Columbia Sportswear Company is an innovative leader in the highly competitive active outdoor apparel industry. The case opens by describing the firm’s successful history. It then provides details related to general environmental conditions which affect Columbia’s performance and presents an in-depth look at the company’s most significant rivals. The case delves into Columbia’s value chain and emerging competitive challenges before discussing the company’s focus on technology and innovation, product portfolio development, and leadership structure. It closes with an outline of the most dominant challenges facing the outdoor activities apparel firm.

Integrative thinking is required to accomplish this case analysis. Performing a situation analysis, discussing the competitive dynamics amongst competitive firms in the outdoor apparel and footwear industry, and assessing Columbia’s strategic approaches in the past will stimulate a creative process to develop potential solutions to the company’s most pressing strategic concerns.

• Perform a SWOT analysis to specify the strengths and weaknesses of Columbia’s resources and the opportunities and threats existing in its external environment. What are the market characteristics which will influence the company’s strategic decisions?
• Conduct a thorough competitor analysis, and map each of the company’s major competitors in terms of resource similarity and market commonality. What is the likelihood of each rival acting or responding to Columbia’s ongoing competitive actions?
• Discuss the approaches used by the company to grow the business over the past two decades. In what ways are these strategies suitable for Columbia moving forward? Are they deficient in any way?
• Use the results of your analysis to address the three major challenges confronting Columbia Sportswear:
  • managing seasonal fluctuations and the high variability of the company’s sales,
  • protecting the company’s investments in intellectual property, and
  • maintaining profitability within the constraints and complexities of retailer relationships.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

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