Brian Gorman10/09/00 Business Organization and ManagementProf. Cremins Hasbro Inc.Corporate ProfileThe twentieth century, especially the past fifty years, has certainly been a time of enormous change. Products have changed, the business of manufacturing and marketing toys has changed and the needs and desires of consumers who buy toys have changed. The majority of the world’s toys are now manufactured in the Far East.Perhaps the greatest change in the toy industry has been in the way that toys are sold by incorporating creative and original marketing strategies into company culture. It was Merrill Hassenfeld who broke new ground in 1951 as the first manufacturer to advertise a toy, Mr Potato Head, on television. It didn’t take long to realise the value of appealing directly to children. Today the sophistication of branded toys that can extend from a film to a series of toys and onward to computer software and electronic games might seem incredible to an earlier generation of toy makers. Yet the fundamental values of the toy industry are the same as they have always been.Subsidiaries and DivisionsAtari - Manufacturer of coin-operated and consumer video games. Formed in 1972. Hasbro GermanyHasbro Interactive-Publisher of family interactive game CD-ROM software. Formed in 1995. Hasbro SpainMicroprose - makes 3-D video games for PC’sWizards of the Coast-Wizards of the Coast has built a house of cards. The company, a subsidiary of toy giant Hasbro, is best known for trading card games Magic: The Gathering (available in nine languages) and Pokemon. Wizards of the Coast's other offerings include the granddaddy of medieval role-playing adventure games, Dungeons and Dragons, and traditional games such as the Dilbert card game Corporate Shuffle and sci-fi board game RoboRally. The company also operates a Seattle gaming and entertainment center and retail stores under The Game Keeper and Wizards of the Coast names. CEO Peter Ad...
