Critical Facts • Introduction and Growth: Santa Cruz Bicycles (SCB) is a company started in 1993 by a former professional skateboarder Rob Roskopp who teamed with fellow skaters Mike Marquez and Rich Novak. The company evolved from manufacturing “simply advanced” full suspension bikes in 1993 to today’s “cutting edge” performance bikes known for their unique Virtual Pivot Point (VPP) system. (Santa Cruz Bicycles, 2014) A company who had a revenue of $6 million in 1990’s increased its sales by more than 40 percent a year. (Duvall, 2007) • Journey with the new suspension system, VPP: After acquiring the patent for their VPP from Outland Bikes in 1999 (Roskopp, 2001), the first prototype of the frame designed by VPP suspension system after 3 months of design work and 4 months of custom fabrication by outside machine shops. The first test results were devastating and Joe Graney, the engineering manager in one of his interviews said that - "It only took one ride to realize that the thing sucked. Here we were seven months in, a lot of money in the hole, without a bike to bring to market." This failure brought the weakest link in the company’s research and development process into light. (Duvall, 2007) • First prototype, an Eye-opener: Santa Cruz Bicycles soon realized that, to capitalize on its patented VPP technology and ultimately grow the business, it had a find a way to get the designs off the drawing board into prototypes faster. Though the company was using AutoCAD software to render new designs, it was taking too long to have the working prototype machined from vendors. The delays meant that in the event of prototypes failing, designs had to be redeveloped which had a catastrophic effect on company’s finances. (Duvall, 2007)... ... middle of paper ... ...les. (D. Milner, Interviewer) Retrieved from http://www.bikeradar.com/: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-rob-roskopp-owner-of-santa-cruz-bicycles--28844/ Santa Cruz Bicycles. (2008). BLUR LT 2008 Release. Retrieved from santacruz-pl.com: http://santacruz-pl.com/attachments/article/71/Old%20BLT2%20Press%20Release.pdf Santa Cruz Bicycles. (2014). Santa Cruz Bicycles. Retrieved from www.santacruzbicycles.com: http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/us/company Shepherd, K. (2013, Feb 15). PTC Creo helps Santa Cruz Bicycles grow revenues in a downy economy. Retrieved from creo.ptc.com: http://creo.ptc.com/2013/02/15/ptc-creo-helps-santa-cruz-bicycles-grow-revenues-in-a-down-economy/ Stackpole, B. (2006, Nov 3). Smooth Ride to PLM. Retrieved from www.managingautomation.com: http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/magazine/read/view/Smooth_Ride_to_PLM_3571735
"The Santa Fe Trail Lives On!" Welcome to SFTNet, the latest manifestation of the Santa Fe Trail saga. This service is designed for trail buffs, students, researchers, travelers on the trail--in short, anyone with an interest in historic or contemporary developments along the Santa Fe Trail. What Is The Santa Fe Trail? As many who read this introduction will know, the Santa Fe Trail is an ancient land route of communication between the desert Southwest of what is now the United States and the prairies and plains of central North America. In the Southwest it was also part of a longer route that ran down the Rio Grande into what is now northern Mexico. American Indian peoples used the route to trade the agricultural produce of the Rio Grande Valley and the bounty of the plains, such as jerked buffalo meat and buffalo hides. When the Spanish conquistador Onate came to New Mexico in 1598, he and his soldiers followed this ancient route as they explored the plains and traded with the peoples there. During the next two centuries the Spanish gained an intimate knowledge of the plains and the routes between the Mississippi-Missouri river systems and the Southwest. Then, in 1821, a trader from Missouri, William Becknell, came to Santa Fe along what was to become known as the historical route of the Santa Fe Trail. He opened the Santa Fe Trail as a commercial route between what was then ...
The first skateboards were made in the 1950’s being used as an exciting activity to take part in when the waves were down. From then and now the sport has changed tremendously, thanks to a group of young skaters from a slum area of Venice Beach or Dog-town, as the locals called it, known as the z-boys in the 1970’s. Even though skateboarding was already known and invented, the z-boys are the ones who made skating famous and took it to new heights in popularity. But how did they do this? The Z-boys made this sport what it is today, and played a very important part in the history and evolution of skateboard style and quality.
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...
