Swot Analysis : Athletes Warehouse

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.

Flushing Meadows – Corona Park is currently the home for many features that promotes cultural development; such as stadiums, museums, open spaces for the public use, and recreational centers. Many people visit the park throughout the year and numerous events take place on the grounds as well. Opened in 1964 during the World’s Fair, the New York Hall of Science still stands today and continues to grow with donations from its large following and the government. The Queens Zoo also remains from 1964 and is now ran by the Wildlife Conservation Society, in association with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The well-known Unisphere became an official New York City landmark in 1995. Queens Museum of Art is utilizing the first designed

Based on The Running Room’s current situation, Cisco considers a number of alternatives to her present marketing strategy. On one hand, she could continue to maintain a broad target market to appeal to both casual athletes--with more fashion-conscious products that aren’t necessarily running shoes--and serious runners, while attempting to tap into the growing market for women’s athletic shoes with expanded product lines for female athletes. This strategy would help her maintain her aging loyal customers, as she could offer athletic shoes that reflect the new exercise programs that they are becoming involved in instead of running. Conversely, she could narrow her target market to just serious runners, by investing in the high-end molded running shoes and the additional training and promotion that would be required to sell them. An analysis of The Running Room’s strengths and weaknesses can help her determine that the second strategy is the most worthwhile to pursue moving forward. As a former nationally-ranked runner herself, and with both a proven track record for catering to serious runners (who make up a majority of her sales) as well as the flexibility to switch product lines fairly easily, Cisco’s business strengths would support a shift to a more serious runner target market with relative

Many people want to live the “American Dream”, and what better way to do that than to start a small business. Small businesses are incredibly important to the United States economy. Small businesses have been around from the beginning of the history of the U.S. and remain a large portion of the business community today. Small businesses are the driving force for job creation. Small businesses struggle to meet regulations set in place by the government and at the same time stay afloat in the U.S. economy. There are strict size standards set in place that make small business owners weary of expanding the amount of people they employ. Small business owners also struggle with offering healthcare to their employees. Small businesses try to stay ahead by introducing new and unique products. In an ever-changing economy, it is important to understand the impact of small businesses in the United States.

The Fit Stop is a new firm that will be opening in the near future. The founder of the business is Susan Superfit. The company’s business objective is to sell all types of training, fitness, conditioning, and exercise equipment to the general public. The Fit Stop plans to specialize in this equipment and provide customers with personalized advice geared to customer needs. The owner, Susan suffered an injury while engaging in sports activities. She came up with the idea for this business during her recovery. She found that while there were plenty of business that sold fitness and conditioning equipment, they lacked in knowledge. They often gave poor advice on how to use the equipment and what was best to purchase

Small businesses are the core of the engine that runs the American economy. They are a very intricate and essential part of what makes America strong. Annually there were approximately 400,000 new small businesses started every year in the United States of America. Before the recession the normal business closure for companies in America were approximately 100,000 annually. This rate of exchange between new and closing businesses is known as “the birth and death rate of American companies”. After the recession the death rate of businesses in the United States has increase exponentially, growing from 100,000 companies a year to approximately 470,000 companies closing annually (Joseph, 2014). Most may think this is a result of the recession,

FGL Sports Ltd., also known as Forzani Group, was founded in 1974 by John Forzani, former Calgary Stampeder and former chairman of the company, alongside with three other former Calgary Stampeder. The Company is one of the largest, and multinational sports retailers in Canada. The company’s headquarter is currently located in Calgary, Alberta. The company operates more than 500 corporate and franchise stores, selling various sports equipments and sportswear all over Canada. These corporate stores include Sport Chek, Atmosphere, National Sports, Hockey Experts, S3, and Nevada Bob’s Golf. In 2011, Canadian Tire bought the company for nearly $800 million, and became their parent company.

I use to work for a high-performance establishment when I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. The easiest way to describe Sports Basement is to compare it to the “Costco” of sporting goods. Sports Basement motto is “Providing high end apparel at basement prices.” (Sports Basement) Four friends who had previously started their success from the dot-com era in Silicon Valley established the company first in San Francisco then opened up more location throughout the Bay Area. I was the marketing associate for the swim and triathlon department for all the stores. As one of the marketing associates for the company, I was coordinating with each department and store managers. Sports Basement has ten departments, which include running, bike, camp-hike, yoga, swim-triathlon, team sports, snow, men, women and kids. (Sports Basement) I got to witness first hand that I was working for a high-performance organization.

In today’s global market place economic stability may be challenging, especially for small business. As a resource there is assistance available through extensive networking and partnerships with both public and private organizations. SBA will assist, counsel, aid and protect small business in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S Virgin Islands and Guam with their concerns and interest. Therefore, the SBA aids Americans as they start, build and grow their business.

1. Evidence from case: The company has room for expansion by building more stores, increasing sales, expanding current stores, customer and employee satisfaction. According to Yoga In America, “36.7 million people in U.S practice yoga, 72% women” (Page C-101)

Goals- The company is developing and expanding their product line to provide new ways to support athletes whether

The main competitors that we determined for Running Central based on the athletic footwear industry in the Peoria area were Dick’s Sporting Goods, Finish Line, and Champs Sports. Secondary competitors could be considered places like Wal-Mart, Shoe Carnival, Payless, Shoe Dept., and DSW who sell but aren’t specialized in athletic shoes. Due to the fact that Peoria has a lot of primary and secondary competitors for Running Central, we determined that there is an overstored market. In order to stay competitive in an overstored market, Running Central has focused on non-price actions that are exclusive to their store and will drive sales and profits; this being through their extraordinary customer service.

Athletics Supreme has become the top retailer in athletic equipment sales not by accident but by employing marketing operations more efficiently through successful marketing implementation and control. The company stays market and customer driven by effectively applying the appropriate metrics to achieve the objectives of its marketing plan and adjusting its strategic path when elements affecting the company’s goals, mission, and objectives begin to waver. This includes the metrics that affects the organization’s customer base that without them the company would not be successful.

Despite being an intimidating prospect for most people, there are millions of entrepreneurs in the US. Some of them turn out to be very successful, others, not so much. There are many steps to starting and running a business, but many of them can be easily accomplished simply by filling out some forms, and several small fees.

5. What is Coach’s strategy to compete in the ladies handbag and leather accessories industry? Has the company’s competitive strategy yielded a sustainable competitive advantage? If so, has that advantage translated into superior financial and market performance?