Sony Corp, the maker of Bravia LCD TVs, Cyber-shot cameras and the Playstation game console, is expected to announce a restructuring plan this week, according to the Financial Times.
Last month the Japanese company outlined plans to curb investment, close five to six manufacturing plans and cut 16,000 jobs, to save $1.1 billion a year. However, industry analysts say that Sony will likely need more drastic measures in order to fight the sharp slowdown in the sale of electronics, due to the current global economic climate.
Talking to Reuters, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, Mitsushige Akino said, "Sony"s not in a position to halt all domestic production but it has to do something that drastic. If it announces plans to move production overseas while keeping only planning and development functions in Japan, that would be a positive."
According to the Financial Times, Chief Executive of Sony, Howard Stringer, is meeting resistance over plans to shift the company"s focus from hardware to software, as well as job cuts in Japan, with the latter expected to meet some political resistance too.
If the Financial Times is correct, we can expect Sony to unveil details of its restructuring plan on Wednesday or Thursday.