Swisher Mower and Machine Company Situation Analysis A. Industry Within the lawn and garden industry, 74 percent of sales came from finished goods, such as lawn mowers, in 1995. Riding lawn mower sales are very seasonal. Front-engine mowers were viewed by consumers as more powerful while rear-engine mowers were viewed as better capable to handle large jobs. However, the front-engine mowers were most popular. There were ten major competitors in the industry in 1995. Private-label riding mower sales were on the rise. Total industry sales had 65-75 percent coming from private-labels. National retail merchandise chains contributed 24 percent of sales in the retail distribution of OPE. B. Company SMC is a relatively small manufacturer with a long history and strong brand image. Sales had been consistent for approximately the past 5 years when SMC received a proposal in early 1996. They were currently selling three main mower units. A zero-turning radius riding mower, the Ride King, which accounted for 63.6 percent of SMC’s total sales and 57.8 percent of their total gross profit in 1995. SMC sold a trail mower, the T-44, which accounted for 8.2 percent of total sales and 13.2 percent of total gross profit. They also produced push mower kits, which contributed 8.2 percent of total gross profit. The sells of replacement parts made up the remaining 20 percent of total sales and 29 percent of total gross profit. SMC had the Trim-Max to introduce as a new product line. SMC was currently distributing and selling to retailers, wholesalers, and private-labels as well as to Europe and the South Pacific. About 75 percent of total sales were coming from nonmetropolitan areas. Wholesalers represented 30 percent of riding mower sales and 25 percent of sales was from direct-to-dealer sales accounts. The private-label sales accounted for 40 percent of total sales and foreign sale 5 percent. C. Trends SMC could expect the consistent sales trend to continue. The industry forecast expected sales to continue to increase in the next year. The industry was continuing to see growth in private-labels. Problem Definition Would it be more profitable for SMC to enter a private-label distribution arrangement with this retail merchandise chain or to continue operations in SMC’s current market niche and wait out other opportunities? Alternatives A. Identification of Relevant Alternatives
Company Overview – Caterpillar Tractor Co. was founded in 1925 and was the product of a merger between The Holt Manufacturing Company, owned by BBB HHH, and C.L Best Tractor Co., owned by DDD BBB. The company had a great demand in WWI and this lead to the first foreign operation of many to come in the future.
As the private brands may not achieve or maintain market acceptance these brands may provide the adverse results expected. Financial condition and results of operation can be negatively affected if pricing, quality and other factors are not up to customer’s satisfaction levels. With all brands sold by Dollar General there is the unfortunate shrinkage that may occur. Profitability may be negatively affected by inventory shrinkage and the inability to properly manage the inventory balances. Effective inventory management is a key component of Dollar General’s business success and profitability. If the company’s buying decisions do not accurately predict consumer trends, excess inventory will negatively affect financial results. Inventory turnover has improved and the company is aware and focusing on addressing all of these risks in the most productive way possible. The biggest risk that the company is facing from a consumer’s perspective is that their sector is highly competitive. Operating in a basic consumer goods market there is already a strain on margins, and low prices are necessary to stay competitive. This restriction on increasing prices may result in a loss when costs increase. The objective is to keep overhead, salaries, marketing and all costs to a bare minimal. Other competitors have saturated the geographic market where Dollar General once was
Nevertheless, it must “defend” its current market share if not increase it, by maintaining premium quality and develop innovative products. The marketing mix strategies will effectively achieve targeted revenue and profitability in the near future.
In 2007, Harley Davidson was the world’s most profitable motorcycle company. They had just released great earnings and committed to achieve earnings per share growth of 11-17% for each of the next three years. Their CEO of 37 years, James Ziemer, knew this would be an extremely difficult task seeing Harley’s domestic market share recently top off at just under 50%. The domestic market was where Harley’s achieved the most growth over the past 20 years and with it leveling off, where was Harley going to get the 11-17% was the million dollar question.
As the plows got more popular, John Deere moved his business to Moline, Illinois in 1848 (“John Deere Timeline” para. 5). John Deere’s headquarters is now located in Moline, Illinois (“Deere” para.1). After meeting Leonard Andrus, he became John Deere’s co-partner in plow- making (“John Deere Timeline” para. 4) In 1849, John Deere had built 2,136 plows with only 16 people (“John Deere Timeline” para. 6). The first Deere product was a steel plow that would go through the soil in the midwest prairie without clogging (“Deere” para.2). In 1869 Charles Deere and a guy by the name of Alcah Mansure branched off and made a company, Deere, Masur & Co, which was a distributor of Deere products (“John Deere TImeline” para. 14). John Deeres’ company had five branches off of it in 1889 (“John Deere Timeline” para. 26). John Deere combined their par...
