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The business strategy of vermont teddy bear
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The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., Inc.: Challenges Facing a New CEO
Introduction
The Vermont Teddy Bear Company (VTBC) was founded in 1981 by John Sorinto. Unfortunately, for John, the company became too big for him to oversee since he was an entrepreneur. However, he gracefully stepped down in 1995 and supported the hiring of a new CEO that would lead the company into its future success (Vincelette, p. 27-3). One thing that has remained is the companies focus. The Vermont Teddy Bear's "...focus has been to design, manufacture, and direct market the best teddy bears made in America using quality American materials and labor." (p. 27-1) In fact, "American made with American materials" is the basis of the company's mission statement.
In the year following the change of CEO, VTBC tried changing its name to 'The Great American Teddy Bear Company". However, this tactic failed when customers grew confused. As a result, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company name was reinstated. Again, trying to reinvent themselves, the company decided to change their current distribution method in 1996. The decision they made was to shift away from the company's signature Bear - Grams, which was very successful, but not creating growth. In its place, they wanted to go into retail stores and expand their catalog (Vincelette, p. 27-3). This, too, proved to be less than a success and eventually Bear-Grams were once again their focal means of distribution and strategic marketing.
Finally, in 1997, Chief Executive Officer R. Patrick Burns stepped down and Elisabeth Roberts, Chief Financial Officer, became the new President and CEO. Roberts vision for the future of the company included cutting cost (Vincelette, p. 27-4). Forced to look at their materials from a purely financial view, something had to be done. The answer Roberts sought was "...offshore sourcing of materials, outfits and manufacturing..." (p. 27-4). Thus, Vermont Bear Labels now read, "Made in America, of domestic and foreign materials" (p. 27-6).
Elisabeth Roberts also believed that Vermont Teddy Bear was not simply a "stuffed animal" market, or merely a "toy". Rather, she defined the competition as being those businesses that "...sold chocolates, flowers, and greeting cards. They target the last minute shopper who wants almost instant delivery." (p. 27 -4) Knowing that their competition went beyond toys, they were able to market their product in several areas and the success of that is seen in sales.
Environmental Scanning
The purpose of environmental scanning is to assess those elements surrounding your company and market.
Duracell is a company that has been around for many years. It is a company that produces different types of batteries that help power different types of electronics and machinery. Some examples of the product Duracell batteries power are cameras, watches, and hearing aids. Its sole purpose, according to the company, is to produce batteries that have “great longevity.” Over the years, Duracell has had many types of advertising commercials advocating their products; they focus on the reliability of Duracell batteries. Recently, Duracell launched a commercial by the name “Teddy Bear.” It is a very emotional story based on a true story. When watching Duracell’s commercial, the audience can see that in the United States culture, families use many
It will be advantageous for the company if they can project themselves as responsible corporate citizen and an environment friendly company. Social enrichment schemes, recycling schemes and educational funds can be initiated to cater to this cause and long term goal.
TCBY has been a frozen treats product innovator from the day its first shop opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1981. The great-tasting, low-fat frozen yogurt concept received an enthusiastic response from an increasingly health-conscious public. Its trendy new product propelled the company to the forefront of franchising, and was the ‘first in a long line of ground-breaking menu items that anticipated consumer preferences and continually refreshed the TCBY concept’ (Conlin 2001, p. 133). But TCBY products are just one of the reasons that thousands of operators have concluded that a TCBY franchise is the preferred opportunity in branded frozen treats, and a dynamic partner in any co-branded concept. However, TCBY is facing a lot of problems, both internal and external, during the difficult period from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, especially the problem with its franchising system. The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive situation analysis of TCBY, with special reference to its franchising system, and identify several concerned issues of TCBY and its franchisees, and how these issues have negatively affected the relationship between them. Furthermore, this report also provides three recommendations in the attempt to diminish these concerned issues and better maintain the relationship between TCBY and its franchisees, and most importantly, help TCBY to increase the company’s performance and achieve their strategic goals in the next few years.
Anheuser-Busch has been the nation’s largest brewer for more than 40 years. In the mid-1800’s Adolphus Busch became familiar with the beers of a small Bohemian town called Budweis. After immigrating into the United States he married into the Anheuser brewing family. In the 1870’s Adolphus Busch registered Budweiser as a trademark in the U.S. Adolphus Busch dubbed his company Budweiser, “the king of beers.” Budweiser is a registered trademark of the St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, One Busch Place, St. Louis, Missouri 63118-1852, which is the world’s largest brewing company. Budweis is a small brewing town in the Czech republic. The town has a 700-year-old history of beer brewing. The brewing company Budvar of Budejovice registered Budweiser as a trademark in Europe in 1895. Budvar’s Budweiser is considered by beer experts to be a greater beer than the American Budweiser. Czechs are very proud of the Budvar brewery and considers its beer to be a national treasure. In the days before a global marketplace, the American Budweiser and the Czech Budweiser have never really competed with each other. However, in the 1990’s with increased global competition in the beer market, this dispute over who actually owns the Budweiser name takes on increased importance. According to a 1958 agreement signed by the Czech government, brand names that denote geographic origin are protected. So the Czech government which owns Budweiser believes that they should be the only ones allowed to carry that name in Europe. However the United States did not sign that treaty in 1958, so they do not agree with this. They have decided that it was no longer necessary for them to have a trademark settlement to develop the American Budweiser business in Europe.
