Swot Analysis Of Skullcandy

Skullcandy is a company that marketing and sells many things. These things may vary from headphones and earphones all the way to clothing such as hats and T-shirts. Skullcandy was founded by Rick Alden in Park City, Utah. (Wikipedia, 2011) Rick started it in 2003 by a product called the Skullcandy Portable Link. The Skullcandy Portable Link is a headphone that uses the LINK system and is combined with

Like other large corporations, Nike looked to expand their operations outside North America. Many companies do this because of the law and wage demands of the United States making overseas operations very appealing. Employment laws are scarce and labor is cheap in most third world countries and can be easily become targeted by giant corporations such as Nike.

The history of music players dates back to November 21, 1877 when Thomas Alva Edison invented a device for recording sounds and then playing it back called the Gramophone. It was patented on February 19, 1878. The Gramophone looked like a cylinder that was smaller at one end and bigger at the other. Even today, at the annual Grammy Awards the awards that are given out are miniature versions of Edison’s invention.

1. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, thought it would be useful as a

Heffernan also illustrates how headphones work, stating, “when an audio current passes through the device’s voice coil, it creates an alternating magnetic field that moves a stiff, light diaphragm” (Heffernan, 2011). Describing the history of headphones and how the technology works portrays Heffernan as a reasonable author with a deep understanding of her subject matter, which earns the trust and respect of the audience.

This has hurt negotiations with current buyers, causing gross margins to slip due to the aggressive competition. Being known for quality is important, but the brands creating cheaper replicas, artifacts, and jewelry still have a place in the market.

The Navy caught wind of Baldwin’s invention, and headphones became commonplace for military workers and soldiers. Following World War II, headphones were designed for music consumption, which later led to the Walkman, the formation of Sony, and the headphones of modern times (Heffernan, 2011). Heffernan also provides an explanation of how headphones work, stating “when an audio current passes through the device’s voice coil, it creates an alternating magnetic field that moves a stiff, light diaphragm” (Heffernan, 2011). Describing the history of headphones and how the technology works portrays Heffernan as a credible author with a deep understanding of her subject matter, which earns the trust and respect of the audience.

Based on volume output the best option to cost-effectively manufacture the Samba Sneakers would be to buy New Equipment with fixed cost of $200,000, variable

After a couple of “failed” attempts of making a device that could be used for mass sharing of music in the late 1800s, an immigrant from Germany had finally come up with an idea that would change everything. Chichester Bell (Alexander Graham Bell's cousin) and Thomas Edison’s idea to record sounds on round cylinders was a good idea except for the sound quality and general effort that was required to make and replicate sound. The Phonograph was one of the earliest attempts at recording devices. Thomas A. Edison wanted to create this device in order to assist with business interactions. He originally used foil to record sounds, but this wasn't the best medium. You could only play sounds once and the quality wasn’t the greatest. This is when wax cylinders came into play. It was eventually decided that the wax cylinder wasn't strong enough to record something permanently. Next followed the graphophone. This invention by Bell fixed the replay problem, but mass production of music would’ve been impossible because of the sheer amount of work involved in recording each cylinder separately (Bells).

The company 's weaknesses are that management comes and goes fast. One day their in and the next their out. Not having stability might affect the company 's performance in the long run. Steady management and ideas are crucial in business. Another weakness is that their latest styles can not be purchased online because of the exclusivity of the brand. This fact along with the threat of overseas manufacturing may hurt BCBGMAXAZRIA in the long run. A recent California economic study showed that apparel jobs might be dwindling. More manufacturers are using oversea factories to gain profits for their companies, rather than developing garments in the United States. Because of this change, many jobs in the apparel industry will be lost and the recession of the economy will increase. This in turn, will decrease spending among Americans in proceeding years that have less money to spend on desired items. Also, seeing that this forecast

Thomas Edison invented the first rudimentary machine for recording and playing back sound. He and his team of scientists thought it would be to reproduce human voice, but they had no clear idea of it’s exact purpose. Edison and his crew used repeated trials to improve the phonograph. Any invention which catches the invention of the editors gets free publicity

However, this company got a loss of $9.693 million in 2010 and a loss of $3.011 million in 2013. The company got a profit of $12.344 million, $18.621 million, and $25.816 million in 2009, 2011, and 2012 respectively (Skullcandy, 2013). The company’s performances proved the concerns of the investors about the sustainable development of the company mentioned in the case. The company’s performances in 2013 were also impacted by the changes of leadership with new four leadership positions. At the present, Skullcandy focuses on providing two main categories of its products – audio entertainment and gaming. In which, audio entertainment products represents 85.2% of consolidated net sales while gaming headphones represents 14.8% of consolidated net sales for the year ended on December 31st, 2013. It also has opportunities to expand international with primary focus on China, Canada, India, Middle East, and Mexico. It is leveraging key strategic partnerships in mobile, table, and PC markets (Skullcandy,

Autotune was first invented in 1997 by Dr. Harold “Andy” Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand founded Antares Audio Technologies in 1990 after working as a research scientist for Exxon from 1976 until 1989, when he realized that the same technology he used to detect oil reserves in the sea floor could also be used to correct a singer’s unruly notes. After leaving Exxon, Hildebrand created a program called

In terms of challenges, Beats have been applauded for their great marketing strategy, but criticized actually for the quality of their product and the tangible benefits that it provides. If Beats’ competitors were able to capitalize better on marketing strategies similar to Beats, but offering superior product (such as Bose headphones), they are going to be able to compete or overtake Beats. In the long term, Beats might face challenges expanding outside the United States. The specific marketing strategy they pursued in that market, capitalizing on the celebrities advertising and strong graphic presence in social media will need to be redefined for specific markets. Right now, Beats are basically still unknown in Europe.

Through data analysis, we found that most of the designing and brands countries of mobile phones, computers, earphones and smart speakers are located in Europe and the United States, but most of the manufacturing places are located in developing countries such as China. In the international division of labor system, barriers to entry are high in the so-called capital-intensive industries such as automobiles, aircraft, computers, semiconductors and heavy machinery. (Xu Jia. 2008) Oligarchic manufacturers are at the high end of the value chain to coordinate production networks. They not only control the suppliers of raw materials and parts, but also are in close contact with distribution and retail process, with a control of the entire industry value chain. For example, in the automobile industry, large vehicle companies have a global market share of 60%, the top 16 auto parts companies occupy 40% sales in the global market share. A global automotive industry system is under the direct control of these brand manufacturers, moving forward in accordance with their wishes. (Yue Chenyan，John C, Beghin, Helen H. & Jensen Tarif. 2005)