Revolutionizing an Industry’s Supply Chain Model for Competitive Advantage

Answer the following questions based on attached pdf:

1. What are Crocís core competencies?

2. How do they exploit these competencies in the future? Consider the following alternatives:

3. How does Crocs illustrate the concept of the bidirectional service supply relationship?

4. How should Crocs plan its production and inventory? How do the companyís gross margins affect this decision?

5. How is the concept of “leverage” achieved by Crocs?

6. Describe an organization that is similar to Crocs that you have personally either worked with, or have first hand information of.

ANSWER 

Revolutionizing an Industry’s Supply Chain Model for Competitive Advantage

Question 1

One of Croc’s core competencies is there a vertically integrated supply chain. The company is more responsive to any fluctuations in client demand due to the highly flexible supply chain. The supply chain gives them the ability to fulfill in and out of season. The company also got its competitive advantage from the Croslite. Croslite small demo lightweight easy-to-clean and comfortable (Lim, 2020). This material enabled the company to cater to the contested market space. The lower production costs of the crops also give the company a market advantage over the competitors—introducing the clocks vegetables in the marketplace, which was driven by word of mouth advertising. The companies developed positive relationships with retailers and focused on initiatives to expand their market cap. The company’s supply chain flexibility lets it respond quickly to changes in demand.

Question 2

The company can exploit its competencies in the future in three major ways: it could consider increasing the supply chain by acquiring useful companies. Merging and acquiring smaller companies will allow Crocs to take advantage of vertical integration and grow new distribution channels. The company could also strategize to grow by product expansion. Usually, the company introduces a new product market. The company should consider developing new products by blending Croslite with other materials. The company has failed to take advantage of a few previous mergers and acquisitions. This has limited its plan to extend its Croslite technology into other markets. The company should, therefore, be careful and plan strategically on the next planned acquisition or merger. The intended goals of the acquisition should be set to be feasible and attainable.

Question 3

Manufacturing organizations using the supply chains period the major entities in, and factoring supply chain includes a surprise set of processes that includes and delivers them to the target market. Crocs good consider applying customer supply duality (Xu, 2020). This would require the customers themselves to be one of the primary suppliers of the process in which. The duality will enable the company to apply directional service supply relationships whereby the direction of production is bi-directional. Some of the managerial themes of the supply chain that the company could leverage to illustrate the concept of bidirectional supply relationships include supply base issues, supply chain integration, partnerships, supplier development, and the role of information technology.

Question 4

Crocs overcome inefficient outsourcing reducing their products. China has a low levied structure when exporting. The company can take advantage of this by primarily carrying out production in China. The company could also concentrate on other countries where there is demand but less of their products. Crocs products are already saturated in the UK and the US.

Question 5

The company achieves the concept of leverage by maximizing its net present value. Crocs have magnified the earnings before interest and tax and earnings per share. Crocs strategize to level up its profitability building up its fixed costs. Crocs financial leverage last quarter was 3.5x. Crocs could achieve leverage by expanding its operations through the acquisition of new inventory. The company could borrow money to expand into new markets rather than using its equity or asset to finance its transaction.

Question 6

Nike is one of the Crocs major competitors. Mike is a multinational corporation with headquarters in the US. The company made an operating income of more than $3.12 billion in 2020. Nike built its brand-new beautiful, and I’ll burst the evolution of marketing principally celebrity endorsements (Biggs et al., 2017). The company also acquires and mergers with competing sports brands. The company’s primary growth strategy is product development. The company relies on market penetration as its secondary growth strategy.

The company’s brand strengths include strong brand awareness, a huge customer base, a stand for sustainability, iconic relationships, side brands, low manufacturing costs, in-house professionals, superior marketing capabilities, and black community support. Some of Nike’s weaknesses include poor labor conditions in foreign countries, dependence on the US market, lack of diversification, contradicting strategies, and sexual harassment.

Some of the external strategic factors that give Nike its opportunities include emerging markets, innovative products, efficient integration, cutting ties with big retailers, acquired financial intelligence data company – Celect, and its consumer-direct strategy. Threats to the Nike brand include counterfeit products, increased competitive pressure, marketing budget, official currency, foreign exchange risks, patent disputes, economic uncertainty, and trade tensions. Nike has had a successful decade and a good fiscal 2020. The next few years look good for the brand as much as it is still indebted. Nike heavily relies on outsourcing and establishing a global presence: two things that they have achieved success

References

Biggs, J., Hinish, S. R., Natale, M. A., & Patronick, M. (2017). Blockchain: Revolutionizing the global supply chain by building trust and transparency. Rutgers University: Camden, NJ, USA.

Lim, C. C. (2018). Crocs, Inc Liquidity Risk under Firm Specific and Macroeconomic Factors. Inc Liquidity Risk under Firm Specific and Macroeconomic Factors (December 13, 2018).

Xu, L. D. (2020). Industry 4.0—Frontiers of fourth industrial revolution. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(4), 531-534.