Case Study Skullcandy

Established in 2003, Skullcandy has gained its reputation for its market headphones and audio free devices. Sports enthusiast, Rick Alden, founded the consumer goods company. The young athlete’s company was founded by an idea he developed while on a ski lift. Alden saw an opportunity when removing his headphones to pick up a phone call. The entrepreneur was known for his non-conformer behavior and was persistent in creating headphones that could seamlessly answer calls and play music. Once he had pitched his idea, he went full circle, and had gained a tremendous amount of fanatics that supported his vision and passion (1).
Alden may have been the one that changed the headphone industry. In the early 2000s the industry was not considered an attractive industry. There were no major players within the industry. This gave Skullcandy an advantage. However, the company did not have a sustainable competitive advantage. Its competitors were able to easily copy its designs and products. The company lost its distinctive competencies and although they were able to produce affordable headphones, competitors like Sony and
The brand had later positioned itself to sell to various consumers. Its products began to target both consumers looking for affordable disposable earphones as well as consumers interested in high-end products. The business had its main consumer base, but did not focus and allocate enough resources to further reach its niche market. Once it began to lack differentiation and saw its profit decrease, the company had recruited Hoby Darling as CEO. Darling began to develop new function-level strategies. These functional level strategies would allow the business to improve on the effectiveness of a company’s operation. There were no formal functional-level strategies established prior and this lack of innovation in quality of products led to an increase in