Summary: In 1998, Callaway, one of the most famous brands in the golf domain, has experienced its first loss of $ 27 million after 10 years of growth. To resolve this problem, Ely Callaway, the founder of this company, wondered if CGC (Callaway Golf Company) would have to revise the way it approached retailer relationships to raise more mutually beneficial. To address possible market confusion, should the communication strategy shift? In fall 1999, Callaway faced amount of questions; the answers would guide him in refocusing CGC’s retail channels, new-product development, and marketing strategies.

As Ely Callaway’s vision: “If we make a truly more satisfying product for the average golfer, not the professionals, and make it …show more content…

So there were no so-called substitute’s products.

Competitive rivalry:
1. In the iron and metal woods categories, CGC’s most significant competitors were Taylor Made, Titleist, Cobra, and Ping.
2. In the putter category, CGC competed with Titleist and Ping.
3. Some Japanese companies with leading-edge products also threatening to enter the U.S. market.

Recommendation
What products should be developed： I suggest CGC continue to maintain and devote to more R&D budget on Big Bertha part because it’s their strength and the main reason customers were faithful for Callaway. Yet, on the other hand, Callaway was aiming at general golf player. As the model mentioned above, the average golf player were not willing to spend so much money buying expensive clubs. Accordingly, they could try to develop lower price products with starting from using comparatively cheap materials.
However, the model analysis also mentioned that customers were pretty willing to buy more putters because the unit price was not expensive. Besides, putters were viewed as the most critical aspect to the game because most golfers were weak putters. So CGC could try to develop putters hitting much more straight.
How should CGC approach its retail partner relationships： In the case, some retail Salespeople said they often felt undereducated about CGC technology and, therefore, could not justify the high prices to their customers. I think CGC can strengthen the training for sales