Nintendo Labor Unions

Are any employees of your company represented by labor unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements? Are any of these employees working outside of the United States? Nintendo originated in Japan and has an entire division located in Europe, which indicates the majority of employees at Nintendo are working outside the United States (Nintendo, 2018). Due to the multifaceted nature of the gaming industry, many employees are able to be represented through various labor unions. In the mid-1950s, a number of employees went on strike, through the union, in protest to Hiroshi Yamauchi’s attempted restructure of the organization (Ashcraft, 2018).

Does your company employ expatriates in any overseas operations it might have? If so, what

In addition to spurring creativity, this system allows for the local employees to climb the ranks of the various divisions. In its home market of Japan, Nintendo’s promotion seems to be ethnocentric versus other local markets, such as Nintendo America or Nintendo Europe, which tend to be polycentric (Ashcraft, 2018).

What kinds of distribution channels are being employed in your company’s international markets? Nintendo outsources for the distribution of its products, although products may be purchased directly from its main website (Friesner, 2018). Other storefronts, such as GameStop, BestBuy, and many individuals may sell Nintendo products as well. These third-party distributors must obtain a Nintendo resale license (Zortman, 2017).

Is the company practicing global procurement? If the company is procuring globally, what goods and services is it procuring and from which countries? Nintendo utilizes limited global procurement in its research and development, but prefers to develop its products in house. This process allows Nintendo to keep its new products and games relatively secret. Some commercial components that Nintendo does include in its items are Bluetooth and WiFi (Nintendo,

In North America, Nintendo’s primary production plant is located in North Bend Washington (MWR Staff, 2003). Many of the products however have components which were made abroad.

Has the company outsourced goods and services? Has the company insourced goods and services? Traditionally, many of Nintendo’s accessories are outsourced, including cases, zippers, and figurines, allowing Nintendo to focus on gaming hardware and marketing. Recently however, as Nintendo move toward HD gaming, more games are being outsourced to other developers (‘Nintendo outsourcing’, 2017).

Is the company a member of one or more supply chains? If yes, can you identify the major members of the supply chain(s)? Nintendo utilizes its own giant supply chain, which has not been without its share of issues considering its size (Faife, 2017). Frequent issues regarding the Nintendo supply chain include issues predicting demand and adjusting for changes in demand (Faife, 2017).

In what countries does your company export goods? Import goods? How would changes in the values of these countries’ currencies relative to the U.S. dollar affect transactions and translation risks? Economic