New Balance Strategic Management and Analysis - Example

The paper "New Balance Strategic Management and Analysis" is a wonderful example of a report on management. New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., (hereunder referred to as New Balance) is an athletics shoe manufacturer based in Boston, MA, in the United States. In addition to athletic shoe manufacturing, the company also manufactures sports apparel and other related products such as headwear, sun wear, eyewear, socks, lacrosse equipment, and cardio exercise equipment. To cater for its major brands in footwear and apparel, the company also produced aftercare products for the two. Although 25 percent of its production operations are in the US, the company has established its presence in more than 120 countries worldwide. In most of these countries, the company has marketing branches and has a distinct “Made in the USA” brand. According to DataMonitor (2007), the company has more than 2,800 employees in its Boston headquarters. Key employees in the company include James and Anne Davis who are double as owners.

• MACRO ANALYSIS
• Economic

Like every other company in the contemporary market, New Balance is affected by prevailing economic conditions. This means that the company has to put up with reduced sales when the economies in its target markets are not performing well. Unfortunately, sports shoes and apparel do not fall in the ‘basic needs’ category that most people are likely to purchase when faced with limited disposable incomes.

Indicators used by economists to gauge economic situations in different markets include unemployment and inflation. High unemployment rates translate into a lack of income and hence less purchasing power. Inflation on the other hand is defined as the sustained increase of price levels in a specific market over a given period of time. Since the price levels occur without an increase in the money supply in a given market, this generally erodes the purchasing power of a currency (Business Dictionary, 2010).

• Political

New Balance decided that it would retain 25 percent of its manufacturing operations in the United States (Bhat & Kannan, 2005). In addition, the sports shoe manufacturing company invested its operation in oversea markets such as China, Mexico, India, South Africa and Brazil among others. Overall, the company’s products are sold in more than 120 countries worldwide (Datamonitor, 2007). Political issues identified in the company’s case include high tariffs and non-tariff barriers as well as stringent government regulation in countries that New Balance would like to invest in the future.