Strategic Profile And Case Analysis

Originally intended for a hardware store, Thomas O’Connor changed it to a furniture business around 1892. Joseph’s father, Edgar, took over the business around 1920, and ordered furniture by the trainload.

Filmore Furniture Ltd. manufactures colonial maple furniture. The company was incorporated in 1970 by Fred Filmore, who had been the sole proprietor prior to that. In 1983, Fred Filmore retired and sold his business to his only son Phil, age 38, for a small sum. That year, annual sales totalled $1,300,000.

Describe Tartan 's competitive strategy. On the basis of this competitive strategy, what recommendation would you make to task force?

When Harold Verbarg first stepped into the furniture business, it was as a youth crafting furniture by hand. Now the owner of Verbarg’s Furniture, Harold maintains his view of furniture building as a form of art and will readily work with every homeowner to select the furnishings that best suit their style and budget.

Around 1869 William and James Showers bought out their father’s struggle furniture business. They were later joined in the business by their younger brother Hull. Showers Brother Furniture grew rapidly and the brothers decided early on that they “were not interested in manufacturing furniture for retail sale or in operating a furniture showroom … Instead their new goal was to mass-manufacture wholesale furniture to sell in other cities” (Krause, 2012, p. 48). As demand increased, their furniture would be sold not just in distant stores but also from mail order companies like Sears and Roebuck. The Showers Brother Furniture factory produced everything from raw materials rather than relying on suppliers. This principle was emblazed in their company slogan “From the Tree to the Trade.” They employed and developed new technology along the way. They were one of the first Bloomington businesses to switch from steam to electricity and they invented the process of laminating furniture on a large scale.

households.This chair is known as the ECW and made an impact on twentieth century furniture design in america.It is also still in production today. !! The Eames worked hard to keep moving forward on to different designs using the molded plywood. The began to make foldable chairs and dining tables and storage units. They kept trying new things with materials throughout the decades.(1)They started to manipulate molded fiberglass for a series of inexpensive shell chairs, a collapsible sofa, an upholstered, molded lounge chair, a range of aluminum-framed furniture, and many other innovative designs. The Eames were furniture pioneers in some aspect they gave a new view on furniture for america. Many of the popular furniture products that were popular

No name is more associated with the Arts and Craft movement in American furniture than Gustav Stickley. Born in 1858 in Wisconsin, he began working at his uncle’s chair factory at a young age. After many years working in the furniture industry, he founded a furniture company in 1893 that would eventually become the Gustav Stickley Company (Rodel & Binzen, 2003). Initially he produced the historical styles that were popular for the time period, but with a trip to England in 1898 he became exposed to the English Arts and Crafts movement and soon after began designing furniture in a similar style (Rodel & Binzen, 2003). This furniture line, the Craftsmen, became the signature line of his company, soaring in popularity.

The Eames Lounge Chair was a gift designed by the Eames couple to their friend, Billy Wilder. The couple often visits Billy Wilder at his office and was influenced by his act of shifting the lounge chair for nap when he was tired. The couple thought of designing a lounge chair that gives the user comfort when taking naps. Their aim was to produce a lounge chair that is affordable and could be mass produced. The couple collaborated with Herman Miller, a furniture company's owner to produce the lounge chair and the first set was given to Billy Wilder as a gift. The lounge chair was the first chair that the Eames couple had designed for the high ended market and was exhibited in the Arlene Francis' home show and New York's museum of Modern Art.

Another example came in 1985 when IKEA introduced the “MOMENT” sofa. The “MOMENT” sofa had a metal frame that was manufactured by a supermarket cart factory.

Furniture built before the 1980’s was made to last. Chairs, tables, desks and shelving took months to make and were almost always hand crafted, each piece a little different from the next. The wood used to build these items was usually high quality wood such as oak , pine or maple. These pieces were usually assembled by tongue and groove which is small grooves made in the wood so each part snuggly fits into the groove of the other piece of wood. Furniture built today is no longer a hobby or craft but just another way to make money. The pieces built these days are made from compressed woods which is basically saw dust mixed with glue and compressed into a piece of wood. The furniture is held together usually with furniture glue or nails. Not only is furniture these days built not to last they lack in character and craftsmanship. Large companies mass produce cookie cutter furniture which loses value as soon as you bring it home. Older furniture cost less, last

Innovation and improvement goals relate to product development, learning and skill development, and the application of technology. They help you determine how your company can continue to improve and create value.

Danish company Nielaus was established in 1937, when a couple of employees from the company Jeki Furniture decided to start their own business and as a result they founded the company Nielaus Furniture. Now the company has approximately 30 employees, which are producing and selling the chair in Scandinavian market, but they are considering introducing their product to American market.

In the beginning, IKEA like NOKIA Company before it became famous for producing hand phones; IKEA only sell small items like food containers, watches, pen, picture frame and many kinds when they decided to become an international business. Only in the year 1955 IKEA began to manufacture their own furniture and the design are very interesting for their customer 's eye view and the satisfaction for using the product made the company popular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA).

Even early on in 1942, Herman Miller was producing new furniture that people had not seen before. The fact that it kept hiring new designers and experimenting with different designs shows its innovation.

More important than the physical characteristics of the new IKEA store was the manner in which it revolutionized furniture manufacturing and selling. Kamprad continued the practice of selling most furniture in flat-pack form, as he said, "to avoid transporting and storing air." To make this possible, the furniture was specially designed by IKEA staff in workshops in the Älmhult headquarters and warehouse. For the mass production of the component parts of the flat-pack furniture, Kamprad had to bypass traditional furniture manufacturers and instead use specialist factories. Unfinished pine shelving, for example, came directly from saw mills, cabinet doors were made in door factories, metal frames came from machine shops, and upholstery materials came directly from textile mills. Almost all of the components of each piece of furniture could be