...Executive Summary Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has the unique distinction of being the first and only company to have had market leadership for 2 consecutive console generations. However, in recent times, the ecosystem has changed to include a larger audience and usability has trumped technological superiority as a key metric in generating buyer interest. In 2008, Nintendo’s Wii had 2 times the market share that Sony’s offering, the Play Station 3, had. I feel Sony should assess the following options. (1) Focus on catering to its niche advance game segment and focus on leveraging its progress form the previous 2 generations. (2) Respond to Wii onslaught by developing its previous generation console to include a low end offering that directly competes with Wii. (3) Partner with Nintendo and others to strengthen offerings in the gaming console space, eliminating Microsoft and creating a “co-opetition” I recommend a combination of (1) and (3) to ensure sustained dominance in the gaming console market. I would not look to option (2) since it undermines SCEI’s position as a focused differentiator (Exhibit 1 in appendix) and also because this would be a knee jerk reaction forcing Sony to play on Nintendo’s terms. Analysis As evident from Porters five forces analysis (Exhibit 2) the console market is not very attractive for new entrants. . However, there is a huge growth opportunity for established players since there is only moderate buyer bargaining power and few substitutes...
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...Giovannia Musella 20120011 José Javier Ramos 20120012 Ana Lucia Tejada 20120031 Aneliesse García-Junco 20120292 CASO: Responding to the Wii? Fecha de entrega: Lunes 13 de abril 1. ¿Tiene Nintendo una ventaja competitiva? ¿Cuál es? ¿En que se basa? ¿Pueden los competidores copiarla? Nintendo no solo duplica las ventas de sus mayores competidores Sony y Microsoft, sino que observando la utilidad operativa y los márgenes operativos de la industria, podemos observar como Nintendo tiene una gran ventaja sobre la misma. Tomando los resultados desde 1993 hasta el 2007, Nintendo en promedio logra una utilidad operativa de casi 1300 millones de dólares y un margen operativo de 26%. Mientras que comparado con la industria, esta tiene en promedio una utilidad operativa de 31 millones de dólares y un margen operativo de 6%. Es evidente y podemos afirmar que Nintendo sí cuenta con una ventaja competitiva respecto a su competencia. La misma podemos identificarla en el segmento de mercado tan amplio que logró penetrar. Después de que las consolas de Sony y Microsoft se enfocan en personas desde los 18 años de edad hasta los 34, Nintendo logró penetrar un mercado que aún no había sido explorado. Creando así, una consola que pueden utilizarla niños desde los 9 años hasta personas de mayor edad de 65 años. Esto lo logran por medio de una estrategia de innovación, donde se enfocan en hacer una plataforma “User Friendly”; lo cual se ha convertido en la característica principal de la marca...
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...Executive Summary In 2008 the video game industry is dominated by three major players, there's Sony with its PS 3 launched by the end of 2006. Then there's Microsoft with its Xbox 360, launched in the end of 2005; and finally Nintendo with the "Wii" in late 2006. These three players are competing to gain market leadership in the game console industry. The video game industry has been marked by quick and frequent changes of fortune amongst the various players in the market. The market is characterized by rapid growth as well as unexpected down turns such as the one in 1983 where the industry lost 97% of annual sales volume in 3yrs. The industry exhibits five to six year cycles of competition which concur with advancement of underlying technology. Nearly all-technological leaps from one generation to the next are marked by a change in leadership except from the PS to the PS2 when the lead was held by Sony. Currently, the market is led by Nintendo which has managed to overthrow both Sony and Microsoft despite having a console which is significantly less technologically advanced. Analysis How attractive does the video game industry look in late 2008? There is a low risk of potential entrants due to high sunk costs (as demonstrated by Atari's "ET" flop), large capital requirements and very high economies of scale needed especially since product is sold at very low markup. The video game industry appears to have a solid base of loyal customers and is recently increasing in size...
