Sony 1999 Annual Report Download - page 6

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4
page
Sony Corporation Annual Report 1999
AIMING TO CREATE GREATER SHAREHOLDER VALUE
Our corporate reorganization aims to maximize shareholder value. To meet this goal, we are
working to increase the profitability of the Electronics business, our largest unit, and to
reorganize our group companies and internal divisions for quicker decision-making and
execution in a rapidly changing environment. Furthermore, we have decided to review the
functioning of our group headquarters in order to clarify its role as an “active investor”
that puts shareholder value above all else.
This reorganization also clarifies the Board’s role as a supervisor in order to improve its
monitoring ability. In addition, we included the top managers of each business unit in
headquarters’ Management Committee in order to promote closer mutual ties among busi-
ness units. With this reorganization, we are moving to separate the functions of the Board,
which serves to make decisions and supervise, and the Management Committee, which carries
out day-to-day management. In this way, we intend to facilitate quick decision-making
while maintaining steady corporate governance.
In addition, we will divide the function of Sony Corporation’s headquarters into two
distinct functions: a new group headquarters and business unit support services. We intend
to keep the size of our group headquarters to a minimum and to establish a structure that
can reorganize business units and reallocate management resources speedily and dynami-
cally. Business unit support functions will be clarified, with certain functions being trans-
ferred to the business units or made autonomous. As for research and development functions,
projects that need to be commercialized quickly will be transferred to the appropriate business
unit. Research areas that involve long-term projects or business domains best supervised
by the group headquarters will remain at the corporate level.