Sport Obermeyer, Ltd. - Case

According to the book assigned to this finance course, the average customer can expect to pay 1%-2% points above prime. Paying the prime rate is only given to the banks most creditworthy customers. Right now the Harrods are paying the average rate for the average

The brand image of Altius is still positive and professionals are open to trying other brands so Altius should not worry about innovating. The elevate strategy also packages the balls in the same packaging so the brand is not undermined and the perception of the ball by customers is that it is of high quality and better. Furthermore the new Elevate line will only be offered in the off course channels so the professionals using Altius who get their equipment mainly in the on course channel don’t have to worry about the prestige of the brand as the only products offered there are the professional golf ball lines, hence Altius will make a clear distinction between who the balls are targeted for. In the qualitative analysis we see that the margin for elevate is higher than it is for competitors at 64% compared to their estimate of competitors being between 50-60%, even though it is lower than the normal 70% Altius enjoys it is necessary to cut down the margin now in order to penetrate the off course channel and target the new golfer segment.

Further to this, Sher-Wood’s brand image and reputation are diminishing. This was affected by the loss of NHL star Jason Spezza to rival Reebok in 2008 in objection to the company’s outsourcing to China (Zhang & Beamish, 2011, p. 23). Currently only 2.3% of NHL players use Sherwood sticks (Exhibit 1, Zhang & Beamish, 2011, p. 20). This is a concern for Sher-Wood, especially since “hockey sticks endorsed by professional hockey players enjoyed a strong position in the hocket stick market.” (Zhang & Beamish, 2011, p. 19) Related to this issue is the fact that the market is showing signs of maturity, and

Quality: Nike’s places strong emphasis on the quality of their products by reinforcing their tight measurement on their supplier’s performance. The company has long been known for their superior quality, reliability, and excellent designs. Furthermore, they capitalized on their high quality by investing heavily in marketing initiatives to increase brand loyalty and strengthen consumer confidence, which ultimately increases the consumer utility of their products. Creating a team of Nike Scientists devoted to continuously improving the quality of their products was only one part of their strategy. They also invested heavily in a quality control system known as the InfinityQS, which helps them identify areas of issue and monitor the overall quality of their products. (InfinityQS)

High annual turnover rates with weak presence in tier 1 cities with higher discretionary consumer spend is hurting revenue realization.

A “SWOT analysis is a historically popular technique through which managers create a quick overview of a company’s strategic situation” (Pearce & Robinson, 2009, p3). SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This concept was incorporated as a diagnostic tool for many entrepreneurs to work on their business. It is important as a business owner to be able to analyze forces and trends that can affect a business. The owner of Sivalry Clothing Company will discuss several capacities of the business operations and forces and trends that the business will have to encounter. Such topics include: economic as well as legal and regulatory forces and trends, how well the organization adapts to change, and the supply chain operations of the organization. Also, identification of issues and opportunities that the company faces will be discussed.

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

“The knowledge that the Microsoft Services team brought to the table, plus their willingness to work with us, was all very critical to the success of the project.”

CASE 7 ARMSTRONG HELMET COMPANY 1. Item Administrative salaries Advertising for helmets Depreciation on factory building Depreciation on office equipment Insurance on factory building Miscellaneous expenses— factory Office supplies expense

John Lewis is a British department store that operates in the United Kindom and is well known for its ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ policy that brings quality products to the UK high streets and online shopping. A SWOT analysis is intended to analyse the organisation 's current status and its potential for the future. Morrison (2011, p. 158) states that a “SWOT analysis is a strategic tool used by businesses to assess the organisation 's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.” Using a SWOT analysis will encompass a detailed evaluation of the organisation for John Lewis, which could be used to benefit the company in the future. As Wetherly & Otter (2008, pp. 24-25) says “The capacity of a business to take advantage of opportunities and resist threats will depend on its internal strengths and weaknesses.” But if John Lewis has the internal strengths to undertake a change a SWOT analysis will help as it was “designed to enable an organisation to take into account internal and external factors that may affect its strategic planning decisions and thus improve its prospects of success” (Harrison, 2014, p. 6).

The SWOT analysis of ASDA can help the organization to make strategic decision regarding their internal and external environment. However, Porter's model is also an effective analytical tool to evaluate competitive strategies. ASDA food has now strong sourcing and distribution network, they want to maximize their market at the each corner of the country as well as in the abroad. The parent company 'Wal-Mart' has strategic planning on the market expansion of ASDA food.

In the current situation, Obermeyer is facing four broad issues: production planning for their short life cycle products, operational changes to reduce costs of mismatched supply and demand, coordination issues in their global supply chain and a confusion of where to produce the garments – Hong Kong or China. The best way to mitigate the inability to meet the demand of retailers during peaks sales would be to forecast the demands with either past data or with the help of a forecasting committee. It would be ideal for Obermeyer to forecast future demand with the help of a forecasting committee. To come over the confusion of which city to continue production in, Obermeyer should choose to continue short term production in Hong Kong but the Long Term production should be in China. It is anticipated that a two years lead time of planning and production activity must take place prior to the actual sale of products to consumers. They are more highly skilled and typically trained in a

SWOT analysis is a popular analysis tool used in different situations that include not just business and marketing but also project planning and personal career development (Chapman 1995-2012). As for the strategic planning, Kenneth Andrews popularized his idea that good strategy means keeping a fit between the external situations a firm faces and the internal capabilities (Hill and Westbrook, 1997). The format the SWOT analysis presented is a 2x2 'internal/external' matrix, in which questions and relative answers can be listed for analysis (chapman 1995-2012). And according to Hill and Westbrook (1997), the output of SWOT analysis comes from meetings facilitated by consultants or managers to contribute the final analysis. Brainstorming can be used for filling in the sections to answer the questions. In addition, similar arguments should be concluded and ranked according to their answers in meetings (Rauch, 2007). As for the newly developed analysis, the TOWS matrix matching the various factors enables companies to stimulate new strategic initiative (Dyson, 2004).

Hugo Boss has become known as an industry trend setter for its high quality men’s and women’s fashion apparel, shoes, and accessories. Product leadership, intimate knowledge of their market and customers, and operational excellence are what distinguish the company from others in the luxury fashion goods industry. From an operational perspective, the variability that exists as a result of designing and manufacturing short run fashion products is high. This perpetual shifting of demands and preferences makes it difficult to maintain accurate industry forecasts that result in high risk actions as manufacturing products with no guarantee of sale leading to large scale inventory systems.

Chan H (2001) states, “note here that the business drives the specification of the product and the consumer chooses whether or not to buy a prefabricated product. An example of this in the traditional commerce is purchasing suits of the rack”.