| 世界上经营亏损的八大科技品牌 拥有世界上最知名的品牌，曾经不可一世的科技公司，混到今天，不得不面临挣扎在死亡线上的困境，这样的科技公司，在历史上一再的出现。 科技巨头的来来去去，短暂的生命力，似乎就是它们不可避免的宿命。同时，好像也是时代进步的必然和结果。 事实上，在世界上如何一个行业经营的公司，最终都是类似的命运。不同的是，科技公司更为短命罢了。来的快，去的也快，就是科技公司的最大特点。很可能也正是因为这样的原因，看重长期投资价值和机会的巴菲特，才不太喜欢投资科技公司。 昔日的巨人，像索尼、夏普、任天堂这样的日本公司，今天已经是走到了巨额亏损的地步，落入同样命运的，还有其它好几家拥有家喻户晓品牌的昔日大鳄。 很多时候，人们喜欢琢磨一家公司成功的秘密，却很少有人认真的去思索一下，一家大公司之所以会败落的缘故。实际上，研究公司的败落，有时候甚至比懂得公司的成功，还要重要的多。因为，如何一家公司的成功，无非就是在合适的时候做了合适的事情，同时，在做这些合适的事情的时候，比对手更为勇敢一点，更为智慧一些罢了。 几年前，我写了一本《拐点：世界金融巨头大败局》的书，比较详细地分析和“戏说”了一回，几大美国金融巨头在金融危机中败落的过程和原因。结果，市场的反应，好像远没有《二十一岁的总裁》那样“自我吹嘘”的书，来得让读者兴奋和狂热。 可惜了，由于读者的喜爱度太弱，人们写这样书的积极性也就不可能很大。虽然在我看来，深入地分析这些昔日巨头败落的过程，探讨其中深层次的原因，是个非常值得做的事情。这样的分析结果，不仅对于从事科技公司投资和经营的人士价值巨大，对于我们普通人的生活，也会带来不少的，有深度的借鉴价值。 人生，企业的一生，对于我，在很大程度上是类似的。更何况，这些具体生产的产品，已经在日常生活中对我们的生活产生过巨大的影响。 下面是目前挣扎在亏损线上的，世界八大品牌的科技公司的名单和关于它们的大概信息。其中好几家是被苹果公司直接和间接的给逼死的。乔布斯领导的苹果，带给世界一个非常巨大的革命性影响，这个影响的深度和广度，远远超过了我们的想象。 那么，作为今天的巨人，什么时候，苹果自己也会面临同样的命运？想避开这样的命运结局是不可能的。造成这样结局的，是人类贪婪和自利的必然结果。任何人，如何公司都不可能避开。 这些公司值不值得你投资？ 它们是不是有再生的机会？ 从统计学的意义上来说，可能性比较小。最终的结局，很多估计也就是历史的记录和人们心中过眼云烟般的记忆了。 Eight Great Tech Brands Losing Money May 11, 2012 by 247wallst It is a trend in the consumer electronics business — manufacturers rise to become industry leaders only to be outshone by the competition as high-priced gadgets quickly become commodities. Based on recent earning reports of the biggest electronics makers, 24/7 Wall St. set out to identity the once high-flying brands that are now losing money. A review of the biggest losers demonstrates how little consumers care about prior successes. Although these companies were the industry darlings once, today consumers may not even remember their names. Companies such as Nintendo, Research In Motion, Sony and Nokia dominated their markets for a number of years and, in many cases, had few to no serious competitors. These companies often rose to the top because of major breakthrough products, such as the Nintendo Wii, RIM’s BlackBerry and Sony’s Walkman. But the companies on this list have not managed to adequately follow up these successes with new products and now are losing ground to competitors. Sharp has lost money due to competition from companies like Samsung that have stronger brands and can undercut its prices on TV. Nokia, which continues to do well in the low-end cell phone market, is losing money because it has been unable to make a significant break into the growing smartphone market. 24/7 Wall St. has identified eight of the most popular tech brands that are losing money. To demonstrate these companies’ waning popularity, 24/7 reviewed financial data from their financial statements, as well as data from a number of major research firms. These are the eight great tech brands losing money. 1. RIM Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was, for a time, a leader in the smartphone market. Its BlackBerry phones helped pioneer the industry. The company’s popularity has since waned and it has begun to lose money. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, RIM had a net loss of $125 million, the result of goodwill charges and “an inventory provision taken primarily on certain BlackBerry7 products.” Revenue was down 24% compared to the year prior. According to Comscore, RIM’s share of the U.S. market for smartphone subscribers dropped from 16% last December to 12.3% in March. Meanwhile, the share of smartphones using Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android rose from 47.3% to 51% over the same period. The company’s BlackBerry 10 handsets, which are being released later this year, may be RIM’s last chance for relevance. 2. Sharp Sharp reported a record annual loss of $4.67 billion this past April. The company also announced that it expects to continue to lose money in the current fiscal year. Sharp’s losses are primarily due to falling prices and declining sales of its LCD televisions. The Japanese company has been struggling to compete with South Korean manufacturers. In addition, the company spent $1.5 billion in restructuring costs. In March, Sharp sold a 46% stake in its largest plant to Taiwanese rival Hon Hai to soften losses at its television business. 3. EA Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) reported a net loss of $205 million for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2011, despite generating $1.06 billion in net revenue over the same period. Two of the company’s major titles — FIFA 12 and Battlefield 3 — have each sold more than 10 million copies, a particularly large quantity for games. Madden 12 has sold nearly 5 million. Many experts believe that the company’s launch of The Sims Social — meant as a competitor to Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) products — has not done well. This was viewed as a gamble on EA’s part, as the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to break into the social games space. It is not the first time for EA to be in the red. The company had a net loss of $322 million in the same quarter the year before.
