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Running head: L.L. Bean SWOT and risk analysis

L.L. Bean SWOT and risk analysis 2

L.L. Bean SWOT and risk analysis

Name: Zahia Sindi

Course: Business

Date:Oct,11,15

L.L. Bean SWOT and risk analysis

L.L. Bean is an American private online, mail-order and Retail Company which was founded by Leon Leonwood Bean in 1912 and it is based in Freeport Maine, United States. L.L. Bean specializes in both clothing and outdoor recreation equipment. This company is known well for excellent customer services. Let us look at the SWOT analysis for L.L. Bean Company (Gorman, 2006).

SWOT analysis

Strengths	1. L.L. Bean has a well-established outdoor brand for over a century 2. The company is a trusted brand when it comes to quality. 3. It has a wide range and good product portfolio. 4. Since it is a family Company, there are more profit margins and less corporate hassles. 5. It faces unique competition.
Weaknesses	1. It has less international presence unlike other leading brands. 2. It is bound to maintaining its strong brand presence. 3. Since it has specialized in outdoor, it is difficult to develop new segments. 4. No more innovation. 5. Diseconomies of scale.
Opportunity	1. Expanding its business with this digital revolution. 2. Becoming the brand with the best reputation in outdoor globally. 3. Innovations and takeovers.
Threats	1. Competition by other Companies. 2. Ease of accessing materials since the world is becoming a global village.

L.L. Bean has a number of potential risks. One of such risks is the marketing risk. It is sometimes difficult to start operating in a new region. Earning the customer trust in not an easy task. Again, identifying the customer behavior is also another challenge. One cannot predict the customer feedback towards your product. The company should first conduct a research about a region before starting their operation in that region. This will enable them to know the customer taste of that region (Gorman, 2006).

Operational risks in another potential risk. These risks may include health risks and other risks that may arise during the normal operations such as system crash. These may prevent the company’s operations from going on as planned. For workers related risks, the company should take the necessary measures to prevent or minimize them. For other like system crash, the officers in-charge should take the necessary measures.

Another potential risk is the staffing risk. At times it becomes hard to get workers with skills. Others may not perform as per the company’s expectations and misbehaving of workers. Training for new employees also become expensive and time consuming. The company should hire employees with an experience to curb this risk. Financial risk is another potential. The company requires funds to run its operations which may not be available. Foreign investment may also fail or perform poorly than expected. The company should develop strategies that cater for such risk (Witherell, 2012).

Managerial risk is another potential risk in L.L. Bean. This may range from poor management to top management leaving the company. The company should be vigilant when hiring new management since the company’s operations and performance is based on management (Gorman, 2006).

References Gorman, L. A. (2006). L.L. Bean . Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press. Witherell, J. L. (2012). L.L. Bean, Inc. SWOT Analysis. New York: L.L. Bean, Inc. SWOT Analysis.