Tag Archives: Japan

Sales Struggling? Soundview Can Help

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Each day brings new reports of the devastating impact of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As I arrived at Soundview’s offices this morning, I heard a report about one consumer aspect that tells us just how intense the circumstances are in Japan. Auto sales for the month of March in Japan are down 37 percent. This is due in large part to the sudden closure of many of Japan’s auto manufacturing plants. The supply chain has been compromised to a large degree, as the shutdown of a single parts-producer can impact multiple manufacturers.

It’s been a difficult time in the auto sales business in many parts of the world. If falling sales numbers have you concerned, you might want to check out the latest edition of CKC’s Executive Edge, the online publication produced by Soundview’s parent company Concentrated Knowledge Corporation. The latest issue is entitled “How to Sharpen Your Sales Approach.” If you’ve never read an issue of Executive Edge, one of the features that separates it from other skill-building publications is its devotion to a single skill in each issue. This gives you a variety of information on one topic from which you can build your own personal strategy.

In the new issue of Executive Edge, you’ll learn the secrets of buyer motivation, the latest sales strategies from top sales authors, and what’s being taught in some of the top-rates sales classrooms around the globe. Your next sale could hinge on a skill that you discover in this issue, so don’t miss out. If you’d like to find out how you can subscribe to Executive Edge, just click this link.

For more great books on sales strategy and selling techniques, visit Soundview’s Web site Summary.com.

Sony Ends an Old-Time Innovation

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Believe it or not, in some parts of the world, Sony was still producing and selling its cassette-based Walkman product. The real surprise comes when one learns that one of those countries still capable of buying a Walkman was Japan, a nation renowned for its almost obsessive interest in developing and selling the newest electronic products. Take a look at this article from The Washington Post that details Sony’s decision to stop selling the cassette player in Japan. Journalist Rob Pegoraro demonstrated an adroit bit of word-craft when he wrote, “By six years after its 1979 debut, the Walkman had become the iPod of its day.”

Those that lived through the cassette era understand that this statement is not hyperbole. The impact of Sony’s introduction of the Walkman is still mentioned alongside Apple’s introduction of the iPod as product launches that caused a tectonic shift in culture and industry. Business books such as Adam Richardson’s Innovation X and The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor discuss the impact of Sony’s device.

In fact, the attributes that made the Walkman such a groundbreaking device are nearly identical to those mentioned in discussions of the iPod more than two decades later. For the generation that grew up with the device, the Walkman offered portability and, more importantly, the ability to customize one’s music selections. Entire books have been written on the unique aspects of customization in the world of cassettes.

While the Walkman lost its relevance in American culture somewhere between the advent of the CD and the mp3, the business ramifications of Sony’s invention still teach us lessons today. Perhaps the most important lesson is the one reiterated by Pegoraro in his article:

With the massive head start the Walkman gave it in the portable-listening market, Sony should have owned digital music. Instead, it embarked on a disastrous experiment with proprietary file formats, proprietary sync software and proprietary “digital rights management” controls. By the time it gave up on all those things in 2007, Sony had been reduced to yet-another-vendor status in the MP3-player business.

For more summaries on innovation in business, visit Soundview’s Web site: Summary.com.