...company’s goals. In the case of Activision Blizzard Inc., the goal of the company is to become the largest and most profitable game developer in the world. This goal will not be reached overnight. It requires a well-developed strategic plan supported by multiple operational plans. Strategic Plan - Defined In the business world, a strategic plan is a written outline. This outline compares the company’s goals with marketplace needs. It goes much further than a traditional plan. The strategic plan not only defines the goals, but also addresses how to utilize company resources and assets effectively to reach them. Positive results can be achieved through analyzing the business’s strengths and weaknesses, and acting appropriately on opportunities as they become available (Scott, 2015). Activision Blizzard Inc., created by the 2008 merger of Activision and Blizzard Entertainment, is one of the largest developers and publishers in the interactive gaming industry (Activision Blizzard Inc., 2015). Based upon Activision Blizzard Inc.’s SWOT analyses, the goal to become the largest and most profitable game developer in the world can only be achieved through an expansion in their current line of products. Strategically, the company has to increase the number of popular titles they release to the market. The top two interactive game producing moguls, Nintendo and Electronic Arts, control the arena by providing multiple popular titles to the marketplace. Activision Blizzard Inc. lives or dies...
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...Industry Overview 2.1 Scope (Products/Customers/Regions) The interactive gaming industry is comprised of manufacturing and developing of home entertainment software for the PC (including Macintosh), console gaming systems (Xbox 360,Nintendo Wii & GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2 & 3), portable gaming systems – PlayStation System Portable, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS), online gaming (web and Java based software), and mobile platforms (iPod, iPhone and Smartphones)6. In this way, this industry is very much global in terms of the development of games to the end users of software that are comprised of hardcore and casual gamers across many multiple platforms. In terms of the United States interactive software market, it “generated total revenues of $9.5 billion in 2007, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8% for the six-year period spanning 2002-2007”7. It is interesting to know that “console games software sales represented 82.6% of the market’s overall value. In comparison, the sales of personal computing games represented 17.4% of the market’s aggregate revenues”. In this way, development of new hardware sales usually drive the demand for development of high performance gaming software, as illustrated below9. As depicted previously, the future market value of this industry in the United States is expected to grow by 5% for the next five years, and total market value of $10.3 billion by the end of 201110. In comparison, the Asian market...
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...Acting On a Strategic Vision Name Institution Case Questions 1. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a business tool that helps a corporation of any size to assess its viability. The tool helps to identify major pros and cons in the industry of choice. The SWOT analysis assesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and weaknesses for the business. The tool is a great tactic that can be used to identify the state of a market or industry at any point in time. For this case, the company that is given consideration is Electronic Arts. The company was established in 1982 under the operating name Amazin’ software. The company changed the name to Electronic Arts and continued to develop games and sell games. In the decade between 1980 and 1990 the company enjoyed major success in the gaming industry. At the end of 1989, the company had become a publicly traded company. The revenues of the company increased from an average one hundred and thirteen million dollars to two hundred and ninety eight million dollars within two years from 1991. The success continued until 2006, when they were knocked off the number one spot by a rival named Activision. The SWOT analysis is a tool that could have been used to help Electronic Arts to strengthen their position in the gaming industry. The application of the SWOT tool would have analyzed the market trend, the competition, the internal structure of the company, weaknesses of the company, the innovative opportunities available, and also identify the...
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...PURPOSE Recently, Activision Blizzard, Inc. successfully purchased shares from its parent conglomerate, Vivendi, in order to gain more control as a subsidiary. The reasons for the split will be examined in this report, as well as the current shareholders’ reaction to these significant changes. In addition, there will be an analysis of the negative effects for Activision Blizzard, Inc. that results from the deal between the two companies. The report will then discuss the main issue of the low amount of cash on hand. The final stages of the report will provide strategic recommendations for a plan of action to help the company overcome this obstacle, while remaining the top developer and publisher in the interactive gaming industry. There are several goals that the report hopes to accomplish. First, it will provide insight into a company that dominates the entertainment software industry. Second, the study will illustrate the drastic change in a company’s cash on hand after the purchase of shares. Third, it will propose new ways for the company to continue its momentum and match its past success. Finally, the goal of the report is to establish Activision Blizzard, Inc. as a company that has broken free from its parent conglomerate. PROBLEM STATEMENT The Deal The announcement that Activision Blizzard, Inc. and Vivendi would engage in a deal that would make Activision Blizzard, Inc. majority shareholder left the minority shareholders in the dust. As of June 30, 2013...
