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Product cover image for Sony Corporation’s Aibo: An Intelligent Decision?

Sony Corporation’s Aibo: An Intelligent Decision?

Tulsi Jayakumar

Product #:9B18M036_P
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:International Business, Strategy
Setting:Japan, 2017
Details:Case (PDF) • 15 pages • 2018-03-09

Subjects:

DiversificationCorporate strategyCompetitive advantageCompetitive strategyBusiness managementInternational businessStrategy

Industries:

Fabrication and manufacturing

Geography:

JapanAsia
Your Price:$9.71

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In November 2017, the chief executive officer of Sony Corporation was preparing to announce the company’s release of its rebooted robo-pup, the Aibo—a robot equipped with sensors and actuator technologies, and powered by artificial intelligence that allowed this virtual pet to behave like a real dog. Sony Corporation, the 70-year-old iconic Japanese manufacturing company, had diverse businesses. After significant restructuring since 1999 to address its financial troubles, the company was expected, in March 2018, to post a record operating profit for the first time in two decades. How did a virtual pet business, especially one that had already proved unviable in the past, fit into such a restructuring exercise? Was Sony Corporation's Aibo an intelligent decision?

Learning Objectives

This case is suitable for a general management or strategy course at the graduate or post-graduate level. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to
  • understand diversification as a corporate strategy;
  • distinguish between competitive strategy and corporate strategy for a diversifying company;
  • analyze the conditions for diversification; and
  • evaluate a corporate strategy of diversification.
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Case Study: Sony Corporation’s Aibo: An Intelligent Decision? | Ivey Publishing