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...Responding to the Wii Group Case Writeup BUSMHR 4490 In the Harvard Business Review case Responding to the Wii, Kazuo Hirai was faced with an interesting dilemma. Hirai, the chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. faced pressure due to Sony’s Playstation 3 video game console losing market share to the Nintendo Wii. Hirai faced a major business decision in deciding how Sony should respond to the cheaper, more interactive, family oriented Nintendo Wii. The Video Game Industry at a Glance From an industry analysis standpoint, the videogame console industry in 2008 was not very attractive. The industry was, and still is, structured as an oligopoly in which there are few large firms with differentiated product and high entry barriers. The three main competitors- Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo- completely saturated the industry and held the majority of the market share (Figure B). Capital and fixed costs were very high for console developers and entry required third party software developers to build quality games to be sold with their platforms. The big players like Sony (Playstation 3) and Microsoft (Xbox 360) were having difficulties selling their console even if their consoles were priced higher at $499 compared to $250 for Nintendo Wii, creating an environment of intense rivalry. Compared to the other two rivals, the Nintendo Wii was less advanced but it was priced significantly cheaper which was met with enthusiastic customer reception. Nintendo also targeted...
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...It may enable a company to charge premium price for a period of time, but no one could guarantee if the industry would impose any stringent regulations that could fundamentally weaken one’s competitive advantage like quality. However, Hair establishing a complicated distribution channel could be a wise strategy that successfully impose a tight barrier for foreign entry into its market. The third takeaway is that being the first-mover in localizing its products to cater the foreigner market could help Hair, a Chinese brand suffering from such deeply-rooted bad image of low-quality, succeed in the more-developed countries like the US where lots of giants are already occupying a significant amount of market share. For the case of “Responding to the Wii”, the most important takeaway is the concept of two-sided model and its pricing strategy. First, the presentation makes me realize that there are quite a number of real life examples belonging to the two-sided market like operating system, recruiting sites etc because there is an indirect network effect in which the increase in “consumer” (end-users/job seekers) can reinforce the increase in “complementors” (software developers/recruiters). The second takeaway is that besides actively attracting complementors, it is also crucial to monitor the quality at the same time. Take the Play Station as an example, Sony has to at least set some direction or theme guidelines for its third-party developer in order that the games produced are...
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...flow of information between a computer and a computer-user; responding to a user’s input:” “(Of two people of things) influencing each other” This is a very broad field with possibly infinite creations, which could be classified as interactive. As a musician myself, I’m always very interested in new inventions that can help musicians be more creative or make some tasks more time efficient and more affordable. When I first heard what needs to be done I had tons of various ideas that could possibly be done using Max/MSP in the time given. I had to narrow it down quite a bit. I decided that I would like to create some kind of controller to make music-creating process using Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) even easier for many people, including me. I was thinking about what I would like to have that is not really easy accessible. Using a standard MIDI keyboard and any DAW with MIDI roll feature,...
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...Five Forces Analysis of the Video Game Industry The video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. It includes video game consoles, game software, handheld devices, mobile games and online games. The video gaming industry has been growing exponentially in recent years with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo competing for the higher profits in the market. This essay will analyze each of the five forces acting on the industry: threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and the competitive rivalry among existing firms. Then it will be determined if the video game industry is still an attractive industry for Sony. The video game industry has high entry barriers because of its high research and development costs, and capital investment needed to start a business in the console industry. The cost required to develop and manufacture a product that could be a decent competitor in this market is too great for a non-established company in this industry. The technology that is needed to be successful is too advanced for new competitors to achieve. For this reason, the threat to Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo of new entrants, was not very high in 2008. Additionally, Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Nintendo’s gaming systems were very well established names in the industry. The prestige of these products was so strong that it...
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...Esmir Hadzic 661035592 Intro to Management 2/4/14 Five Forces Analysis of the Video Game Industry As in every industry, there are five competitive forces that determine the intensity of competition between the different players. These competitive forces are; the threat of entry of a new company in the industry, the threat of substitution by another product, the bargaining power of the buyers, the bargaining power of the suppliers, and rivalry among currently existing competitors. These competitive forces are easily seen in the video game industry, as there is already immense competition in the industry due to the similarities between the few major companies at play. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are the three large players in the present day video game industry. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has been a dominant company in the industry for over a decade with the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 platforms; however, it is struggling to stay at the helm of the industry due to the presence of these competitive forces. The threat of entry of a new company in the video game industry is a relatively weak competitive force for Sony. The video game industry is already dominated by three major players (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft), thus the possibility of a new entrant in the industry is very low. Nintendo was established well before Sony as a major player, and Microsoft came into the industry in 2001 with the original Xbox. When Sony came in with the PlayStation 1, they...
