Sony restructures its upper management
In the wake of serious difficulties throughout Sonys divisions, the electronics and gaming giant has announced a restructure of its upper management.
Most prominently, current president Ryoji Chubachi will be stepping down into a vice chairmans role, and current CEO Howard Stringer will take the big chair.
Elsewhere, Kaz Hirai will continue to oversee the PlayStation brand (as much as hes ever done, to be brutally honest), whilst also taking the Viao products under his often confused wing. Hiroshi Yoshioka, from the TV arm of Sony, will also take on digital cameras and camcorders.
Exactly what this will achieve isnt entirely clear, though a degree of harsh rationalisation seems evident. Naturally Sony is putting a positive spin on the restructure, though it fails to suggest why it was necessary and what the benefits will be.
This reorganisation is designed to transform Sony into a more innovative, integrated and agile global company with its next generation of leadership firmly in place, says Stringer in a rather nebulous press statement.
The purpose for the shuffle probably isnt all that cryptic, in fact. Sony has been struggling, and at least it appears to be acknowledging that something - even as trivial as rotating the board members chairs around the table - needs to be done.
Hopefully this is the first step on the road to Sonys recovery.