The Sony Mobile move is the latest step of its Sony-Ericsson takeover, and will see the company cutting its staff by 1000 in its Lund, Sweden offices. 650 of these will be full time employees in Lund, the rest are external consultants.
These jobs will be cut gradually across 2012 and 2013, to be completed by March 2014. Lund will continue to be used for software and application development.
Sony Mobile CEO Kunimasa Suzuki says the move to bring its operations back to Japan will enhance market efficiency, streamline supply chain management and drive greater integration with the wider Sony group.
"We are accelerating the integration and convergence with the wider Sony group to continue enhancing our offerings, and a more focused and efficient operational structure will help to reduce Sony Mobile’s costs, enhance time to market efficiency and bring the business back to a place of strength," he said.
Sony Corporation CEO Kaz Hirai has been working hard to rebuild Sony, which has become a lumbering giant and struggles across the board. His plan is to horizontally and vertically integrate the business, through a fusion of software and hardware – experience gained during his time leading the Playstation division. To this end, Hirai announced in April that 10,000 jobs would be axed from various facets of the business.
Sony bought out its joint venture partner Ericsson’s 50% stake in Sony-Ericsson late last year, renaming it Sony Mobile. The acquisition was completed in February 2012.
