Business
Summary
Firewire is a surfboard company headed by CEO Mark Price, the San Diego based company is leveraging on the demand for surfboards by waterdogs and professional surfers alike. The problem with the company is that they are relatively new in the industry and their first introduced products are generally traditional made. However, the new generations of surfboarders are looking forward to boards that can be made customized according to their preferred shape and sizes. In addition, the company is also baffled by the cost of the step by step manufacturing and development of the new boards. This analysis will address the questions generated by looking closely into the factors that affects the business in general.
- Identify and describe Firewire Surfboard’s strongest competitor. How is this rival positioned in the marketplace?
Firewire surfboard has a sententious prerogative on the surf industry, carrying a range of new materials and innovating technology to the spearhead of surfboard design than the based competition’s surfboards. The two major competitors of Firewire surfboard are the Channel Islands and Lost Island. Channel Islands surfboards are the exceeding competitors of FireWire. It costs more expensive and they don’t have the angle and mobility that Firewire could only offer. Lost Island on the other hand also offers the same surfboard product, but the company’s major advantage is its ability to modify its products by offering custom made surfboards.
- Put yourself in the role of Firewire’s entrepreneurial team at the time of the company’s founding. What should they have anticipated in the way of competitor reaction and the response of prospective customers?
In order to keep up with the competition Firewire adjudicate to start making customized surfboards instead of just their usual prefabricated sizes. Firewire has been using Eco-friendly; natural materials to cultivate the performance, longevity, and style of surfboards, snowboards, and skateboards are new in the surfboard industry. The company should have anticipated the product’s market is changing over time. Surfers for instance vary from amateurs to professionals. Therefore, Firewire should have anticipated that there would be customers who would prefer customable surfboards instead of the stockpiles. The competitors have already adapted to the changes in the market niche. Firewire should consider developing their product in order to meet the requirements of their target niche.
- What is Firewire’s core competence? Is it sustainable?
Firewire's main advantage is its state-of-the-art surfboard design concepts and choice of materials. Although all the other constructors are generating polyurethane-foam-based boards, Firewire is using latest recipe for their operation. The products are proven to be durable and flexible. They are also thinking of looking for alternative materials such as bamboo, which will add more stability and strength the their original designs. It is sustainable because they are leveraging on finding ways to improve their products other than relying on the conventional materials.
- Complete a SWOT analysis for the company. Does this analysis reveal any promising future opportunities for Firewire? Will pursuit of those opportunities lead to a competitive response from current or potential rivals?
- The products are made up of Eco-friendly, natural materials to cultivate the performance, longevity. These characteristics translate to the company’s strength in terms of integrating social responsibility in product development.
- Firewire has a capacity to go global given that they were able to expand from California to Australia and place their manufacturing in Asia. Therefore, the company has enough resources for a global expansion, which will allow their brand to recognized in the international market.
Weakness:
- Lacks product variation such as customized aesthetic designs.
- Surfboard production business is seasonal.
- They are only focusing too much on surfboard making instead of capturing a bigger market by offering other related products.
- Lacks target market segmentation strategy
Opportunity:
- Expand business to locations that are more suitable for surfing all year long such as tropical countries or territories like Hawaii and or
- The company has the opportunity to capture a bigger market by means of going global instead of limiting their market in California and Australia.
Threats:
- The first possible threat is the price war among competitors because given that Firewire and its competitors are offering the same product, what would matter to the customer is the price and quality.
- Plans for global expansion would also result to threats in terms of competing with established competitors in the new market.
- Environmental policies pertaining to the use of seawaters for recreation would also pose threat of reducing the company’s current market.
- Economic conditions would result to massive decline in surfboard sales due to the market niche’s limited resources for recreation and purchase surfing products.
- What broad-based strategy is Firewire following? Is this the best way to position the company? Why or why not?
The company could introduce other product aside from boards like apparel and gears. This way the company could position the brand more effectively because in broad based strategy, there’s a lot to choose from example in the ready to wear clothes for the industrial market to be more affordable for typical people in the economy in that way the company can be more strategic and money wise, and an exceptionally good profitable feedback. Companies that are competing in the same industry adopt specific broad based strategy. As for Firewire, their strategy emphasizes on product differentiation. This is one of the best ways to position the company not just a surfboard maker, but also a one-stop shop for all surfing needs.
- Given the company’s recent shift toward increased product customization, what do you think the major challenges will be?
The only challenge that the company will face is the ability is to meet the market demands. This is because the company is currently on the process of developing their effective formula for production change, given that they will shift from producing standard boards to customized ones. It was mentioned that they are still developing the right strategy because of the struggle to cost. If the company wants to focus on customized products, they need to consider reworking on the cost by exploring other materials and suppliers. This way, Firewire would be able to meet the demand while keeping he cost at the minimum. Another challenge that they would encounter is the marketing of their customized boards because it is apparent that their competitors are already offering customized boards, it would a challenge for Firewire to squeeze into the competition if they do not develop a strong marketing strategy.
- What recommendations would you make to Mark Price, Firewire’s CEO, as he thinks about the company’s future?
It is recommend that the CEO should consider reworking on the market strategy towards increasing sales of customized products. The CEO should also consider the possibilities of investing on other merchandise other than surfboards. If the company is relying only on surfboard sales, differentiation should be used to elevate its position in the market. Mark Price should also consider restructuring his marketing strategies in order to keep up with the competition. In addition, the company should seek for expansion opportunities in locations where their products would sell all year round. California and Australia are not the only surfing capital of the world; there are other places where surfboards are selling like hotcakes and Mark Price should look into the possibilities of expansion on such places. In terms of product development, the CEO should mobilize his team of product experts to develop more unique surfboards that can be marketed not just for their customized features, but also for their aesthetic designs.
