GIANT ENEMY CRAB DOT NET

Howard Stringer - Current CEO of SonyThe other day, I commented on how Sony has somewhat rehabbed itself at E3 2009 from the massive damage it received during their infamous press conference during the 2006 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Some of that turn around may be attributable to a change in Sony leadership during the past two years. The high water mark for this change of course being Sony's current CEO, Howard Stringer - the first non-Japanese executive to helm the venerated electronics maker.

Stringer probably has one of the least enviable corporate jobs I could imagine: trying to wrangle one of the largest Japanese companies around while dealing with not only major cross-culture differences but also Sony's entrenched, 50-year old corporate culture - one that's seen a string of rampant missteps in the past couple of years.

In a recent interview with Tech On, Stringer discusses his thoughts on the current recession, the importance of having good product engineers and even admits that one of Sony's biggest mistakes has been its forgoing of open standards in favor of proprietary media formats. You can check out that interview here: [TechOn.nikkeibp.co.jp].

This of course is alluding to the still, stinging fact that the company associated with the Walkman has been nearly kicked out of the portable music industry entirely by a computer company from Cupertino California.

Despite Stringer's thoughts on the matter, those who have watched Sony over the past 30 years will note that from Betamax to ATRAC, to Blu-Ray, Sony's modus operandi has always been to invent their own, kooky, proprietary media format and attempt to sell it to the masses via their hardware.

Stringer will have to move mountains to change that kind of entrenched, corporate culture at the Japanese electronics maker.

For more info, check out this video interview with Stringer on Sony, consumer electronics and global business: [NyTimes.com]