The development of "build your own game" strategies will also need to take this into account. Figure 5: Global Computer Gaming Demographics, 2007

Market Segment

Share

Males 18-45

37.0%

Females 18-45

28.0%

Males 45

2.0%

Source: Entertainment Software Association, (Hammill, 2007)

Marketing Plan

The primary focus of the marketing plan will be on using Web 2.0 technologies (O'Reilly, 2006) and social networking (Bernoff, Li, 2008). A representative same of Web 2.0 applications is shown in Appendix a. The marketing plan's messaging will focus on giving customers the flexibility of creating any game they choose, and even customizing it so there are unpredictable outcomes over time. The reliance on a highly collaborative development base will also make this successful. The heavy use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will also be used to promote the gaming site as well. The initial products sold will be branded from Nintendo and over time the breadth of customizable games will continue to grow on the site. The use of these online methods in addition to events will form the foundation of the marketing plan.

Company Structure and Management

The structure of the company will be more hierarchical, with functional department managers reporting to the president and CEO. Accounting and Finance, Engineering, it, Marketing, Sales and Service will all be direct reports to the CEO. There will also be a focus on smaller, more collaborative teams over extensive organizational structures. This will ensure the organization is more agile, les encumbered by a structure it cannot work in.

Operation Plan

The operation plan is fairly straightforward as the series of applications that will run the proposed e-commerce venture will be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is exceptional in its reliability and maintainability of systems. This will be the first phase of the operational plan. The second phase is to create a series of game developer's kits and a game development community which will serve to support the development of individual game modules. The operational plan for this will include staffing up specific development engineers and support staff which will be able to quickly guide developers to create individualized modules. The third aspect of the operational plan will be the development and continual refinement of the subscription pricing and annuity revenue model. Fourth is the actual launch of the company online and its promotion. Fifth is the continual monitoring of its progress through the use of analytics.

Product Design and Development Plan

The product design and development plan centers primarily on the development of strong relationships with developers throughout the Nintendo community. There is also the need to create a continual stream of updates to the game development kits so that successively greater features can be included. Lastly the product design and development plan must include the ability to interlink modules and suggest an optimal game design. This approach to mass customization puts the customer at the center of designing their own game, and there will be recommendations on how to best optimize performance by interest area. A guided selling application will be used to assist customers in defining which specific game type they want to produce and download.

Financial Projections

Sources and Uses Financial Analysis

2010

2011

39172

Income before income taxes

2,012

433,775

289,601

Depreciation & amortization

8,102

7,363

5,968

Increase (decrease) in reserve for doubtful accounts

2,149

Increase (decrease) in reserve for retirement benefits

5,960

1,089

Interest & dividend received

-30,430

-44,585

-34,510

Interest expenses

1

0

0

Foreign exchange loss (gain)

98,557

66,389

-21,375

Loss (gain) on sale of investment securities

-82

-37

-891

Loss (gain) on devaluation of investments securities

10,914

Investment loss (gain) on equity method

-164

-1,334

-798

Decrease (increase) in accounts receivable

-4,535

-70,031

-42,687

Decrease (increase) in inventories

-57,623

-24,519

-54,669

Increase (decrease) in accounts payable

8,182

34,240

168,070

Increase (decrease) in accrued consumption taxes

-3,003

-1,219

3,416

Directors' retirement benefits paid

-185

Other cash flow from operating activities

-13,381

41,645

24,359

Cash flows from operating activities before undernoted

462,697

453,919

338,037

Interest & dividends received

31,477

43,554

32,921

Interest paid

-1

0

0

Income taxes paid

-206,373

-165,095

-96,324

Cash flows from operating activities

287,800

332,378

274,634

Disbursements of time deposits

-247,431

-162,376

-776,866

Reimbursements of time deposits

147,391

164,878

651,372

Purchase of marketable securities

-496,475

-519,740

-112,957

Proceeds from sale & redemption of marketable securities

455,346

768,407

117,001

Payments to purchase of tangible fixed assets

-22,956

-7,992

-6,144

Proceeds from sale of tangible fixed assets

28

5,134

Purchase of investment securities

-12,742

-25,735

-52,069

Proceeds from sale & redemption of investment securities

11,156

6,173

Other cash flows from investing activities

2,229

-525

2008)
References

Bernoff, J., & Li, C.. (2008). Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-42.

Chafkin, M. (2009, May). Get Happy: How Tony Hsieh uses relentless innovation, stellar service, and a staff of believers to make Zappos.com an e-commerce juggernaut -- and one of the most blissed-out businesses in America. Inc., 31(4), 66-73.

Stephen Hammill (2007). Guess Who Got a Wii? McClatchy - Tribune Business News.

Thawatchai Jitpaiboon, Ramesh Dangols, & James Walters. (2009). The study of cooperative relationships and mass customization. Management Research News, 32(9), 804-815.

W Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne. 2004. BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY. Harvard Business Review, October 1, 76-84.

Nintendo Investor Relations (2009) 3rd Qtr. Financial Results Briefing . Available: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/090130/index.html.

NPD Group: Wii and Nintendo DS Set New U.S. Sales Records. 2008. Wireless News, December 20, 2008

Tim O'Reilly. (2006, July). Web 2.0: Stuck on a Name or Hooked on Value? Dr. Dobb's Journal, 31(7), 10.