Beyond Products

Now before I jump into this essay, I will first give you a background on the history of the sport. The original concept that the snowboard is based upon is the “snurfer”. Developed on Christmas Day, 1965 by Sherman Poppen in Muskegon, Michigan. In 1968, Tom Sims furthered the sport by developing the very first snowboard. Then in 1977 Jake Burton Carpenter developed the first bindings and changed the sport forever.

These principles are similar between the two sports, but their biomechanics are far from the same. It is easier for an amateur skier to keep his center of mass tucked away safely between the skis, this helps to avoid falls even when turning. The snowboarder, on the other hand, has constantly to

This quality assurance was best displayed through Howard Head’s statement that attention to detail is what separates Head Ski from their competitors and that even during tough financial times, any defects or quality deviants were recalled without hesitation. Furthermore, the design of the ski is crucial to the performance of the skier and needs to take into consideration the 3 core functions of: Tracking, Traversing and Turning. Although in the early years as per Mr. Head, the main concentration was to make the best ski for the general public, by 1966, Head Ski was the top choice for performance for both, unskilled beginners and the top professional racers. This advantage in performance was prominent in a major international competition where one-third of all top 10 finishers were using Head products. Additionally, Head Ski truly believed in functionality before style. While competitors often introduced 6-8 different colours yearly for their skis, Head stuck to the basic colour of black and rarely made any model changes unless performance was lacking. The simplicity of using one colour really made Head distinctive and unique on the slopes and ultimately creating a status symbol for the brand. The emphasis on selective dealer relationships was a very strategic and distinctive strategy by Head. Many large stores were declined the opportunity to

Waking up and looking outside, the snow is several inches deep covering the grass, the street, and the snow-banks are knee high. These are the perfect conditions, for one thing, snowboarding. A snowboarder knows the prime conditions to ride and will do anything to make sure they are on the mountain ready to go when those conditions arise. In preparation for snowboarding, you’ll need to consider the temperature, where you will be riding, and what type of gear is needed for the conditions.

innovative products but functional products because it offers great variety and low profit margins. In

This would be a concern for Custom Snowboards and indicates they may not have the

Snowboarding started as one single brand, Burton. Jake Burton, literally the inventor of snowboarding, was the first to set the bar

     Burton created and owns the US Open snowboarding championships, in addition to the enormous success in the snowboarding industry; it has the potential to grow beyond the U.S. The possibility to create similar events in Europe, China, Japan and Canada, where the demand for snowboarding is increasing, could benefit Burton. Through development

Snowboarding has an amazing background and explanation of how it came to be. It all started with the people who surfed and skateboarded. They wanted something similar to do in the winter. Sherman Poppen was the creator of the snurfer (an early snowboard) in 1965. Sherman was one of the skateboarders who wanted to surf but lived in Michigan. One day he nailed two skis together and attached a rope with a handle to the front thus creating the snurfer. Sherman then called his friends, who were engineers for the Brunswick Corporation and asked them to make some of the snurfers. The Brunswick Corporation made skis, bowling balls, bowling alleys, and bowling pins. The snurfer took the world by storm, but people wanted a safe way to ride. Eventually Jake Burton Carpenter started making a new model called the ski board and this was the first company for snowboards. Jake Burton was a Stockbroker who fell in love with snowboarding and decided to take the risk and start making them. He became the founder of the

Since the first introduction of its automobile skate in 1905, Canada Cycle and Motor Company Limited (CCM) has been a dominant player in the hockey skate market. By introducing numerous hi-tech features into its products, CCM has been able to establish itself as a major competitor in the world of hockey skates, ranking 3rd in the global market share ranking of the Skates market for Hockey Equipment Companies (Exhibit 7). However, with recent changes in demand and technological advancements in the hockey skate market, CCM has been experiencing drop in market share and sales.

I recently went to North Carolina snowboarding for the first time with my family a couple of weekends ago. After gaining a love for the sport I decided that I wanted to invest in my own snowboard for future trips. This was an expensive purchase that I did not know much about, so it required extensive decisions making when deciding which brand as well as what board, bindings, and boots would fit my skill level the best. The decision-making started when I recognized the amount of enjoyment I had for snowboarding, that them stimulated a want. After that I started doing external information searches on the different types of boards. I learned that I needed an all mountain board that fitted my height and weight. From there I read reviews from

P&R Ski and Snowboard Shop sells a range of items related to skiing and snowboarding; we will also sell items suitable for

Many youngsters have taken to the extreme sport of Downhill longboarding as a means to satisfy their need for speed.

These experiences led Klaus to introduce a variety of skiwear products. He is credited in making the first goose down vest out of an old down comforter. Klaus also introduced turtlenecks, wind shirts in the U.S. and in 1980 he popularized the "ski brake." Klaus products are targeted for serious skiers. Eighty five percent of the Sport Obermeyer's market is a serious skier that utilizes the products for winter activities. Sport Obermeyer's produces manufactures for five different genders: men, women, boys, girls, and preschoolers. Each gender market offers an excellent price/value relationship, where value was defined as both functionality and style. Sport Obermeyer's focuses on the middle to high-end ski-market. Functionality was critical to the serious skier-products, which had to be warm and waterproof, yet not constrain the skier's ability to move his or her arms and legs freely. Management believed that the effective implementation of its product strategy relied on several logistics-related activities, including delivering matching collections of products to retailers at the same time (to allow consumers to view and purchase coordinated items at the same time), and delivering products to retail stores early in the selling season (to maximize the number of "square-footage days" products were available at retail). Since the beginning Klaus has been actively involved in the company's management.

i. The target market will be hit directly and the costs will not be a problem because the product will benefit immensely do to the fact that it is giving an over view of the product and what it does.