What are the strategic challengers facing Edward Marshall Boehm? What business are they in, and what strategy should they choose? Is there a certain sequence of actions that would be best to take when developing a competitive strategy?

Edward Marshall Boehm, Inc. was a small, high-quality porcelain art objects company that was very successful, particularly at producing images of vanishing species of birds. These pieces are complex sculptures selling from $100 to over $20,000, and are sought by some sophisticated collectors. The company was run by Mr. and Mrs. Boehm (pronounced “beam”): he was the artist and master of the complex hard paste porcelain manufacturing process; she was in charge of the marketing and financial aspects of the business. At the end of the case, demand for the artistic creations was growing, and many of the company’s past policies no longer seemed appropriate. The Boehms wanted to position the company for the long run. Their stated goals for the company were “to make the world aware of Mr. Boehm’s artistic talent, to help world wildlife causes by creating appreciation and protection for threatened species, and to build a continuing business that could make them comfortably wealthy, perhaps millionaires.” How should the Boehms proceed?