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 - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, 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 -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Dreamcast Sega has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Dreamcast Sega in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
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.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Dreamcast Sega has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Dreamcast Sega is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
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.
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.
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 -
Need for greater diversity
– Dreamcast Sega has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) HBR case study mentions - Dreamcast Sega takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Dreamcast Sega has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Dreamcast Sega even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Dreamcast Sega, firm in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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 -
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Dreamcast Sega to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
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.
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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Dreamcast Sega has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Dreamcast Sega to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Dreamcast Sega can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Dreamcast Sega can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Dreamcast Sega can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Dreamcast Sega operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Dreamcast Sega can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Dreamcast Sega is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Dreamcast Sega needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Technology & Operations industry regulations.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Dreamcast Sega needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Dreamcast Sega can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Dreamcast Sega high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
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.