Mgt485 Vermont Teddy Bear Company Swot

The following is an analysis of Vermont Teddy Bear Company Inc.'s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT).

IFAS (Internal Factor Analysis Summary)

Internal Weight Rating Weighted Comments

Strategic Factors Scores

Strengths

Employee training and loyalty 0.05 5 0.25 Key to Tourist success

Remote access and ordering 0.20 4 0.80 800 # and internet

Product quality 0.15 5 0.75 Good quality and guarantee

Customer Satisfaction 0.20 4 0.80 Customers are satisfied

0.00

0.00

0.00

Weaknesses

High Prices/Cost 0.15 1 0.15 Reduce prices through out sourcing

Retail stores 0.10 2 0.20 Especially NY

Weak financial position 0.15 3 0.45 Losing Money

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

TOTAL SCORES 1.00 3.40

EFAS (External Factor Analysis Summary)

External Weight Rating Weighted Comments

Strategic Factors Scores

Opportunities

The West and Northwest of US 0.15 2 0.30 WA, OR, ID and CA

Global Positioning 0.17 1 0.17 Currently only in US

Reduce cost by outsourcing over seas 0.20 2 0.40 Labor overseas

0.00

0.00

Threats

New Competitors 0.15 3 0.45

Toy competitors 0.10 4 0.40 Stuffed animals

Remote gifting competition 0.15 4 0.60 Flowers, Cards, Candy, Cookies

Build-A-Bear 0.08 2 0.16 Cheaper w/convenient stores

TOTAL SCORES 1.00 2.48

SFAS (Strategic Factor Analysis Summary)

Weight Rating Weighted Comments

Scores

Reduce cost by outsourcing over seas (O + W) 0.20 2 0.40 Labor overseas

Global Positioning (O) 0.15 1 0.15 Currently only in US

Remote gifting competition (T) 0.15 4 0.60 Flowers, Cards, Candy, Cookies

Build-A-Bear (T) 0.05 2 0.10 Cheaper w/convenient stores

Product quality (S) 0.15 5 0.75 Good quality and guarantee

Remote access and ordering (S) 0.15 5 0.75 800 # and internet

High Prices/Cost (W) 0.15 2 0.30 Reduce prices through out sourcing

TOTAL SCORES 1.00 3.05

There are many changes facing the Vermont Teddy Bear Company Inc.'s new CEO. She needs to make the company profitable and position it to stay profitable in the future. There are many factors that influence the position and profitability of a company.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company has several strengths the CEO can emphasis to help the company and improve motivation. The first strength is employee training and loyalty (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). We know that the company's employees are not unionized (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). The company also does not seem worried about the possibility of their employees unionizing, showing the employees are happy and content (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). This is a wonderful strength for the company. Happy and content employees are essential to the prosperity of the tourist business that exists in their Vermont factory (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004).

Remote access ordering is another of the company's strengths. There are increasingly three kinds of people, those who want to go to the store, those who want to order over the phone and those who prefer the internet (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). Online ordering and the 800 phone number provide fast and convenient access to the company's products and give customers the option to use which ever method is more comfortable for them. Many companies are establishing online order models to provide convenience for consumers, this is essential to the success of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company they stay on top of internet technology (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004).

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company has a very high quality product and customers are very satisfied (Vermont, 2005). The company's jointed bears are dressed to the specifications of the consumer and then back be a lifetime guarantee (Vermont, 2005). If anything happens to the bear they will replace no matter what caused the damage (Vermont, 2005). Most of the bears bought through the Vermont Teddy Bear Company are bought as collectables instead of toys so the risk that they will need to be replaced is relatively low but the guarantee increases the customer's willingness to pay higher prices (Vermont, 2005).

Although the lifetime guarantee can increase the acceptable price in a consumer's mind, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company prices are extremely high, especially for customized bears, as much as three hundred dollars per bear. This is one of the weaknesses of the company. Many people collect bears but if that is the only market you are targeting it can get saturated fairly easily (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004). If they offer some bears in the twenty to forty dollar range they will attract more customers. Once the customers start looking