SONY

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There's nothing sweeter than when media conglomerates make beautiful music together. A 50-50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the #2 record company in the world (behind Universal Music Group). It operates primarily through its stable of recording labels, such as Columbia, Epic, J Records, Jive, LaFace, and RCA, and boasts an artist roster that includes Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne, Alicia Keys, OutKast, Jessica Simpson, and Britney Spears. Sony BMG was formed through the 2004 merger of Sony Music Entertainment and BMG Entertainment.

While the mega-sized merger was able to catapult Sony and BMG (previously the third- and fifth-largest record companies, respectively) past EMI and into the #2 spot, the deal came as somewhat of a surprise given the industry's three-year long slide in album sales. The delicate act of combining former rivals was achieved by stitching together a management team that gave equal representation to both Bertelsmann and Sony. That balance was upset by internal squabbling and the departure of COO Michael Smellie at the end of 2005. The following year, CEO Andrew Lack stepped down to become chairman of the joint venture and former BMG chief Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who had been chairman, took over as CEO.

TOSHIBA

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Encompassing products ranging from mice to mainframe computers, the computer hardware industry serves an equally wide range of customers -- from consumers purchasing PC peripherals to multibillion-dollar global corporations installing entire networks. Accordingly, industry players include companies that focus exclusively on enterprise or personal computing, as well as companies that successfully cater to both markets. Market definition plays a key role in a sector marked by frequent acquisitions, rapid spending swings, and bitter price wars. Highly diversified vendors like IBM and Hewlett-Packard (HP) bolster themselves against a volatile hardware market with product and market breadth. Not exclusive to the Western hemisphere, the bigger-is-better strategy is also practiced by Japanese conglomerates such as NEC, Fujitsu, and Toshiba. Having such diverse product lines not only provides some insurance, it also allows technology vendors to be one-stop shops for enterprise customers with equally diverse needs. This model might at first sound like the technology market's equivalent to Wal-Mart, but high-tech products require high-tech services, and these organizations include highly trained (and highly lucrative) armies of consultants and support staff. Of course such sprawling operations can also breed inefficiencies, and these companies must constantly evaluate the viability of every operation, weighing internal and external benefits. For many years IBM maintained a PC business that produced little or no profit. It finally sold the unit to Lenovo, at the same time forming a close partnership to insure a seamless customer experience. Others have achieved market leadership by focusing on a particular product group; examples include Cisco Systems (IP networking), EMC (data storage), and Sun Microsystems (UNIX-based servers). But even these companies have expanded far beyond the core product lines that made their fortunes. Once known only for corporate and telecom