What happened to Japan's electronic giants?

[OldCorpse]

BBC News article asks the question. Sony may survive, but Panasonic and Sharp have less backup to fall on - who will stand behind your Panasonic cameras if the company doesn't survive?

What Happened to Japan's Electronic Giants?

"Japan's electronic giants once ruled the world. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp were household names. Now those same companies are in deep trouble, losing billions of dollars a year. How have the mighty Japanese companies fallen so low? The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo looks at what went wrong."

[...]

"Sony is the strongest of the three. But even Sony makes far more money today out of selling life insurance than it does out of making electronics. Panasonic and Sharp have less to fall back on."

Can they recover and thrive once again?

[EDIT]: This is an economic question, which we should be able to discuss without getting into politics - please note that the original article does not really touch upon politics, so we should be able to avoid it too. If you feel the need to go into politics or any other area that is against TOS, please stop. Thanks!

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

BBC News article asks the question. Sony may survive, but Panasonic and Sharp have less backup to fall on - who will stand behind your Panasonic cameras if the company doesn't survive?

What Happened to Japan's Electronic Giants?

"Japan's electronic giants once ruled the world. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp were household names. Now those same companies are in deep trouble, losing billions of dollars a year. How have the mighty Japanese companies fallen so low? The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo looks at what went wrong."

[...]

"Sony is the strongest of the three. But even Sony makes far more money today out of selling life insurance than it does out of making electronics. Panasonic and Sharp have less to fall back on."

Can they recover and thrive once again?

And such a thread title and attendant news doesn't just sort of demand a political response???

 

[Batutta]

Sony sells life insurance?

 

[Postmaster]

..Sony makes far more money today out of selling life insurance than it does out of making electronics.

WTF? Never heard that before.

 

[groveChuck]

Their problem is that they are electronics giants, not digital giants.

Interesting that Hitachi is returning "to its core business: heavy engineering. Gas turbines, steam turbines, nuclear power plants, high-speed trains,"

Wiki:

Sony Prudential Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (Sony Prudential Life) was established in August 1979 as a joint venture between Sony and Prudential Financial.
Sony and Prudential agreed to end their joint venture in July 1987. In September 1987, Sony Prudential Life was renamed to Sony Pruco Life Insurance Co, Ltd.
In April 1991, Sony renamed this company to Sony Life Insurance Co, Ltd. (Sony Life).
In 2001, Sony Life accounted for 5% of Sony's overall revenue.

I wonder what %age it is today?

 

[OldCorpse]

And such a thread title and attendant news doesn't just sort of demand a political response???

Absolutely not. But good catch - let me amend my post with a caveat.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Absolutely not. But good catch - let me amend my post with a caveat.

I unfortunately don't agree that 'economics' is so disjoint from 'politics' that one could realistically separate the discussion...

In the case of the US and Japan, one has to discuss 'capital flight', and how that is possible... a country does not become an 'investment' opportunity because of some sort of 'natural cause', but due to the political environment of that country, and those countries where people have 'cash' to invest.

China has a 'low cost of labor', not because the people in China like to live on a minimal income, and just are waiting for the chance to make widgets for the world for next to nothing... but due to government involvement in 'labor', transitioning from a form of 'communism' to state managed capitalism (aka fascism).

Perhaps even this brief 'explanation' is too political... in the case of Japan, it is not like they ran out of a 'labor force', nor 'the salt/gold/diamonds/oil' ran out, since they never had these in the first place (ok maybe salt...). It is because of various governments' policies and the advantage that has been taken of them by some set of corporations.