SS
Mission Statement We are the world’s leading affordable and fashionable footware company, offering high quality and service while maintaining the best profitability for our stakeholders. We offer the total footware experience through our interactive Mega-stores and website allowing for total customer satisfaction. Statement of the Mission Statement This mission statement is designed to explain who we are, what we do, why we do it, and how we accomplish it. Our day-to-day and strategic actions are designed to accomplish these goals. While this statement is used for long term planning, it is subject to reassessment and restructuring on an ongoing basis. Driving Forces in the Industry Each industry has a set of driving forces, unique to that specific industry, which effects the development, maturity, and nature of an industry. The Business Strategy Game was developed to simulate different industry trends and drivers through the ability to change the industry code. It was apparent that the test run and the actual game stressed different drivers. These trends and drivers would shape the decisions of companies and develop a specific footware industry culture. The major drivers during the simulation were customer access, quality, the economy, globalization, and the presence of many substitutes. These drivers each played their role in shaping an industry based upon high competition, emphasis on image and service, high quality, and cost control (See Table I). In order to be successful in a fast business, like the footware industry, it is essential to have adequate access to the end-user. The tradition means for a footware manufacturer to reach the end-user or customer is through retail outlets. As of Year 10, the industry was completely reliant upon the retail outlets but a new option had arrived. Manufacturer began to open and operate their own outlets in the form of Mega-stores. Not only did this allow addition access to customers but gave companies direct access to the end-user. Another channel, the internet, became an option offering three distinct channels for manufacturers and thus becoming a true driving force. A second driving force was an emphasis on high quality. The game allowed many decisions to affect the desired quality rating of the shoes. One of the decisions was deciding what ratio of long-wear raw materials to normal-wear raw materials to employ in the production of shoes. High Quality became a driving force immediately after year 10. At the completion of year 10, each company was using 25% long-wear material but by year 17 the average had risen to 65%. Quality was valued by all segments of the market ranging from low end to the high end. A major driving force in any industry is the health of the overall economy. The measure of the economy in this game will be the S&P 500 value. The economy exhibits stability historically and throughout the game. In year 10, the S&P 500 was valued at 1012 and in year 17 it was valued at 1062, a steady gain of 7 points a year. Over the same period of time, the footware industry exemplified much stronger growth. The industry is valued by the FIA or the Footware Industry Average. In year 10 the FIA was valued at 1500 but by year 17 was soaring at 6292, a soaring growth of 685 points a year. Another major driving factor that has affected all industries is globalization. Globalization is a reality to all companies and affects every decision a business must make. Technological advances have made it cost effective to communicate around the globe companies are taking advantage of the resources they find as they wrap the globe. This game utilized the advantages and disadvantages of a globalized market and allowed us to explore the impact of such through our various decisions in the four available regions. The final and most prevalent driving force in the industry is the presence of many substitutes. The process of seven companies battling and vying for position created an industry defined by intense competition. This competition lead to the seven companies needs to differentiate from one another. Along with this differentiation came a need to control cost and margin and the footware industry was shaped by all of these driving forces. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Analysis was used as tool during analysis of the industry (See Table II).