Dansko: Mom And Pop Operation

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SWOT
1.1 Strength: Mom-and-Pop Operation
Dansko’s biggest strength is that they have a Mom-and-Pop culture. Mr. and Mrs. Kjellerup guide their employees like their own children and work with their employees daily. They hire young employees, to start working for them early, which allows the employees to build a sense of loyalty to Dansko. This method has resulted high employee retention rate and this unique family business approach has also helped gain status in the shoe business.
1.2 Strength: Gourmet Style Strategy
Dansko has always taken pride in their Gourmet Style strategy. By never over producing and over-selling their products, their products have a high demand. This strategy has helped them save inventory costs and control supply of …show more content…

They have grown steadily over the years and they have managed to achieve high profit margins and revenue. In addition, they have no debt. Their strong financials gives them the strength to survive the shoe business.
2.1 Weakness: Management Model
Their biggest weakness is their management model. Dansko currently follows the same management style that they used since the beginning of the company. Every level of employee answers to Cabot. The company is much larger than it was before and it is inefficient and time-consuming to have one person handle all the issues of the company. The stress has taken a toll on Cabot and she is overextending herself.
2.2 Weakness: Top Management Team
In addition to the weak management model, the top management team if Dansko has no experience in the shoes business. The lack of experience can risk their survival in the shoe industry and it can hurt potential growth for the business.
2.3 Weakness: Lack of Product Variance
Although they are the only shoemakers that incorporate clogs, Dansko does not have a wide variety of shoes to offer. They only have nine product lines (mostly concentrating on women), which reduces the size of their customer demographic.
3.1 Opportunity: Experienced Top Management …show more content…

Since Dansko entered this market early they have a first mover’s advantage and have secured a strong marketplace. With the patent and expertise in making clogs, Dansko has developed a competency in this niche market.
3.3 Opportunity: Product Expansion
Dansko also has an opportunity to expand if they make more shoe products, which will increase their customer demographic, and sell more shoes. They have the possibility to expand their lines for men and to come up with product lines for children. Additionally, they could expand into making comfort sports shoes.
4.1 Threat: Merger
Dansko faces a huge threat if they go ahead with a merger. Mergers are difficult, as both the companies will try to retain its work culture. If the merging company is only interested in making profits, they avoid following Dansko’s “Mom and Pop” culture and the Gourmet Style strategy. These strategies have made Dansko unique in the shoe industry and losing their identity can lose business.
4.2 Threat: Shoe

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