...9-805-124 REV: JUNE 7, 2006 STEPHEN P. BRADLEY, THOMAS R. EISENMANN MASAKO EGAWA, AKIKO KANNO NTT DoCoMo, Inc.: Mobile FeliCa With more than 49 million customers and a market share of 56% in Japan, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. was the world’s second-largest and Japan’s top mobile communications company. Nevertheless, DoCoMo faced several challenges in its core business in December 2004. First, with nearly two-thirds of the Japanese population already owning a mobile phone, the market was becoming saturated. Second, DoCoMo’s growth in data services would be limited after it matched an offer by its largest rival, KDDI, of flat-rate rather than traffic-based pricing. Finally, rivalry in the mobile phone industry would escalate following two expected regulatory changes: the licensing of one or two new entrants and the introduction of number portability. With DoCoMo’s first wave of growth (mobile voice) subsiding and its second wave (mobile data) cresting, management believed mobile FeliCa could unleash the third wave of DoCoMo’s evolution: “lifestyle infrastructure” services. FeliCa, developed by Sony, transferred information by radio over short distances—about 10 centimeters—between a contactless integrated circuit (IC) and a “reader.” By building FeliCa into its handsets, DoCoMo could move beyond telecommunications into many new applications. For example, customers could hold mobile FeliCa phones close to a reader to quickly and easily make payments in stores, ride commuter...
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...NTT DoCoMo: Marketing i-mode Why was NTT DoCoMo so successful? What is the most critical reason for its success? DoCoMo’s i-mode delivered a service that met the incipient need of a large target group in the market, namely a world wide web-like content service on a mobile phone, and rapid easy messaging; this was the critical driver of its success. Most of their strategic and marketing decisions, such as its choice of content, advertising, pricing, technology and hardware, revolved around appealing to young Japanese customers. Its consistent marketing approach created a service that consumers were previously not able to articulate. The service was a “blue ocean” (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005) - a standalone service that uniquely integrated the most appealing aspects of the internet and mobile communications. The following are the key decisions that supported the success of DoCoMo: Content DoCoMo chose not to control the entire value chain from content to network, but rather involved the work of third-party entrepreneurs to build content. Partners like Bandai (Moon et al., 2002, p.6), Japan’s largest producer of toys and video games, supplied emotionally appealing content for teenagers and young adults. In addition, a centralized and seamless billing structure facilitated payment to content providers by subscribers who valued convenience and who disliked small purchases made with credit cards. This service proved popular; in 2001 around half of i-mode’s customers were subscribing to...
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...Case: NTT DoCoMo: Marketing i-mode In this case, I have divided my assignment into 4 parts, including answering the following questions and sharing what I learned from this case. How do i-mode develop in the US and Europe separately? How to develop FOMA in Japan? Considering the differences in demographics, Internet penetration, and wireless industry structures among Japan, the US and Europe, NTT DoCoMo should change marketing strategies in order to develop i-mode successfully in overseas market. 1. According to the current conditions in the US, NTT can think in following ways: • Pay early birds to use NTT’s cell phones, satisfy them and make them tell other how they like “i-mode” --- WOM Marketing Since Americans prefer to use PCs more than mobile phones and they are skeptical about the benefits of accessing the web via moble phone. Therefore, NTT should first solve two problems. (1) who are NTT’s customers? Due to differences in demographic and Internet penetration, target customers may not totally be young people in the US. (2) How to convince them that NTT’s i-mode phone is really a charming stuff. The solutions are to pay for some volunteers to use i-mode phones, to set up flagship stores and offer Free Trial, and to adjust and improve the products based on customers preferences in order to satisfy them once NTT finds target customers, then customers may help in WOM marketing. • Shorten “i-mode menu” partners and create shortage It may help if NTT just...
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...[pic] 21510 Global Context of Management Autumn 2011 Industry Report Telecommunications Industry in Japan Table of Contents Introduction...............................................................................................................................3 The Japanese Telecommunications Industry – an overview......................................................4 The Beginning of Regulatory Reform and the Role of MIC........................................................5 Rapid World-leading Technology and Trends.........................................................................6-7 The Role of Handsets and Devices............................................................................................7 The Economic Effect of a Natural Disaster.................................................................................7 Environmental Policies...............................................................................................................8 Going Forward...........................................................................................................................8 Appendices...........................................................................................................................9-13 Appendix 1 - Shares of cumulative subscribers at the top four Telecommunications companies in Japan................................
