...9-508-076 REV: APRIL 14, 2008 ELIE OFEK Sony PlayStation 3: Game Over? [W]hen you look at the history of the video game industry since the PlayStation was launched back in 1995, we were able to take the leadership position very quickly with the PlayStation. With PlayStation 2 we have more than 110 million gamers and consumers enjoying the PlayStation 2 on a worldwide basis. And I think we have a very loyal following for the PlayStation family of products. So with the PlayStation 3, I believe that we are going to be able to quickly take the leadership position once again and maintain that position for a very long time. — Kaz Hirai, President and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, November 17 20061 It was a picture that was reminiscent of the launch of the original PlayStation nearly a dozen years before. Some eager customers had arrived as early as 6am and from as far as New Jersey to a video game store in Manhattan with the hope of purchasing one of the newest and most sought after video game consoles. By 9am, the number of customers waiting for entrance to the store exceeded 100 and the line extended down the block. One customer in line had been searching stores across the region for two weeks in order to find a console for her brother’s twenty-fifth birthday. A twelve-year-old and his grandmother were visiting their third store in search of the new console. “I just hate what you have to do just to get one,” the boy said.2 In one sense, long...
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...Company Case from a Strategy perspective, and then discuss one of the issues identified. (50% marks) Stefan van der Fluit (1122828) Gaming has been around ever since the invention of computers, being a great form of inexpensive entertainment. In 1993 Sony realized the true potential gaming had to offer and decided that they wanted a piece of the cake; Sony Computer Entertainment was born. A year later, Sony’s released the PlayStation. Ever since then the PlayStation brand has been a true icon amongst the gaming and home en tertainment community. Due to the rise in competition, Sony has to keep on innovating in order to keep attracting current/new customers. Using Porter’s five forces analysis this paper will identify the issues Sony faces in the marketplace. For the sake of simplicity I will focus on Sony’s latest game consoles: the PlayStation 3 and PSP. Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis: Bargaining Power of Suppliers: As Sony is quite a large corporation this means that they also have a considerable supplier database. The advantage being that if there were to be a problem with a supplier for any reason, Sony could easily switch to one of their many other suppliers.1 In order to reduce the risk of a supplier lock -in scenario, Sony Co-Develops both the CPU’s2 and GPU’s for the PlayStation Three (CPU being the Processor and GPU being the Graphical Processing Unit), as well as using their own Blu-Ray technology. As for the games provided for Sony’s PlayStation 3, these...
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...A Case Study With Sony On Penetration Pricing As Global Pricing Strategy Meaning of Penetration Pricing This is a marketing strategy used by firms to attract customers to a new product or service. Penetration pricing is the practice of offering a low price for a new product or service during its initial offering in order to attract customers away from competitors. The reasoning behind this marketing strategy is that customers will buy and become aware of the new product due to its lower price in the marketplace relative to rivals. It can often increase both market share and sales volume. Additionally, the high sales volume can also lead to lower production costs and higher inventory turnover, both of which are positive for any firm with fixed overhead. The tagline “special introductory offer” is the classic sign of penetration pricing. The aim of penetration pricing is usually to increase market share of a product, providing the opportunity to increase price once this objective has been achieved. Penetration pricing is, therefore, the pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, usually lower than the intended established price, sometimes lower than the costs too, to attract new customers. The strategy aims to encourage customers to switch to the new product because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market share or sales volume. In the short term, penetration pricing is likely...
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...A Case Study With Sony On Penetration Pricing As Global Pricing Strategy Meaning of Penetration Pricing This is a marketing strategy used by firms to attract customers to a new product or service. Penetration pricing is the practice of offering a low price for a new product or service during its initial offering in order to attract customers away from competitors. The reasoning behind this marketing strategy is that customers will buy and become aware of the new product due to its lower price in the marketplace relative to rivals. It can often increase both market share and sales volume. Additionally, the high sales volume can also lead to lower production costs and higher inventory turnover, both of which are positive for any firm with fixed overhead. The tagline “special introductory offer” is the classic sign of penetration pricing. The aim of penetration pricing is usually to increase market share of a product, providing the opportunity to increase price once this objective has been achieved. Penetration pricing is, therefore, the pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, usually lower than the intended established price, sometimes lower than the costs too, to attract new customers. The strategy aims to encourage customers to switch to the new product because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market share or sales volume. In the short term, penetration pricing is likely...
