Carpenter/Sanders 1e Video Descriptions

Swiss Army – How Strategic Decisions Are Made – 9:19: Imagine losing ten percent of your worldwide sales virtually overnight.  After 9/11, this was reality for Victorinox, manufacturer of the world famous Swiss Army Knives.  For this video, we travel to the tiny town of Ibach, Switzerland, to investigate the steps taken by this century old company as they reacted to the sudden decline in sales.  The video examines the company history and how it has affected the Victorinox philosophies and management decisions.  Various decision making theories are discussed along with a discussion of the potential hazards that sometimes accompany group decision making.

Dunkin Donuts – Responding to the External Environment – 10:29: Dunkin’ Donuts has many strengths (quality and freshness, flavor and variety, good value, convenient locations, strong brand presence).  However, the company has to deal with powerful, new competitors, including Starbucks and Krispy Kreme.

Dawn Robertson/Federated Direct – Responding to the External Environment – 7:57: Federated Direct, which owns Bloomingdale’s and Macys, was losing market share due to intense competition from discount stores, online retailers, and specialty shops. The retail positioning strategy of both stores was based on offering a broad assortment of merchandise in one location – a one-stop shop. Customer buying habits are now changing from wanting everything under one roof to seeking out specialty shops. This change in buying habits led Dawn Robertson, President and Chief Merchandising Officer, to redefine its brand and image.

Starbucks – Employees as Firm Resources – 13:14: Starbucks’ strategy is based on four pillars: 1) Providing the best coffee, 2) Offering the finest products associated with coffee, 3) Creating an environment that is inviting, and 4) Being socially responsible. The phenomenal growth of this Seattle-based company can be found through the implementation of these pillars by its “partners” or employees. The result is a company that is passionate about creating a coffeehouse experience. Connecting with the customers through its partners and listening to their suggestions for innovation is how Starbucks will remain locally relevant and not become a faceless logo. As the company expands globally, its challenge is to stay locally relevant, but keep the experience consistent. Starbucks intends to achieve this through its partners. The company spends more money on taking care of its employees through training and benefits than it does on marketing. As the company sees it, if it takes care of the employees, they will take care of the customers.

Whirlpool – Response to Global Competition – 11:26: Whirlpool knows that better productivity and quality can provide a world-class competitive advantage.  The 3,000 employees in the two-million-square-foot Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio, turn out 14,000 automatic washing machines every working day---one-half of all such appliances sold in the United States.  Still, Whirlpool is being squeezed by the dual pressures of global competition and prices that ignore inflation.  To cope, Whirlpool has consolidated the U.S. production of automated washing machines at the Clyde facility; invested in developing innovative technology for its washing machines; sought customer feedback about features and benefits; taken the long view of overall costs; encouraged employee involvement in production improvements; and added corporate support for benchmarking, continuous improvement, and other techniques.  Not only do employees share pride in the accomplishments of their teams, they share in the financial rewards of cost savings achieved through productivity improvements at the Clyde facility.

Hasbro – Focusing on Cost in an Industry Where You Need Differentiation – 9:30: Hasbro is a worldwide leader in entertainment products and services, such as GI Joe, Candy Land, the Easy Bake Oven, and Monopoly. Hasbro is a $3 billion company with brands in 100 countries and launching 1,000 new products each year. The company attributes its success to staying ahead and anticipating the changing needs of the marketplace by making games consistently relevant to consumers. Even with big brands and successful products, Hasbro knows that if its marketing and distribution strategies are not executed correctly, the products will fail. World-class logistics and an efficient supply chain are critical for Hasbro to remain competitive and work with powerful retail stores.

Skechers USA – Responding to Customer Needs – 12:19: Skechers USA <www.skechers.com> enjoys a reputation for producing fashionable footwear that combines comfort with innovative design. The Manhattan Beach, California firm distributes its product line in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world. Since its start in 1992, Skechers has nurtured its image as a marketer of “cool shoes for cool people”— men, women, and children in the 12-to-24-year-old market segment, as well as older consumers who want to feel young. Rather than try to influence the market with the products it makes available, Skechers carefully researches customer needs and attitudes, then uses this information to shape its product, promotion, distribution, and pricing activities. Skechers has gained market share while competing against some powerful players in the shoe industry by building a megabrand with integrity and a distinctly youthful personality.

