Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A)
Focuses on the ongoing competitive battles in the global home video game market that is estimated to exceed $15 billion by 1999 in the United States and Japan alone. Describes how Sega Enterprises has redesigned its development processes to create a revolutionary 128-bit video game console (named Dreamcast). Having lost its leading position in an accelerating market to Sony's Playstation console, Sega is trying to reclaim its former position through an aggressive entry strategy in the Japanese market. Integral to this strategy is the ability to bring its Dreamcast console to market rapidly and to manage its relationships with independent game developers. Focuses on: 1) hardware and game software development, 2) the role of market share in an environment of increasing economic returns, and 3) the dynamics of market entry strategies as a function of development capabilities and competitive responses.
Swot Analysis of "Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A)" 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. (A) 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. (A) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A)
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. (A) 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. (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) 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. (A) | 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. (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Dreamcast Sega in the sector have low bargaining power. Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) 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.
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. (A) 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.
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. (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Dreamcast Sega is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Dreamcast Sega has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Dreamcast Sega has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Dreamcast Sega to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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. (A) 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.
Weaknesses Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) | 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. (A) are -
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Dreamcast Sega has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Dreamcast Sega has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Dreamcast Sega is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Dreamcast Sega 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A), 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Dreamcast Sega has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A), 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Dreamcast Sega has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) | 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. (A) are -
Manufacturing automation
– Dreamcast Sega can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
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.
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. (A) 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. (A) - 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Dreamcast Sega can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) 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. (A) 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A), Dreamcast Sega may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Project Dreamcast: Serious Play at Sega Enterprises Ltd. (A) 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. (A) 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. (A) 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. (A) 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. (A) 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.