Sony India is facing one of its toughest crises in the form of attrition of key marketing personnel.
MUMBAI: Eleven years after it was set up as a 100% subsidiary of consumer electronics major Sony Corporation, Japan, Sony India is facing one of its toughest crises in the form of attrition of key marketing personnel.
Over 15 senior-to-middle level marketing professionals have quit the company in the last six months or so. And this week, the product manager for high-end television, Kumar Menon, put in his papers.
Industry grapevine suggests that a strong hierarchical structure, exacerbated by the influx of Japanese managers who formed another layer of top management, was the cause of the current crisis.
“A new level of management structure has been created between the marketing head and product heads. Such a structure exists nowhere in the industry and it has completely blocked the growth prospect of middle level managers,” despaired one of the product heads, who quit Sony India recently.
Until a year ago, about ten product heads of the Japanese home entertainment major were reporting directly to the marketing division head, Katsuhiko Murase, a Japanese national. Then, the company decided to create a new hierarchy by bringing in four business group heads - Yamano Kuchi for color televisions, Ken Nakazava for Personal Audio, Kent Tanigaki for IT products and Takigawa for digital imaging business - all of whom are Japanese nationals.
And soon after the new business group heads joined, the product managers as well as other middle level mangers from marketing, communications and business opted for better career prospects elsewhere.
The first to quit was Amitabh Bhatnagar, product head, separate components and DVD players (home theatres). And since April, middle level managers have been following suit.
Among them, product manager for audio segment Akash Agarawal has joined Reliance Retail, product manger for home theatres Vivek has joined Microsoft and Chandigarh branch manager Ashish Sharma has joined LG.
In fact, around 7 out of 11 product managers have already quit. Over 8 other middle level professionals from marketing communications and business plan have also put in their papers in the last six months.
“It took some time for everybody to react to the new hierarchy and look for the right opportunity to switch over,” said a product head who quit recently.
As it is, the company has not been able to match the industry growth rate in colour TVs and Korean chaebols LG and Samsung are doing better than it. On top of it, even in the handycam, audio and personal audio category where it has a leadership position in India, the growth rate was affected this year. Observers attribute this to the present human resource crisis.
The company did not respond to the e-mail from DNA Money on the attrition issue.
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