Harley-Davidson owns a twenty percent market share followed closely by Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki. One thing they have had to overcome in the marketplace is the stereotypical image associated with motorcycle owners. It seems the publ...
Senior Management of PepsiCo is evaluating the potential acquisition of two companies – Carts of Colorado and California Pizza Kitchen – in order to expand the company’s restaurant business. If indeed PepsiCo decides to pursue the acquisition of one or both, they must decide how to align each of these business units in its historically decentralized management approach and how to forge relationships between the acquired business units and existing business units. In their evaluation, Senior Management is faced with the question of whether the necessary capital investment in order to purchase one or both of the businesses can be profitable for each of the acquired business units, but must also take into consideration that the additional business units will not hinder the profitability of the existing business units.
Due to the good establishment of the business, it has huge market national. The company has therefore opened many retail shops and stores all over the country to ensure that their products are accessible to the customers. The entity provides a favorable environment, and many clients view the place as a fun shopping place to be. The retailer has targeted a big pool of customer because of the variety of products it sells. The stores products vary from kitchen goods, jewelry, and electronics clothes to hardware
In recent years many manufacturing companies have exceeded the technology for residential, agriculture, construction, landscaping, forestry and engines, yet John Deere is still one of the best products that people use everyday. Questions come up whether the company’s products are proven, simple, more efficient, and integrated machines that are capable of developing engines. Some of the merchandises are strong-featured to survive the extreme vibration, temperatures, and duty cycles found in off-highway conditions. This paper will demonstrate Economic Environment, Socio-cultural Environment, Global Environment, Competitive Environment, Governmental Environment, and Technological Environment of John Deere Corporation (Leslie, 2014).
Among the four companies, Fiat Chrysler is the only one company that recorded the highest growth in market share in US from 2011 - 2015. This market share growth is relevant with its the revenue growth. In 2015 the total vehicle sales increased
Rivalry among established firms is fierce. There are several factors that illustrate this: established market players (6.1). The product is highly standardized and the switching costs of the customers are low. Players are aggressive (6.2)
The task of this assignment is to complete a competitive analysis of two of the largest competitors in the industry of chosen study. This researcher’s chosen field is the Car Wash industry. Unlike many industries, the Car Wash industry does not have dominant players or franchise names that rule across the country. Unlike other automobile related industries such as oil change (Rapid Oil Change), tires and batteries (Goodyear), and auto parts retailers (NAPA), where these types of name players may have thousands of locations throughout the country, there are no big name players in the Car Wash industry. Although there are companies that own and operate multiple car wash facilities, most of these multi-location owners operate multiple locations throughout a metropolitan or regional area and their overall location totals are nominal. Since there is a lack of dominant competitors to analyze, this researcher will focus on an analysis between the two main categories of car wash ownership: full service vs. unattended operations.
The current circumstances have made us re-think about the governance of our company. To resolve certain issues like spread of our businesses, incompetent management, improper structure and high attrition rate has been addressed here. The strategic options evaluated are Divesting from some of the businesses, Re structuring the management by giving generalised top management or using specialized management. The options are evaluated on the basis of cash position, future projection, Repute preservation and efficient functioning of management. On the basis of these, I recommend to divest from irrelevant and non-performing businesses. This will ensure company’s smooth running and sustained profitability.
The product will start out being sold in home maintenance stores in urban areas in order to attract its original target market. As the product continues to grow it will become more widely available at stores that are shopped at by everyday consumers. Once the product succeeds within this market they will then be sold in any store nationwide that you would likely be able to find a lawn mower.
John Deere has invented some amazing technology in the past couple years. Technology that can change the agriculture life forever. I have noticed in the past couple years of living on the farm that it is on of the hardest jobs on the bodies of human beings. Farmers in the past could only make working in the fields around 40 years then they were done. Usually their backs go out or develop some type of cancer from being in the fields all day everyday. What happens in the field stays in the field, except cancer that shit stays with you.