If there’s ever been a company between a rock and a hard place, its Sony. The company, which experienced phenomenal growth in the 80’s and 90’s, was able to expand in all markets, from digital clocks, to high end televisions and the navigation in your car that will hopefully lead you to a store to purchase their products. At its peak, Sony enjoyed a dominant position in almost all marks, but the 2000’s saw the company face stiff competition, thanks to the revival of Apple and a surge of products from Samsung. The company, which was unprepared for the digital revolution, has fallen behind in most categories, and only in the past 6 months, under the new CEO, Kaz Hirai, have we seen them pull out from less than favorable markets and end legacy products under the ‘One Sony‘ initiative.

Speaking to shareholders today, Kaz Hirai promised that his plan will save the troubled Japanese giant and once again outlined his initiative which will see the company’s Xperia line of smartphones, gaming with PlayStation, and digital imaging lead the way. Though in details, Kaz also promised to triple their online gaming network sales (PlayStation Network) by 2015. PSN is currently enjoyed as a free service with premium content to purchase like avatars, games, and videos on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and the recently released PlayStation Vita.

Hirai has also taken the troubled television division, which is responsible for the Bravia brand and much of Sony’s losses and potential profits, under his own personal leadership. Sony has already announced a partnership with Panasonic which will see the two Japanese makers c0-develop OLED televisions in 2013. Hirai plans to “expand group sales by a third to 8.5 trillion yen ($106.97 billion) in two years with an operating margin of more than 5 percent.”

Since Hirai has taken over the company, Sony shares have slid by 36% though that’s hardly a reflection on his performance and it is impossible to expect drastic changes within such a large company in such a short period of time. Instead, the decline is a result of a further realization of Sony’s position while the world markets have continued to decline, due to the ongoing Euro crises.

Discuss:

Do you think Sony will be able to turn things around in the next two years?

[Via Yahoo! Finance]