CROCS CASE STUDY
Revolutionizing an Industry’s Supply Chain Model for Competitive Advantage
Presented by- Group 10 Akanksha Chaudhary Bharadwaj
Praveen Bandi Priyanka Shukla Sujata Gorai
Executive Summary
Three friends – Lyndon Duke Hanson, Scott Seamans, and George Boedecker, founded Crocs Inc. in the year 2002 in Colorado, USA. As the firm grew, it acquired Foam Creations in Canada to own manufacturing operations, under the leadership of Ronal Snyder in 2004, and gained sole rights.
Crocs is a designer, manufacturer and retailer of molded, casual footwear for men, women and children. All Crocs footwear feature a proprietary closed-cell resin called ‘Croslite’ that provides the wearer with extreme comfort by taking the shape of the feet of the wearer due to heat. The company boasts the footwear as being ideal for casual use as well as for professional and recreational uses viz. boating, hiking and hospitality. The product is claimed to be lightweight, slip-resistant, and odor-free, and is available in several bright colors.
Crocs shoes are sold across 129 countries and come in 250 styles. The company has also diversified into apparel and accessories. One major acquisition has been of that of Jibbitz show charms, for which the company has also acquired licensing agreements with Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and DC Comics.
The case discusses the phenomenal supply chain management of the company that has been a major reason for the success of the company, besides of course the popularity of the shoes. The achievement of an extremely flexible supply chain was the vision of Ronal Snyder, CEO, to meet customer’s demand based on the exact same principle followed by software giants. This supply chain provided Crocs with a competitive advantage in the footwear industry.
Crocs had the highest profit margin in the industry at 56.5% in 2006,