fall 2011 case study and discussions

Department of Business Administration College of Management

25 October 2011 Fall 2011 BAA Management of Technology 1

Watch online http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwfv14WpzJ8

The Robinson is going to go to someone who dazzles. Somebody who just jumps off the page. Ben, last year, the Robinson went to Hyum Jae Wook, a Korean immigrant who has only one leg. Well, I have both my legs. Well, have you considered cutting one of them off? That was a joke. Ben, it's all about the essay. You need to really explain to us what makes you special. What life experience separates you from all the rest. Life experience. What can you tell me, Ben, that's going to dazzle me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwfv14WpzJ8


Management of Technology Textbook: Strategic Management of Technological Innovation

Melissa A. Schilling, New York University

Presented by TA Hsuan-Yi Wu (Jen) 吳宣儀

25 October 2011 2 Fall 2011 BAA Management of Technology

Case Studies

[email protected]

Course Lecturer: Prof. J. T. Chiang

8th November 2011

Department of Business Administration College of Management Course Outline

09/13 Course Introduction

09/20 Positioning and Marketing Strategy for High-tech Industry - 1




10/18 Strategic Management of Technological Innovation - 1

10/25 Strategic Management of Technological Innovation - 2

11/01 Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship

11/08 Case Studies and Discussion of Management of Technological Innovation

11/15 University Anniversary

11/22 Mid-term Examination

11/29 The Innovator‟s Toolkits - 1



12/20 Catalyst Code - 1

12/27 Catalyst Code - 2

01/03 Lecture and Student Final Project Presentation

01/10 Lecture and Student Final Project Presentation




Question

Discussions

From You


Questions from you! (1/2) ► 依書中所述，作為創新來源的創造力分為個人和組織兩個部分，請大家討

論這兩種來源分別有何優缺點。

► 什麼原因造成公司可能抗拒採用新的科技？

► 產業之變遷與其技術生命週期 (technology life cycle)有關。請問影響技術生命週期長短的主要因素為何？

► 什麼因素決定一個產業是否可能擁有一個或數個主流設計？

► 主流設計對消費者是好的嗎？對競爭者呢？對互補廠商呢？對供應商呢？

► 何時適合使用量化分析，何時適合使用質化分析?什麼情況下，選擇權的量化分析法可能不適用?

► 贏者通吃的市場對消費者好嗎？

► 列舉三點選擇合作夥伴時考慮的標準。



► 舉例說明由兩個以上的組織所形成的合作案例，並說明此案例的合作模式有哪些優缺點。

► 選擇一間有興趣的公司來觀察看看其所擁有的技術或產品是以什麼智財工具並在保護其競爭力的情況下釋出適當的技術還能獲利。

► In 2003, Boeing 787 commercial jets were manufactured from carbon fiber composites; several partners cooperated with Boeing with loosely coupled organized way; and the proportion of outsourcing of the entire production was pretty high; the result is not as good as expected. Why?

► 將供應商和消費者加入新產品開發過程，如何?

► 管理者如何確保團隊能獲得多樣性的優點卻又不被此一多樣性引起的挑戰阻礙？


Questions from you! (2/2)


依書中所述，作為創新來源的創造力分為個人和組織兩個部分，請大家討論這兩種來源分別有何優缺點。

個人優：較有效率；比較專業化；和個人特質符合時會有激勵作用。缺：易有偏好；較獨斷；與組織目標衝突；須具備一定程度相關知識。

組織優：比較客觀；創新內容較為多元；能符合組織目標。缺：缺乏效率；可能不符合個人期待或特質而降低意願；方向容易因個人不同專業而有混淆情形；有溝通協調上的問題。


G1

William McKnight: 15 Percent Rule

Innovation Time Off Policy

(20 percent Time)



G2 • 什麼原因造成公司可能抗拒採用新的科技? • 產業之變遷與其技術生命週期(technology life cycle)

有關。請問影響技術生命週期長短的主要因素為何？

a. 新技術採用會影響公司現階段主要獲利來源(cash cow)的營收 b. 新技術對公司的營運幫助＜採用新技術的成本 c. 公司沒有互補品的技術或找不到合作發展互補品的公司 d. 沒有適當供應商或經銷商 e. 聲譽不足,可能吸引不多的採用者 f. 原公司的成本結構無法適用新科技，或投入固定成本過高，無法抽身

