????霍華德?斯金格在索尼(Sony Corp.)失誤連連的首席執(zhí)行官生涯正是曾經(jīng)偉大的索尼集團(tuán)而今艱難處境的縮影，他的下臺能換來這個傳媒及電子巨頭重振雄風(fēng)的一天嗎？

????當(dāng)然，這一切現(xiàn)在還不得而知。斯金格的繼任者平井一夫名聲很不錯。（斯金格將繼續(xù)擔(dān)任董事長。）毫無疑問的是，索尼在斯金格過去七年的任期中走得并不順利。憑借PlayStation游戲主機(jī)和隨身聽（Walkman），該公司曾經(jīng)一度走在游戲和音樂行業(yè)的前沿，可現(xiàn)在往往被認(rèn)為是毫無頭緒，甚至傲慢自大。索尼犯過多次錯誤，需要對此作出解釋的時候，新的錯誤卻又接踵而至。除了公關(guān)失誤之外，企業(yè)本身的運(yùn)營狀況也不如人意。相比斯金格2005年接掌大權(quán)時的情況，索尼美國存托憑證（ADR）交易價已下跌了一半。

????最嚴(yán)重的事件發(fā)生于去年——PlayStation網(wǎng)絡(luò)遭黑客攻破，這被各界稱為史上最大規(guī)模的數(shù)據(jù)泄漏事件。過了整整一周，索尼才告知顧客，他們的信用卡信息可能已經(jīng)被盜。事件發(fā)生后的次月，斯金格本人才公開就此事發(fā)表講話，表達(dá)歉意，但批評者認(rèn)為這番遲來的表態(tài)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。

????斯金格很早就遇上了麻煩。2005年，也就是他擔(dān)任掌門人剛滿幾個月之際，有人發(fā)現(xiàn)索尼的合資音樂企業(yè)索尼博德曼（Sony BMG）偷偷在其光盤中加入了可能有惡意的軟件代碼，也就是所謂的rootkit。這家公司試圖以此保護(hù)版權(quán)，但顯然考慮欠妥。索尼先是撒謊，然后又回避問題，最后才道歉。而此事發(fā)生之前幾周，索尼博德曼剛剛因行賄丑聞暴露而被迫繳納了1,000萬美元的罰款。

????2006年，索尼召回了960萬塊筆記本電池，因?yàn)槠渲胁糠蛛姵厝菀?a title="" target="_blank">爆炸起火。這次召回行動耗資數(shù)以百萬美元計(jì)。2008年，索尼博德曼又因?yàn)樾孤读嗽L問其網(wǎng)站的未成年人的個人信息，被處以100萬美元罰金。

????不過，這些只是索尼的低潮，是些令人尷尬的失誤。談及真正的商業(yè)戰(zhàn)略，斯金格的成績喜憂參半。他確實(shí)成功削減了成本，扭轉(zhuǎn)了游戲和電影部門的頹勢。

????Will the departure of CEO Howard Stringer, whose stumbles have come to epitomize the struggles of the once-great Sony Corp., turn things around for the media-and-electronics conglomerate?

????It's impossible to know, of course. Stringer's replacement, Kazuo Hirai, has a good reputation. (Stringer will remain as chairman.) What can be said unequivocally is that things have not gone well at Sony (SNE) over the seven years of Stringer's tenure. The company that was once on the cutting edge in gaming with the PlayStation and in music with the Walkman, is now widely regarded as prone to cluelessness or, worse, arrogance. It stumbles, and then when it comes time to explain itself, it stumbles again. Besides the public relations missteps, there's the business itself. Sony's ADR receipts are trading at about half what they were worth when Stringer took the helm in 2005.

????The nadir came last year, when the PlayStation network got hacked in what has been called the largest data security breach in history. Sony waited a week before telling customers that their credit-card information might have been stolen. It wasn't until the next month that Stringer himself spoke up on the issue, issuing an apology that was criticized as too little, too late.

????Stringer's troubles started early. In 2005, a few months into his tenure, it was discovered that Sony's joint-venture music division, Sony BMG, had secretly planted potentially malicious software code, called a rootkit, into its CDs in an ill-advised attempt at copy protection. The company lied, then hedged, and then, finally, apologized. This occurred just weeks after Sony BMG had paid a $10 million fine for being caught up in a payola scandal.

????In 2006, Sony had to recall 9.6 million laptop batteries because some of them tended to burst into flames. That cost the company millions. In 2008, Sony BMG paid a $1 million fine for exposing the personal data of minors who used its Web sites.

????Those are just the lowlights, though -- the embarrassing stumbles. When it comes to actual business strategy, Stringer's record is mixed. He's cut costs and turned around the gaming and movie divisions.