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...two Operating Systems and the console Systems in a detailed manner. This analytic study covers a comparative study of the competing models by the two Gaming Leaders with respect to their technology, networks, marketing strategy, competing strategy, pricing and surveys from their users. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (SCEI) A Japanese multinational video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony. The company was established on November 16, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan, prior to the launch of the original PlayStation video game system. Sony Computer Entertainment handles the research & development, production, and sales of both hardware and software for the PlayStation line of handheld and home console video game systems. It is also a developer and publisher of video game titles and is composed of several subsidiaries covering the company's biggest markets: North America, Europe and Asia. SCE's largest...
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... Sony's Battle for Video Game Supremacy John Sterman, Khan Jekarl, Cate Reavis As Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony Corporation, settled in for his flight back to Japan from New York, a number of pressing issues occupied his mind about Sony’s future. At the forefront, Sony’s next generation video game console, the PlayStation 3 (PS3), was set to launch worldwide on November 17, 2006, a mere week away. Despite PlayStation 2’s (PS2) dominance in the last generation of gaming consoles, Stringer understood that past successes were no guarantee of future success in the intensely competitive game industry. Microsoft had launched the first volley in the last console war by releasing the Xbox 360 in the fall of 2005. Within one year, almost 4 million Xbox 360s had been sold worldwide, giving Microsoft a significant head-start in the race for market dominance. Meanwhile, Nintendo, a competitor thought to be dead due to the lackluster sales of its previous console, the Nintendo Gamecube, had generated significant “buzz” around its new entry, the Nintendo Wii (pronounced “we”). Targeting more of a mainstream audience than Sony and Microsoft, the Wii, scheduled to launch just two days after the PS3, posed a serious threat to Sony’s market share, particularly due to its $249.99 retail price, half the price of the PS3. Stringer also knew that there was much more at stake than winning the console war. The next generation of the DVD market was at stake as well. In addition to being a gaming...
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...TEN MBA 57602 - Marketing Management Mid Term Project Nintendo Wii Introduction: The video game industry started in 1970 & by time it became a big business worth more than 10 Billion dollars annually (1). In 2006, Nintendo Co. evolved the market with it is new innovation “Wii” game console. Wii lunch changed the roles in the business industry & brought back Nintendo's ranking in the market to the top. In the following lines we will provide a brief analysis of the company, stakeholders & product in light of the marketing management models. 4 C’s Stakeholders Analysis: 1. Consumers: With strong & innovative vision from Saturo Iwata, President & CEO of Nintendo, the company deputed it is new product targeting all customers irrespective of age, gender & gaming experience (2). The new game has been used all over the world by every member of the family. In addition to the traditional segment of consumers composed of video gamers, Wii attracted women and elderly people as well to enable a whole family of all ages to enjoy the game together and jointly. It is a success story of transgenerational design (3). By introducing Wii as new way for keeping the physical competency, the game entered the health & fitness sector to find new customers. The business of diet related products in the United States exceeds 40 billion dollars annually (4), Wii eventually shared part of the pie. Diet specialized web sites provided special reviews to show how Wii can...