主要影響因素有二：(1)產品生命週期；(2)同業競爭激烈程度產品生命週期長短和技術生命週期長短成正相關，例如汽車業產品生命週期明顯比電腦業長，同一消費者平均10年換一台汽車，而平均3年換一台電腦，也就是說如果業者要賣給同一位消費者一樣新產品，汽車業者比電腦業者多了7年的時間來準備新產品和研發新技術。同業競爭激烈程度和技術生命週期成負相關，同一項產業有多家不同廠商在研發新產品時，新技術的出現相對來說就會變快，因此縮短技術生命週期。



G3

若有多種互補廠商加以配合，則較可能有數個主流設計。單一主流設計：放映機＆錄影帶多種主流設計：電玩主機＆電玩軟體

• 何因素決定一個產業是否可能擁有一個或數個主流設計？ • 主流設計對消費者是好的嗎？



如何界定先行者與早期追隨者？

結合產品生命週期的鐘形曲線及市佔率的S形曲線可以判斷現在市場在哪一階段，可以將先行者、早期追隨者與其他區分出來。要辨別先行者及早期追隨者則是從有無研發出新科技或概念來看。

G4



• 在使用五力分析模型時，應以何者之角度切入？ • 發展核心職能的公司是看中了經濟學中的何種超額利潤？那動態能力呢？

G5

應站在現有競爭者的角度來分析。

核心職能→李嘉圖租；動態能力→獨佔租。


量化分析適用於可預估潛在利益的專案，例如以前曾進行過的專案，

或是有過類似例子的專案，如此一來使用量化分析的差異不大，評估

較為準確；但若專案為一項新科技的研發，或是以前從未進行過的類

型時，使用量化分析難以評量其影響，使用質化分析則較好，質化分

析使得在分析專案時，可考慮到更多的面向，不單是未來的現金流量，

而可以更全面的考量到公司未來競爭力、市場走向等等，讓專案有更

全方面的分析。

選擇權以股票投資的概念來作為分析方法，但是，股票投資人本身並

無法影響股價。投資一項專案卻不一樣，專案投資人本身與專案成敗

與否有著密切的關係，投資者投入越多則專案成功的機會也越大，投

資者並不是以一個局外人的角度來分析專案成敗，而是與其努力有關。

因此，選擇權的方法，可能不適宜用於與投資人有切身相關的專案。


G6 • 何時適合使用量化分析，何時適合使用質化分析? • 什麼情況下，選擇權的量化分析法可能不適用?



舉XBOX為例，硬體是用一種方式授權，軟體則是另一種。B2B部份，主機是完全的保護 (單純行銷)，軟體是部份授權 (在不同平台皆可使用)。B2C則都是以一整個package銷售。

G8 選擇一間有興趣的公司來觀察看看其所擁有的技術或產品是以什麼智財工具並在保護其競爭力的情況下釋出適當的技術還能獲利。



若將供應商與消費者納入新產品開發流程中,有何優劣？ G10 供應商

優：可大量彌補想法與實踐之間的差距，配合使用供應商建議的方式或材料，有效地控制成本。劣：延長產品開發週期，並耗費溝通的金錢與時間成本。

消費者優：直接找尋目標客群當中的消費者並聽取其建議，更能打造出符合消費者需求的服務或產品。劣：新產品開發過程難以保密，樣本不足有可能導致消費者預期偏差。


管理者如何確保團隊能獲得多樣性的優點，卻又不被此一多樣性所引起的挑戰所阻礙？

提升團體凝聚力、明確的溝通交流管道、團隊領導者地位權力明確。


G11



• 哪些可能情況會使公司希望延遲新產品上市？ • 市場推出電玩產品時，中間商扮演何角色？提出什麼有價值的服務？

G12

(1) 遊戲廠商雖然開發了新產品，但因為特殊假期前後(寒、暑假或聖誕假期等)是購買潮，所以都會等到這些特定節日時再推出。上市時機和節日購買潮結合在一起。(2) 當現有產品有很好利潤時，為免競食作用而遞延。等舊產品的獲利趨緩之後，再來推出新產品。但是也要抓好時機，不要錯過做為市場領導者的機會。(3) Sega的Saturn為了搶PS的市場，所以還沒建立足夠產量就上市，導致無法滿足很多重要的配銷商。所以有時候要確保上市的時候有足夠的遊戲軟裡來搭配之後，才會推出。

