Daring to tap external strategic resources: competitive advantage in global industries

摘要

Since Nintendo began producing electronic games, the world's largest game console manufacturer has relied on other organisations for a large component of its competitive advantage. Both its highly successful DS game line and initially successful Wii were popular because of the nature and variety of the games that could be played on them. The features of the game consoles did not lead to the product's success, but rather the massive volume and variation in games that were produced by third-party game developers for Nintendo consoles made them attractive. Nintendo actively encouraged third-parties to produce games by designing the consoles to be as flexible as possible for software development and applying no constraints to organisations wishing to develop and introduce games. This approach provided Nintendo with access to a massive external R&D resource without incurring any cost, leading to the success of its products.