4. Sony Sony (NYSE: SNE) was a world leader in a variety of electronic products only a few years ago. As recently as November 2011, the company cut its sales forecast for TVs, cameras and DVD players. The company’s financial situation has only worsened since then. In April 2012, Sony decreased its earnings outlook for the fourth time in less than a year, warning of a potential $6.4 billion net loss in the last fiscal year. The Wall Street Journal said the loss would be “the biggest-ever in the electronics conglomerate’s 65-year history.” Sony has been dealing with ongoing losses in its television segment. In its consumer electronics arm, the company has been struggling to deal with competition from companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung. Sony also has lost its standing in the game console market, which it once owned with the PS2, and in the portable music device market, which it owned with the Walkman. 5. Nintendo Nintendo was the number one video game console manufacturer in the world thanks to its Wii. In order to better compete, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sony slashed prices on their Xbox 360 and PS3 products. Nintendo, as a result, was forced to drop the prices of both its Wii and portable player DS. In April 2012, the company posted a total loss of $461.2 million for the 2011 fiscal year. All three companies also face the growing competition posed by smartphone-based gaming. 6. Nokia Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has long been the world’s largest handset manufacturer, but it lost that position to Samsung in the first quarter of the year. Its past success was due, in large part, to the company’s low-end cell phone models, which are particularly popular in developing countries. When it came to smartphones, however, Nokia has not kept up. The market continues to be dominated by Samsung and Apple. Nokia’s inability to break into the more profitable smartphone arena has been apparent in the company’s profit and loss statements. In April 2012, the company announced a quarterly net loss of $1.2 billion, blaming “greater than expected competitive challenges.” In an attempt to turn itself around, Nokia has set a joint venture with Microsoft to distribute Windows mobile on its smartphones in exchange for financial and marketing support. 7. Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) has invested increasing amounts in its Nook e-book reader. But intense competition from other tablet and e-reader companies, including Apple and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), has kept the company in the red. For the 39 weeks that ended January 28, 2012, Barnes & Noble lost more than $11 million. The company blamed the increasing losses on continued investments “in its rapidly growing Nook business, including advertising costs and personnel.” To help it with the Nook development costs, Barnes & Noble has also formed an alliance with Microsoft. The software company has made an investment in the book company’s e-book and e-reader businesses in exchange for the creation of Nook models that run the Windows OS. 8. Acer Acer’s business plan used to rely on the netbook, the cheap, portable and underpowered laptop. In the past two years, however, netbook sales have been disrupted by the surging tablet market, as well as the growing popularity of smartphones. Dropping the price did little to encourage demand. The company reported a massive annual loss of $212 million in 2011. Now the company is focusing on the Utlrabook, Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) laptop and effectively the next generation of netbook. It appears the company has not learned its lesson. According to The Verge, Acer Global President Jianren Weng predicts that PC Ultrabooks will drop to $499 in 2013 to compete with Apple’s iPad. Unfortunately, that is several hundred dollars less than the company needs to make money. Charles B. Stockdale 连接： 哈佛美眉企业家的经营之道 美国权力最大的公司CEO 美国市场最畅销的十大啤酒品牌 投资出租房累积百万财富 美国最滞销的十大品牌汽车 在美国买房子必须明白的几大要点 在美国卖房子必须知道的十三大要点 美国最流行的十大整容手术 八零后不喜爱的消费 美国房价最贵和最廉的十座城市 美国就业最好和最差的地区 权力最小的美国十大CEO |
