Sony Seeks Comeback With Ex-Foes' Help -2-

"Sony in a year or two will be compared with Netflix, not Panasonic," says Amir Anvarzadeh, head of Japan equity sales at brokerage firm BGC Partners Inc.

Mr. Hirai still has to convince some skeptics that he can dream big. While he gave his strategy the name "One Sony" when he became chief executive in 2012, Mr. Hirai hasn't outlined a vision for how the different pieces of Sony fit together or benefit each other.

William Saito, a venture capitalist and technology consultant who has done work for Sony, says he noticed about two years ago an increase in the number of Sony engineers that came to him with "projects in shoeboxes," or experiments developed on the side.

Many engineers were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of internal interest in their work. "They were saying: 'Do you know where I can go to keep these projects alive?'" he recalls. "Before, the engineers were gods, and they were backed up by engineers. I think they lost something there."

Mr. Hirai, Sony Mobile Communications chief Hiroki Totoki and other executives are trying to reinvigorate Sony's employees by encouraging them to come up with new business ideas.

At Sony headquarters in Tokyo, casually dressed workers now meet in a "Creative Lounge" with the look and feel of a Silicon Valley startup. The loft-style space has exposed ductwork, Eames chairs and three-dimensional printers -- and is a center for Sony's internal entrepreneurship program.

Early results include a watch based entirely on electronic paper -- but no big breakthroughs.

While Mr. Hirai hasn't announced an overall plan for Sony's consumer-electronics business, restructuring efforts have gained traction. Except for the mobile unit, all of the electronics-related businesses are expected to post a profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, the first such achievement in a decade.

Sony's CEO has shown enthusiasm for some consumer electronics, calling himself a "camera nut." He likes to personally test prototypes of Sony products such as stand-alone cameras and headphones. And he takes a personal interest in experiments spotted in tours of research sites.

Mr. Hirai approved the development of a projector that can display a 147-inch ultra-high-definition image on walls and sells for more than $40,000 in Japan. There's even a new Walkman that delivers "high-definition audio," a snappier sound than the usual smartphone can provide. It costs 120,000 yen (or $1,200 in the U.S.), compared with 33,000 yen for the original Walkman in 1979.

Mr. Hirai says some members of Sony's board were skeptical when he said last year that he wanted to separate businesses such as TVs and audio products into autonomous companies under Sony's parent-company umbrella.

Sony's music, motion picture and mobile arms have long been run under that structure, which is supposed to improve financial accountability. Some directors asked how the change would fit with Mr. Hirai's "One Sony" plan, which called for more cooperation between Sony's divisions.

The CEO got his way after a retreat last year with directors in Hakone, a hot spring resort near Tokyo. He says he told the board he would personally take charge of "balancing the centrifugal and centripetal forces" at Sony.

He says now: "As we say in Japanese, we don't want all these kites with no strings flying all over the place. But at the same time, I want to make sure they have enough leeway to really manage their own business and be accountable for it."

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