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...chapter 2 “ The External Environment and Organizational Culture The essence of a business is outside itself. ” A Look Ahead — Peter Drucker LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying Chapter 2, you will be able to: CHAPTER OUTLINE The Macroenvironment Laws and Regulations The Economy Technology Demographics Social Issues and the Natural Environment The Competitive Environment Competitors New Entrants Substitutes and Complements Suppliers Customers Environmental Analysis Environmental Scanning Scenario Development Forecasting Benchmarking Responding to the Environment Adapting to the Environment: Changing Yourself Influencing Your Environment Changing the Environment You Are In Choosing a Response Approach Culture and the Internal Environment of Organizations Diagnosing Culture Managing Culture LO 1 Describe how environmental forces influence organizations and how organizations can influence their environments. p. 48 Distinguish between the macroenvironment and the competitive environment. p. 48 Explain why managers and organizations should attend to economic and social developments. p. 50 Identify elements of the competitive environment. p. 55 Summarize how organizations respond to environmental uncertainty. p. 63 Define elements of an organization’s culture. p. 72 Discuss how an organization’s culture affects its response to its external environment. p. 72 LO 2 LO 3 LO 4 LO 5 LO 6 LO 7 Management Close-Up HOW CAN LARRY BLANFORD KEEP GREEN...
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...Sony Corporation and the Video Game Console Market: 1 A Competitive Analysis By Ryan Bogner, Peter Hung, Guan Wang, and Steven Wang This report evaluates Sony Corporation’s strategy in the console gaming market from the top-down perspective of the entire corporation. 1 Executive Summary Sony’s current strategy in the video game console market is simple: use the technologically superior Playstation 3 as a loss leader to introduce the Blu-ray optical drive2 into consumers’ homes and leverage that market penetration to drive content sales once Blu-ray is established as the de facto standard for optical storage. It is therefore in Sony’s interest to reach the tipping point for market adoption of Blu-ray as soon as possible. To increase the rate of Blu-ray adoption in the market, we recommend that Sony adopt a “good-better-best” strategy, whereby Sony produces discounted and premium versions of the current Playstation 3 for sale to consumers. This strategy will encourage price-sensitive customers to purchase Playstation 3 consoles without marginalizing power gamers. Nintendo and Microsoft will most likely respond to this strategy with differentiation rather than price competition. If Sony reinforces this strategy with coherent marketing and intellectual property strategies, it can increase Blu-ray adoption rates and make it more likely that the format will be adopted as a standard. The Market for Video Game Consoles is Growing, but Competition is Fierce The market for...
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...Microsoft and the Xbox 360 Ring of Death ------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3 Problem Statement .......................................................................................................................4 Situation Analysis ..........................................................................................................................4 Objectives ..............................................................................................4 Background ............................................................................................5 SWOT Analysis ..............................................................................................................................6 Strengths ...............................................................................................6 Weaknesses ...........................................................................................7 Opportunities .........................................................................................8 Threats................................................................................................... 8 Market Analysis ............................................................................................................................9 Previous Market...
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...Sony Corporation and the Video Game Console Market: 1 A Competitive Analysis By Ryan Bogner, Peter Hung, Guan Wang, and Steven Wang This report evaluates Sony Corporation’s strategy in the console gaming market from the top-down perspective of the entire corporation. 1 Executive Summary Sony’s current strategy in the video game console market is simple: use the technologically superior Playstation 3 as a loss leader to introduce the Blu-ray optical drive2 into consumers’ homes and leverage that market penetration to drive content sales once Blu-ray is established as the de facto standard for optical storage. It is therefore in Sony’s interest to reach the tipping point for market adoption of Blu-ray as soon as possible. To increase the rate of Blu-ray adoption in the market, we recommend that Sony adopt a “good-better-best” strategy, whereby Sony produces discounted and premium versions of the current Playstation 3 for sale to consumers. This strategy will encourage price-sensitive customers to purchase Playstation 3 consoles without marginalizing power gamers. Nintendo and Microsoft will most likely respond to this strategy with differentiation rather than price competition. If Sony reinforces this strategy with coherent marketing and intellectual property strategies, it can increase Blu-ray adoption rates and make it more likely that the format will be adopted as a standard. The Market for Video Game Consoles is Growing, but Competition is Fierce The market for...
