Terminator: The Rise of the Conglomerate

I like it when Asian people say Asian sounding words. It just sounds awesome. Is this racist? In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, "if you like something, how can it be racist?".

                                                                              My officemate at work is Korean (South, not North). I'm in awe of him when he says words like "Samsung" or "Sakura of Japan", the latter being a sushi restaurant we both like to order from when we have to work late into the night.

I've been thinking about two asian companies recently: Samsung and Sony. I don't know what word accurately depicts the penetration these two companies have had on ordinary Americans, so I'll use the word conglomorate. I don't like to use that word because it conjures up notions of airlines growing pigs and jet engine manufacturers getting involved in television sitcoms (ahem, Jeffrey Immelt,) but I'll use it nonetheless. Samsung and Sony aren't really conglomerates in that sense, they are conglomerates in the sense that they produce all kinds of consumer electronics.

Samsung and Sony labels can be seen on everything inside a home, from televisions to laptops to video game consoles. In that sense, Sony is the larger conglomerate of the two, in that it produces computers (Sony Viaos) and video game consoles (Playstations and PSPs). Sony is on the decline, however. It is no longer the preeminent consumer elecotronics company, and unless it changes its business strategy quickly, it will be remembered as the late 20th century's RCA. Samsung, on the other hand, is clearly growing. It produces DRAM chips that go into computers, and its sucess in producing televisions is unrivaled. Samsung could (and should!) start making computers. Sony should start making better televisions.

Each company wants to own my home. Samsung want me to have Samsung televisions that are hooked up to Samsung speakers that can also play music from my Samsung MP3 player. That's awesome. That's what they should want. That's capitalism and commerce at its best.

In today's digital age, a consumer wants everything he has to speak to everything else he has. I want to bring up hulu on my laptop and watch the show on my plasma television. I want my MP3 player to be used as a remote control for iTunes which plays off my stereo system that is also hooked up to my television. So why don't these companies start selling everything like that. At Best Buy recently, I saw HP was selling a package for $1200 which included a desktop, laptop, and netbook.

Why doesn't Sony start selling a huge package for $3000 that includes a laptop, MP3 player, speakers, and a Playstation. Each product should seamlessly and wirelessly connect with each other. That is, they should do exactly what I want them to do (and wrote above)! How awesome would that be! The major issue would be that people who are buying a new television may not need new speakers or a new laptop, so they may not want the whole package. But people moving into new apartments or students moving to college could definitely use this. And some people are going to need to replace their laptop and television at the same time (people such as me)! They can make it so you can just buy one or two major components and then you can buy add-ons later on. That is, sell the television and laptop together and let someone buy the MP3 and digital camera player later. It'll keep the consumer loyal to the company's products because they already and exclusively and wirelessly sync with other products from that same brand.

This is such a great idea! It gives these two huge players a competitive advantage against other CE companies simply without doing anything. Why aren't people doing this!? Sony, this can save you!

Comments

[Suleman Ali]

Great idea! Instead of selling individual devices, they should be selling entire living room setups. Best Buy would love it too as it would make shopping more experiential (meaning it can compete against the Internet) and increase their average revenue per user/per purchase.

[Steve]

i think i saw just what you're describing on a commercial the other day. was Windows 7 your idea too? haha

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