Mattel By Felicia Martinez

3. Barbie dolls came into existence in 1959. During that time all dolls were infant dolls and Ruth Handler creator of the barbie dolls saw that “children will enjoy giving the Barbie adult roles” because it is different than playing with infant dolls. It has evolved over time, due to the improving technology, the dolls these days look very realistic. The social impact it has made is that it gives children a chance to play with more advanced toys and gives them the ability to admire Barbie’s achievements through her various career

An alternative strategy is for Mattel to expand into the technology market and add-on/re-innovate their existing product lines. Mattel has made many of the same products since it was established, with the exception of picture frames and doll furniture, which were short lived products. Barbie has changed a little bit, but other than that, the products have remained unaltered. In order to have a competitive advantage, Mattel needs to grow with the market. As of

I will approach the process of exploring more technologically advanced and interactive toys within the American Girl core brand by pulling a team of people to complete the strategic planning process (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). A strategic plan is a roadmap to grow your business (Lavinsky, 2013). The roadmap will detail what it will take the implement the new technology and interactive product (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). The team will explore the new technologies and understand the current status of interactive toys that the Mattel has had success with and the pain points. This will help the team understand what works and what has not worked. Research and analysis will be performed to understand the new technologically that is available

Mattel is a global toy company that has been around since 1949. They are the company that introduced Barbie and Hot Wheels to the world as well as many others toys. Mattel has license agreements with Walt Disney and Nickelodeon. In

In New York on March 9, 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll to America. The thin, teenage fashion model that has a perfect slender nose, big eyes, a valumptuious bust, a narrow midsection, and curvy hips. It is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries. Barbie is one of the first toys to have a marketing strategy based extensively on television advertising, which has been widely copied by other toys. Barbie has also appeared in a series of animated films such as Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Barbie’s petite figure, perfectly arched eyebrows, and plastic smile has become the desired American image that many teenage

Mattel is the world’s #1 toy maker with more than 30,000 employees and more than $4 billion in sales. A well-established core product portfolio has set Mattel’s established position in the toy market much higher than their competitors. Its products include Barbie, Fisher-Price toys, Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars, American Girl dolls books, and licensed Disney and Sesame Street products are just a few that have helped them reach such great profits throughout the world. Although Mattel leads the industry, it recognizes the complexity of staying on top in a highly competitive and shifting business. While keeping their sales outlets current, toy companies must constantly seek to achieve the next big hit. In

Since the emergence of the Barbie doll in 1959, Barbie has been a populous choice among young children, and more specifically young girls because of its monopolization of the toy market. Barbie is a doll that has been outwardly controversial and debated upon for years and most likely will be for many years to come. The idea of the Barbie doll is a toy for which young girls model themselves after and aspire to be like when they mature and grow up. DuCille states, “more than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around

1. The decision facing Mattel is whether to continue to produce their products internationally where cost are low, or produce them in the United States where costs are significantly higher but quality is better. Mattel might want to even reconsider going global if there sales are decreasing more internationally than in the United States. Mattel needs to determine how many of the products produced internationally were recalled versus the amount of products produced in the United States that were recalled. Mattel also needs to decide how they are going to advertise their products in a way that will convince consumers in the external environment to buy their products, without having any

a. Girls, this is a question for you. How many of you have had Barbie dolls growing up? (Have time to answer)

Through studying the entire retail toy industry, we have been able to understand the complexity of the industry in which Toys "R" Us operates. Upon completion of the analysis, we realized that the industry is growing stably,

There are many barriers to new organizations in the toy industry, making the threat of new entrants low. Lego and other big toy companies like Mattel benefit from economies of scale. An economy of scale is achieved by lower costs through large volume production (Textbook glossary). Economies of scale can occur in many departments within the organization including production, marketing, research and development, and finance. Some manufacturing of Lego products was shifted to Central Europe and Mexico in order to benefit from lower wages and to shorten product supply chains (p. 13 of case). The management of Lego additionally holds expertise on production, distribution and customer needs; which are absent in a new organization. To enter the toy sector a potential entrant needs to calculate the start of production at a level that will give a competitive position and production costs lower than the market.

A. Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, observed her daughter Barbara playing with paper dolls. This sparked Ruth's vision to create a 3-D doll for girls to play out their imagination.

To achieve this about 65 percent of its toy manufacturing was moved to Asia where its products could be produced cheaper. In doing so Mattel now has to work within the culture of its manufacturing facilities to ensure healthy and safe operations to its employees. This means that wage, possible child labor, and other ethical issues could arise, thus as stated before the Global Manufacturing Principles were created and implemented.

Mattel’s three largest customers are responsible for more than one third of the company’s revenue. With such a large portion of the company’s sales dependent on the these three customers any changes such as purchase reduction, favoring competitors or private label expansion, will have a significant impact on Mattel’s revenue. Also, with this limited customer base Mattel is hindered in with its ability to change prices.

Others felt that they should consider Indonesia as a way to take advantage of low labor costs and very attractive exchange rates. Mattel currently operated a plant in Indonesia that produced Barbie® dolls. Montalto had to decide whether Mattel should go forward with the new China plant, build a plant in Malaysia or Indonesia, expand one of the existing facilities, or outsource the surplus die-cast volume through VOA. Company Background Based in California, Mattel, Inc designed, manufactured, and marketed a broad variety of toy products. The company’s core product lines included Barbie fashion dolls, Hot Wheels die- cast toy vehicles, Cabbage Patch Kids, Fisher-Price preschool toys, and Disney toys. Most of these toys were made overseas, primarily in southeast Asia. Mattel had wholly owned manufacturing facilities in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Italy. Mattel was founded in 1944 by Elliot and Ruth Handler. Neither Elliot nor Ruth had much business experience or capital, but they both had dreams. The post World War II demographics of a huge baby boom plus a virtually toyless marketplace provided a unique opportunity to gain a place in a growing toy market. Mattel’s first products, simple picture frames and doll house furniture, met with mixed success. The first really big hit was a music box. By partnering with another toy inventor, they developed a music box that could be