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...Chapter 1 Modern Project Management 19 Note: If you have any difficulty accessing any of the Web addresses listed here or elsewhere in the text, you can find up-to-date addresses on the home page of Dr. Erik Larson, coauthor of this text: http://www.bus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/bio .htm?UserName=Larson References Ball Parks of Baseball, “Cisco Field,” http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/future/ CiscoField.htm (accessed June 2, 2009). Benko, C., and F. W. McFarlan, Connecting the Dots (Boston: HBS Press, 2003). Cohen, D. J., and R. J. Graham, The Project Manager’s MBA (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001). Faylor, C., “Next Generation Wii Is Rumored to Hit the Market in 2011,” Shacknews.com (Oct. 1, 2008). Kay, J., “US Box Office Spellbound by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” www.guardian.uk.co.filmblog (accessed July 15, 2009). Krisher, T., “GM Product Chief Says New Vehicles Must be Hits,” www. businessweek.com (accessed July 20, 2009). Larkowski, K., “Standish Group Report Shows Project Success Improves 50 Percent,” www.standishgroup.com, 2004, Third Quarter. Lunar Energy, “British Firm Announces World’s Largest Tidal Power Development,” Lunarenergy.co.uk (March 11, 2008). Peters, T., PM Network, January 2004, Vol. 18, No. 1, p. 19. Project Management Institute, Leadership in Project Management Annual (Newton Square, PA: PMI Publishing, 2006). Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), (Newton Square, PA: PMI...
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...The Human Computer Interface By: Dustin Hudson March 4, 2014 CIS 106: Prof. Howell In today’s world, there are various types of technology that humans interact with on a day to day basis. Technology is an ever evolving industry that is constantly trying to meet the demands of its consumers. Whether you are trying to write a document in Microsoft Word, talking to your IPhone using Siri, or having your respiration rates being monitored by a machine at the doctor’s office, all of these technologies are designed to interact with humans. The science behind designing technologies to meet the needs of human interaction is known as the human-computer interface. The human-computer interface involves many different perspectives in order to be effective. Most companies assemble a team when trying to develop a software program. This team can include people from departments such as “marketing, engineering, and manufacturing to get different perspective” (G. Anderson, D. Ferro, and R. Hilton 2013). Some teams even include psychology majors in order to get perspectives on human behavior and human memory. Developing a sound software program is very important in order for it to be successful. It has to be not only technically sound and reliable, but it also must be visually appealing to the consumer and work hand in hand with that person’s memory storage. A person has three types of memory, sensory storage, short term memory and long term memory. “Sensory storage works as a buffer to...
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...Marketing management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing management principles include analyzing the market, market planning, implementing the plan and market control. The goal of these activities is to enter into an exchange with customers. Once a company understands the marketing environment, reacts to it and gathers results, it is able to evaluate the impact of its activities. In larger firms, marketing management is typically handled by a marketing manager, while in smaller firms, the owner may take the lead in marketing activities. In marketing management, SWOT analysis is very important because it is a element of the research necessary preliminary stage in the preparation of any level of strategic and marketing plans. It helps marketers build detailed profiles of their company and each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their strengths , weaknesses , opportunities and threats.Now,I conduct a SWOT analysis of Sony Shockwave, include four factors : strength factors, weakness factors,opportunity factors and threat factors. One of Sony ‘s greatest strengths is new products with high technology,such as Blu-Ray disc, helps Sony win the war to be the next generation of DVD. It boasts greater rivals and possesses anti-piracy technology and has the ability to deal with high-definition broadcasts.Besides, Sony beats its Japanese...
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