We will begin with a little history of Vermont Teddy Bear Company. John Sortino founded Vermont Teddy Bear Company in 1981 out of a pushcart in the streets of Burlington, Vermont. Mr. Sortino was an entrepreneur and realized that the company had become too large for him to manage. In order for the company to be successful in the future he decided to step down as CEO. In 1995 R. Patrick Burns was appointed as the new CEO of Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Even thought the CEO changed the company’s name the focus remained the same, "to design and manufacture the best teddy bears made in America, using American materials and labor" (Wheelen and Hunger, 2006, p 22-6).
In 1996 Vermont Teddy Bear Company changed its name to "The Great American Teddy Bear Company". This caused uncertainty with customers. The confusion caused a decline in sales and the company reinstated the Vermont Teddy Bear Company name. In another attempt to explore opportunities for growth, they decided to change their distribution from the signature Bear-Grams to retail catalogs. This also proved to be unsuccessful and eventually the Bear-Grams became the focal means of distribution and strategic marking again since this was the most thriving of distribution methods (Wheelen and Hunger, 2006, p22-4).
Because of the declining performance, R. Patrick Burns stepped down as President and CEO of Vermont Teddy Bear Company in 1997. The Chief Financial Officer, Elisabeth Robert assumed the title with her vision for the future being cutting cost. Roberts decision was to explore offshore sourcing of materials and manufacturing alternatives to lower the company’s cost of goods sold and to broaden its available sources of supply (Wheelen and Hunger, 2006, p22-6). Elisabeth Roberts also thought they were not only in the teddy bear business but the gift business. She defined the competition as being business that "sold chocolates, flowers, and greeting cards. They target the last minute shoppers who want almost instant delivery" (Wheeler and Hunger, 2006, p22-4). They had an advantage by knowing that their competition went beyond toys, allowing them to market their product in several areas with victorious sales.
Environmental scanning is the monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information from the external and internal environments to key personnel within the company. The easiest way to perform an environmental scan is through the SWOT Analysis.
In 2005, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company produced a controversial bear for the Valentine holiday. The bear that was made was called “Crazy for You” and wore a straitjacket. It became an issue when the company was confronted for offending the mentally ill. After the problem became apparent to the organization, it responded by saying that it would continue selling the toy until the inventory was empty. It was put out for the public in January and was sold out by February 3. The ethical issue in this case is whether or not Vermont Teddy Bear Company handled the situation ethically correct.
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.
Eisner, A. B., Korn. J. H., Baugher, D., &Vojtkova, L. (2011). Build-A-Bear Workshop. Strategic Management (text & cases) 6th. C259-C267
For the next fifty years, Bean forged a business, selling clothing and related gear tailored specifically for people who enjoyed the outdoors. Products including boots, clothing, canoes, fly reels, tents and camping gear became the cornerstone of the company. Bean stated, ”I attribute our success to the fact that, to the best of my judgment, every article we offer for sale is practical for the purpose for which we recommend it.” (1)The company sold products through both the store in Maine, and through a growing store catalog. Bean retained active control over his company until he died in 1967 at the age of 94.
Piggy Wiggly is interested attempting a new marketing campaign designed to increase the revenue of the” Our Family” ultra-paper towels during the upcoming holiday seasons. This will be a marketing campaign for only the “Our Family” ultra-paper towels and will not include any of the other paper products. The ultra-brand paper towels will be a theme based print and will be available only in six or eight roll packaging. The theme ultra-brand based paper towels will contain fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Holiday
Myers Holding Limited is one of the leading and most prevalent department store that offer a vast variety of products that include famously branded fashion, beauty products, electrical appliances, home wears, accessories and toys. Myer has 67 stores throughout Australia in prime locations and its flagship store is located in Melbourne. Myer employs over 12, 500 people throughout its 67 stores and had over 1200 suppliers globally which include high end brands.
SWOT analysis is a necessary tool for business that allows corporations to analyze where their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats lie. The SWOT tool contains paramount information about the industry and helps the executives of the business make decisions that are necessary for the business’s survival and success.
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.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in the discount, variety stores industry. It was founded in 1945, Bentonville in Arkansas which is also the headquarters of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart operates locally as well as worldwide. It operated 1209 discount stores, 1980 super centers, and 567 Sam’s Club by January 31, 2006. It has also extended its operations to many international countries. It runs its retail stores in two forms: Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Stores. The Sam’s Club sells assorted product lines such as hardwares, electronics, jewelry, and to mention a few. The Wal-Mart stores also offer similar products in addition to the following: health and beauty products, apparel for women, men and children, household appliances etc (www.yahoo.finance.com). The Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Values and Code of Conduct, Corporate Governance: Directors, Executive Management, Committees and Stakeholder will be the key elements that will discussed in this report as it relates to Wal-Mart. In addition to that, the major trends in the general/macro environment and industry will be analyzed.
A SWOT analysis is a measure tool to summarize a company’s internal and external aspects. By measuring the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and looking for improving solutions by using the strengths and opportunities to improve on the weaknesses and take the necessary actions concerning any threats a company can survive in today’s world market.
What is a SWOT analysis? This concept involves assisting businesses to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is often used to analyze an organization and its environment. Businesses find the analysis useful in assisting them to improve their business, establish goals and objectives.
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).
Just as Snuggie had hoped, deals with Walmart, Walgreens, and other brands brought back the Snuggie craze just as it had begun to decrease in popularity. Customers came pouring into stores hoping to get their hands on the blanket with sleeves. With holidays approaching and larger orders being made by companies, AllStar Products was extremely profitable. Millions of dollars were being shipped out and millions were being put back into the company’s wallet. One effect of this new distribution was the global deals that came. From a product that was estimated to not even sell out its base run, to an overnight sensation the Snuggie had been limited to US and on a smaller scale, Canada sales. Once it signed contracts with big name brands, those limitations were broken. Snuggie broke the mold of novelty infomercial products and went to world-wide sales due to its contracts with brand name
Introduction and Background Apple, Inc is a well known name in the computer technology world; Apple, Inc leads the computer industry in innovation thanks to the award winning desktop and notebook computer known as OS X operating system (Yoffie & Slind, 2008). This paper will focus on Apple Inc., strategic management and why is it critical to the success of the organization in meeting its goals and mission. It is therefore important to define strategic management, according to Certo, Peter & Ottensmeyer, (2005), strategic management is a continuous process that directs an organization to be appropriately suited to its internal and external environment. Strategic management benefits organizations by providing personnel, capital, helps to set standards and most importantly activates people. For an organization to have a successful strategic management plan, the mangers must learn to think strategically and have the ability to evaluate their environment and develop new ideas.
As a consultant for Toys, Inc., I have been called in for my advice by the company’s president, Marybeth Corbella; on which of the two proposed options would be best for the company and for the customers as well. Toys, Inc. is a 20-year-old company that produces toys and board games, our company has a reputation built on quality and innovation. Although we have been the market leader in our field, the sales have become stagnant in recent years, and sales have begun to decline when comparing them to the sales in the past. With the company’s managers attributing the decline of sales on the economy, the company was forced to reduce production costs and layoffs in the design and product development departments; this action will hopefully increase