Nintendo

Teaching Note: Case 35 – Nintendo’s Wii

Case Objectives


  1. To examine how external and internal forces affect competitive strategy.
  2. To investigate how innovation and entrepreneurial strategies can be assets in a fast-moving industry.

See the table below to determine where to use this case:

|Chapter Use                     |Key Concepts                                       |Additional Reading and/or Exercises             |
|2: External Environment         |Industry competition five forces; general           |See Case DVD. NOTE industry report             |
|                               |environmental factors                               |                                               |
|3: Internal Analysis           |Value-chain analysis; resource-based view of the   |                                               |
|                               |firm; VRIN                                         |                                               |
|4: Intellectual Assets         |Intellectual and human capital                     |NOTE additional reading, embedded video         |
|5: Business Level Strategy     |Competitive strategy; generic strategies           |See Case DVD - also NOTE additional reading,   |
|                               |                                                   |embedded video                                 |
|8: Entrepreneurial Strategies   |Opportunity recognition; blue ocean strategy       |                                               |
|12: Managing Innovation         |Innovation; sustaining vs. disruptive innovation;   |NOTE additional reading                         |
|                               |scope of innovation                                 |                                               |


Case Synopsis


In 2006, Nintendo introduced its next generation video game console – the Wii. This new console introduced an innovative motion sensor game controller that enabled a user to...