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...Company: Activision Blizzard, INC. (ATVI) PESTLE 1. Political Pg. 10 – Our products are sold internationally on a direct-to-retail basis, through third-party distribution and licensing arrangements, and through our wholly-owned European distribution subsidiaries. We conduct our international publishing activities through offices in the United Kingdom ("U.K."), Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Ireland. • Activision Blizzard Inc. is an internationally traded company and most of its revenue is generated from foreign trade. Therefore it is subject to various foreign and domestic laws. Fluctuations in these laws such as increased tariffs, duties, transportation costs and instabilities in the currency exchange rates can adversely impact company’s operations in the foreign market. 2. Economic Pg. 13 – Our products involve discretionary spending on the part of consumers. Consumers are generally more willing to make discretionary purchases, including purchases of products like ours, during periods in which favorable economic conditions prevail. • Consumers purchasing trends have a direct relationship with economic condition. Therefore, current economic condition and global recession is likely to reduce consumer spending on the products which can have a negative impact on company’s operations and financial position. 3. Socio-cultural Pg. 10 –We often seek to maximize our worldwide revenues and profits by releasing high-quality...
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...By eliciting the example of Activision Blizzard, Inc., I’d like to point out the importance of administering a strong positioning strategy for firms: capacity to decide the course of marketing and sales, push for growth, and solidify their position in the market. Competitive positioning involves determining what features or benefits are most essential to the market, thereby constructing value for the market. Located on its investor’s page, the firm proclaims that it is “a worldwide online, PC, console, handheld and mobile game publisher with leading positions across every major category of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry.”1 The video game industry of today looks vastly different than it did 10 years ago, with the stark contrast being that many firms are designing their games to be more family-friendly; the stereotypes of video games no longer being just in the realm of teenage boys. All in all, the industry is faring well with reported sales of 273 million units in 2009, generating an astounding $10.5 billion in revenue. However, it is rather difficult to enter as many games necessitate enormous investments. Not only is it tough to enter, it’s extremely competitive since the big players already own a vast majority of the best brands and are interrelated, thereby enjoying great competitive advantages. To again quote its investor’s page, Activision Publishing’s objective is to “create, acquire, and maintain strong franchises... execute disciplined...
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... 1. Introduction Activision Blizzard is an American video game developer and publisher who is held by the French Vivendi group. It is the largest game developers and game publishers, and the first third-party game publishers in the world . Activision Blizzard was made by Activision and the U.S. Department of Vivendi, Blizzard Entertainment, on December 2, 2007, and Entertainment in July 9, 2008. The total operating funds is $ 18.9 billion . In November 2009 , Activision Blizzard 's first -person shooter "Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2" 4.5 million the number of pre-sale , and $ 400 million sales in the first day, what break the highest first day sales in the Guinness World record. Another major business of Activision Blizzard Blizzard Entertainment is a popular online role -playing game "World of Warcraft " and " Warcraft " series. From the market price, Activision Blizzard is the largest independent video game publishers in the world, because before the merger , the Activision is the second largest third-party game producers and publishers, and the EA Inc. is the biggest at that time. After merged, Activision Blizzard is not only more than EA, became the first major third-party publisher of the game , but more than Nintendo, became the first major game production and distribution company . 2. Industry Structure and Global Markets In their market, Activision Blizzard is facing competition, and they have two major competitors...
