Solar Feeder
...wn production greatly, causing a lot of down time and production reject. Production output was low, overhead cost (rental plus labor cost) was fixed, the company could not produce the required quantity to break even overhead cost. One day Ed Welsh and his brother Richard were watching basketball when Richard was distracted by a squrriel assaulting the bird feeder on his newly constructed deck. Seeds accatered everywhere as the squirrel loaded it's cheek with seeds to bring back to ther nests. Ed seeing his brothers frustration decided to do something about those pesky squirrels. After trials and tribulation the idea for a solar feeder emerged. The solar feeder would get energy from the sun during the day and be batteried powered during the night. When a squirrel tries to get seeds from the bird feeders the squirrel would get a jolt and this was the basic functionality. Ed had taken the solar feeder to the to Habitat for Humanity auction, the feeder generated more interest than any other product at the auction and it won highest price bid for any item. Bo Haeberle, one of Ed's friends, developed an interest for the feeder. Together Ed and Bo joined forces and formed Squirrel Defense Inc. (SDI). Although the Solar Feeder was a great idea and genereated a huge amount of interest there were still some challenges that Bo and Ed were about to encounter. Industry Anaylsis Major Issues: Although there are numerous problems facing SDI and its leadership (short on capital, insufficient and inefficient production, poor marketing, etc.), these “symptoms” are a reflection of management’s lack of business knowledge, engineering knowledge, and an overall lack of strategic direction. Industry Definition: For the purpose of this analysis, SDI is assumed to be in the bird feeder industry. More specifically, the company is in the strategic group that concentrates on high-end, squirrel resistant bird feeders. Driving Forces: 1. Increase in the number of bird watchers (growing market) 2. Geographic influence – bird watchers seem to be concentrating in certain areas 3. Technological advancements in bird feeder design. Competition in this field is not strong. Although there are competitors who offer cheaper than SDI, still it unappealing and does not offer the solar feeder's technology. Growth opportunity is fairly high considering the extremely high demand. There is strong evidence of the need of changing the production line and promotion strategies to suit the customer preferences. The wholesaler and retailer dema...