1. link to the article

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2009/09/_walkman_vs_ipo.html

Posted by: Kenji Hall on September 16

2. Includes a short summary of the article

This article is about Sony is trying to compete with Apple in their Walkman line. For the past few years, iPod has earned a huge profit for Apple, and now Sony added two new models to lure consumers away from Apple's iPod and other portable media players. Unlike previous Sony Walkman, these two models are very user friendly. For example, it can pull songs or video stored on a PlayStation 3 gaming console, grab videos from Blu-ray DVD recorder or save files from any portable DVD player. The company is targeting the karaoke-crazed Japanese teens and it is only be sold in Japan for now.

3. Identifies the topic(s) from our syllabus that the article covers

4.1 The Role of Marketing, 4.2 Marketing Planning, 4.3 Product, 4.4 Pricing, 4.5 Promotion, 4.5 Pace

4. Applies one business tool/theory/technique to the organization.

4.1 The Role of Marketing

Sony used to be a Product Orientation company (focus on selling products that they make, rather than making prodcuts that they can sell). However, because of the competition between Apple and Sony, they have combined Market Orientation (focus on aking products that they can sell, rather than selling products they can make) and Product Orientation together to fulfill what customers want and need.