SWOT, Competitive Structure, Corporate Structure

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Executive Summary

Nintendo is one of the world's leading video game console player but along with competition from Microsoft X Box and Sony's Play Station, the company is facing tough competition from the smart phones and Tablet PC. The study analyzes the mission statement which has a strategic intent to provide excellence in product quality and service to consumers and to treat employees at par with customers on giving respect and attention so that they work with enthusiasm and commitment to produce excellent quality of products and services. This aim is not actually reflected in the work culture of the company as employees have a low level of trust among management and organization has become more hierarchical and centralized. The study analyzes that Nintendo's strength lies in its history and brand value, 3Ds segment and good liquidity position of the company. The weaknesses lie in its market position which is behind Microsoft and Sony, lower employee morale, inability to innovate product functionality and inability to develop social community around the brand which competitors have done. The opportunities exist in emerging markets, developing games for smart phones and tapping wealthy American segment. The company faces threat from new entrants such as Google, substitutes such as smart phones and tablet PCs and rapid obsolescence of technology.
The company has to focus on three major goals of increasing its market share by 20%, developing new innovative products and developing career advancement programs for its employees. For the purpose of increasing market share, the company has to focus on increasing the number of distributors, increasing the sales force of the company and launching promotional programs such as discounts and allowance, freebies etc. for the consumers and channel partners. The company needs to justifiably develop budgets at half percentage for investing in advertising in local newspapers. For product development, the company needs to invest a large amount of budget which is $1.2 billion or 10% of company sales. For R&D, specialist engineers and scientists need to be appointed and R&D Labs need to be developed. For implementing career development programs, training needs assessment needs to be done, appointment of counselors and trainers need to be done and training sessions need to be conducted and thereafter guidance on course to be studied for career advancement needs to be done and a special corpus needs to be kept to fund employee's studies.

I. Introduction
Nintendo is one of the leading Japanese company in gaming console market with operations spread across 35 countries worldwide (Nintendo, 2013: n.d). The company introduced Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 which became an instant hit in the market and being able to sell 60 million units, consumers had an access to games like Mario and Zelda (Nintendo, 2013: n.d). Originally Nintendo was found as playing card company in late 19th century (Ashcraft, 2010: Sep. 28). The company, over a period of time, added to its cards business becoming a game and watch company and thereafter becoming Toy company, then electronic gaming company and now into manufacturing of hardware gaming consoles (Ashcraft, 2010: Sep. 28).

Nintendo is the world's third largest gaming console player in the world but with emerging scenarios where consumers are replacing their gaming consoles with smart phones and tablet PCs, it is essential to analyze this ever changing dynamic environment and therefore, the Strategic Plan intends to study the company vision and then analyze changes in the external and internal environment of the company and how a strategic fit can be developed between company's internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Based on this analysis, the strategic plan intends to develop and implement a strategy and monitor the implementation of the strategy undertaken by the company.

II. Mission Statement
Describe the overall intent of your company. (Not more than 3 paragraphs.)

" At Nintendo we are proud to be working for the leading company in our industry. We are strongly committed to producing and marketing the best products and support services available. We believe it is essential not only to provide products of the highest quality, but to treat every customer with attention, consideration and respect. By listening closely to our customers, we constantly improve our products and services." (Nintendo, 2013: n.d)

"We feel an equal commitment toward our employees. We want to maintain an atmosphere in which talented individuals can work together as a team. Commitment and enthusiasm are crucial to the high quality of our products and support services. We believe in treating our employees with the same consideration and respect that we, as a company, show our customers." (Nintendo, 2013: n.d)

This shows that the strategic intent of the company is twofold - one is for customers and another one is for the employees. Towards customers, it is commitment to provide best quality products and services and producing the product and services as per customer needs. Towards employee, it is to maintain an excellent work culture which involves treating employees with respect and consideration as shown to customers.

III. Corporate Culture
The mission ...