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...Assignment Questions: DOCOMO Case 1. How would you assess the profitability and attractiveness of the telecom industry in Japan at the time of the launch of i-mode? What would you conclude from a five force industry analysis? Porter’s Industry Analysis considers five forces of the industry. With respect to the data provided in the case “NTT DoCoMo i-mode TM, following can be concluded: 1) Competitive rivalry Competitive Rivalry is high if entry into the industry is easy. Ohbushi, the CEO of NTT DoCoMo was determined to keep his company ahead of the competitors. Any new innovation could be copied easily. For example, when i-mode was introduced after an extensive expenditure on R&D, the competitors, DDI Cellular and IDO, announced their own mobile data communication services, called EZ Web and EZ Access respectively. Hence, it can be seen that the competitive rivalry was very high. 2) Power of suppliers Being in the services sector, DoCoMo’s i-mode’s suppliers were not raw material providers but the content providers whom DoCoMo wished to make its partners. It offered a win-win deal for its partners. DoCoMo proposed that it would not purchase content from the providers or equipment from manufacturers but it would allow its users to access these as its official websites and mobile phones. DoCoMo would act as the gateway. NTT DoCoMo’s insight into the needs of its content providers was an important contributor to its early success. By taking care of the customer...
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........................................................................7 8. Brand Positioning .................................................................................................................................................8 9. Marketing Action Program ...................................................................................................................................9 9.1 Pay Per Second Billing ..................................................................................................................................9 9.2 Diet Plan .................................................................................................................................................... 10 9.3 Getting Tata Docomo Post paid connection becomes easier...
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...NTT DoCoMo: Marketing i-mode To ease the congestion problem, in 1997, DoCoMo gave Enoki—a lifetime employee who had worked his way up through NTT’s engineering ranks—a mandate to convince DoCoMo subscribers to begin using their cell phones in a fundamentally different way. More specifically, the mandate was to build a wireless Internet service that would create demand for sending/receiving text-based data via cell phones. Enoki decided to use DoCoMo’s existing packet switched network for the new service, which minimized the overall investment associated with the project.3 One advantage of such a network was that instead of having to keep a wireless circuit open for the duration of a phone call, it was possible for DoCoMo to interweave text-based data packets into a voice stream—allowing multiple subscribers to “share” a single circuit. In building a team to help him create the mobile Internet service, Enoki began by recruiting two outsiders who he believed would help him break free of the rigid, technical mindset that permeated NTT’s engineering-driven culture. The first was Mari Matsunaga, a marketing guru who had achieved a reputation as an editor-in-chief extraordinaire at Recruit, a Japanese magazine publishing house. Given the fact that Matsunaga had zero technical expertise (she didn’t even own a cell phone at the time), Enoki’s decision to bring her on board took many in the company by surprise. Enoki explained: In traditional Japanese companies, you’re...
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...NTT Docomo i-mode 1. How would you assess the profitability and attractiveness of the telecom industry in Japan at the time of the launch of i-mode? What would you conclude from a five force industry analysis? Regulation plays a crucial role in defining market conditions in mobile telephony, as they allocate the radio spectrum licenses that provide the conduit for transmitting data wirelessly – as such, regulators can shape the nature of competition. Competition for market share in the late 1990s was cut-throat in Japan. Deregulation continued apace in Japan and by 1998 a flood of large foreign carriers and equipment manufacturers had entered the fast-growing market as the government lifted the last remaining limitations on foreign investment . Thus the telecom industry was at its peak with a large pool of players wanting to enter the market as can be seen from Exhibit 4. By January 1999, the wireless market in Japan had experienced seven years of rapid expansion (Exhibit 1), with every third person owning a mobile phone. Although the size of the market was still small compared to that of fixed lines, its annual average growth rate of 68% was astounding compared to the an emic growth (1.5%) of the fixed line market. In Japan, the lack of global uptake of the Japanese Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) network standard had important repercussions for both the intensity of competition among...
