First it was Mazda, then Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. Now it's Sony.

Some of the biggest names in once notoriously insular corporate Japan have tapped foreigners as leaders, underlining a new flexibility shaped by globalization and years of economic malaise.

Japanese companies have increasingly been turning to foreigners for help in revamping their operations, with Sony picking a Welsh-American former CBS executive to be its new CEO this week. Nissan had been led by a Frenchman since 1999.