Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

All companies have target markets for certain poducts. Square Enix has one main product that revolves around the whole company and that's video games. There's not a certain age range for their video games. some games are rated E for Everyone and some games are rated T for teen. The main target Market Square Enix focuses on is gamers. Weather the market economy may be in Asia, Europe, or North America,  these are the people that keep the company going. A brief article by Gamer's Investment has a quote that states that, Japanese games don't have a strong international presence these days. Because of this, Square Enix is most likely geared to the western market economy. Although this may be true, Square Enix states that they do not separate their target market into different categories but considers everything as a whole.

Sources:
http://gamerinvestments.com/video-game-stocks/index.php/2009/12/28/square-enix-we-dont-separate-our-target-market-into-japanese-or-western-categories/

Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

The gaming company Square Enix which originally started in Japan does not only bring happiness and great memories to gamers all over. As a company, Square Enix is also ethically responsible. The company has showed a case of corporate social responsibility or CSR. Back in 2011, Japan was struck with the Tohoku Pacific Earthquakes and the tsunami.

After this unfortunate tragedy,  Square Enix stated that the company would donate 100 million Japanese yen to aid the relief and recovery efforts to the regions that were effected. Not only did the company do this but Square Enix also stated that they would be collecting charity donations from employees worldwide that would also go towards the cause of rebuilding.  This incident shows that Square Enix has corporate social responsibility and that they have a concern for the welfare of the welfare of the society.  

Sources: 

http://m.prnewswire.com/news-releases/square-enix-group-support-for-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-relief-efforts-118185534.html

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Square Enix has many game fans because of the high quality game work they put into their franchises. I believe that Square Enix has a prime focus on market penetration and some focus on market development as marketing strategies. One of the most famous and well known game franchises created by Square Enix is the Final Fantasy series.

One of the main reasons this franchise is well known and liked is because it has a lot of hard work put into it. This is where the market penetration strategy comes in. In an interview, Yoichi Wada (current president of Square Enix) stated, "Square Enix only releases a product once everyone are satisfied with it, as the company will never release a product of low quality. We will never lower a franchise's reputation". From this it easy to see that that the strategy of market penetration is there. By continuing to better improve the gaming experience, the market share among existing customers will continue to rise.

Another game franchise created by Square Enix that is famous and well known by gamers is Kingdom Hearts.

This was first released in North America on September 17th, 2002. From then on it began to continously expand and reach new new fans. I believe that with this franchise, Square Enix has used the marketing strategy of market development. I believe this to be true because last year the first two games of the franchise were re released in an HD format. This not only allowed old fans to relive the experience of the game from their childhood, but also allowed new fans to be attained. Because it was already an existing product, the strategy being used was market development. These are the reasons I believe Square Enix is using the marketing strategies of market penetration and market development.

Sources:
http://n4g.com/news/89607/square-enix-boss-talks-marketing-strategy#c-642946

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kingdom_Hearts_media

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

Before Square Enix became what it was today, it started as two different gaming companies. these two companies were Enix and Square. Originally, Enix was named Eidansha Boshu Service Centre. Founded in 1975, the Eidansha Boshu Service Centre was a branch of Eidansha Systems.  In 1982, Eidansha Boshu Service Centre was renamed Enix. In 1986, Masafumi Miyamoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi founded Square which was a branch of the Denshuya Electric Company.  One of the big hit games made by Enix was Dragon Quest. 

Using Dragon Quest as inspiration, Square created a big hit game in 1987 which is still popular among gamers today. This game was the very first Final Fantasy title that was released. 

In time, sequels were created to the big game franchise. In 2001, the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released.  This film lost Square 120 million dollars. after losing its financial stability, Sony gave a 14.9 billion dollar contract to Square which led to the merger with Enix. From that day forth, it these two companies were known as Square Enix. 

As for their mission statement, it is; "To spread happiness across the globe by providing unforgettable experiences."

Sources:

http://plaintxt.org/square_enix_mission_statement/

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/411524/features/history-lesson-the-birth-of-square-enix/