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...Geographies of Transnational Corporations Paper I. Origin: Activision Blizzard Inc. is a “worldwide online, PC, console handheld and mobile game publisher” (Activisionblizzard.com/About-Us). Activision Blizzard Inc. ranks among the top game developers and distributors in the ever increasing world market of entertainment software. With top titles including “Call of Duty® as well as Spider-Man™, X-Men™, James Bond™ and TRANSFORMERS™, leading franchises such as Spyro™ and Blizzard Entertainment's® StarCraft®, Diablo®, and Warcraft® franchises including the global #1 subscription-based massively multi-player online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®” (Activisionblizzard.com/About-Us), Activision Blizzard has become one of the more well-known publishers in the world. Activision Blizzard Inc. maintains operations on four continents while providing coverage for online games throughout the entire connected world. The original company, Activision, encompassed by the holding company known as Activision Blizzard was founded in October 1979 in, Northern California, as the “first independent developer and distributor of entertainment software.” (Timeline) Activision was founded by disgruntled programmers that were not being recognized or appropriately compensated by Atari for their hand in the game creation that was accounting for millions of dollars of annual revenue for the company. David Crane, Alan Miller, Larry Kaplan and Bob Whitehead were known as the “Gang of Four,”...
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...Activision Blizzard Analysis Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is a leading international publisher of interactive software products and downloadable content. Being a main player in the video games industry, the company has acquired several essential business strengths that made it succeed for a number of years. From making products carrying popular brand names, the company also takes pride of its product lines and innovative staff. Despite their strengths, Activision Blizzard has also encountered different problems that need to be addressed. These include the reduced slate of titles on a going-forward basis as well as the growing competition in the industry. To address these business concerns, it has been recommended that the company should consider limiting its product portfolio as well as conducting its target markets. This should help the company stabilize its financial status through sales generation and cost reduction. Company structure: Activision Blizzard organizational structure is base on 3 business segments. Activision Publishing, Inc. develops and publishes video games on various consoles handheld platforms and the PC platform. Activision also develop digital downloads to their game titles through retail channels with certain third-party publishers. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is well know to online gamer through Battle.net. Battle.net. host all Blizzard develops multiple award winning titles online such as Diablo, StarCraft, and World of Warcraft. The World...
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...Activision Blizzard, Fiscal Year 2010 Lance Kilpatrick Barbara McGuire Accounting 100 19 August 2011 Activision Blizzard is a video game publisher with a large customer base because of its record shattering sales numbers, as well as, its online gaming division that is the most recognizable brand in the industry. It was a small LLC from 1982 until 2001, at which time it began public trading for FY 2002. The annual fiscal report to the stockholders for Activision Blizzard begins with a list recent achievements gained in the past five years followed by a letter from both the current CEO and co-chairman of the board. In that letter both men explained the vision for future developments, and also explained the success of the company in the form of the company's first ever dividend, and gave detailed information concerning the multiple records broken in sales, digital sales, first time online subscriptions, and online users. The second part discusses in detail using graphs and charts the actual numbers of sales made. This portion includes digital and physical sales, along with, subscription sales. Because of the nature of the product the company will experience an increase in sales into the foreseeable future. The third part of the financial report discusses a ten year summary of financial data and trends of the industry. While sales did dip in FY 2003 sales skyrocketed with the introduction of World of Warcraft, the number one selling online game of all time....
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...Team 1 Company Analysis 1 Jackson Berry, Will Berman, Amanda Curtis, Jenny Zhang Professor Belz Case Studies in Innovation March 3, 2016 NintenDON’T Nintendo captured many hearts and households in the late 1980s, and its legacy lives on through the games that made it the bestselling console of its time. Revolutionizing the world of video games, Nintendo survived the burst of the video game bubble through its storytelling across multiple game console platforms. Their products were conceived at the intersections of inexpensive hardware and unique, beloved storytelling in their games; this combination made their console a household staple. In an era of heartthrobs and fads, Nintendo rose above and surpassed a simple level of trendiness. The company defined gaming innovation: “to play Nintendo” became synonymous with video gaming. 1983 saw the first recession in the video game industry in the form of the “Atari Shock,” after the market became too populated with so many different games and consoles. This caused an oversaturation of the console industry, which was already competing heavily with home computer games. Thus, the “Atari Shock” was a flooding of a market in which no player had a majority share, and the excess of thirdparty games resulted in decreased shelf space and decreased sales. People started believing video games were a fad, and amidst the chaos, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was born. Nintendo made purposeful branding decisions ...
