China squeeze reshapes Japanese electronics giants

Iconic firms seek revival by foraying into a wide range of new business segments

There was a time when Chinese consumers were enamored of Japanese home appliance brands such as Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Sanyo and Hitachi. Such brands dominated segments like televisions, music systems, washing machines, refrigerators, you name it. Not any more.

The rise of homegrown Chinese home appliance makers such as Haier Group, TCL Corp and Hisense Group has hurt Japanese electronics giants badly, pushing the latter into areas like high-end intelligent home appliances, business-to-business or B2B activities, construction, nuclear power, housing, automobiles, startup incubation and Internet of vehicles.