Advantages Of Silo Culture

1679 Words4 Pages

Introduction:

Despite of the fact of being an global electronic manufacturing giant, Sony recently has experienced big loses and undergone several reorganizations within the company and among its different business units. However, most of the reorganizations have not been proved as successful and some significant problems are still remained to be solved. Many scholars argue that this is mainly because of the Silo culture the company has, which is reflected on company’s business structure. The highly diversified or multidivisional business structure or business model of the company had never been changed after several restructure efforts and communication and cooperation among different business units are prevented as a result of silo culture.

Based on the strategic analysis of the case, in the first part of the essay, the silo culture explained and the business structure and business model of the company are identified. In the second part, the main advantages of the business model illustrated. However, this kind of business model has its inherent disadvantages which are elaborated in the last part of the essay.

1. Silo Culture and business structure

Silo business culture can be found in some enterprises. Silo is a term that used for organizations which have different business units with their own management team but among those units ‘lack the motivation or desire to work with or even communicate with other organizational units’ (Aeker, 2008). In some companies, where silo culture prevailed, certain departments or divisions do not wish to share information or corporate with other departments and divisions. It is believed that Sony’s performance is also affected by silo culture.

Apart from that, there are many other issues ...

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... supremacy and this adds Additional levels of hierarchy to the business.

Conclusion

From 5 divisional business group in 2005 to 2 major groups in 2009, Sony is dedicating to change its organizational structure and business model to transform Sony into more innovative, aligned and profitable organization. Although several reorganizations were attempted, Sony has not been able to change its business model dramatically to achieve its goal. There are still many business divisions within the company which open the doors to silo culture. However, this kind of multidivisional business model did not entirely make Sony’s business get worse. It improved the company’s flexibility and provided clear focus for each business division. At the same time, it constrained the cooperation and information sharing among the business units and brought new challenges to the business.

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