The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., Inc.: Challenges Facing a New CEO
INTRODUCTION
Vermont Teddy Bear Company was founded in 1981 by John Sorinto selling hand sewn bears out of a pushcart in the streets of Burlington, Vermont. Since this time, the company's focus has been to design, manufacture, and direct market the best teddy bears made in America using quality American materials and labor.
Until 1994, Vermont Teddy Bear experienced a great deal of success and profitability.
Problems arose in 1995. Since 1995, the company has had two CEOs. It changed its name to The Great American Teddy Bear Company and then changed it back to The Vermont Teddy Bear Company when customers got confused. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company had been known for its Bear-Gram delivery service. In 1996, the company decided to shift emphasis away from Bear-Grams to other distribution channels. By 1998, the company decided to renew its emphasis on Bear-Grams. Vermont Teddy had always been proud of the fact that its teddy bears were made in America with American materials and craftsmanship. In 1998, the company changed this philosophy by exploring the offshore sourcing of materials, outfits, and manufacturing in an effort to lower costs.
In October 1997, Elisabeth Robert assumed the title of President and Chief Executive Officer and began to cut costs and position the company for future growth.
A proactive move on PetSmart to send letters to customers on the recall of products was a huge strength to their reputation. Customers were thrilled to receive personal notifications on the product recalls. PetSmart is a leader in the pet industry, and they are a national brand recognition.
Before accepting the title of COO (Chief of Operations), he was Vice President of Operations. He was promoted to this position after being employed with the company for 34 Years. His effiecency and knowledge company has taken the organization to new heights.
Workgroups are defined as a set of two or more people who interact with each other to achieve certain goals or needs. A team is defined as a formal group who work together to achieve group goals.
This section describes the organizational history and the current state of affairs of MillerCoors LLC. It will start by describing the beginnings of the two companies that merged to create MillerCoors. This section will also discuss the culture, important leaders of the company, product offerings and target markets.
It all started with Cabbage Patch Kids, parents paying top dollar for those plastic headed and not so cute dolls. The next big wave to hit was the Tickle Me Elmo a character from Sesame Street, who you could squeeze and it would laugh and jiggle. And now we are in the midst of a tidal wave, that’s right, the Beanie Baby Craze. These small bean bag animals, which were first produced in 1994 by the Illinois based Ty Co., are a huge hit with children and adults alike. People of the Beanie Baby movement will go to great extremes, and pay an obscene amount of money for one of these small animals, taking this “hobby” past the line into absurdity.
1. What were the critical strategic decisions made at the Washington Post during Katharine Graham’s tenure as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board?
the CEO at Home Depot, Robert Nardelli’s tenure was marked with heavy-handedness and inflexibility. Robert Nardelli’s leadership styles was autocratic. He utilized a command, control and conquer approach. He dictated policies and procedures, decided what goals were to be achieved, and directed and controlled all activities without any meaningful participation by the subordinates. He was in full control of the team, leaving low autonomy within the group. Before Nardelli came onboard, the managers of Home Depot had enjoyed independence under the laid-back entrepreneurship leadership style of Bernie Marcus. Almost immediately after Home Depot got Nardelli, he embarked on an aggressive plan to centralize control. He neglected the build relationships, inspired and aligned purpose, and create open communication with his team. He also disregarded the care of his shareholders. He was obsesses with goals, objectivity, and accomplishments within the boundaries of the values of the company. He
Tremendous managerial changes came when Richard Brown appointed as Chief Executive at EDS. He believed reducing excess labour cost will have positive impact on the company’s profit, therefore with introducing of this new business model worked positively and could be the result of higher revenue in 2000.
Green Mountain management made a cautious decision to close its retail locations. Although sales were flat, retail locations can be used as a vehicle for customers to sample Green Mountain coffee. If customers are unfamiliar with the taste of Green Mountain coffee, they will not purchase Green Mountain coffee at supermarkets or other sale locations. Starbucks' success is due to its retail locations. Customers understand the reputation of Starbucks and are familiar to the expensive, social, great tasting coffee. Opening retail locations or advertising and familiarizing customers with the taste of Green Mountain coffee will benefit the supermarket market. The recommendations set forth will increase our potential market share and also improve sales. They will also give Green Mountain a familiar coffee taste to our customers.
As a child growing up, I always enjoyed visiting my grandparents' home, and playing with their various selections of toys that they themselves had played with as children. Comparing my grandmothers' doll to one of my own, I found the difference in clothing quality and style to be quite remarkable. The affect of change and its consequences play a particularly fascinating role in Gary Cross's "Spinning out of Control." I wish to focus on how toy industries such as Mattel and Hasbro survived over the years adapting to the changing times and the ever altering interests of children. As well as to discover why it seems that toys for the male gender seem to expand and develop much more than those created and built for females.
Citigroup’s fortunes continued to blossom during Sandy Weill’s tenure and even during the market downturn in 2002. On October 1st, 2003 Chuck Prince replaced Sandy Weill as CEO of Citigroup and for the next several years successfully continued to grow the business and achieve record profits and earnings. Citigroup’s stock continued ...
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.
1. Ken Lay served as CEO and chairman and Jeffrey Skilling also served as CEO. They both were responsible for planning, organizing, controlling and leading the company. They set goals for the company and organized how they would be achieved. Kay’s role was as the figurehead and the leader. He also served as the spokesperson for the company and made many of the decision on the future of the company. As CEO’s they both possessed effective communication skills, where decisive, which was evidenced by their vision for the company and refusal to admit wrong even at the end, and visionary. Throughout Lay’s tenor the company continued to grow and prosper at a fast pace.
In the 1990’s Mattel built or acquired production facilities in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. In 2007, China was making the majority of toys for Mattel. In China, Mattel tested products both at its own facilities and in special test labs. The company had specific standards with respect to lead in paint an...
For over half of a century there has been major changes made in the retail industry. Retail stores are no longer just selling the regular items – electronics, clothing, home supplies – that are used during everyday life. Today’s retail stores have evolved; now selling groceries, offering auto services and includes built in pharmacies where customers are able to order and pick up their prescriptions. Thanks to an advancement in technology, they even give consumers the option of shopping online whenever and wherever they want. That way they can either pick them up at their local store or have them shipped directly to their home. Retail stores also give customers the opportunity to price match with the ads of their competitors. Shopping has become much easier, however, this transformation would’ve never taken place if it weren’t for one store in particular: Walmart. At the moment, Walmart is known as the world’s largest retailer in the