Altius Golf Essay

TaylorMade selectively chooses its retailers to more effectively sell its products. Being part of the adidas Group allows TaylorMade to use the wide distribution channels and infrastructure that adidas brand currently operates to grow its product line in new emerging markets. TaylorMade focuses on strategic accounts to create and make available state-of-the-art floor displays that showcase products and communicate key messages, which allows it to better position its clubs and balls among the top-selling golf products (adidas Group, 2013). TaylorMade is also focusing on smaller golf shops and privately owned retailers to gain a more personal approach with consumers.

We are aiming at understanding how Recreational Equipment INC. (REI) achieved a competitive advantage through their strategies and how they implemented those strategies. REI differs from the other sporting goods stores in their quality product selection, complements, and excellent brand name promotion. These qualities enable REI to sell merchandise at premium price levels (Morse, 2003).

Companies currently operating within the golf industry, specifically Calloway Golf, must change their current marketing approaches and strategies to withstand the recession and threats facing the industry. Although Calloway has a strong R&D department that tends to remain competitive with products and technology, there have been little results in reference to scores. It is imperative that if companies are going to market a product that will help golfers drive further and straighter that the results depict this so that not to damage the brand name of a product. Secondly, due to the decline in equipment sales and the number of golfers, prices are dropping and companies are outsourcing to maintain the volume needed to remain competitive. Companies must be cautious and aware so that counterfeiting may be reduced. This reduction would also allow companies to reduce their pricing and have more sales without the competition of these cheaply priced knock-offs. In the instance of

• Consumers did not believe condition of the ball to have any consequence on their game. Also, they considered themselves visually strong enough to understand the condition of the ball. This consumer attitude posed a significant problem for PI as it challenges the basis of the concept itself.

This new concept became essential after a meticulous work in gathering information about general consumer’s needs. Marketing team has reached out to a younger generation though different channels of social media and social network such as Facebook, be it Twitter, MySpace and then internationally, High Five and Orchid (Video Case 9) to understand what type of technological breakthrough will satisfy potential customers’ need. Prince Sports, Inc Marketing team work directly with R&D team to combine and collaborate marketing knowledge and technological ability. Together these two teams have created an evolutionary O3 technology with a 24 percent faster swing speed than traditional frames. The explanation of why their technology works better than other brands is pretty simple: “The secret is in the holes”. Like all world-changing innovations, O3 technology is based on an ingeniously simple idea. By replacing traditional pin sized string holes with massive O-ports, Prince Sports created a class of racquets that move through the air faster for increase power and greater control. (Tennis Express, Online Store, http://www.tennisexpress.com).

The partners must do additional analysis prior to determining if they should invest in a new miniature golf venture in Golden City. Before establishing marketing objectives, advertising and promotional programs, plans for addressing demand fluctuations and considering alternate locations, they must determine if they can generate sufficient sales to fund operations. They have done market research which provides a good baseline for establishing the demand, course capacity and anticipated costs. Once they have analysed this data and established that the business is financially viable, they can address advertising, demand and location questions by developing a marketing strategy.

There are so many companies that boast that they have the best irons and longest driver in golf, but Titleist has associated themselves as the elite golf club manufacturer. Known mostly for golf balls, Titleist has come a long way with their exceptional feel and great looks to improve the games of every golfer. Titleist ran a print advertisement in the April 2010 Golf Digest magazine displaying advanced performance in their clubs. The tagline reads, “Improvements You Can Feel” (16-17). The Titleist AP1 & AP2 irons are the products being sold in this ad. When people think of golf, Nike or Callaway is normally what comes to mind, but Titleist is known for their performance in the clutch. The

According to the porter's typology of corporate strategy (Richard, 2009). Suggests that corporate strategies can be categorized on two dimensions, based on whether the firm is seeking to be the low-cost producer of standards products or whether it is attempting to differentiate itself by having unique products or services. And the multi product case is not a competitive environmental one cause it shows that people who want the product will generally be willing to pay what it takes to get it and it will have a fixed volume and fixed price and nobody else will be able to manufacture a similar club, due to the patent protection. So the

3M’s Sports and Leisure Products business unit took an existing technology, 3M’s “micro-replication” and applied it to a golf glove. 3M has enjoyed great success from combining the “micro-replication” with high quality Cabretta sheep leather to create a high quality golfing glove that is second to none being offered on the market. Since the introduction of the 3M Greptile Grip golf glove there has been a large influx of competitors who offer a similar technology in the golf market. Although the global market for golf gloves is estimated at $300 million with 60 percent or $180 million in the United States. The problem is

Golf ball manufacturers would be looking to achieve several key strategic goals, such as increased sales, increased market share and / or increased profitability, to adopt and implement PI’s technology. Accordingly, manufacturers are mainly concerned with the cost and implications on manufacturing, competitor reactions (and customer perception), the forecast growth in the new balls market, the share they could capture and the financial details of agreement.

The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) specified the characteristics of legal balls within tight parameters. These restrictions on size, weight, materials, texture, etc., seemingly left little room for product innovation. In fact, the USGA regulations specified not just what went into a ball, but how it could perform, stipulating to within 10-20 yards how far the ball could travel when hit by a certain type of club traveling at a certain speed, all verified under controlled conditions with robotic testing equipment. Nonetheless, new product introductions were rampant in the industry, with slight changes in surface coatings and dimple patterns, for example, being touted for their ability to add a handful of yards to a golfer’s shots, to give more accuracy, or to create greater control through faster spin on the ball. In addition, ball manufacturers spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns for their balls. There were three basic types of balls, all conforming to the same general specifications. The oldest technology still in use was the three-piece ball, which consisted of a core, windings, and a cover; this ball was good for spin and overall control. The second, and most popular, type of ball was the twopiece ball, which eliminated the windings of the three-piece ball; this ball produced more distance. The newest technology was the “solid core, multi-layered ball,” which had taken the

New golfers increased from 1.5 million to 3 million between 1988 and 1998, but most of them quit due to increased cost of playing which went up by nearly 50%, unavailability of courses and time involved in playing. The global premium equipment market declined post 1998 due to various reasons like decreased demand, Asian economic turmoil and saturation of product in the market place. To CGC’s benefit the competition on golf equipment

Callaway Golf Company is considered a leader of the golf equipment industry through its development of technologically advanced golf clubs that compensated for the most amateur players with poor swings and helping them achieve a better golf game with the introduction of Big Bertha in 1990 and launched Callaway Golf Company forward at great speed into notoriety of the golfing community (Gamble, 2000). This analysis will thoroughly dive into the many parts of the case of the Callaway Golf Company.

We have carefully looked at our external and internal environments. The external analysis looked at the market and the competition, while the internal analysis examined Callaway’s performance, as well as its customers. We also performed a “SWOT” analysis, enabling us to identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This analysis lends to the view that it is imperative that we change our existing strategy and focus on other markets. It is not suggested that we ignore our existing markets, but rather that we expand our customers and potential customers access to custom club fitting. I firmly believe that by pursuing this avenue, and by implementing and controlling the proposed fundamental marketing strategies and marketing mix strategies, we will be able to achieve the stated objectives.

Under Armour already has their footprint in the golf apparel and footwear industry. Recently, Nike decided to exit the golf equipment industry because of decreasing year over year revenues and the competition in the marketplace. Nike’s golf equipment business soared high during Tiger Woods prime playing days but since the decline in Wood’s play followed