Aspen, Colorado
Obermeyer, Ltd.
Aspen, Colorado
Wally Obermeyer deftly balanced his office keys and a large printout of forecasting data as he wheeled his mountain bike through the front entrance of Sport Obermeyer's headquarters in Aspen, Colorado. It was a crisp November morning in 1992; Wally paused for just a moment to savor the fresh air and beauty of the surrounding mountains before closing the door behind him. Wally had arrived at work early to start one of the most critical tasks Sport Obermeyer, a fashion skiwear manufacturer, faced each year—committing to specific production quantities for each skiwear item the company would offer in the coming year's line. The task required carefully blending analysis, experience, intuition, and sheer speculation: this morning Sport Obermeyer would start to make firm commitments for producing its 1993-1994 line of fashion skiwear with scant information about how the market would react to the line. In fact, no clear indications had yet emerged about how end-consumers were responding to the company's current 1992-1993 line. Despite the attraction of waiting for market information, Wally knew that further procrastination would delay delivery to retailers and that late delivery would reduce the exposure consumers would have to Obermeyer products.
As usual, Obermeyer's new line offered strong designs, but the ultimate success of the line was highly dependent on how well the company was able to predict market response to different styles and colors. Feedback fro
*Sport Obermeyer:* Case Analysis
Pratyusha Lakshmi Puranam
Executive Summary: Obermeyer offers a broad line of fashion ski apparel, including parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, sweaters, turtlenecks, and accessories. Parkas are considered the most critical design component of a collection; the other garments were fashioned to match the parkas’ style and color. Their products were offered in five different genders: men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and
Aspen, Colorado
Wally Obermeyer deftly balanced his office keys and a large printout of forecasting data as he wheeled his mountain bike through the front entrance of Sport Obermeyer's headquarters in Aspen, Colorado. It was a crisp November morning in 1992; Wally paused for just a moment to savor the fresh air and beauty of the surrounding mountains before closing the door behind him. Wally had arrived at work early to start one of the most critical tasks Sport Obermeyer, a fashion skiwear manufacturer, faced each year—committing to specific production quantities for each skiwear item the company would offer in the coming year's line. The task required carefully blending analysis, experience, intuition, and sheer speculation: this morning Sport Obermeyer would start to make firm commitments for producing its 1993-1994 line of fashion skiwear with scant information about how the market would react to the line. In fact, no clear indications had yet emerged about how end-consumers were responding to the company's current 1992-1993 line. Despite the attraction of waiting for market information, Wally knew that further procrastination would delay delivery to retailers and that late delivery would reduce the exposure consumers would have to Obermeyer products.
As usual, Obermeyer's new line offered strong designs, but the ultimate success of the line was highly dependent on how well the company was able to predict market response to different styles and colors. Feedback fro
*Sport Obermeyer:* Case Analysis
Pratyusha Lakshmi Puranam
Executive Summary: Obermeyer offers a broad line of fashion ski apparel, including parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, sweaters, turtlenecks, and accessories. Parkas are considered the most critical design component of a collection; the other garments were fashioned to match the parkas’ style and color. Their products were offered in five different genders: men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and