製造商喜歡銷售品項少但數量大的商品，但消費者卻相反。而中間商可以做中間的橋樑，向製造商統一訂購，再以分裝方式將商品銷售給消費者。而中間商也提供其他的服務，包括運送商品、負擔存貨、與消費者溝通交易等。及提供區域性的零售點，讓消費者更方便地購物。



Science and

Technology



http://dictionary.reference.com/



Source: http://edt514tpack.wikispaces.com/TPACK+in+Science+education

Technology

Integration

with

Teaching

Science

http://edt514tpack.wikispaces.com/TPACK+in+Science+education



Technology

and

Science

are

Interrelated



Mid-term Exam 考試日期：11月22日星期二考試時間：14:30準時發考卷，答題時間不限，直到最後一位交卷為止。考試地點：管一103教室考試題目與類型如下，總分100分：課本習題True/False：16題 (每題1分)，佔16%。課本習題Multiple Choice：16題 (每題1.5分)，佔24%。上課投影片講義與課本：簡答題，佔45%。理論與時事申論題: 三選一，佔15%。



讀書是為了建構我們對於世界的瞭解與認知，成績是為了檢視自己的學習效果。當認清了這兩件事的目的，就不該再拿讀書與成績當作壓力，逃閉自己的本分。 ---給所有的受成績所惱的讀書學子們



Case Studies of

Technological

Innovation


Organizing for Innovation at Google


Honda and Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Blu-ray versus HD-DVD: A Standards Battle in High-Definition Video

From PDAs to Smart Phones: The Evolution of an Industry

The Digital Music Distribution Revolution

Frog Design

Deployment Tactics in the U.S. Video Game Industry

Topics of Case Study

Genzyme‟s Focus on Orphan Drugs

Presented by TA Hsuan-Yi Wu (Jen) 吳宣儀



Please watch before class.

2008 Honda Civic/ Quick Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azWENVYOI48

Review: 2008 Honda Accord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQXgdFBNxxw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G98VN7zYHNM

Honda Introduces All New Insight at 2008 Paris Motor Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcHul5Io1k (start from 4:08)

2008 Toyota Prius/ Quick Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBv0S_-XgcA

2008 Toyota Camry/ Quick Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jedBe0klI

2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid/ Quick Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPt1fet-VWE

2008 Camry vs Accord vs Malibu/ Quick Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIbLUJ3XS2o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azWENVYOI48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQXgdFBNxxw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G98VN7zYHNM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcHul5Io1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBv0S_-XgcA



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jedBe0klI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPt1fet-VWE



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIbLUJ3XS2o



• Honda introduced its first hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in Japan in 1997.

– HEVs have increased fuel efficiency and decreased emissions – HEVs do not have to be plugged into an electrical outlet

• Honda chose a different hybrid engine design than Toyota, and chose not to collaborate or license its technology to others.

• Toyota, which engaged in both collaboration and licensing, sold far more HEVs.

• Honda was also developing cars based on fuel cells, clean diesel, and natural gas.




Discussion Questions: 1. Are hybrid electrical vehicles a radical innovation or an incremental

innovation? Are they competence enhancing or competence destroying,

and from whose perspective? How would you answer these questions for

fuel-cell vehicles?

2. What factors do you think will influence the rate at which hybrid electric

vehicles are adopted by consumers?

3. What would be the advantages or disadvantages of Honda and Toyota using

the same engine standard?

4. Is Honda‟s strategy of producing a different engine standard than Toyota and

not collaborating or licensing to other automakers a good one? What would

you recommend?

5. Why do you think Honda simultaneously developed hybrids, diesel, natural

gas, and fuel cell cars? Should Honda pick one upon which to focus its

efforts or is it important for Honda to pursue synergies (and preserve its

options) by developing and promoting multiple technologies?




