Sony — the strategy behind it | Stratrix

Company profile

Industry: Household Audio & Video Equipment
Listed: NYSE: SONY
Incorporated: Japan
Headquarters: Tokyo
Fiscal year end: Mar 31

The analyses

Standards War · Moat & Competition

The Better Format That Lost: What Betamax Teaches About Winning a Standards War

Sony's Betamax had the sharper picture and the head start. It still lost to VHS, and lost completely. The reason is the most counterintuitive rule in technology strategy: in a standards war, the best product routinely loses to the best ecosystem.