Statement And Description Of Central Issue Report Example

VANS: SKATING ON AIR CASE STUDY

VANS: SKATING ON AIR CASE STUDY

Introduction

Vans Inc. is considered as one of the largest and most profitable manufacturer of shoes in the global market. The success of the private corporation relies on the networking structure created by its founder and CEO’s that allows the company to manufacture and market its products in the global market. The main focus of the company is always on the designing section and the manufacturing department that allows maintaining low cost in production and adds an extra advantage to the corporation. In this report paper a case study of Vans has been discussed by providing statement and description the central issues. Besides, the identification of alternatives, rationale for selection of best possible alternatives and the implementation plans has been reviewed thoroughly.

Vans brand had reached a gigantic success in the year 2002 by outperforming most brands of the industry. The monumental success had suddenly transformed the company into a business worth $350 million. In order to keep pace with the rapid growth and the increase demand of the company manufactured products created an essentiality for an improved strategy that could guide the future expansion of the brand. The then CEO and President of Vans, Gary Schoenfeld had strongly felt that the brand was facing a crossroads. While the corporation was highly pleased with the current market success Gary Schoenfeld figured out that the company had not yet achieved to its maximum potential. Gary Schoenfeld had not bothered about the growth factor of current time but he had raised questions about how set up routes to drive the nest stage of expansion of Vans. Taken the unique culture and brand of Vans under consideration, Gary Schoenfeld was certainly interested in evaluating which product categories to participate in and which distribution channels to be considered (Kiron and Moon). It had to be the statement of central issues as far as Vans has concerned. At the very beginning of its journey Vans Corporation being a grass roots local company allowed it to make experiments with different types of designs and patterns in the shoe manufacturing industry that other large companies could not afford to do. Besides incorporating skate and surf lifestyle into the Vans brand at so early stages had proved to be huge success as customers from skate and surf communities were impressed highly by the products of Vans that led the company to reach where now Vans had to think of its future products category and distribution channels to be fruitful for further growth.

Identification of alternatives

In order to figuring out of the alternatives Gary Schoenfeld, CEO of Vans had proposed the idea than the company’s key challenges in the market would be to maintain a pace with the unpredictable, fashion conscious target demographic and in order to do that he offered to input more young skateboarding aficionados in the stuff committee to figure out the demand of young community. According to identify the alternatives Gary Schoenfeld said that here the experts are the young generation and the visions of a young passionate member of core sports was very important. The debates with Gary Schoenfeld and Steve Van Doren, a young passionate member of core sports had produced a number of alternative sports such as BMX bike riding, snowboarding; rollerblading , skiing which gad gained popularity as hardcore sports among the target demographic. Certainly after a lot of discussion Gary Schoenfeld had decided to add five sports officially but he had rejected a few sports as a hardcore sports category such as skiing and rollerblading that might not impact on the target demographic. Apart from selecting categories in which the company should participate in a lot of discussion session had been done to identify the distribution channels that should be in. Gary Schoenfeld’s inhouse listening sessions had led to the implementation of renovated marketing approach. The new approach which was developed by the company had decided to sponsor a number of carefully selected alternative sports events and same sort of entertainment. According to the discussion by sponsoring alternative sporting events company’s brand would certainly be highlighted. By taking this sort of strategies Gary Schoenfeld believed that the company’s aim to build a solid branding platform would have created. The step could also help to grow a unique heritage of the company’s brand name that would give Van a long run leadership position in the industry. Gary Schoenfeld felt that it was essential to focus on furthering the authenticity of Vans brand and connectivity with the lifestyle associated with the hardcore sports as brands like Nike or Reebok could outspend the company. Apart from all of that a promotional mix had been implemented by taking several events under consideration to promote the brand. Triple Crown Series, Vans warped Tour, Vans Skateparks, Endorsement of Athletes were some of the previous strategies that had proved to be fruitful considered again by the company. Truly the decision making procedure had seemed to be a lot difficult than it would seem to be. Categorizing the products and mix distribution model had been implemented also. Therefore, by using latest technology and distribution strategies had been identified by the corporation in order to find the alternatives. Focusing the responsibilities in the existing market had been also identified as one of the most important things by Schoenfeld to ensure the next stage for growth. In order to impress the target demographic, when the youth grown up to adults they wanted more thrill the BMX had produced huge excitement and thrill for the young generation. To maintain the rapid expansion of Vans, company decided to increase its market share. The increase in sports affiliation had one of the major points by Vans to identifying the target demographic. Besides a variety of collections for different categories had been one of the strategies to make inroads in the athletics industry. The company had also decided to look for what types of products were preferred by athletes to get the advantage in manufacturing that sort of products. Improving technology in the product making had been also taken under consideration.

