Richardson Manufacturing Company

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Richardson Manufacturing Company

1. After a close analysis of the Richardson Manufacturing Company, Inc., various strengths and weaknesses can be identified. Over the last four years, Richardson has experienced an 11% cumulative growth rate, taking into account the impact of previous sales or performance on the each year's growth on sales. The bulk of growth was between 1998 and 1999, which was well above average at 19.6%. This observation indicates that the domestic market has been strong for Richardson.

When deciding whether or not to consider going international to Australia, several factors can be taken into consideration. First of all, because Richardson only holds 2% of the domestic market share, they may wish to concentrate on continuous growth in sales within the United States (domestic) and continue to postpone entering Australia's market until after the domestic market in the United States is saturated. However, one cannot ignore the fact that Richardson's ending inventory has been decreasing every year by an overall average of 10%, especially in the year 2000 where ending inventory dropped 28.2%. This decreasing movement of ending inventory represents a move toward efficiency for Richardson. This efficiency is exhibited by the cost of goods sold, which has experienced an average growth of 6% over the past six years of operations. In turn, the growth of profit in manufacturing has grown by 16% each year. This observation attests that the market in the United States has been profitable and encourages manufacturing efficiency. Because of this growth and sales profitability, competition may be invited into the United States market, forcing Richardson to go international in order to keep a lower profile on its domestic...

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...ng Richardson's product while assuming financial responsibilities for shipping and manufacturing costs, in addition to providing Richardson with a favorable amount of profit, Richardson should follow this strategy if capacity allows. By doing so, the demand for manufacturing Richardson's product will be more continuous and stable throughout the year, since the Australian seasons are counter-cyclical to that of the United States. However, before implementing this strategy, the forecasted profits from this decision should be compared to those of a direct foreign-investment strategy. Because of the decline in total assets, Richardson may choose to put off direct foreign-investment until they have ensured the demand and profitability propounded by the Australian market while developing a larger amount of invested capital to ensure stability and longevity in the company.

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