122943733#Comment_122943733

It's interesting the way that some of the pioneers bounce around companies.