Introduction
We are in a world where business is business and if a business and its executives, managers and directors do not know how to manage their company, they will surely fall apart. This paper aims to identify and if possible, point out with accuracy, the problems that the corporation that made the Nintendo game console (e.g. Nintendo DS and other game console products), possible to be seen in the market and played by many kids and even adults. To start with, here is some information about Nintendo.
It would be safe to assume that Nintendo is a big company already, considering the sales they were able to make with their previous and current accomplishments in the gaming industry. On an article by Reisinger (2011), it was clear that a lot of people still love Nintendo and its games that despite the heat coming with the latest gadgets with thousands of possible applications, Nintendo seems to be on a winning situation still. Accordingly, last 2010; its market share value against other consoles (e.g. PlayStations 2 & 3, Android gadgets and Apple products) is a whopping 57 percent. It is pretty obvious how a lot of people still love Nintendo and that’s why I still find this situation about their management, significant and solvable.
Even if they have an almost-winning market share, they still face a big problem though. That current 57 percent value was gathered in 2010 and what is surprising to see is Nintendo DS’s market share value last 2009, a year before this 57 percent fall down. Their market value back then was a stunning 70 percent (Reisinger, 2011). So, I figured out there must be a sort of problem with their management and how they do things, the way they solve their problems and all other processes relating to their company and its many processes.
Background Information of the Topics
The topics that will be discussed below are somewhat superficial because Nintendo does not usually disclose their corporate information to someone; more so, if an interview would be done over an internet connection. Nevertheless, the following information that will be presented is accurate, with their corresponding sources and references. Most of them will also be about their company and not their games.
Management and Leadership
Nintendo is a good company. Do you want to know how they ended up as one? The management and leadership of Nintendo is a Japanese company that was formerly known to produce only card games and they just progressed into manufacturing video games recently which was their best idea because as you can see, they grew. This company is an international company, thanks to the technological features of their products like the Nintendo DS and Wii; they were able to achieve such stage.
Since this section is all about management and leadership, it would be a nice idea to introduce the people involved in this family. This company is headed by Satoru Iwata—he is the current President and CEO, Reggie Fils-Amie as the COO, Shigeru Miyamoto—one of the company’s key designers who contributed to a lot of game releases, Conrad Abbott as the managing director of the branch of Nintendo in Australia and one of the most prominent people in the society of Nintendo, Gunpei Yokoi. He is the creator of the Gameboy, and consoles under its name, series. Now that’s the pillars of their company I should say.
Any major problems about the company will surely have to go through the hands of these people first before they fully transmit their orders and decisions to their normal employees. It would be wise to say that they are the bosses and I think they deserve that position anyway.
Approaches to Leadership Theory
There are a couple of current Leadership theories that are applicable for Nintendo’s current situation. There are 8 leadership theories all in all and each of these has their own principles, ways how they could be applied and most of all, benefits (Bolden et al., 2003). It is right to believe that application of these theories for several company situations will make up a good turning point to almost any form of problem the company currently faces. The 8 approaches to Leadership Theory are the Great Man Theory, Trait Theories, Behaviorists Theory, Situational Leadership, Contingency Theory, Transactional Theory, Transformational Theory and Management Theory. Each of these theories is usually perceived as an individualistic perspective of the leader at varying extents (Bolden et al., 2003).
Critical Approach to Leadership Theory
There are four main positions about leadership and they are: Critical, Instrumental, Humanistic and Scientific. These four are commonly used in educational settings but they are still applicable because Nintendo operates and produces gaming products with a goal to trigger the change for society (Anonymous, 2011). They even conduct special trainings for their employees that address their well-being and other related things. The critical approach to leadership theory, when applied to Nintendo, should have the aim or goal concerned in revealing and emancipating its leaders and the management from social injustice and the oppressiveness of other established (Gunter, 2001) structures. In short, the company should operate in a non-biased environment so ideas could flow smoothly. In their industry, creativity is their bread and butter anyway.