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...Case Synopsis BUS 478 – D300 Group F Cindy Guan Nicholas Heng Peter Lew Rui Cai Ryan Torio Tsz-Chung Cheang March 18, 2013 Introduction Nintendo Co. Ltd, founded by Fujisaro Yamauchi in 1889, began as a playing card business in Kyoto, Japan and, decades later, expanded to video game production. Nintendo released its first game console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), in 1985 (Nintendo, 2013). The NES became an instant hit and set Nintendo to be a pioneer in the game console industry throughout the 1990s. Gradual Decline Nintendo enjoyed tremendous success as it continuously released new consoles: Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and more. However, the company faced increasing competition in the early 2000s from Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation consoles and its market share started to decline. In 2003, Nintendo’s share price fell sharply when Sony announced its PlayStation Portable (PSP), threatening the monopoly that Nintendo held on the portable console market (Kendall, 2009). Change in Strategy In an industry that competes based on delivering the latest technology, Nintendo’s newly promoted president, Satoru Iwata, took the company in a new strategic direction to restore the company’s former glory. Challenging the long-time video game market of boys, young men, and “serious gamers,” Nintendo decided to change their strategy and target those outside their traditional demographic: women, seniors, and families...
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.........................................................................7 Opportunities .........................................................................................8 Threats................................................................................................... 8 Market Analysis ............................................................................................................................9 Previous Market .....................................................................................9 Market Segmentation ...........................................................................9 Market Position ....................................................................................11 The Product...
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...Sony PS4 – 100 Summer Day Challenge Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Project Aim 5 Project Objectives 5 Market Analysis 6 SWOT Analysis 10 Practical Point of View 11 Financial Projection 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Appendices 16-18 Executive Summary The PlayStation is and has been a dominating force in the area of gaming consoles ever since its debut in 1995. Sony has created the ultimate entertainment magic box for young people, and the number of people who own a PlayStation 4 is close to 20 million as of January 2015, just over a year since its release. Our project focuses on one certain aspect: the health of people aged 13-21 who owns a PS4. Our proposal is that we include a Sony SWR10 fitness smart band in the PS4 box, launch a marketing campaign before Christmas and on Boxing Day in Australia the console plus smart band will go on sale together with a game from EA games. Then we introduce the 100-summer days challenge. This is the core of our project, we will offer rewards to people who use their smart band in healthy activities, and based on walking distances or calories burnt that will be recorded in the smart band, and after implementing the software to synchronize this data to the PS4, users will be able to claim their rewards on the rewards website that Sony has. We are giving gamers the incentive and encouragement to get out there and live a healthy lifestyle...
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...the game industry is ready for disruption. Not just from Nintendo, but from all game developers. It is what we all need to expand our audience. It is what we all need to expand our imaginations. - Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co. Ltd1 In the 2008 BusinessWeek–Boston Consulting Group ranking of the world’s most innovative companies, Nintendo Co. Ltd (“Nintendo”) was ranked seventh, up from 39th the previous year. 2 This recognised Nintendo’s significant transformation into an innovative design powerhouse that had challenged the prevailing business model of the video game industry. In 2000, when Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo (the “big three” of the video game console manufacturers) released their latest products, Sony's PlayStation 2 (“PS2”) emerged as the clear winner, outselling Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s GameCube. In 2006, a new generation of video game consoles was introduced by these players, precipitating a new competitive battle in the industry. Microsoft and Sony continued with their previous strategies of increasing the computing power of their newest products and adding more impressive graphical interfaces. However, Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, believed that the video game industry had been focusing far too much on existing gamers and completely neglecting non-gamers. Armed with this insight, the company repositioned itself by developing a radically different console, the Wii (pronounced “we”). The Wii was a nifty machine that used...
