Dr. Smith Harvey

Please see my comments below.

Best of luck as you progress through the group project! – Mazhar

Grade: 5/5

I. Introduction

a. Quick run-down on Taylormade and Titleist

i. Consumer goods industry, largest in the world.

ii. Specialized good/Niche market

II. Body Paragraphs

a. Overview on industry Comment by Mazhar: Make sure to define the industry precisely. It would be easier for you to do the industry analysis when you have a clear understanding of the boundary of the industry.

i. Porter’s Five Forces model Comment by Mazhar: Make sure to assess the overall attractiveness of the industry

b. Comparison of company structure

i. Hierarchy, chain of command

c. Analyze Strategical differences Comment by Mazhar: You should look at Cost Leadership VS. Differentiation strategies Diversification – scope of business Diversification – geographic scope Also try to tie them to the industry analysis you did in the previous section. Are the strategies that they follow consistent with the industry structure?

i. Marketing strategies

ii. Price

iii. Core values/Core competencies

d. Mergers and acquisition Comment by Mazhar: This should be related to corporate strategies

i. Both companies needed to realign their strategies after being bought out

1. Focus on characteristics that changed and those that changed due to restructure

e. Performance and Health of both companies Comment by Mazhar: Try to tie them with the strategies that you examined in the previous section. Include a few key financial ratios which would aid to our understanding of the past performance of the individual companies and help in comparing their relative performance.

i. Financials

ii. Parent company

f. 2 mutually exclusive scenarios that will have an impact on the market

i. Price of polyurethane increases causing a bottle neck effect on the golf ball portion of the market. Comment by Mazhar: These are two good mutually exclusive scenarios.

ii. Cheap imitations being sold online under false pretenses, waters down the market by undercutting prices.

III. Conclusion

a. Wrap things up with a quick summary of the topics covered

b. Provide our final opinion as a group Comment by Mazhar: Good.

c. Give a future outlook

Throughout this term we have been introduced to different concepts that businesses use to enhance their competitive advantage and sharpen their strategy to stay ahead of the curve within the market. To further delve into this topic, our group for this term wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to breakdown two competitors within the same industry to find what strengths each company exhibits and why their different strategies work.

Accompanying the general scope of our paper, the team will also include a plethora of key points that we feel delineate our findings on Taylormade’s and Titleist’s business structure, strategy, and performance. To start, the team will give a succinct overview of the consumer goods industry and how the sports sector plays its role. The consumer goods industry and currently the largest industry in the world but golf products, such as the ones Taylormade and Titleist provide, make up only a small portion. Next, the team will give their insight into the financial standing of both of the companies. Over the past few years both companies have undergone mergers and acquisitions which has caused some strategic changes to take place in order to stay competitive in the golf industry. We will also use Michael Porter’s Five Forces Framework to show the balance between buyers, suppliers, substitutes, and new entrants drive the rivalry among our two companies.

To round out our paper the team will finish by focusing on the structure of each company and contrast how they handle their manufacturing, distribution, and marketing. The team will also take this opportunity to dissect Taylormade’s and Titleist’s strategies to find which aspects of each one succeed or fail and what changes they can make for the future. This also entails our commenting on the performance of the companies for not only the past but the future outlook for the industry as well. As we analyze the outlook for the industry we will find a scenario that is plausible to happen within the next five years and take the information garnered from our previous sections to predict the performance of Taylormade and Titleist.