Swot Analysis of "Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B)" written by Stefan Thomke, Andrew Robertson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Dreamcast Sega facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Product development, Strategy execution and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Dreamcast Sega, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Dreamcast Sega operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Dreamcast Sega
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Dreamcast Sega
Strengths Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Dreamcast Sega in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Dreamcast Sega is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Dreamcast Sega is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Dreamcast Sega
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Dreamcast Sega does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Dreamcast Sega has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Dreamcast Sega is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Dreamcast Sega in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Dreamcast Sega is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Dreamcast Sega is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Dreamcast Sega are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Dreamcast Sega is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Stefan Thomke, Andrew Robertson can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Dreamcast Sega to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Dreamcast Sega to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dreamcast Sega in the sector have low bargaining power. Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Dreamcast Sega to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Dreamcast Sega digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Dreamcast Sega has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Weaknesses Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Dreamcast Sega is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Dreamcast Sega needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Dreamcast Sega to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Dreamcast Sega has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Dreamcast Sega has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B), it seems that the employees of Dreamcast Sega don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Dreamcast Sega supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Dreamcast Sega vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Dreamcast Sega is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Dreamcast Sega needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Lack of clear differentiation of Dreamcast Sega products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Dreamcast Sega needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B), is just above the industry average. Dreamcast Sega needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stefan Thomke, Andrew Robertson suggests that, Dreamcast Sega is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Opportunities Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Dreamcast Sega in the consumer business. Now Dreamcast Sega can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Dreamcast Sega to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Dreamcast Sega to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Dreamcast Sega can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Dreamcast Sega can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Technology & Operations industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Dreamcast Sega can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Dreamcast Sega to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Loyalty marketing
– Dreamcast Sega has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Dreamcast Sega is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Dreamcast Sega to increase its market reach. Dreamcast Sega will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Buying journey improvements
– Dreamcast Sega can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Dreamcast Sega can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Dreamcast Sega in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Dreamcast Sega can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Dreamcast Sega can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Threats Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Dreamcast Sega in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Dreamcast Sega
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Dreamcast Sega.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Dreamcast Sega.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Dreamcast Sega can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Dreamcast Sega can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Dreamcast Sega business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Dreamcast Sega in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Dreamcast Sega will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Dreamcast Sega needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Dreamcast Sega has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Dreamcast Sega needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Dreamcast Sega demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Dreamcast Sega needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
