Mercury Athletic Case Nicholas Thebeau, Student ID 50927830 Presented to: Professor Kevin Wall West Coast Fashions, Inc. (WCF), a large designer and marketer of men’s and women’s branded apparel recently announced plans for a strategic reorganization. Active Gear, Inc. (AG), a privately held footwear company, was contemplating an acquisition opportunity. John Liedtke, the head of business development for AG, was interested in a WCF subsidiary. The subsidiary that Liedtke and AG intended to acquire was Mercury Athletic (MA), a footwear company. Liedtke thought acquiring Mercury would roughly double AG’s revenue, increase its leverage with contract manufacturers and expand its presence with key retailers and distributors. In order to …show more content…
AG’s distribution channels consisted of independent retailers, departmental stores, and wholesalers. AG excluded big box retailers and discount stores. AG focused on products that didn’t follow fashion trends, resulting in a lengthened product lifecycle. This business model led to more efficient and effective supply chain and operating management. However, because they opted for the safe route it halted the company’s sales and growth opportunity. Mercury Athletic Mercury Athletic was purchased by WCF from its founder Daniel Fiore. Fiore was forced to sell the company after running it for over 35 years, due to health problems. Due to a strategic reorganization, the plan called for the divestiture of MA and other “non-core” WCF assets. MA had revenues of $431.1M and an EBITDA of $51.8M Products were distributed to departmental and discount stores It had two product lines- athletic and casual footwear Target market of both men and women Shoes popularity grew in the extreme sports market MA developed an operating infrastructure, allowing management to quickly adapt to changes in customer tastes with product specifications. 1. Is Mercury an appropriate target for AG? Why or why not? Let me walk you through some qualitative considerations before making my recommendation. Strategic considerations: AG and MA are both competing in the athletic and casual footwear industry. Acquiring MA could lead to economies of scale and scope through manufacturing and
The All-Star Footwear executive team worked well together to create a high-performing corporation, which excelled in competing in the athletic shoe global market. Due to the strong execution of each member, we secured first place in the BSG simulation and learned about competitive analysis in the process.
There are several reasons why AGI should consider Mercury Athletic as an appropriate target for acquisition. First, acquiring Mercury could improve both companies financially. Acquiring Mercury would double AGI’s revenue. Although Mercury’s financial performance has been disappointing, they experienced top line growth of 20% in 2006. Unfortunately, their profitability has been disappointing due to price concessions to big box retailers and an unsuccessful women’s line. Mercury’s (and ultimately AGI’s) profitability could be improved by the synergies of the two companies merging. Synergies within supply chain, operations, research and development, and advertising should all improve Mercury’s EBITDA.
success factors. However, the company has a few weaknesses and threats they need to address in
The women's apparel market is highly competitive. With the launch of a new active-wear line from Harrington Collection's, more and more competitors will start to realise the potential value in in producing an active-wear line of their own. The active-wear market is growing so rapidly (expected to double turnover from 2007 to 2009), that eventually all of Harrington's competitors would likely be expected to launch a line of their own, relying on existing brand loyalty and high-scale advertising campaigns to capture market share and move units.
This report has been created with the intent to analyze the athletic apparel industry with a specific focus on Lululemon Athletica, Inc., further refered to as Lululemon. In this report you will find that the strengths and weaknesses of Lululemon’s current strategies and future goals are analyzed and compared to that of its closest competitors. In conclusion to the analysis, recommendations have been made to potentially guide Lululemon Athletica, Inc. in a positive direction in regards to its future endeavors. The following
The background of this paper we need to mention is that West Coast Fashions, Inc. (WCF), a large designer and marketer of branded apparel announced a strategic reorganization calling for a divestiture of certain assets, and one of the divisions it intended to shed was Mercury Athletic, its wholly owned footwear subsidiary. John Liedtke, the head of business development for Active Gear, Inc. (AGI), a privately held athletic and casual footwear company, contemplated an acquisition opportunity of Mercury that would significantly improve his business. So, he wanted to evaluate this opportunity.
to be the same as the division’s existing business. However, to enter the clothing industry could be a
In this competitive business arena it is crucial to strategize and come up sound managementsolutions in order to stay afloat in the market. This is an individual report of ImperialCompany which showcases all the key management decisions that were taken to maintain acompetitive edge in the global market operations of its products. It will be sequenced in thefollowing format:1.Introduction to the Athletic Footwear Industry2.Thorough Business Environment Scanning3.Evaluation of Competition Forces
Profitability. The company strategy is to target only 25-45 years for specialist sportswear products, but a lot of
1. Discussion: What factors drive Nike’s decision to stick with some form of network organizational structure rather than own its manufacturing operations?
Quick response of Zara leads it to be successful in the fashion clothing industry. Zara adopts international strategy for its operation. With vertical integration, it benefits Zara in cost aspect, however, it involves some risks. Due to our anaylysis on Zara’s operations, some of the recommendations are made to facilitate its further improvements.
Sportsman Shoes has been a leader in the shoe industry for more than thirty years. Sportsman manufactures and sells athletic shoes for all types of sports. The company has pursued a low-cost strategy in order to sustain their success. They sell a limited number of shoe designs and have held costs low through manufacturing efficiency and standardized operations. However, the past five years have been a struggle at Sportsman. The shoe market has seen a rise in the availability of low-cost imported shoes that has threatened Sportsman’s competitive position. As a result, company executives have decided it is time for a strategy shift.
Business level strategies are plans that a firm forms to describe and project how it intends to build a sustainable competitive advantage, over its competitors in a discrete market (Furrer, 2010, p. 1). These strategies have changed the nature of competition in industries, and paved way for further developments in product quality and cost. Business level strategies employed by Nike work mainly in two forms, that is, competitive strategies and corporative strategies (Furner, 2010, p. 1). By looking at the different business level strategies Nike has employed, this essay will explain how it has had such a massive impact in the Sports and Apparel industry it now leads.
Basketball is a sport that relies a lot on the player’s footwork. You will realize that athletes in basketball normally make sharp cuts, jump around and move in all directions in a quick manner. The player must wear the right basketball shoes in order to do this. This will give the player a god opportunity to succeed in this game. The right pair of basketball shoes will provide the desired protection, traction and avoid injury while on the court. This is the reason why you should pick the right pair of basketball shoes. There are several things that you should consider when choosing the right basketball shoes. These include:
Gucci Group is a luxury goods retailer focusing on improving their market share while producing high quality fashionable items. Initially, Gucci’s poor business strategy and internal family conflict directly resulted in decreased sales and net income. When Investcorp took control of the company, Gucci regained their success through quality management and acquisitions. Gucci’s product line now includes a large range of products. We would like to continue Gucci’s success and believe that the next major business decision for Gucci is how to manage the new acquisitions. We recommend that Gucci cease further acquisitions of companies to its portfolio and should not challenge the status quo by making big management changes