PetSmart and Petco are very similar with their retail pet product stores. Petco was founded first in 1965 in San Diego, California and PetSmart came along twenty years later in 1986 in Arizona. More than one-half of the Pet Stores industry’s revenue comes from these two specialty supply retailers: PetSmart and Petco. The other portion of the industry consists of family-owned stores, small franchises, and small chains of pet stores. The pet store industry continues to grow due to the discretionary income family’s produce and owners’ tendencies to treat their pets like family. PetSmart aims to provide a one-stop shopping experience.
Once ferocious beasts, bears in popular society now represent a human-like, expressive, docile, creature. Internationally, bears are used for as mascots in today’s society, examples include Smokey the Bear, Coca Cola Polar Bear, Snuggle Fabric Softener Bear, and Kumamon. These mascots are each unique in that they contribute different characteristics to the concept of virtual bears. Smokey Bear was created in 1944 to educate Americans about the prevention of forest fires. Being one of the first bear mascots used in popular media, tracking the physical appearance of Smokey
Hasbro owns only two production factories; one in Massachusetts, USA, and the other one in Waterfall, Ireland. These facilities are in charge of producing board games and puzzles, while the rest of their products are manufactured by third party vendors and other outsourcing factories. Through this line of action, its business model allows Hasbro being a cost leader, focusing resources towards the development of innovative ideas for their products and their systems. Some key areas in the overall strategy of Hasbro are: Human Resources, Purchasing, Product Development and Customer Services.
Soon after, J. M. Smucker’s name became well-known, as residents in the area, and finally the nation came to associate brand name with wholesome, high-quality fruit products. Over the years, the Smucker’s Brand has acquired many well-known companies such as Crisco, Martha White, Pet Milk, Millstone, Folgers and many others. Their basic beliefs are deeply rooted in the values and traditions of the company’s founder. One hundred fifteen years later, the J. M. Smucker Company, similar to Johnny Appleseed’s trees, has strong roots that allow it continual growth. Their products are in stores, homes and restaurants throughout the world
While Coors was initially the leader in proactive innovation in the industry, the period of 1975-1985 was filled with business model decisions that were thoughtful and controlled, but they were too slow to implement in comparison to their competitors. They started this decade of turmoil with a volume drop of 4% in 1975 by selling only 11.9 million barrels as opposed to the previous year’s 12.3 million barrels. For a company that started with exponential growth in the brewing business, Coors surprisingly fell behind entering markets that their competitors were dominating in the meantime. The longer they took to enter the sector, the light beer market for example, the more market share they lost. Their nationwide expansion took far longer than their competitors as well. All major beer brewery distributors in the industry reached 50 states by 1985 except for Coors. The overall loss in the U.S. market from their slow expansion was totaled to 21%. This was not promising especially for a company who used the cost-leadership approach according to Porters Generic
...ils and new directions: papers of the third North American Fur Trade Conference. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980.
Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the Vermont-based manufacturer of ice cream, frozen yoghurt and sorbet, was founded in 1978, with a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of which was borrowed). It soon became popular for its innovative flavours, made from fresh Vermont milk and cream. The company currently distributes ice cream, low fat ice cream, frozen yoghurt, sorbet and novelty products nationwide as well as in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchised Ben & Jerry's scoop shops, restaurants and other venues.
Staying in touch with their customers would not enable Ben and Jerry to be as successful as they have become if their ice cream was not high quality as well. The second value the company espouses is to use only wholesome, natural ingredients. They began their operation on this premise, utilizing fresh Vermont milk and cream to create their frozen concoctions. During a period of volatility in the dairy market in 1991, the company went so far as to pay a dairy premium totaling a half million dollars to combat Vermont dairy farmers’ losses. This helped protect the family farmers who supplied the milk for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Since going public in 2000, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts has posted strong growth in same-store sales each quarter, with a consistency that would make most competitors envious. According to the Krispy Kreme’s most recent quarter, which ended August 3, 2003, it posted an 11.3 percents rise in system wide same-store sales, including 15.6 percents growth at company operated units (Peters, 2003). From the financial report of second quarter in 2003, it could foretell there would be more earnings growth in the future as long as Krispy Kreme finds more new markets in which to launch doughnut shops. Its average weekly sales are in large determined by newly opened stores. This also demonstrates that the doughnuts specialist’s soaring results and rise to the top echelon of industry performers can be attributed to successful expansion.
3. Nestle’s first mover strategy. The writer makes a comparison to enterprises during the industrial revolution. These companies had to invest in infrasture that are almost negligible in todays commerce activities, to start off production. Nestle had to engage in activities with a potential high risk such as their milk collection process in china.
Environmental factors cater for the protection of the environment. A business must carefully be able to look at its surroundings to see for benefits and ensure that its daily production does not interfere with society.