Describe one of the main forces in the general environment affecting this

organisation. Provide an analysis of how this factor impacts your organisation's

competitive advantage.

CHRISTA: INTRODUCTION TO NINTENDO Slide

Nintendo is a multinational organisation first established in 1947 as a card company,

before eventually entering into the video gaming industry in 1970 in Kyoto, Japan.

Founded by Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo and has sold nearly 700 million consoles
since 1981 (Carr, Freeman and Duff 2012). It is known worldwide for its consoles
such as Nintendo DS, Gameboy and 3DS and its creation of games such as Mario
Brothers and Pokemon (Boyer 2009). Video game series such as Pokemon, which
has sold nearly 220 million units, and the Mario games, have landed the company
500 million sales (Robinson, 2013). Even though it is a reasonably new industry,
video games can generate almost the same amount of money as the filming
industry (wordpress.com).

GEORGIA: THE GENERAL ENVIRONMENT slide

Here we have a diagram that shows all the elements within the general
environment. Given the nature of the video gaming industry, the main force of the
general environment that affects Nintendo is the technological changes and
advancements. Technological forces are the result of change to technology that
enables managers to design, produce and distribute goods or services to consumers
(Jones, et al 2017).

The role of technology is vital in the video gaming industry because it focuses
on technological efforts for competitive advantage. Each new development
uses new technology. Nintendos role from playing cards to video games and
then with each console introduced, included many technological changes
(Salleh, 2009).

When Nintendo 64 was created, it was the first of its kind to offer be released with
four controller ports to encourage split-screen family gaming (Robinson, 2013). This
was a new concept to grasp because previously video gaming was considered a
solitary activity. . A recent example of how innovative Yamauchi was, is the
Nintendo Wii. This piece of technology was specifically created as a console open to
families, which had motion control and accessibility embedded into its design
(Robinson, 2013). Nintendos target market gives them a competitive advantage
because its based on all ages.

CHRISTA: TECHNOLOGICAL FORCES IN PLAY

The most dominant issue facing organisations is the rapid advancement of

technology. There are four main hardware products in the gaming industry and they
are: consoles, PCs, online, and mobile. Consoles have a 73% market share, which
means they are the most significant. The console market is currently being run by
the big three companies: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Whilst Microsoft and Sony
attract the more hardcore gamers, Nintendo is more family-based (wordpress.com).
However, consoles are essentially hardware that cannot be updated simply, like in
the case of IOS on an iPhone (Moore 2014). Due to the increasing uses of the
Internet, many video games are available to purchase online as part of a
subscription on a mobile or computer which creates a decrease in the demand for
consoles due to the limited availability of updating current consoles to the latest
technology. These types of technological changes and advancements can be
detrimental to companies like Nintendo, unless they continue to innovate and find
ways to distinguish their product from competitors.

CHRISTA: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE the early days

In order to gain competitive advantage, organisations must continue to invest in the

newest technology to venture beyond the expectations of consumers. However,
keeping up with the multiplying technological advances, includes a vast range of
expenses and no guarantees, which can involve high levels of risk.

According to Joe Cox (2006), Nintendo was able to adopt what is known as the first
mover advantage. First mover advantage is when a firm is the first to market a
new product and as a result is better off than its competitors (Suarez and Lanzolla
2005). The way Nintendo was able to achieve this was to take risks by marketing
new products as soon as they were developed. By being the first company to
innovate new technology, ultimately gave Nintendo time, which could aid in the
development and redevelopment of the knowledge. In the video gaming industry,
time is critical as it can be the difference between success and failure (Suarez and
Lanzolla 2005).

The constant innovative qualities of Nintendo allowed them to establish a

substantial advantage over their competitors and create an entry barrier for other
parties wanting to dominate the market (Cox 2006).

GEORGIA: NINTENDO NOW

If you look at the graph here, the point where Nintendos revenue peaks is in 2008,
and since then you can see it has steadily declined. You can also see here that the
majority or Nintendos revenue comes from hardware or their consoles. Perhaps
Nintendo needs to closely consider moving to a more mobile friendly service, but
this could potentially be risky considering they make their money from selling
consoles.

GEORGIA: CONCLUSION
During his time, Nintendos president Yamauchi oversaw the transformation of the
videogames industry from niche to global, building Nintendo into a major
corporation with iconic characters. Whilst Nintendo set the pace for gaming around
thirty years ago, it has failed to grasp the attention of the new generation of
smartphone lovers. Technology allowed for Nintendo to deliver hardware that
families and social groups around the globe could utilize together. Other
technological advancements in smartphones have worked against Nintendo in
recent years. In order for Nintendo to rise up again it needs more innovation!

Thank you for listening.

REFERENCES

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Carr, Michael., Shauna Freeman and Phoebe Duff. 2012. Nintendo Case Study.
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Cox, J. 2006. Is There a First-Mover Advantage in the Market for Japanese Video
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The Economist. 2016. Jump Start: A giant of the console industry has lost
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Jones, Garath R., Jennifer George., Mary Barrett and Beverley Honig. 2017
Contemporary Management. 4th ed. North Ryde, NSW: McGraw-Hill
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Moore, B. 2014. Give us a modular console we can upgrade like Googles new phone.
Wired. https://www.wired.com/2014/04/project-ara-gaming

Robinson, Nick. 2013. How Hiroshi Yamauchi and Nintendo changed the world
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Suarez, Fernando and Gianvito Lanzolla. 2005. The Half-Truth
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Unkown Author. (n.d). Economic/Business Factors in video Games

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