Nintendo is not an easy company to analyze. They don't fit the mold of a traditionally successful business at all. In reality, they're a very small company, and license out the production of their hardware to other firms. They don't rely on investors or banks the way that corporations like Sony and Microsoft do. They produce products which don't conform with what has become the norm. And they don't follow the standard production models of large firms at all, instead opting to produce all products so they can be sold at a profit.
In terms of sheer numbers, Nintendo should be getting crushed beneath Sony and Microsoft's collective heel according to the beliefs of many journalists. Sony and MS are huge contenders, with seemingly endless capital and resources available to basically buy the industry, while Nintendo is just this little hole-in-the-wall company hidden away in the heart of Kyoto. And the reason they're not getting crushed, but rather doing the crushing, is because of the very thing that most journalists ignore since it doesn't make for instantly provocative articles: their business plan, their process, is so conservative and effective that it renders the clout of their competitors a non-factor.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
