The Tao of Timbuk2 Case

The large initial capital investment needed for new entrants is another major barrier. The cost of machinery and manufacturing is expensive. It is hugely important and costly to have a global presence in manufacturing as it is extremely expensive to ship machinery to clients around the globe.

For the company to ensures success in its operations there is need to cultivate customer loyalty and facilitate efficient supplies, differentiator linkage between operations and buyers must be put in place. This will be facilitated through some ways. To cater for customer needs the company will have to ensure it adopts a competitive pricing strategy against the existing competitors and new entrants in the market. The company has a lean pricing policy and to take advantage of its off- price apparel strategy. The customer’s loyalty has to be sustained through the low prices they enjoy

3. The marketing strategy of company is not so convincing because they can extend their product range with good

#3. Price Point – There are other brands in the marketplace that offer the same product but at lower price point…

The retail industry has been highly competitive for many years. JCP, Kohl’s, Macy’s and Sears have been clashing for some time to keep the attention of the avid shopper. It would seem that each company would be on an equal playing field, but according to the strategic group map below, Macy’s is in a group all by itself. Macy’s pricing and number of stores are different for JCP. Macy’s promotes the branding of having high class products that have celebrity names on the tags, which draws the shopper who is attracted to being in the know. The Macy’s customer is willing to pay more for their product because they know that a celebrity made this, which ultimately allows them to connect with their favorite stars. The supplier power is what helps Macy’s stay in a different category than JCP, Kohl’s, and

As for the backpack, I wanted to design a pack that will give value to this segment. Inspecting the survey results that asked members of this segment to rate the importance of the five characteristics; capacity, comfort, durability, waterproof, and eco-friendly, lead me to design a red-synthetics rounded-top backpack with thin spaghetti straps and an audio bundle.

Three-Westminster is considering warehouse consolidation, so the correct management of inventory is crucial to guarantee proficient operations. To aid in this the implementing of bar-coding, SKU, and RFID systems need to be implemented. Bar-coding provides manageable stock pulling and

The primary research is a effective tool to gain invaluable information related to rivals, incumbents, the market trend and the spending traits of the target market of Baby Buggy Bagas well. It was also helpful to collect data about the expectations of the prospective customers, and whether Baby Buggy Bag will satisfy their needs. It also presented an estimation of the scope of demand and the effective pricing strategy that will work more with the potential

China’s production cost are dramatically lower because of less strict regulations on safety and health. If we were to do the math and the retail price of a product is $49.99 and the material cost of the product is $4.04. If the company hired a manufacturing company that is in china then the manufacturing cost would be about 96 cents depending on the manufacturer, if you add the material cost to the production cost, then the total cost of the product for the customer would be $5.00. If the customer was buying 1 million units then the cost to build the product will be 5 million dollars. If the customer were to move production America then there would be an additional $400,000 for the entire order. Increasing the number of large scale construction projects in America will cause death and injury rates to increase. Around 4,679 people were killed in 2014 because of construction related accidents. Increasing the number large construction projects could cause the number construction related deaths and injuries to increase dramatically("Commonly Used Statistics."). “The leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by electrocution, struck by object, and caught-in/between. These "Fatal Four" were responsible for more than half (58.1%) the construction worker deaths in 2014*”("Commonly Used

Thirty-four years ago in the Hartsfield Atlanta Airport, Patricia Miller and Barbara Bradley noticed that the majority of people had the same simple and boring luggage design. These two friends saw the opportunity to pursue a new market that offers colorful and patterned baggage designs, and that is how Vera Bradley began. Vera Bradley started producing colorful and unique pattered designs for luggage, bags, sports bags and handbags; and after the success of the first product line and their economic growth, they

“Quality items that stand the test of time – it is this concept of sustainability, symbolized by a timeless handbag that you wear again and again, and can pass on, that I am always thinking of when I design.” Says Frida Gianni

1) What are some reasons a firm might determine it should expand a product line? What are some reasons for contracting a product line? Why do many firms have a product mix strategy?

Timbuk2 was founded in 1989 by Rob Honeycutt, a San Francisco bike messenger. Honeycutt wanted to develop a messenger bag that was rugged enough for everyday wear and tear, but chic enough to set a fashion trend. The company founded its success based on its lean manufacturing and mass customization principles. With many of the American companies now outsourcing their manufacturing processes to China, it became hard for Timbuk2 executives to ignore the labor cost benefits that Chinese manufacturing would provide. Dealing with different channels (wholesale/retailers, e-commerce, etc), Timbuk2 also had to find a way to improve their mass customization processes and

The Chinese are an emerging economy that has taken over the world's production in recent years. In fact China is now considered to be the world's factory, as all the major players in the world outsource all or some of their manufacturing activities to the country. All this would not have been possible without the help of technology and with the state of globalization being such, that logistics and distances are becoming shorter and shorter.

1. By the early 1970s IKEA had established itself as the largest furniture retailer in Sweden. What was the source of its competitive advantage at that time?