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...CASE STUDY - SONY CORPORATION A record number of Sony Corporation shareholders, total 9,500, gathered in a posh hotel in Tokyo on 27th June 2012 waited anxiously for the new chief to reveal revival plan and strategies for Sony. This was Kazuo Hirai‘s first interaction with the share holders. Board of Sony Corporation had announced him as the new Chief Executive in February 2012 and he had taken over charge in April 2012. Kazuo Hirai, 51 years old new CEO, first asked the outgoing American national CEO and now the Chairman of Board Howard Stringer to talk the shareholders. Howard Stringer British born American national CEO of Sony Corporation from 2005 to 2012 deeply regretted the record loss of 457 billion yen ($ 5.75 billion) for the year 2011- 2012. According to Stringer, the poor performance of the current year was a result of the earth quake in Japan and the floods in Thailand. Shareholders became increasingly restless, one share holder shouted at the peak of his voice: ―Stringer, how can you justify your salary of $ 3 million per year. The company has been losing money since 2005 and you have been drawing such huge salaries and only talking‖. Another old share holder stated: ―the share price of Sony stock is now only 10% of Samsung‘s share price, and 2% of Apple Inc.‘s. This is your performance Howard Stringer for Sony Corporation.‖ He also questioned why Stringer had been retained as the Chairman of the Board This case has been prepared on real...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 MULTINATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (SONY CORPORATION) 2.1 Main business of the Sony Corporation 2.2 Goal of the Sony Corporation 2.3 International business methods used by Sony Corporation 2.4 Expectation to expand to another countries, opportunities to expand and risk of pursuing new business in another countries 2.0 INTERNATIONAL FLOW OF FUNDS 3.5 List countries of Sony Corporation export products 3.6 Sony Corporation export business by recent changes in the factors that can affect the degree of international trade 3.0 INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS 4.7 Foreign exchange market used by the Sony Corporation 4.8 The Sony Corporation issues stock in foreign countries 4.0 EXCHANGE RATE DETERMINATION 5.9 Currencies that the Sony Corporation uses to conduct its international business 5.10 The trends in the main foreign currencies used by the Sony Corporation and affected by changes in the values of these currencies 5.0 FINANCING INTERNATIONAL TRADE 6.11 Types of payment methods to pay for imports 6.12 Types of trade finance method 1.0 MULTINATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 2.1 MAIN BUSINESS OF THE SONY CORPORATION Sony is engaged in the development, design, manufacture and sale of various kinds of electronic equipment, instruments and devices for consumer, professional and industrial markets as well as game hardware and software. Sony’s...
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...The Sony Corporation: A Case Study in Transnational Media Management by Richard A. Gershon, Western Michigan University, U.S.A. and Tsutomu Kanayama, Sophia University, Japan The transnational corporation is a nationally based company with overseas operations in two or more countries. What distinguishes the transnational media corporation (TNMC) from other types of TNCs, is that the principle product being sold is information and entertainment. The following paper is a case study analysis of the Sony Corporation; a leading TNMC in the production and sale of consumer electronics, music and film entertainment and videogame technology. There are two main parts to this study. Part I. examines the history and development of the Sony Corporation. It builds on the theoretical work of Schein, (1984, 1983), Morley, Shockley-Zalabak (1991) and Gershon (2002, 1997) who argue that the business strategies and corporate culture of a company are often a direct reflection of the person (or persons) who were responsible for developing the organization and its business mission. Second Part examines the Sony Corporation from the standpoint of business strategy. Special attention is given to the subject of organizational culture and strategic decision-making. A second argu- ment of this paper is that while Sony is a TNMC, the organization is decidedly Japanese in its business values. This is beginning to change in the face of global competition and the need to improve business performance. This...
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...The Sony Corporation: A Case Study in Transnational Media Management by Richard A. Gershon, Western Michigan University, U.S.A. and Tsutomu Kanayama, Sophia University, Japan The transnational corporation is a nationally based company with overseas operations in two or more countries. What distinguishes the transnational media corporation (TNMC) from other types of TNCs, is that the principle product being sold is information and entertainment. The following paper is a case study analysis of the Sony Corporation; a leading TNMC in the production and sale of consumer electronics, music and film entertainment and videogame technology. There are two main parts to this study. Part I. examines the history and development of the Sony Corporation. It builds on the theoretical work of Schein, (1984, 1983), Morley, Shockley-Zalabak (1991) and Gershon (2002, 1997) who argue that the business strategies and corporate culture of a company are often a direct reflection of the person (or persons) who were responsible for developing the organization and its business mission. Second Part examines the Sony Corporation from the standpoint of business strategy. Special attention is given to the subject of organizational culture and strategic decision-making. A second argu- ment of this paper is that while Sony is a TNMC, the organization is decidedly Japanese in its business values. This is beginning to change in the face of global competition and the need to improve business performance. This...
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