Assessment 1 - Presentation

Editor's Notes

• #3: In this presentation we will give you a brief background about Hiroshi and will mention his opportunity, how did he make it happen, success venture and lessons he learned from his experiences.
• #4: Nintendo is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi, September 23, 1889. His nephew Hiroch yamachi became the 3rd president of Nintendo in 1949. Moreover, he transferred the company from a card game company into a video game in 1977. He stepped down from his position as Nintendo's president in May 2002 and he became part of the board of directors. And in 2005 he retired and became a leading stakeholder. He recently passed away in September 19, 2013
• #5: How was the opportunity identified? Corporate business strategy: it means that it took different business lines not only gaming or playing cards, they used food business, Hotels and Taxi but after realizing Nintendo is failing and playing cards not being a trend anymore, Nintendo changes to Electronic video game company. Technological breakthrough: he realized that technological breakthrough in the electronics industry were becoming cheap enough to be used in entertainment products and that it’s becoming a major Trent globally. Video game industry: also there was a gap in the market very few companies sold video games such as Magnavox and Atari were Nintendo wanted to create home console video games for people to play at home rather than the usual Magnavox or Atari Arcade games.
• #6: How did the entrepreneur make it happen? (Outline their approach, personal attitudes and behavior towards the new venture) Motivation: Well how did it happen? Nintendo became this successful all thanks to Hiroshi’s approach, personal attitudes and behavior toward the company. Hiroshi was a motivational leader; he made sure that his employees stayed motivated by creating a good environment for them to work in. He made Nintendo a place where his employees would be encouraged and inspired. In his own words he said he wanted Nintendo to become “Heaven for video-game developers”. Innovation & Creativity: Hiroshi always aimed for innovation and creativity at Nintendo as innovation is crucial to the continuing success of any organization. And to help in inspiring creativity to his employees, he created three research and development groups and allowed them to compete against each other. This made the designers to work harder in order to get their games approved. He also wisely made his consoles system easy to program for, which made Nintendo consoles attractive for other game developer companies to program their games for. Intuition: Hiroshi was known for his outstanding intuition, as he could easily read a few years in advance, anticipate what would become hot and popular. His remarkable intuition for what customers would want in the future was one of the main reasons for Nintendo’s success over the years. Dedication: Hiroshi dedicated his whole life to Nintendo even after his retirement; he refused to accept his retirement pension, which was around $9 to $14 million, feeling that Nintendo could put it to better use.
• #7: What were the most important elements of the entrepreneur’s business plan? Which elements were critical to the venture’s success? Nintendo always had superior quality to compete with its competitors. They had gone into different lines of business and have also gone into different research lines in countries… like how they first gained rights to distribute the Magnavox in Japan to research gaming industry. They also focused on product differentiation from the initiation of their gaming era. All products of their they had been different in all aspects. Ie: Family computer was having 4 ports, Nintendo wi had introduced motion gaming. Always they have also focused on low prices than their competitors. PS, Xbox and Sega have always been more expensive. The games and the other accessories have also been made targeting a low cost. All systems in Nintendo are simple, nimble and quick to use. There are not much complex buttons or usage as in Xbox or other gaming systems. It is simpler. Nintendo have also been socially focused from their first machine. They were also the first system to bring a four player game strategy which helped bring people together in gaming therefore creating a socially gaming environment for the whole family.
• #8: What lessons did he or she learn in the entrepreneurship process? There are many lessons Hiroshi learned during his time in Nintendo. His biggest regret is changing Nintendo’s strategy from fear of new competitors. Since competition was increasing in 2001, Hiroshi changed Nintendo’s strategy for having a specific market segment (teenagers), a low cost competitive advantage only and having similar products toward it’s competitors. Because of this diverse and sudden change, even though they reached their required sales for the product they released (Game Cube) in 2002, Nintendo did not beat it’s competitor which is Sony (Playstation 2). This is when Hiroshi realized that he made a mistake and he needed to become unique from its competitors. He made changes such as having more than just a low cost competitive advantage which is also having a differentiation competitive advantage. Also focusing on a wide market segment so that Nintendo would provide games for everyone of all ages. Also, being Unique and having exclusive product just for Nintendo was a great strategy. Finally, Hiroshi learned that comparing Nintendo with it’s competitors is not a good strategy and that it’s actually an opportunity for Nintendo to be different. Overall, Hiroshi learned that he should study the market and look at any gap there is that the company can fullfill.
• #9: In conclusion, Hiroshi made a huge risk by changing Nintendo from a gaming card company to an electronic video gaming company. He was very dedicated to Nintendo having to refuse his retirement pension, which was around $9 to $14 million, feeling that Nintendo could put it to better use. He learned that using many competitive advantages is a good strategy for the company including making research to Nintendo’s target market.
• #10: This is our references
• #11: Thank you for listening, if anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.