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...As of December 3, 2014, our portfolio ranked #3 overall with $103,639.82 3.64% in return with only 5 trade. You might think we are lazy to put effort into the stock simulator. This is not true because we had a strategy behind our action. Most teams pick stock with fundamental analysis (P/E or debt-to-equity ratio etc.) buying lots of different company stock and diversify the risk of losing money. But this is not the case for our team, we pick stock based on our personal interest. For example, some people like using Windows computer while others prefer Mac computer. As you can see, we made a lot of money on EA (23.96% return as of December 3, 2014) we were both interested in the entertainment industry and we decide to go with it. (I ensure you we are not a huge gamer!) I believe buying stock is like choosing something you interested or familiar with. Otherwise, you are gambling your money because you are buying something you have limited knowledge and not familiar with the industry. Before our first trade, I first defined our objective. Instead of making the most return, “Don’t lose money” is our #1 rule because we are winning as long as we don’t lose money. For this reason, we only buy stock that we believe it will growth within the 3 months period. KMB is our first stock that we bought. We bought it at $105.83 and is now selling $114.7. I like KMB long time ago because its steady growth trend had lasted for the past 3 years. The reason why KMB can growth steadily is because...
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...10-K integration Project Take- Two Interactive Software, Inc. 10-K report date: 5/23/2012 10-K Report Link: http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/edgar_conv_html%2f2012%2f05%2f23%2f0001047469-12-006226.html#FIS_BUSINESS Article: Fff PESTLE Forces: 1. Political- Page 17- many foreign countries, particularly in those with developing economies, it may be common to engage in business practices that are prohibited by United States laws and regulations, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and by local laws, such as laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials. Although we implement policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, contractors and agents, as well as those companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, including those based in or from countries where practices which violate such laws may be customary, will not take actions in violation of our policies. Any such violation, even if prohibited by our policies, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Because of the growing international operations of Take-Two the risks of not complying to foreign laws and regulations could result in increased costs and decreased sales. Take-Two has policies and procedures that follow laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But there is no guarantee that all employees or involved parties will follow these laws and regulations. 2. Economic- Page...
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...Matthew Tango Course Project Part 2 Task 4 1. The project’s IRR is going to be 22%. The way to figure it out is going to be on the excel spreadsheet that is attached to this project 2. To calculate the NPV you are going to use the formula NPV=(1,100,000/1.15)+(1,450,000/1.15)^2+(1,300,000/1.15)^3+ (950,000/1.15)^4-3,000,000=$450,866.74. Attached is the excel spreadsheet that shows the work. 3. Based on what the NPV is for this project the company should definitely consider accepting this project because the NPV is greater than 0. Anytime the NPV is greater than 0 it means it will make the company money so therefore the company should be accepting the project. 4. Well first to answer the question you have to know what depreciation is a non-cash expense that reduces the value of an asset over time. So now knowing that, depreciation is not considered a cash flow but it does generally reduces a company’s tax liability. Anytime you reduce a company’s tax liability it will cause an increase to the present value of the project. 5. So first thing we need to do is explain what each one of these means and then we can relate them to the project. * Sunk Cost: Sunk costs are cost to the company that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered by any means. In this example Air Jet hired a group to come in and evaluate the feasibility and the utility of acquiring a new machine for them to use. Even if the company does not get the machine the money...
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...Electronic Arts Case Group D Monday and Wednesday 11:00-12:15 Anthony Allen, Laura Blakeman, Daniel DeMaiolo, Carla Hill, and Mason Shattuck Industry Analysis: Dominant Economic Features Definition of Software Publishers Industry According to the United States Census Bureau, Electronic Arts would fall under the Software Publishers Industry (NAICS code 511210, SIC 7372). The definition of this industry is as follows in the North American Industry Classification System: “This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in computer software publishing or publishing and reproduction. Establishments in this industry carry out operations necessary for producing and distributing computer software, such as designing, providing documentation, assisting in installation, and providing support services to software purchasers. These establishments may design, develop, and publish, or publish only” (United States Census Bureau, Software Publishers Definition). Electronic Arts (EA) does, in fact, make up one of the world’s largest independent developers, publishers, and marketers of video games. Market Size, Growth Rate, and Industry Life Cycle According to research provided by Thompson, author of the EA case, in 2005, the video game industry made up a $35 billion global market (Thompson 2007). In 2005, the United States alone made up $7 billion in sales out of the $35 billion. The United States also had 228.5 million unit sales which included video games played on...
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