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...------------------------------------------------- Strategic Innovation 1231.3635.01 Case Questions: (1) How did DoCoMo create distinctive value at low cost? How did DoCoMo combine the strength of the mobile phone and the PC-Internet? How did the value curve of DoCoMo’s i-mode differ from those of the mobile phone and PC-internet? (2) Where and how did i-mode create new buyer utility? What is i-mode’s business model? (3) How did NTT DoCoMo make profits out of its i-mode service? (1) DoCoMo broke "Red Ocean" by ignoring the technology race and price competition in highly crowded voice-based market. The industry has reached a maturity stage and by taking a Breakaway positioning approach DoCoMo succeeded to reposition a mature product for growth and to redefine a fierce competition. It created a “Blue Ocean” strategy by inventing new ways of using mobile services. This value innovation enabled to increase the value to customers and to reduce the costs at the same time. * Distinctive Value: DoCoMo created new uncontested market space by bringing Internet Services to cell phones and playing the role of the gateway (concierge) to the Internet. * In order to break the value-cost trade-off the business concept was changed. “Telecom worldview” (structuralist view) of closed environment controlled explicitly by content providers and carriers was replaced by “Internet worldview” (reconstructionist view) that opened the mobile data services environment for multiple...
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...comparison to the big population it is becoming a huge market for mobile phone service companies. Every company is trying to provide as much facilities as possible to do marketing campaign in many ways they have available in their hand. TM International (Bangladesh) Limited is formed a huge demand in this sector. The company known as ROBI across the country has more than two million subscribers both in prepaid and postpaid forms. 1.1 Introduction of the report Each professional degree needs practical knowledge of the respective field of discipline to be fruitful. Our BBA program also is similar, relating to the exchange of theoretical knowledge into the real life practical situation. The report entitled “Mobile Services in Bangladesh: A case study on ROBI”. The main purpose of the preparation of the report understands the practical knowledge about marketing mix, STP and the SWOT analysis. During the course, we were under the supervision and guidance of Ms Husna Ara, Faculty of Business Studies, East West University-Bangladesh. 1.2 Objectives of the report Main Objective: The main objective of this study is to prepare a paper on the specified topic implementing the knowledge that has been gathered over the semester at the East West University-Bangladesh. Specific Objective: The Objectives of this report are:- • To give a clear idea about the company-Robi (Axiata Bangladesh Limited). • To understand the SWOT & 4P processes involved with...
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...CASE STUDY ANALYSIS ON NTT DoCoMo: Marketing i-mode ANALYSIS There is one simple word to describe this case, and the word is “RADICAL” . From radical ideas leading to radical technologies, from radical ways to market the technology. We can safely say that the i-mode idea was an immense success, from 2 M subscribers 30 M subscriber’s in just 2 years from launch is a feat that is comparable to none. NTT launched this revolutionary service to reduce the existing load on their wireless spectrum but even they did not have an idea on the phenomenon, they had given birth to. It is clear from the success that the trio understood clearly the customer’s need at that time and also the value that the customer was expecting. Right from the start, the trio defied the regular rules of the industry to achieve one single goal – to gain new subscribers whilst delivering value to the customer. The concept of the service, the pricing, the content available, the billing structure, the hardware used to access the service were all conceptualized and developed keeping in mind the convenience to the user and were responsible for the success of the product. The whole concept caused a paradigm shift in the way the Japanese telecom industry operated, from adopting easy transmittable data standards, to the ease of use of the phone developed to provide the i-mode service, this shift actually brought to the customer the value they wanted. The value offered to the consumer was immense...
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...Evolution of mobile technology and business models Su-En Tan CTI Working Papers, no. 91 Center for Tele-Information EVOLUTION OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS MODELS Su-En Tan Centre for TeleInformation Technical University of Denmark Building 371, 2nd Floor, Elektrovej, Kgs, Lyngby 2800, Denmark Tel.: +45 45255181 Fax: +45 45963171 Email: sutan@cti.dtu.dk ABSTRACT This paper looks at the evolution of mobile technology and the evolution of the business models associated with it. Briefly, the different technologies will be examined. More importantly, it will trace the route taken by the mobile network from 2G to 3G and beyond, it will look at the factors that have influenced the decision of mobile operators to switch or upgrade to 3G and also why some others have chosen not to do so. While technology has evolved, so has the business models of the industry. The evolution of the business models from 2G to 3G will be described here. How the mobile industry has changed in terms of market players is part of this description. 1 INTRODUCTION In recent years, we have seen many changes in the mobile industry. Mobile telephony has evolved a great deal since the beginning of the GSM standard. It is thus, of interest to trace this technology change from when we once used the mobile telephone as just a device to make simple voice calls to the multimedia device of today. The different evolution paths that have been taken by different mobile operators will be examined. Reasons for their...
