Background Information LeapFrog Enterprises was founded in 1995 by Mike Wood. Origins date back to 1990 when Mike Wood had an epiphany. He was playing with his 3 year old son and trying to help him recognize letters. It was then Wood came up with the idea of phonemic awareness. Wood took $15,000 of his own money to invest in a patent. Upon advice from friend he had 20 mothers test the products marketability. Of the 20 mothers, all 20 loved the concept. In 1995 LeapFrog Enterprises released their first product, the Phonics Desk which integrates technology with research-based learning model for phonics instruction. Toys R Us bought 40,000 units for the upcoming holiday season. This came out to be a $2.4 million order and allowed Wood to …show more content…

This is when there became a public interest in phonics. Various approaches were considered to this problem during the 1980s and 1990s but only caused some reading wars due to the dislike of specific reading instructions. This may become a problem with LeapFrog because parents may not like how they are instructing children. Parents may not approve of this style of teaching and not allow their children to use such phonics devices. But LeapFrog and emerged into a leader in the method of phonics. Phonics hit the news during the Bush administration and this is when LeapFrog became readily available with products to help kids learn. Managing two business models can be very hard. LeapFrog needs to not lose sight of either of its two business models. They need to stay focused on producing a toy as well as being an educational publisher. LeapFrog focuses their toy sales to four key retailers. They include high efficiency purchasing and inventory management systems. There are a few risks that have become afloat. They include accurate planning, fulfillment execution, and product acceptance by the consumer. LeapFrog needs to accurately plan out what they want to produce. They need to look at what the consumer wants or needs and execute a plan to its fullest potential. A prototype must be accepted by consumers before production. The SchoolHouse division probably has the highest risk. Schools are becoming so much more diverse that it is hard for LeapFrog to keep up