Vermont Teddy Bear Company

Vermont Teddy Bear Company was founded in 1981 by John Sorinto, it was a company that made its niche selling handmade, hand sewn teddy bears in the streets of Vermont. Since its inception, the mission of the company was to provide a high quality, handmade teddy bear using materials created and manufactured in the United States.

The company was founded under the following mission statement:

"The Vermont Teddy Bear provides our customer with a tangible expression of their best feelings for their families, friends, and associates. We facilitate, communicate, and therefore participate in caring events and special occasions that celebrate and enrich our customers' life experiences.

Our products will represent unmatchable craftsmanship balanced with optimal quality and value. We will strive to wholesomely entertain our guests while consistently exceeding our external and internal customer service expectations.

The Vermont Teddy Bear brand represents the rich heritage of the "Great American Teddy Bear" begun in 1902. We are the stewards of a uniquely American tradition based on the best American virtues including compassion, generosity, friendship, and a zesty sense of whimsy and fun" (Wheelen & Hunger, 2004).

The company's operating philosophy was based on five simple, yet critical operating guidelines;

 Our Customers-They are the foundation of our business

 Our Employees-They are our internal customers

 Our Investors- They provide capital in good faith

 Our Vendors-They provide a partnership for opportunity

 Our Community- They deserve our commitment to being ethical

Since the founding of the company, The Vermont Teddy Bear Company has experienced great success, however, starting in 1995, that all changed. Since 1995, the company has gone through major management turnover, a corporate name change, multiple operational changes, and a reversal of corporate identities.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company couldn't settle on what they wanted to be known for. Mr. Sortino realized he couldn't lead the company to new, successful heights, so he elected to step down from the position of CEO and hire a replacement. Over the course of two years, the company changed CEO's on two occasions, and sales and profits continued to falter. The company altered its business plan to go away from the very popular, successful, "Bear-Grams" operating model to a less profitable retail business plan. With constant growth up to 1995, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company was a solid, efficiently ran corporation.

In 1997, the company changed CEOs for a second time in a two year period, and promoted Ms. Elizabeth Roberts to orchestrate a turnaround. She assumed the title of CEO and President, and was responsible for lowering expenses and improving profits. Ms. Roberts had the unenviable task of making difficult strategic management decisions concerning The Vermont Teddy Bear Company. Some of these decisions included things like the growth or demise of the retail industry, going overseas for materials, marketing and advertising, and product branding.

Elisabeth Robert has reflected on the enormous tasks to be accomplished. She wondered if she could successfully reposition her company and return it to profitability. The issues of external and internal factors would have to be addressed, and a strategic management plan would have to be implemented. The company lacked direction as a whole, and failure to correct the misunderstandings and lack of cohesiveness within the members of management will cause the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to continue its failures.

The first step in this process is the creation of an External Factors Analysis Summary. An EFAS is a way to organize the external factors into generally accepted categories of opportunities and threats, as well as a way to analyze how management is responding to those threats. The factors are weighted by importance to the company, and a rating is generated using a mathematical system. After the scores are calculated, the EFAS chart demonstrates how well a company is responding and managing those threats. It is also a useful tool to compare the company to other companies in their chosen field of expertise and production. Below is an EFAS table for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company.

External Factor Analysis Summary: The Vermont Teddy Bear Company

External Factors Weight Rating Weighted Score Comments

Opportunities:

Popularity of gift giving 0.05 2.50 0.13 Specialty gifts on the rise

Additional markets outside the U.S. 0.05 2.50 0.13 Europe and China are increasing markets

Increased popularity of the internet 0.25 4.00 1.00 Opportunity for virtual stores and world wide appeal

Collectors Market 0.05 2.00 0.10 Increased avenue for high-end bears

Brand recognition through the use of Bear-Grams 0.15 1.50 0.23 Popularity of advertising for specific markets

Threats:

Competition from new companies 0.10 2.00 0.20 No new competitors that pose a threat

Government regulations 0.05 4.00 0.20 Well positioned

Foreign manufacturing by competitors 0.15 3.00 0.45 Starting to explore our opportunities with foreign manufacturing

Reduced disposable income by consumers 0.05 4.00 0.20 GNP remains high, stock market is doing well

Technological advances, the addition of the internet for price comparisons. 0.10 2.50 0.25 Continued development of website and virtual stores

Total Scores: 1.00 2.88

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company as a whole has done a poor job of determining a course of action for their company. The constant changing of operational directions, failure to recognize successful business