Sony Corporation of America - Japan based manufacturer of both consumer and professional audio video offers. 

High End Broadcast and Video products with millions in revenue to Corporate and Government Customers-DIRECT customers are few, yet the most complex and slow to on board even when you are a major technology corporation. 

Sony is one of the first names we think of when asked which companies are the most likely to introduce innovation that changes the market.   They have a reputation of launching at least Three new technologies each year.  This node shares my personal experience as the order management point of contact for all direct customers and support to all the sales teams selling to direct customers. 

• Nations - Governments at the national, state, and local levels
• Corporate 500 - Any customer which has multi-million dollar revenue each year

Sony was a foreign-headquartered manufacturer of products at the time when Dr. Deming led Japan through its adoption of quality management.  It was 1990 when I was assigned to work at Sony while their resource went on Maternity.  The orders were in chaos and the person I was contracted to cover for was drowning in government contracts which were not anything like the resale model Sony was used to and their systems were built to operate in. 

• Multi-million dollar contracts with GSA Pricing
• Multiple shipments with monthly allocations of products

See a system failure when working or selling to direct customers

The sole source vendor who would become a system integrator.  Honestly, I did not have this organization on my short list of choices who I felt could support the Video Conferencing technology.  However, my liason from Japan and the new Director of our Corporate and Government sales for the Western Region were driving a new offer starting in the West rather than typical offers which would be driven by the NJ headquarters for the America's.