Strategic Management

Assignment 1
Case 1: Jill Barads Strategy For Mattel

Submitted To:
Ms. Farah Zarak

Submitted By:
Murtaza Waheed BBA IV Section A

Q:1 What was Jill Barads primary goal for mattel in 1996? What strategies did she choose in order to pursue these goals? Ans: Jill Barads primary goal for mattel in 1996 was to increase the earning before acquisition by 15%. Her strategy for that purpose had four main elements which are listed as: To continue with highly profitable practice of extending the companys existing brand. To develop new product categories. Focusing on extending to overseas market. Cost reduction by outsourcing production to low cost foreign countries.

Q:2 why did Barads strategies fail to generate the profit growth she had planned? Could better planning have helped Barad anticipate the market trend? Ans: Barad strategy failed to generate profits because consumer were switching to computer softwares and video games rather than buying toys. This would have been planned well if barad would have analyzed the external environment well. she should have research the market to analyze the demand of existing market and the competitors action to avoid a decline in her sales. Q:3 could better decision making techniques have helped Barad avoid the decline in sales of Holliday Barbie? Ans: The major reason in sales decline was that she did not conducted an internal audit to see whether they could be successful or not. Also she based her order on intuition. She could have avoided this decline by conduction an internal audit, by focusing on strategic management that is by qualitative and quantitative analysis. Moreover more upward and downward integration should be done so that retailers could be involved who can help in giving information about customers. Q:4 How would you describe Mattels strategy as of mid 1999? Does this strategy make sense, given changing conditions in toy market? Would you describe this strategy as an emergent or planned strategy? Ans: This strategy is more of an emergent strategy as it involved a series of events such as the acquisition of various companys such as Pleasant company, cutting down of jobs, going for online ventures and establishing alliances with company such as Del. This strategy does make sense as the company is trying to maintain itself in the market by adapting to the trends in the market.