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...Case Study: Tata DOCOMO HELPING TATA DOCOMO WITH THEIR PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVE Client: Tata DOCOMO • Industry: Telecommunications Tata Teleservices (TTSL) provides telecommunications services to about 85 million clients in thousands of towns and villages across India. Among its services are mobile and wireline telephone (under the Tata Indicom brand), fixed wireless phones (Walky), public telephone booths, and Internet access (Photon). Founded in 1996, TTSL is a subsidiary of the conglomerate Tata Group. It also provides wireless phone service through a joint venture with Japan-based NTT Docomo. Tata Teleservices Limited launched 3G services for the first time in India, under the brand name Tata DOCOMO. With 3G, Tata DOCOMO redefined the face of telecom in India. Overview Need: Tata Docomo realized that they were losing out due to cumbersome supplier registration and bidding processes. They wanted to automate their business processes and streamline their procurement activities. They had to collaborate better with their 500 suppliers and enable better transparency. Solution: Bristlecone implemented SAP SRM and helped leverage supplier registration, supplier evaluation, bidding and auctioning process, supplier collaboration and SRM analytics. Benefit: Bristlecone helped revamp the procurement processes and automated bidding & auctioning. With the solution, they were able to shift from transactional purchasing to strategic purchasing. Suppliers were provided...
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...21st Century Mobile Marketing Global Insights into the Worldʼs Most Advanced Mobile Society: Japan Christopher Billich, Infinita Inc. April 11, 2008 According to industry data released by Japanʼs largest advertising agency Dentsu in late February, mobile advertising expenditures in the Japanese market in 2007 increased by almost 60% compared to the previous year, reaching ¥62.1 billion (ca. USD 621 million). This result tops even Dentsuʼs own optimistic prognosis, published 12 months earlier, by 12%. An impressive performance in an advertising market close to saturation - total advertising expenditures in Japan only grew by 1.1% from 2006 to 2007, and by 1.7% between 2005 and 2006. campaigns and actually sign up for promotions or make purchases as a result. Close to another third click on ads, but do not participate in promotional offers. Thus, there is no question that mobile advertising will continue to gain in significance in Japan - a market where more than 4 in 5 of a total 100 million mobile subscribers use mobile data services. 1,500 1,125 750 375 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Mobile advertising up 60% in 2007 For the first time ever, online advertising expenditures (¥ 443.6 billion, ca. USD 4.4 billion) exceeded combined radio and magazine advertising expenditures, which each were down around 4% on a YoY basis. Newspaper advertising suffered even more heavily at -5%, and TV advertising expenditures are down for the third year in a row. While the importance of...
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...strategy execution at all levels of the organization. Course objectives 1. Understand Strategic Management as a process and be able to apply its principles to diverse business situations. (Linked to MBA’s Learning Goal #1. B) 2. Develop skills necessary to analyze the competitive situation facing various types of economic organizations; isolate important sources of competitive advantage and disadvantage; generate and make decisions among various strategy alternatives; plan for successful execution of selected strategies; and persuasively communicate these analyses and recommendations to others within the organization. (Linked to MBA’s Learning Goal #3. A, B, and C) 3. Gain experience with the case analysis method as applied to business situations. (Linked to MBA’s Learning Goal #3. C) 4. Gain experience working in teams to solve business problems. (Linked to MBA’s Learning Goal #5. A) Class policies Attendance: You will be expected to attend all classes. If you have a good reason you must miss class, please let me know. Excessive or unexcused absences will result in a reduction in grade. General 1. Varying points of view, constructively offered, are welcome and encouraged. Complexity and ambiguity are characteristic...
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