Sony's Chubachi Sets His Sights On Cost Cutting
Even inside Sony Corp ., incoming president Ryoji Chubachi is a man of mystery.
The 57-year-old Mr. Chubachi spent most of his 28-year career at the company in what he has jokingly called "Siberia," an out-of-the-way division that makes and sells videotapes, optical discs and other media that record data. At Sony's headquarters in Tokyo, many people have never even spoken to him.
Now, Mr. Chubachi is bursting into the spotlight. As Sony's new electronics chief and the right-hand man of newly appointed chief executive Howard Stringer, Mr. Chubachi will be responsible for fixing Sony's biggest problem: profitability at the struggling electronics business.
That will mean making some tough calls. In one of his first interviews after his appointment was announced earlier this month, Mr. Chubachi said Sony must be prepared to take a knife to costs, as well as move more people and engineering resources out of less profitable areas and into high-growth products and promising new businesses. But he declined to give specifics or targets until he announces his "action plan" later in the year.
He said Sony must try to bolster profitability by improving the collaboration between the divisions that plan, manufacture and sell products. And Mr. Chubachi wants to "reduce the layers" in the chain of command in Sony's electronics business -- a sentiment shared by Mr. Stringer.
People who have worked with Mr. Chubachi say he's experienced at cutting costs and strict about hitting goals. He saved Sony's struggling videotape business from the ax as prices for tapes plummeted in the mid-1990s, recalls longtime colleague Takashi Ichinose, convincing Sony chief executive Nobuyuki Idei to give him time to cut workers and factory space as well as boost sales. Now, says Mr. Ichinose, Sony's videotape business is still making money in an industry where many players are in the red.
But some insiders also say Mr. Chubachi may be handicapped by his lack of experience in Sony's mainstream consumer-electronics businesses: he has always been in charge of devices that go into Sony products -- components such as cassette tapes or batteries -- but never finished products. And he has had relatively little contact with his new boss, Mr. Stringer, with whom he'll have to work closely.
The challenges facing him are huge. Sony's electronics division still accounts for around 70% of revenue, but slightly more than a third of profits. And those profits will be hard to boost because a growing number of rivals in areas like televisions and music players means prices for products are plummeting.
Still, Mr. Chubachi's track record suggests he has some important strengths. He spent three years in a Sony unit in Alabama, and he speaks English well enough to communicate with Mr. Stringer without an interpreter.
Juan Rodriguez, chairman and chief technologist of Boulder, Colo.-based data-storage company Exabyte Corp., said Mr. Chubachi and his group, which made some of the products Exabyte designed, were more dependable and easier to work with than other parts of the company.
Mr. Chubachi's group "is a very different part of Sony," said Mr. Rodriguez. "They sure know how to deal with their customers. When they make commitments they meet them."
A career engineer who wrote his Ph.D. thesis on fluids that have magnetic properties, Mr. Chubachi is an avid observer with quirky tastes -- and someone who points to curiosity as his driving force. After moving to an old-fashioned Tokyo neighborhood in the early 1990s, he became engrossed in the life of the district -- going to nearby theaters to see traditional Japanese comic routines, and joining a club that photographed the guardian-dog statues often seen in front of Japanese shrines.
Mr. Chubachi said his leadership style is soft-spoken. "I'm a consensus-type leader. I'm not top-down," he said. "I believe the ability to communicate is the most important quality for a leader."
Engineers who've worked with Mr. Chubachi say he's good at spotting talent and motivating younger workers, something that could be important in helping to build morale in the electronics group. And he can battle fiercely for projects he believes in, said colleague Tatsuya Akashi, head of an online data-storage project Mr. Chubachi successfully championed -- in the face of opposition -- in 2000. "He's excellent at balancing business goals without killing creativity," said Mr. Akashi.
Mr. Chubachi also signaled he may depart, when necessary, from the proud Sony belief that the company should create demand, not research it. That attitude was symbolized by Sony's Walkman, with which the company single-handedly created a market for portable music players.
He said that although that Sony spirit is still important, in some ways the company has gone too far and isn't listening enough to customers. "We used to evangelize," said Mr. Chubachi. "We have to listen better."