Toshiba HD DVD and Sony's Blu-ray Format Wars.flv http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Ip1Kvxfog



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8Ip1Kvxfog



Blu-ray versus HD-DVD: A Standards Battle in High-Definition Video • From 2003 to 2008, Sony and Toshiba waged a high-

stakes war for control over the next generation video format.

• Sony‟s Blu-Ray technology was backed by a consortium that included Philips, Matsushita, Hitachi, and others.

• Toshiba‟s HD-DVD had the backing of the DVD Forum, making it the “official” successor to the DVD format.

• Both companies lined up major movie studios and video game consoles to promote their standards (Sony‟s Playstation 3 and Microsoft‟s Xbox 360).

• In January 2008, Time Warner‟s announcement that it would support Blu-Ray instead of HD DVD triggered a chain reaction that collapsed the support for HD-DVD. Toshiba announced it would cease production of HD-DVD equipment in February of 2008.




Discussion Questions:

1. What factors do you think influenced whether a)

consumers, b) retailers, or c) movie producers

supported Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD?

2. Why do you think Toshiba and Sony would not

cooperate to produce a common standard?

3. If HD-DVD had not pulled out of the market, would the

market have selected a single winner or would both

formats have survived?

4. Does having a single video format standard benefit or

hurt consumers? Does it benefit or hurt consumer

electronics producers? Does it benefit or hurt movie

producers?




Palm PDAs

Jeff Hawkins

Olin 2011 Commencement: Jeff Hawkins, featured speaker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYY-DneBym8

Please read the introduction of Jeff and watch the before class.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Hawkins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYY-DneBym8





• From 1990-1993, a flurry of companies began developing PDAs and analysts predicted millions would be sold by 2004.

• However, market confusion and under-developed enabling technologies slowed PDA adoption. Many PDA companies ran out of money by 1994.

• The surviving companies included those that specialized in industrial devices, and Palm Computing, which had entered relatively late and produced a streamlined PDA.

• By 2003, another storm was on the horizon for the PDA industry: the arrival of smartphones, and much larger competitors such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung, and later Apple.

• By 2008, sales of smart phones had reached $39 billion.




Blueberry

QWERTY Research In Motion Limited


http://us.blackberry.com/



iPhone

Touch Panel




Windows

Mango


http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/zh-tw/default.aspx






Google Android Nokia Symbian Linux Mobile




Discussion Questions: 1. Why did most of the early PDA companies fail, even if

they had innovative and sophisticated product designs?

2. Could early PDA companies have done anything

differently in order to survive?

3. Why was Palm successful where so many others had

failed?

4. Was being late to the smart phone market a

disadvantage for Apple? What factors enabled Apple to

successfully enter when it did?

5. Are there increasing returns in the smart phone market?

Is it likely to eventually pick a single operating systems

as the dominant design?





• Genzyme was founded in 1981 by scientists studying genetically inherited enzyme diseases

• Adopted a very unusual strategy of developing drugs for rare diseases rather than “blockbuster” drugs.

– Smaller markets, but fewer competitors

– Requires less advertising, smaller sales force

• In 1983, the FDA established the “Orphan Drug Act,” giving seven years market exclusivity to developers of drugs for rare (<200,000 patients) diseases.

• Also chose unusual strategy of doing its own manufacturing and sales rather than licensing to a pharmaceutical company.

• Diversified into side businesses to fund its R&D.

• By 2009, was one of the world‟s largest biotech companies with 10,000 employees in 40 countries.



Discussion Questions:

1. How does Genzyme‟s focus on orphan drugs affect the

degree of competition it faces? How does it affect the

bargaining power of customers?

2. How does focusing on orphan drugs affect the types of

resources and capabilities a biotech firm needs to be

successful?

3. Does Genzyme‟s focus on orphan drugs make sense? Do

you think Genzyme has a long-term strategic intent?

4. Why do you think Genzyme has diversified into other areas

of medicine? What are the advantages and disadvantages

of this?

5. What recommendations would you offer Genzyme for the

future?




• In 1991, Fraunhofer IIS of Germany invents the MP3 format; by late

1990‟s the format is wildly popular.

• In 1999, Shawn Fanning releases Napster, a free software program that

allows users to easily share MP3 files (“peer-to-peer”)

• The RIAA starts to worry about illegal trade of copyrighted music. In 2001

it gets a court ruling against Napster, taking it offline.