The Snurfer was good start, but never really gained traction as anything other than a small hill hobby. It wasn’t til Dimitrije Milovich entered the scene that people started seeing the potential of the snowboard. “Milovich was introduced to snowboarding in 1970 by Wayne Stoveken. Two years later, he dropped out of Cornell University, moved to Utah and started testing his prototype boards.” (MacArthur 1). It was Milovich’s sole desire. During the year of 1974 Dimitrije began making boards in his garage with a few of his close friends. By 1976 he founded the company Winterstick. Under this name Dimitrije ...
...r," in 1885, which he never patented. It had a steerable front wheel that had easier turning, equally sized wheels and a chain drive to the rear wheel. As with the original velocipede, safety bicycles had been much less comfortable than high-wheelers precisely because of the smaller wheel size. Bicycle historians often call this period the "golden age" because many people could ride the bike without dying or injuring themselves.
he TriFit system was designed by Polar, the technological innovators in heart rate monitors since 1977. Polar, which was once known as Healthfirst, swtiched its name to Polar in the 1990's which is when it developed the firt model of the Trifit software. The first EKG accurate wireless heart rate monitor was invented by Polar back in 1977 as a training tool for the Finnish National Cross Country Ski Team. The concept of "intensity training" by heart rate swept the athletic world in the eighties. By the 1990's individuals were looking to heart rate monitors not only for performance training needs, but also for achieving everyday fitness goals. Today, the same concept of heart rate training is being used by world-class athletes as well as everyday people trying to lose weight.
More people (94%) have new requirements for bicycles; the customers need bikes in different fields.
With an annual CEO change since start-up, it is apparent that Segway's lack of a stated vision and mission is haunting the organization. The lack of "a way ahead", coupled with a less than well defined marketing strategy, has caused Segway to fall short of Kamen's expectations. Kamen, while a definite asset to Segway, could be a detour or even a dead end on the company's road to success. Historically, Kamen's successes have been based on his abilities to be innovative in research and design, while at the same time being able to pass the developed product off to a partnering company that is able to take the product to market. Kamen's emotional attachment to Segway is preventing its success. As if these problems were not enough, combined with the fact that there was no pent up demand for such a product, Segway's future success will be dependent
"Harley-Davidson: At Last" as presented in Hartley's Marketing Mistakes and Successes presents the circumstances around HD's near collapse and since rinse to near mythic success. This case is a great example of marketing myopia; HD saw them-selves as full-size motorcycles' manufactures, not in the transportation, or even the entertainment industry. They believed no one bought motorcycles for transportation, but rather for leisure time use.
Italian manufacturer Piaggio ranks as one of the world’s top four players in its core business. It has consolidated leadership in the European 2-wheeler market. Piaggio should not miscalculate its competitors. Competition in the industry is very powerful, not only nationally but internationally as well. This is due to two well-established companies in this sector which are the Japanese Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha and Honda strengths are their long-run experience in the sector and the high quality image of products. Due to participations to the motorcycle championships, these two companies constantly receive positive feedbacks to their efforts in researching for first class products. In the future, other kinds of competitors are expected to arise: Chinese companies whose ability to imitate and create similar products at highly competitive prices is getting more and more dangerous (Piaggio, 2008)
"We fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling, by providing to motorcyclists and to the general public an expanding line of motorcycles and branded products and services in selected market segments."
Jeff, Shel, and a contractor named Paul Barton-Davis built the prototype for Amazon.com in Jeff's garage in Seattle. The garage was heated by an oven in the middle of the room. There were extension cords everywhere. Jeff built desks made from doors that he purchased at Home Depot for sixty dollars each.
In this paper the topic of the Triumph Motorcycle Company’s history will be covered from the very first motorcycle Siegfried Betteman and Muaritz Schulte Betteman built; to the motorcycles the new owner John Bloor and his 600 employees are building at the Hinkley factory in Great Britain. Triumph Motorcycle Company has been overly concerned about the quality and performance of the bikes that leave the shop. With their concern, the company that started from strapping a motor to the downpipe of a bicycle has made it through two world wars and a depression. They changed that simple concept to a highly engineered and well thought out quality bike.
It has been a decade in the making, but the mountain bike has become a
Women are seen as still being relatively new in the Harley Davidson world and they are working hard to cultivate these relationship. A common theme is that women are not taken seriously when it comes to the topic of motorcycles. Leslie Prevish, who previously worked for Harley Davidson, is a big promoter of women ridders and created the “garage party” to market to women (Zube, 2013). Harley Davidson understands the needs of women and is therefore marketing deeper to reach these needs and build loyalty with