索尼新总裁著眼成本削减目标
即使对于索尼公司(Sony Corp., 又名:新力公司)内部的员工而言，即将上任的总裁中□良治(Ryoji Chubachi)也是一个神秘的人物。
现年57岁的中□良治已在索尼供职28年，绝大部分时间都是在被他戏称为“西伯利亚”的部门工作，这个部门主要生产和销售录像带、光盘和其他类似的产品。在索尼位于东京的总部，许多人甚至都没有和他说过话。
而现在中□良治突然之间成为了大家关注的焦点。作为索尼电子产品部门的新任负责人、同时也是新任首席执行长霍华德?斯特林格(Howard Stringer)的得力助手，中□良治将负责解决摆在公司面前的最大问题：电子产品业务部门的盈利问题。
这意味著他要作出一些艰难的决定。本月初中□良治在对他的任命宣布之后接受采访时表示，索尼必须要做好削减成本的准备，同时必须将更多的人员和工程资源从亏损的业务领域转移到高增长的产品和前景好的新业务中。但他拒绝在今年年底公布他的“行动计划”前透露任何具体的细节和目标。
他表示，索尼必须进一步协调产品计划、生产和销售部门的工作，以提高盈利水平。中□良治希望能减少公司电子业务部门的管理层次，斯特林格亦有此意。
中□良治的同事称，他深谙成本削减之道，也善于严格按照既定目标行事。与他共事多年的同事Takashi Ichinos回忆说，在上世纪90年代初期录像带大幅下跌的时候，他正是通过削减成本的方法挽救了公司苦苦支撑的录影带业务，他当时说服了首席执行长出井伸之(Nobuyuki Idei)给他一些时间来裁员和降低工厂规模，同时提振销售。Ichinos称，在录像带行业的多数企业都处于亏损状况的今天，索尼的录像带业务部门仍是一个赚钱的部门。
不过，公司一些内部人士也表示，中□良治缺乏在索尼主流的消费电子产品部门工作的经验，这一点可能对他不利。他一直负责的是公司诸如磁带或电池等零部件生产部门，从来没有负责过成品业务，并且他和自己的新老板斯特林格接触相对较少，而今后他们必须要密切地合作。
他面临的挑战将是非常巨大的。索尼电子产品部门的收入占公司总收入的70%左右，而贡献的利润比例仅略高于1/3。随著电视和音乐播放器等领域的竞争对手数量增加，这些产品的价格正在不断下滑，因此要提振电子产品业务的利润并非易事。
不过，从中□良治往既的业绩看，他也有一些重要的优势。他在索尼位于阿拉巴马的部门工作了3年，英语颇为熟练，无需翻译就能和斯特林格进行沟通。
数据存储公司Exabyte董事长兼首席技术长罗德里格斯(Juan Rodriguez)称，与索尼其他部门相比，中□良治和他的团队更加可靠、也更好相处。中□良治的部门曾经生产了一些Exabyte涉及的产品。
罗德里格斯称，中□良治的团队不同于索尼的其他部门，他们深知如何与客户相处，并且从来都是言出必行。
中□良治是一位职业工程师，他的博士论文写的是磁性流体问题。他勤于观察，品位独到，是那种常常受到好奇心启发的人。他在90年代初期搬到了东京一处旧式的生活社区，并开始逐渐融入这个地方的生活－－到附近的戏院观看日本传统喜剧、加入摄影俱乐部，专门拍摄日本神庙门口摆放的守护犬雕像。
中□良治称，他的领导风格就是言辞温和。他说自己是一个听从民意的领导者，不是那种发号施令的人。他认为，沟通能力是领导者一项最重要的品质。
曾与中□良治一块儿工作过的工程师称，他很善于发掘人才和激发年轻员工的工作热情，这一点可能对树立电子产品部门的士气十分重要。他的同事Tatsuya Akashi称，他会竭尽全力地争取自己看好的项目。他是一个网络数据存储项目的主管，这个项目就是中□良治在2000年不顾外界反对而极力争取到的。Akashi称，他能极好地平衡商业目标，而又不扼杀员工们的创新激情。
中□良治还表示，如果有必要，他会放弃索尼引以为豪的信条：公司应该创造需求而不是研究需求。公司的这个信条在索尼Walkman产品上得到很好的体现，公司凭借这一产品一手缔造了一个便携式音乐播放器市场。
他说，虽然索尼的精神依然重要，但有些时候公司在这个方向上走得太远了，不愿意倾听顾客的意见。中□良治说，公司以前总是向消费者灌输信息，现在是该多听听他们的意见了。