Rationale for selection of best alternative

The selection of best alternatives was not an easy task for Vans and its CEO. With the influences in terms of games and sports a lot of justification can be found in the selection of alternatives for the corporation. Expanding its networking structure into a number of directions Vans started to build association for the organizations further progress. The increase in the sports affiliation and the promotion prospective had earned precious attention from the field of athletics. Sponsorship in different kinds of sporting events like Triple Crown Series, Vans warped Tour, Vans Skateparks had been noticed hugely by the thrilling athletes. In the competitive market to compete with corporations such as Nike and Reebok it was proved to be never easy for Vans. But Vans designing and durability was hugely impressive. The tactics to choose five hardcore official sports had definitely earned a lot of respect from the whole field of athletics. Apart from that by sponsoring sporting events and other occasions related to this field had helped the company’s brand to be highlighted and it had earned popularity globally. The strategically changes was not so easy to made but best alternatives could prove to be vital in the market prospective. Implementing new technologies in order to survive in the competitive industry was a well thought out plan too by Vans. The changes in design of the products as per the liking of clients had its own impact to. The technology had also brought down the production cost of the corporation that proved to be helpful in order to remain flexible as far as budget had concerned. In the distribution section the introduction of a newly launched product had been promoted highly in the events to have its maximum impact. By getting associated with the unsaturated market the company had increased competition with corporate giants of the same industry. Besides by focusing on the current market and by promoting events a lot of positives had come out. Endorsement of Athletes had proved to be huge success as the promotional mix strategy of the company produced more than 600 athletes in promotional the products. By offering so much to the athletic field as well as athletes Vans expanses had to be criticized a bit. By investing so much in the events and promotion, company had to figure a further way out. As creating new designs had worked for the company to make its popular more demanding in the market especially among the sports persons it could be justified as a well thought out planning. Surprisingly categorizing the products and mix distribution model was effectively as popular as any other. Product category section and a mixed product strategy had served quite impressively. To tackle the competition from Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Airwalk CEO Gary Schoenfeld intended focusing on branding as he thought it would be the best way out to make further progress. The decision had certainly gained impact as the branding improved the demand of company manufactured product. Increasing the sales outlet in order to maximize marketing had also impacted in product distribution. The mix channel in distribution with its associates also helped the company improving sales and revenue figures. So the alternative decisions were highly justified. Serious thinking and decision making from the managerial level and the CEO had certainly made the company to walk along the right way to extent further growth. Manufacturing new products for the sports persons and for the Z-boys were as important according to the CEO of Vans as the company had its identification with the grippy shoe. Vans music outlets, skate shops, retail shops and events organized such as the Warped Tour was so impressive indeed. By these sorts of stuffs Vans able to reach closer to its target demographic. A huge response as well as respect had been earned by the company from its customer segment as it was so popular brand in the community. Sports persons and thrill lovers always expected something new from Vans and by keeping their words in mind Vans had always succeeded to provide something extra to its clients. CEO Gary Schoenfeld mentioned that in order to stay at the leadership in the market Vans had to keep pace with the changing styles and preferences with its customers. By taking this under consideration it helped immensely to judge the idea of customer’s preference and select plans according to that. Most importantly most of the alternatives strategies selected by the company were highly justified and it had significant relation with the market. To protect a company from its market rivals and in order to make further expansion the decisions were significantly impressive. The proactive mindset of the CEO of Vans had its own unique advantage in order to figure out the answers of his own questions. Certainly Vans market analysis was justified in its decision making too.

Description of implementation plan

The implementation of plans had been said to be done by considering past model of Vans. In the product category section a mixed product strategy had been followed by Vans that included Signature Collection, Pro series Collection, Skate Performance Collection, Skate Casual Collection, and Classical Collection. The categorical division in shoes had implemented as a well thought out strategy to impress the target demographic. The general philosophy behind the company’s product strategy was to generate a portfolio of products to correspond with Vans various distribution stations. The distribution procedure was needed to be revised as well. The retail and wholesale divisions were the main distribution channels. Retail sector of Vans owned 65 outlets that sold a variety of ranges for men, women and children. The company had also estimated by the end of 2002 the company retail outlets would be supplemented with 11 skateparks that could sell Vans products such a footwear, accessories and apparel. On the wholesale market Vans wholesale partners and associates were divided into three categories as Independent Specialty skate Stores, Mall-based Specialty Stores, Sporting Goods Stores and Better Department Stores and thirdly Moderate Departmental Stores and Family Footwear Stores. In order to triple its current annual revenue Vans expanded its production lines. In case of distribution channels Van product selling finished several statistical distribution channels. According to Vans CEO, Gary Schoenfeld had considered six business lines in order to reorganize the corporation such as Men’s Footwear, Women’s Footwear, Kids’ Footwear, Apparel, Entertainment, and Hard Goods. Entertainment business would include warped Tour, Triple Crown Series, Dogtown movie and Hard Goods Business would include helmets, pads, and wheels. The outdoor line of Vans had also been said to be revised as per choices by the company.

Conclusion

In order to make a conclusion of the Vans case study it can be stated that the company’s CEO Gary Schoenfeld had a huge impact in the success of Vans. Vans had its own bad patches in the past when it had not adapted itself according to the circumstances of the market that led it to its bankruptcy but the vision of Gary Schoenfeld certainly reflected in the decision making of the company. In the growing stages of the company the CEO was really had his visions for the future to secure further growth in the market. The alternatives decision making and its implementation should be highly regarded to evaluate what should be the distribution channels and product categories to be focused to secure further improvement in the industry. Conclusively it can be mentioned that the logical decision making can help the corporation to achieve its target can be rest assured.

Work Cited

Kiron, David, and Youngme Moon. Vans. Boston, MA: N.p. Print.