The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Inc.: Challenges Facing a New Ceo Essay

Although Vermont Teddy Bear is a company with a rich track record in the business of "last-minute gifts", its mission statement lacked its basic goals and philosophies that aim to shape its strategic posture.

By 1895, Sears’s mail order business was gaining market acceptance and the Sears catalog expanded to 532 items consisting of ‘soup to nuts’ products for their customers (Sears Archive, 2012), supporting the theory that early innovators do not have a restriction on what they bring to market (Innovation Zen, 2006). Sears’s core competencies are innovation, selling, advertising, and merchandising (Sears Archive, 2012).

Vermont Teddy Bear (VTB) has been found by John Sortino in 1981. This company has served as a gift delivery service with three main product lines: Bears (plush toys), PajamaGrams (apparel), and Calyx Flowers (gifts). All gift orders are made via four different channels (retail store, mail, phone, web order), each channel supported by different software. First, VTB’s customers design bears by selecting the colors and outfits from a menu of options.

I came up with $3.2m by taking the 1st quarter revenue of $718,000 which is historically approximately 22.5% of the yearly revenue.  Assuming this holds true again in 1991, the annual revenue in 1991 will be around $3.2m.  This is a 19% year over year increase in revenue for BLC, which is in line with their year over year growth in 1989, and less than the 34% in the best year, 1990.

Vermont Teddy Bears is a private company that specializes in the manufacture of novelty items based on an e-commerce business model. Company management aims to generate new revenue streams through modifications to the retail system and the

growth rate. The first proposal is the Match My Doll Clothing line expansion, which is to expand a

bears on the streets of Burlington, VT. In the early years he opened a retail store in

In recent years, the company experienced a rapid growth and expects a substantial increase in sales in the spring of

| Initiative: Continue to increase in their market share expansion plans by growing revenues and profits compared to previous years. Budget: Moderate; BRF has been providing food materials to

FLD’s 1985 market share was 32.7% with sales of $135 million in that year. Total sales for the industry topped $620 million. (Refer to Attachment 1)

There is a personal interest in this company as they just recently ended their contract with Busch Stadium, which is my place of employment. Build-a-Bear was able to negotiate a year by year agreement and a possible sponsorship with the St. Louis Cardinals, LLC for the future and this is what sparked my interest in the company their financial security.

Universal worked under the assumption that these strategies would not only increase the number of retail buyers but also move retailers to increase display space for Universal increasing Universal's ability to market their artist. (Smith, 2003).

Competition within the US Greeting Card Publishing Market is great. The two major companies in the market are Hallmark, the largest privately held company, and American Greetings, the largest publicly held company (“Greeting cards (SIC 2771)”). Smaller companies include CSS Industries Inc, Healthy Planet Products, Paraiso Publishers, Inc, Sellers Publishers, Inc, and a large number of privately-held publishers. The Greeting Card Association states that there are over 3000 Greeting Card Publishers in the United States (“The Greeting Card: General Facts”).

In the USA, the summer camp industry is booming; despite the economic downturn, millions of American children head to camp each year to gain new experiences and meet lifelong friends. Camp Caribou, an all-boy residential camp located in Maine, is no exception, with over three hundred boys aged seven to fifteen visiting each summer. Camp Caribou employs around 120 seasonal staff for 9 weeks to ensure that they provide “unforgettable summers” to their campers. With no dedicated HR department, it falls to the camp directors and management personnel to tackle human resource management challenges which, due to the nature of the business, may not be present in other organisations. This essay aims to identify and discuss these challenges and their impact on the way Camp Caribou functions as a business.

Feasibility : the projected cash generation from the increase in brand value can be mapped out in to see whether this will be appropriate