Ed Boehm Essay

Edward Marshall Boehm Inc. Case Study The Edward Marshall Boehm case talks about a company whose main objective is to produce the highest possible quality porcelain products while keeping a focus to nature. The following report will include the company’s vision and mission statement, their main objectives, a SWOT analysis and their specific plans in great detail. Edward Marshall Boehm’s vision for the company is â€Å"to capture that special moment and setting which conveys the character, charm and loveliness of a bird or animal in its natural habitat† with his highest possible quality porcelain products. His mission is similar to his vision statement in that he wants to make the world aware and protective of endangered wildlife by making them aware of nature’s charm. As stated in the introduction, the main objective is to make the highest objective porcelain products focused on nature. Other main objectives include trying to establish the company to stay profitable for the long run. The company is particularly focused on making their quality products with the purpose of raising awareness and raising a profit, rather than mass producing for quantity. With these objectives, they believe it will put them where they want to be in the long run. After reviewing the case we have completed a SWOT analysis to get a better idea of where they are headed. The company’s strengths are numerous and promise success. They use a very high quality porcelain clay equal to the finest in the world and have the skill to make many different beautiful figurines. Mr. Boehm is not only extremely artistically talented but also has unlimited knowledge about the art market. He also leads promotion for the company and possesses great merchandising skills. Mr. Boehm could be named as a strength himself. The porcelain figures are becoming increasingly recognized as unique, and irreplaceable as well as many becoming collector’s items; the most intricate have been priced at over $20,000. The weaknesses are less numerous than the strengths but are still existent. First, the figure making process is complex, including 52 steps. This makes it extremely hard when orders become numerous and they start to get backordered, it is hard to catch up because Mr. Boehm is the only artist. Considering at the time this case was written Boehm was 55 years old, it may be hard to view the long-term vision for the company because he may not be around to always be able to create the same quality products he once was able to produce. There is also the expense of creating the products, and the travels Mr. Boehm makes in order to bring back live models of his birds. The company may look at several opportunities in order to improve their company. First, they should consider expanding into international markets; doing this could get their name out there and attract more customers. Mr. Boehm should look into teaching other people how to make the same high quality figures so they are able to create more products efficiently and have less backorders. Finally they should look into selling their porcelain clay to other businesses in order to make more money. We feel that this company faces many threats. As mentioned before Mr. Boehm’s age could potentially be a threat for the businesses. The fact that they have backorders may start to frustrate the customers and cause them to stop ordering from the company because the wait isn’t worth it. A rise in the cost of materials to make the figures may cause him to raise the cost of selling them which will in turn cause the loss of customers. New competitors could always be a threat and they may find a more efficient way to get the figures to customers quickly without backorders. We have a few specific plans that will help this company continue to thrive in the future. The most important thing to do is for Mr. Boehm to train other people in his craft. This is crucial if the company is to plan for long term. Another plan is to hire more than one company to distribute the product. Right now they only have one distributor, Milton China. With more distributors he could reach a larger market. The final plan we came up with is to work on technological advancements to make the long tedious process of making the figures quicker. The largest problem of the company is that it has so many backorders, with technology they could possibly speed up the process and narrow down the amount of backorders. We feel with our analysis that Edward Marshall Boehm Inc. is in good position for the future but they could make vast improvements if they capitalize on their opportunities and focus on the specific plans we provided.