Investment bankers question the group's strategic direction. Without the equity base to bulk up or the cash flow to spend on expansion, they argue that it will be left behind in the race for the consumer's home and heart. Stringer believes that Sony has shown that style and pace can win the day. Sony, which eschewed the personal computer industry as a business tool, now sells the fastest growing computer in the Vaio. The company is also placing its bets on broadband as the route to ubiquitous use of its movies, games and music.
Stringer inspires a great deal of loyalty from outside as well as within the company.
Several of New York's media power brokers readily return calls when asked to talk about him. Tom Brokaw, the television anchorman, describes a funny and thoughtful friend. I have never known anyone who has so successfully lived in two cultures. Maybe it's because he doesn't look down his nose at us, as some of his countrymen do. Several friends also questioned his self-image as a corporate outsider.