Leading Change
For the current situation of Nintendo today, it would be leadership theory of management would be the most applicable. It should direct the company’s leaders and pillars to change the way how they manage not only the staff but the whole company. The company should be able to incorporate adaptation and basic changes in their line of skills or else, they will suffer because of their obsolete ideas that were already buried in the people—their consumer’s minds, years ago. This kind of idea should be able to direct them to change the role of their company for good if they are really to stay on top of their shape for the next coming years.
Nintendo has a lot of changes to undertake and these changes are big changes. Changing a company once it is already established would be one of the hardest things a leader could ever do. In the case of Nintendo, this is still possible because they have a lot of supporters and that’s what’s most important about doing things anyways.
Discussions
My view about Nintendo is that the reason why they are suffering from their current corporate condition is because they forgot about the word “change”. People’s appetite about almost anything changes from time to time. They may like playing Sudoku one time but soon after that time, perhaps after a week or a month or so, this would change. This is partly described in the theory of marginal utility in economics and they are for me, directly related with Nintendo’s current situation. Other than this problem, I think Nintendo, have no major issues with their corporation anymore because they wouldn’t be able to reach their position now if there leaders did not do a good job and exerted their efforts anyway.
Closing Comments
Change is the only key if there is already something wrong happening about anything. Change almost always starts with diagnosing what is wrong or in the process of solving a problem scientifically; it always has to start with diagnosing what the problem is first. From then on, appropriate steps should be planned. In Nintendo’s case, I think they are still not able to consciously identify what their problem is that’s why we haven’t seen many changes from them these past years.
Organizational changes should always be a part of a large corporation’s agenda and plans. In fact, they should be able to conduct monthly or even a weekly evaluation meeting with the key people involved inside the organization so that organizational change could be as systematic and effective as possible. Contrary to what most people believe, change is a necessity even for companies because anyone who fails to adapt to societal changes are known to perish.
Perhaps one of the key challenges not only employees but also the whole corporation could experience and face in case of an occurrence of such are nothing but its side effects. An ineffectively planned organizational change could potentially ruin the entire corporate system that its leaders have worked on for probably, a lot of years. The risks are the greatest challenges usually and a company’s leaders do have to be brave enough to face these risks.
Because of these, I learned 3 things. First of all, I learned that no matter how successful a company is, time will come and it will face challenges and these challenges have to be overcome for that particular company to continue operating. Second, I learned that Change plays a vital role in the development of not just a company but the whole society. I myself have to change and the same goes for others too. Without change, society could not progress. Lastly, I learned how important good management and leadership are. Being a good leader for me now is like being able to see the things that will happen ahead so that you could warn others if there are dangers or obstacles in front.
Now that I already know about how important change is, I would try to incorporate it to my list of options as much as possible, whenever I try to solve problems. Being a systematic changer is one important thing a company like Nintendo and an individual like me could not afford not to learn. It is indeed a vital process within this society and businesses who cannot adapt to these changes will fall down and lose their customers. This was proven by Nintendo, who in a few years, lost a lot of customers and market shares due to the stereotypical quality of their previous consoles.
Conclusion
Managing a business or a corporation is a tough job. Leaders are the people likely to be concerned first whenever something bad is going on or the company is about to face future challenges and trials. In Nintendo’s case, it is clear that they were not able to swiftly adapt to the current trends; that’s why they are slowly losing the confidence of their customers in the first place. In a personal level, I have arrived at a conclusion that change is a necessity and we cannot live without it. It is a crucial element not only for making prosperous business ventures but also for other things like building relationships and most importantly, changing ourselves.
References
Reisinger, Don. (2011). iOS. Androing Gobbling Nintendo DS Market Share. CNET.
Accessed October 2011. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20054217-17.html.
Bolden, R., Gosling, J., Marturano, A. & Dennison, P. (2003). A Review of Leadersip theory &
Competency Frameworks. University of Exeter Center for Leadership Studies. UK.
Anonymous. (2011). Nintendo Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Nintendo Corporate
Information. Accessed October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.nintendo.com/corp/csr/index.jsp.
Gunter, H. (2001). Critical Approaches to Leadership in education. Journal of Educational
enquiry Vol. 2 No. 2, 2001. University of birmingham United Kingdom.
