Sony: More Job Cuts A Possibility

Sony may be forced to make further difficult restructuring decisions beyond what it has already announced. This could include cutting more jobs than the 8,000 fulltime and 8, 000 temporary that it already announced last week. According to a Kyodo news service interview with the Sony president Ryoji Chubachi published Thursday, Sony’s top executive said more steps including further lay-offs may be needed to keep the company from sinking further into the abyss.

“With only these measures, we cannot fully survive the current economic situation,” he said.

Chubachi pointed out that global business conditions are getting worse and demand for its consumer electronics products have been falling since late November. He believes this trend is one that isn’t going away anytime soon, so the company needs to do whatever it can to keep its head above water.
He also said that Sony would have to reassess the planned expansion of its personal computer, Blu-ray Disc and semiconductor operations into “trillion yen businesses” by March 2011.

While the awful state of the global economy can be attributed to a portion of Sony’s current problems — including consumer demand for some of its electronic products — the company’s PS3 can only be competitive with the Xbox 360 and Wii by cutting the price of the system. Cheaper Blu-Ray disc players are not helping matters any, considering that the PS3 was being billed as an excellent cost effective means of playing Sony’s high definition disc format.

It is a tough position to be in — and one that will mean some hard decisions and difficult times for workers who may become a target to reduce cost.