Marriott – Focus on Creating a Superior Product/Service – 9:06: Quality and consistent service is Marriott’s main focus and keeps the company in the top position in its industry. The company is responsible for pioneering segmentation in the hospitality industry. With a wide array of hotels, Marriott meets the needs of various customer segments. Before developing any additional hotels chains and their respective brands, the company always tests properties first. Marriott is active in soliciting feedback from its customer base and focuses on really understanding its customer targets.

Body Glove – Spreading a Brand Through Vertical Integration – 13:53: As avid surfers and divers the two brothers who founded Body Glove began manufacturing wetsuits in the 1950's;after discovering neoprene kept them warmer than the rubber wetsuits of the time. The high costs of neoprene and labor in the U.S. forced the company to outsource its manufacturing to Thailand. After forty years of providing customers with the highest quality of professional grade surfing and diving apparel, Body Glove decided to focus on international branding, lending its name to a wide range of goods and services that includes neoprene cell phone covers, resort hotels and diving cruises. Today Body Glove's management team no longer worries about inventory and production costs.

Procter and Gamble –Diversifying to Meet Customer Needs – 14:53: The cornerstone of P&G’s success is building brands. Over the 100 plus years the company has been in existence, P&G has built 250 brands. It has sales of $40 billion and is in 130 countries. Ivory soap was the first consumer product developed and became the model for other product development. In the process of making Ivory soap, air bubbles mistakenly ended up in the bar. The result was floating soap – a product that met a consumer need. This is how P&G builds other products and brands – by understanding the customer.

Organizational Change – Integrating Two or More Cultures – 8:44: Change is one of the challenges every manager can count on facing, as the employees and managers of Student Advantage attest to.  Acquisition has been one of Student Advantage's most successful growth  strategies, and the company's managers recognize the potential for corporate cultures to collide instead of meshing in the course of this kind of change.  They discuss several strategies they have used to avoid conflict between cultures and other aspects of change that, for this firm, has so far been mostly top down.

Strategic Role of HRM – Integration from the Target Firm's Point of View – 13:04: Hot Jobs was founded in 1996 as both a website and a recruitment software package that would allow clients to create a private job board.  The company finds itself on the verge of accepting a hostile bid by Yahoo! Aside from the legal ramifications of this merger/acquisition deal, Hot Jobs HR specialists will have to address the human needs of its 700 employees during this upheaval.  Additionally, Hot Jobs is still reeling from the impact of the World Trade Center Tragedy and some employees are looking to HR from some concrete answers about the future of the firm.  Hot Jobs is a relatively young company with a young staff, most people there are facing corporate transition for the first time.

Channeling Resources: Regal Marine – Managing Alliances, Supply Chain - 9:58: Regal Marine industries is a family-owned and -operated manufacturer of luxury performance boats and yachts that employs about 680 people.  This firm competes in a multibillion dollar industry and relies on top-quality suppliers and distributors in 45 different countries.  Explaining how the company manages its supply chain to ensure the highest quality at the lowest possible costs, director of materials Marty Clement discusses the link between purchasing, cost control, and parts inventory.  Some of the strategies and techniques he specifies include supplier partnerships, continuous improvement (both within the firm and among its suppliers), an industry buying group, and close interaction between suppliers and shop floor employees.  With purchasing running at about 60 percent of sales, the firm depends heavily on its suppliers to help it control costs.

Student Advantage – 8:44: Most teenagers are familiar with the student advantage discount card, saving them up to 50% on every day purchases on and off campus, including transportation on US Airways, Amtrak, and Greyhound. Keeping pace with the growing consumer base among high school and college students, Student Advantage, Inc. has successfully implemented an aggressive growth strategy.  Working with hundreds of colleges, universities and campus organizations, and more than 15,000 merchant locations, the company reaches customers offline through the Student Advantage Membership and online through its website. Eleven acquisitions in its ten years of existence have taught this company and its young CEO, Ray Sozzi, that communication is the key to successful organizational change.