• However, new peer-to-peer music services began to sprout up to meet

the demand of the large population of “music pirates.”

• In 2003, Apple opens its iTunes Music Store – a one-stop-shop for music

files from the five major record labels. Now record industry is earning

significant revenues from MP3s.

• In 2006, France pushes Apple to loosen its restrictions on iTunes music

and iPods. Should Apple use a more “open” model?

• Meanwhile, new models of digital distribution were emerging: Creative

Commons (license agreements to make files public, legal, and free), and

“Podcasting” (whereby whole “shows” could be downloaded).





Source: http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

Napster peaked in February 2001.


http://en.wikipedia.org/




Source: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/




Source: http://creativecommons.org/

Please watch before class. What is Creative Commons?

http://creativecommons.org/videos/

http://creativecommons.org/







Source: http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/intl.ce.cn/hqcy/xrcp/200712/26/t20071226_14037300.shtml

第1名 iriver Clix 聲音清晰、動態感強、可自定義多種音效。

第2名新力 NWZ-A810 聲音純凈透徹，音色甜美纖細，無底噪。

第3名 Cowon D2 音質飽滿，各聲部可以較好地分離。

第4名三星 YP-P2 聲音有力量，身歷聲效果強。

第5名創新 ZEN small wonder 聲響均衡而沉穩，畫質鮮美。

第6名微軟 Zune 文件瀏覽時略微干擾音頻，各頻段表現平衡。

第7名新力 NWZ-S610 音質較好，視頻介面便捷。

第8名 iAUDIO 7 音質很好，點亮螢幕時會產生輕微的高頻干擾。

第9名蘋果iPod classic 音質較好，按暫停時會有噪音，動態感欠佳。

第10名蘋果iPod nano 3 聲音乏力，但還比較結實。

第11名蘋果iPod touch 聲音混濁而空虛。

第12名愛可視 105 有少許噪音，中頻較好。

How about the hardware market?

http://big5.ce.cn/gate/big5/intl.ce.cn/hqcy/xrcp/200712/26/t20071226_14037300.shtml



Discussion Questions: 1. What industry conditions lead to the revolution in audio

distribution? Which stakeholders stand to benefit most (or least) from this revolution?

2. Why did the music stores created by the record labels fail to attract many subscribers? What, if anything, should the record labels have done differently?

3. What will determine how long the success of the iPod and iTunes endures? Should Apple allow its iPods to play non-iTunes songs? Should Apple allow iTunes songs to play on non-iPod MP3 players?

4. Why would musicians sign away their copyright privileges to their songs through “Creative Commons”?

5. How is podcasting likely to impact the appropriability of recorded music, radio broadcasting, or other types of audio transmissions?





Playlist: Google office interior design http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC5CCDFDF8821BA79 Google, Zurich

Google, Vietnam


http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC5CCDFDF8821BA79

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC5CCDFDF8821BA79



• Google was founded in 1998 by two Stanford PhD students who had developed a formula for rank ordering search results. The company quickly grew to over 20,000 people.

• The creative side of the company was organized into small technology teams with considerable decision-making authority. The structure and culture was designed to foster informal communication and collaboration.

• All technical personnel were required to spend 20% of their time on innovative projects of their own choosing.

• Andy Grove (former CEO of Intel) described the company‟s organization as chaotic, noting, “From the outside it looks like Google‟s organization structure is best described by Brownian motion in an expanding bottle” and questioned whether this model would continue to work forever.




Discussion Questions: 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the creative

side of Google being run as a „flexible and flat “technocracy”‟?

2. How does Google‟s culture influence the kind of employees it can attract and retain?

3. What do you believe the challenges are in having very different structure and controls for Google‟s creative side versus the other parts of the company?

4. Some analysts have argued that Google‟s free-form structure and the 20% time to work on personal projects is only possible because Google‟s prior success has created financial slack in the company. Do you agree with this? Would Google be able to continue this management style if it had closer competitors?




