The Failure Of Sega Genesis CD Gaming System Essay

The Failure Of Sega Genesis CD Gaming System - Essay Example Finally, it concludes with the idea that the marketing function and its objectives, strategic plans and implementation cannot be over-emphasized ni any organization. Sega was originally founded in 1951 by American David Rosen in who permanently moved to Japan after WWII. The name Sega is a contraction of "Service Games", which Rosen's company adopted when it began producing arcade games and software for early game consoles like Atari 2600 and ColecoVision. By the 1980s, Sega had an American division which sold console software. Later on the company was sold to Japanese investors and officially became Sega Enterprises Ltd. During the mid-80s, Sega produced a series of hit games which made a lot of money for funding future development of Sega's own game consoles (Planet Dreamcast 2008). Various industry reports say that Sega's game consoles were technically superior than those of the competitors. But stiff competition in the 1990s, which had better product launches, marketing campaigns and more funds made the company decide to concentrate on software development for multiple platforms (Kent 2004). Year 2002 was a major shift for Sega as it moved out of the console manufacturing business. ... Today, Sega's main offices, Sega Corporation Japan, are located Tokyo. The company also operates Sega Europe Ltd. in London, Sega of America Inc. in San Francisco, California and Sega Australia in Sydney (Wikipedia 2008). Body Sega's downfall in the game console manufacturing business was caused by a series of unfortunate management, production and marketing decisions Starting in 1984, when Sega's Mark III was competing with Nintendo's very successful Famicom, Sega decided to follow Nintendo's lead of bringing their product to America. Re-christened Sega Master System, the American launch was a failure due to "poor marketing, bad timing, lack of third-party software developers, and the absence of a 'killer app' and lead to the Master System's demise (Planet Dreamcast 2008). One of the elements of marketing mix is product positioning which refers to the place a product offering occupies in consumers' minds relative to competing offerings. Sega's launch campaign for the Master System failed to communicate its benefits and the characteristics of the product that the target market desires. Sega would have done well if the product attributes it announced were perceived by consumers as being close to their ideal and were more ideal than the competitor's. Instead of allowing customers to position competing products by themselves, Sega's marketers should have planned to influence and shape consumers concepts and perceptions (Chapter 11). Planet Dreamcast reports that the Sega Master System (SMS) was technically superior than Nintendo's product and this does not seem to have been properly communicated. Moreover, the product development process for the SMS as intended for the US market seems to not have a comprehensive market requirements