Stacking boxes in CostCutters?

Paul.

It is indicative of what's going on in the world economy. Think about it, Sharp, Sony . . . some of the largest and most prestigious of the Japanese Post WWII expansion era struggling. China and Korea are giving them fits as much as the US.

There is a rearrangement of wealth, technology and prosperity going on and we're all feeling it -- for better or worse.

tom

You forgot Veit Nam and Malaysia.
JJK

and perhaps even Eastern Europe.

tom

Stating the obvious http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57547921-92/the-era-of-japanese-consumer-electronics-giants-is-dead/

Sony is pushing hard to extend its presence in gaming, and analysts believe it could still benefit from more tightly integrating its products together, similar to the way Samsung has bridged jointly its televisions, tablets, smartphones, and even appliances.

Wow... I mention they needed to do this over six years ago. When Sony announced SCS coming under the Sony brand!!!

i know the mantra of ever expanding your business, that constant growth (mainly for the benefit of the shareholders rather than the customers) should be the order of the day, but...

look to warren buffet, and the like. take care of your workforce and produce good, RELIABLE products and you'll always have a business and market.

i started my business with a specific market in mind, and though my business partners were forever urging / suggesting / demanding we 'expand' i refused. 15 years later we all retired quite comfortably. as i wrote, if you supply a good product in the first place the customers will keep coming back no matter what the competition offers.

And just before The Crash, all those banks were given AAA credit ratings.

I take financial advise for what it is - nothing more than mere guesswork... When I took out a mortgage, I listened carefully to every word my financial advisor gave me, then ignored every word of it. I paid off my mortgage in 7 years. Had I taken his advice, I would still be paying it off today and I wouldn't have the great life I have.

Apple survived, Sony will survive, though it may be a struggle.

Everything that goes up, comes down in every perspective. Just a side note, Apples not smiling as of late either.

I just hope Sony doesn't do to this division what Avid did to Sibelius. I think the ex-Sonic Foundry folks are great coders given the manpower and opportunity. I hope they get a chance to shine once again. Unfortunately, that's hard to do when you're tied to the mast of a...

As with all markets (and the businesses that drive them), it's boom, doom and gloom.

Japan (in case people did not know or have forgotten) had a giant bubble in the 90s, they were flying high.... of course that bubble has popped some time ago.

Being a person that moved to Japan shortly after the bubble popped (and life was still rosy some what), and lived there for 10 years - the country is still doing 'fine'. However 'fine' can be subjective. When you have a decade of reckless spending and over valuation of stocks (and Real Estate in Japan's case), a normal lifestyle as it is today is not 'fine'. However, that is based on a comparison of the lifestyle there 15 years ago when 'fine' had a higher standard.

Now I am back home in Vancouver... and we are in a massive bubble (Real Estate driven by mainly Chinese investors), I see luxury cars in abundance... money being spent left right and center... this lifestyle is 'fine' for now... but when it bursts (and it will), people will think that a 'normal' lifestyle is not 'fine'. It will take generations to forget the bubble life style and realize normal is indeed normal.

Like somebody said about Apple - as much as I love their products (and always have since my Mac Plus, I am no Faboi), they will slip and their dominance will fade... some other company will take their place... and in time that company will fade as well. Remember the 90's.... the giant then was Microsoft, they do not have the dominance that they once enjoyed.

So yes... what goes up must come down. But people need to tell the difference between down, which is usually a normal state, to that of up, which is often an over valued state.

Ok... rant out LOL (sorry about that).