Frog Design

http://www.frogdesign.com/

Please visit the site before class.

http://www.frogdesign.com/



Frog Design

The Early Years



Frog Design

http://designmind.frogdesign.com/magazine/the-connective-issue/








• frog design is a global design firm with 400-plus employees in nine studios around the world. frog designed such famous products as the Apple Macintosh, and the Sony Trinitron television.

• frog engaged in three kinds of activities:

• For each client project, frog assembled a multidisciplinary team.

• frog‟s approach emphasizes reaching customers at a deep,

emotional level. As noted by Esslinger, “The magic is when both

the manufacturer and consumer get something good that they

don‟t expect.”

• frog‟s design process was organized into three phases:

– Discover: team member do significant research to understand the client‟s

business, market, brand, users, and technology, and to identify goals,

opportunities and critical success factors.

– Design: team transforms intangible inspirations and ideas into tangible

solutions that can be used and evaluated. This stage emphasizes

rudimentary prototypes, sketches and digital renderings.

– Deliver: team refines and documents the chosen solutions. All of the product

specifics, models, tools, and production details are turned over to client.

Frog Design



Discussion Questions: 1. How do frog‟s activities affect its ability to (a) maximize the fit with

customer needs, (b) minimize development cycle time, and (c) control

development costs?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of involving customers

fairly early in the design process?

3. What are the pros and cons of using computer-aided

design/manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and photorealistic renderings

instead of functional prototypes in the development process?

4. Would frog‟s approach be more suitable for some kinds of

development projects than others? If so, what kinds would it be

appropriate or inappropriate for?

5. Would frog‟s approach to product development be effective in a firm

that primarily manufactured, marketed, and distributed its own

products?

Frog Design




History of Video Game Consoles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gja6xTrwws&feature=related

History of video games 1958-2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHrbBoXd0Y&feature=related


1. Please try to list the dominant design in

each generation from the video.

2. Please try to follow the author‟s logic

and find out what distinguishes each

generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gja6xTrwws&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHrbBoXd0Y&feature=related



The Timeline and History of Video Games

(Please skip the ill background music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yn4JRsmyy4

PONG - First documented Video Ping-Pong game – 1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNRx5hc4gYc&feature=related

The Internet in 1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0pPfyYtiBc&feature=related

The Lost 1984 Video: young Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B-XwPjn9YY&feature=related


Shall we appreciate the efforts from people

who have made the video game today.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yn4JRsmyy4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNRx5hc4gYc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0pPfyYtiBc&feature=related







• After the Atari/Coleco video game generation crashed, Nintendo was able to enter with an 8-bit system and rise to dominance by selling on consignment, alleviating retailers‟ risk. It had a near monopoly from 1985-1989.

• In 1989, Sega was able to overthrow Nintendo‟s dominance by introducing a 16-bit system 1½ years before Nintendo.

• Sony was able to break into the video game industry by introducing a 32-bit system, investing heavily in game development, and leveraging its massive clout with distributors.

• In late 2001, Microsoft entered the video game industry with a 128-bit system. It had an advanced machine, and spent a lot on marketing and games, but Sony Playstation2 already had an installed base of 20 million. The console did well, but never overtook Playstation2.

• In late 2005, Microsoft was first to introduce the next generation console: Xbox 360. Nintendo‟s Wii and Sony‟s Playstation 3 would not debut until 2006. Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 incorporated high definition DVD players, and were quite expensive. The Wii, on the other hand, was much simpler, and much cheaper, but had an innovative motion-sensing remote.

• By February 2009, over 19 million Wiis had been sold, compared to 14.2 million Xbox 360s and 7 million Playstation 3s.



Discussion Questions: 1. What factors do you think enabled Sega to break Nintendo‟s

near monopoly of the U.S. video game console market in the late 1980s?

2. Why did Nintendo choose to not make its video game consoles backward compatible? What were the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy?

3. What strengths and weaknesses did Sony have when it entered the video game market in 1995?

4. What strengths and weaknesses did Microsoft have when it entered the video game market in 2001?

5. Comparing the deployment strategies used by the firms in each of the generations, can you identify any timing, licensing, pricing, marketing, or distribution strategies that appear to have influenced firms‟ success and failure in the video game

industry?


fall 2011 case study and discussions

Technology

business administration

ray versus

hybrid electric

smart phone

technology

case studies

engine standard

definition