1. Statement of Problem: Electronic Arts needs to find a way to ensure that its current success in the marketplace continues and accelerates. Its goal is to one day be larger that the Walt Disney Company as an entertainment company.
2. Analysis: Electronic Arts develops, markets, publishes and distributes interactive software games that are playable by consumers using home videogame machines such as the PlayStation 2 or Microsoft Xbox; personal computers; hand-held game machines; or over the Internet. EA invests in the creation of state-of-the-art software tools that we use in product development. EA distribute interactive software games that are published by other companies. One of EA's goals is to be the market leader of games played on the current generation of 128-bit video game consoles.
2A1. Industry economic characteristics
2A2. Industry drive forces. Technology faster internet connections in particular the expansion of broadband internet in contrast to dial up connections allows buyers of Electronic Arts products to play games on the Internet. More Internet connections. A new, next generation version of the game playing platform that might be as much as one thousand tomes more powerful than current versions.
2A3. Key success factors: There are multiple consoles available in the market and vigorous competition between console manufacturers. For EA to remain successful it must continue to develop and to market programs that work on each of the major game console platforms. For example, even if Sony were to become even more dominant in the marketplace, EA would still want to develop and distribute games that worked on Sony's competitors' game consoles. Another key success factor involves managing inventory levels and properly forecasting demand. EA uses its industry experience to forecast demand on a product-by-product basis and then manufacture based on these forecasts. To be successful, EA must be ri...