CASE STUDY

Read the Case Study and answer the questions which follow.

Shelly's Rocket Sneakers

Polly Adams, CEO of Polly Shoes was delighted to partner with Shelly Rocket who is a celebrated Olympian track star to create a line of sneakers with the track star's name on it.

Polly Shoes was started in the late 1990's, as a sportswear company with its product branded store fashioned off Jamaica's footballer, Allan Skill Cole. The Skill Cole brand offered a line of exercise and sportswear shoe wear and by the early 2000s, Polly Shoes sold about two-thirds of its sports footwear in the lucrative U.S market. By the mid 2000s, however, it sold a mere 20 percent and its local sales were also low. This was a grave cause for concern as the competitors were all showing increased sales.

To counter the decline, Polly Shoes introduced a set of rugged shoes called (Ragga) in top and low cut styles made from canvas or leather. The Ragga which is fashion trendy is now the flag ship shoe for the company and its market include rastas, dancehall music fans and rugged oriented folks. The brand was a hit among the Diaspora in the USA. The distinct semi rugged look and brand name made it fashionable amongst males for adventure and recreational purposes.

This 'successful' switch from fitness-based sportswear to fashion brand meant that Polly Shoes was no longer sure what motives drove customers to buy its products. In fact, according to Leon Thomas, Senior Vice President of marketing and sales at Plooy Shoes, the company had lost definition as a sporting footwear company and was now seen as fashion-oriented. Polly Adams did not agree but they both agreed that a survey would be conducted to determine their customers profile and buying behaviour. The survey would be more effective as she was certain there were no existing data on her customers and she wanted to make sure that she was targeting the correct market population.

Two months into the research, Sharon saw an advertisement in the Gleaner announcing the introduction of the new Shelly Rocket product line. She knew that the advertisement would motivate customers, but she was not sure if Polly Shoes was ready to exploit the new Shelly Rocket initiative.

Question 1.

Discuss three macro-environmental forces that would affect Polly Shoes' business operations (10 marks)

Question 2

Discuss the benefits to Polly Shoes of using the survey research approach to gather data as against using the observation method. ( 5 marks)