Interview with Sony employee

My information interview is Mr. Yoshio Ishibashi. Mr. Ishibashi is retired from Sony company three years ago. During his time at Sony, he has been working as a logistics manager, CEO of China branch and senior advisor. Mr. Ishibashi stressed the importance of company loyalty in Japan. Japanese society is tend to respect people who contribute their whole life to one company, and it is very weird if someone change jobs. Which is also why Mr. Ishibashi works for Sony all life long.

Mr. Ishibashi pointed out that communication skill is very important for retail industries, especially for multinational corporations. For instance, Sony has many factories in China, so as the CEO of China branch, Mr. Ishibashi needs to negotiate with local factories to ensure they can fit the Sony standard with the lowest price. When he was working as the logistics manager, he also needs to communicate with the factories and stores to make sure the amount of store in order to keep the lowest cost. Besides communication skills, it is also important for employees to be familiar with cost table and stock market.

I also asked Mr. Ishibashi if Sony has any particular positions for entry employees. According to him, Sony has a quiet different system for entry employees from US companies. For all the entry employees, who are called as “New People” in Sony, they have particular courses that need to be taken at Sony, and will work for different departments. After couple years, those “New People” will be signed for actual positions and start working as all the other older employees.

Different corporations have very different company cultures, which are also affected by countries’ cultures. However, there are common characters that all corporations will require from their employees, such as communication skills.