The Vermont Teddy Co. Inc

External Factor Analysis Summary: The Vermont Teddy Co., Inc

External Factors Weight Rating Weight Score Comments

Opportunities

Forecasting for Growth 0.1 4 0.4 At a rate of revenues

Radio market 0.2 5 1 Continue and expand

Catalog sales 0.1 3.1 0.31 At a slow rate

Promotional market 0.1 4.2 0.42 Continue and expand

Threats

Retail stores 0.1 2 0.2 Have what really need

Rapid expansion 0.1 3 0.3 At a slow rate

Competitors 0.1 4.5 0.45 Think ahead

Declined radio adver. 0.2 4.5 0.9 Continue and expand

Total Scores 1 3.98

Internal Factor Analysis Summary: The Vermont Teddy Co., Inc

Internal Factors Weight Rating Weight Score Comments

Strengths

Radio advertisement 0.2 5 1 Continue and expand

Good board of directors 0.2 4.5 0.9 Good quality

Employee satisfaction 0.1 4 0.4 Good and improve

Weakness

Financial problems 0.25 3.5 0.875 Try to cut in 1/2

Increase in interest 0.15 3 0.45 Pay more as often

Multiple buying 0.1 2.5 0.25 Decrease

Totals 1 3.875

As you develop a strategic vision for your business, there are five different criteria that you should focus on.

* Organization. The organization of your business involves the people you will have working for you, the organizational structure of your business, and the resources necessary to make it all work. What will your organization look like? What type of structure will support your vision? How will you combine people, resources, and structure together to achieve your ideal outcome?

* Observation. When you are looking down at the world from an airplane, you can see much more than when you are on the ground. Strategic thinking is much the same in that it allows you to see things from "higher up." By increasing your powers of observation, you will begin to become more aware of what motivates people, how to solve problems more effectively, and how to distinguish between alternatives.

* Views. Views are simply different ways of thinking about something. In strategic thinking, there are four viewpoints to take into consideration when forming your business strategy: the environmental view; the marketplace view; the project view; and the measurement view. Views can be used as tools to help you think about outcomes, identify critical elements and adjust your actions to achieve your ideal position.

* Driving Forces. What are the driving forces that will make your ideal outcome a reality? What is your company's vision and mission? Driving forces usually lay the foundation for what you want people to focus on in your business (i.e., what you will use to motivate others to perform). Examples of driving forces might include: individual and organizational incentives; empowerment and alignment; qualitative factors such as a defined vision, values, and goals; productive factors like a mission or function; quantitative factors such as results or experience; and others such as commitment, coherent action, effectiveness, productivity, and value.

* Ideal Position. After working through the first four phases of the strategic thinking process, you should be able to define your ideal position. Your ideal position outline should include: the conditions you have found to be necessary if your business is to be productive; the niche in the marketplace that your business will fill; any opportunities that may exist either currently or in the future for your business; the core competencies or skills required in your business; and the strategies and tactics you will use to pull it all together. (SBA)

Marketing activities and strategies result in making products available that satisfy customers while making profits for the companies that offer those products. That's it in a nutshell!

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