ISSUE IDENTIFICATION
The issues surrounding Holey Soles include
• The inability to have a high market share due to dominance from Crocs.
• How to reach the goal of $40 million revenue while deciding upon expansion.
But the current impending issue is how to reach the goal of $40 million by 2009.
THE INJECTION MOLDED FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Strengths
• Fast growing company.
• Focused on innovative lifestyle products.
• Unique SoleTek and Smartcell foam technologies.
• Competitive pricing for a high quality product.
• Spend time in training and mentoring employees.
• Strong customer service
• Work with clients of all sizes
• Canadian company image.
• Joyce Groote’s management expertise.
• Low cost production in China …show more content…

Alternative 3: Use a more aggressive marketing strategy

Decision criteria:
Alternatives Growth Rate Market Share Low Cost Cash Flow Competitive Advantage Total Alternative 1 1 2 4 2 1 12
Alternative 2 5 4 1 5 5 17
Alternative 3 3 3 3 3 3 14

Scale: 1 = Low , 5 = High
Rational:
By focusing only on clogs reaching the goal of $40 million by 2009 seems unrealistic considering the intense competition from Crocs in this area. Because Crocs has taken so much market share in the injection molded footwear industry one way to curb this disadvantage is for Holey Soles expand their market by diversifying product. The company’s vision has been to develop lifestyle products and to some extent they have indulged in this areas with the innovative development of SoleTek and Smartcell foam technologies, which aided in the development of the beach bag. This strategy provides Holey Soles a competitive edge by portraying itself as a lifestyle product rather than just an ordinary footwear manufacturer.
Diversification can also help regulate the cash flow throughout the year since the demand for clog is only during the summer seasons; the introduction of more diverse products (such as hats, bags etc) would enable a stable cash flow throughout the year. Apart from that diversification would also enable more sales to existing and