Crocs Case Study
The ability to fulfill orders based off of true and current demand is the staple of the Crocs supply chain.
The flexibility in the Crocs supply chain has been in the company’s ability to provide additional products within the same season of release by not requiring their customers to order one time for the season and months in advance
(Marks, Holloway, Lee, Hoyt, Silverman, 2011, para. 11). However, this design is not without dependency for a demand for the product. In its current structure, this supply chain is designed for continuous periods of demand.
There is a lack of a strong contingency plan for periods of lower than anticipated demand or unforeseen disturbances, such as a recession (Suresh, 2013, para. 6). In order for Crocs to continue to grow and for the Crocs supply chain to remain successful during both periods of low and high demand, Crocs will need to centralize its facilities and continue to either own or run their partner’s operations with the assistance of a developed ERP system.
Crocs began in 2002 selling out of a warehouse in Florida and turned into a multi-country, multi-building, multi-partner supply chain (Marks et al, 2011, para. 4). The first edition of the Crocs supply chain existed in two locations, U.S. and Canada, and two companies, Crocs and Finproject NA. Finproject manufactured the shoes and distribution of the shoes occurred through Crocs outsourcing over the U.S (Marks et al, 2011, para. 6, 10). The next edition of the supply chain is where Crocs took the first steps to vertically integrate their supply chain and developed two core competencies. In 2004, when Robert Snyder from Flextronics joined Crocs, Finproject became company owned, under the new name of “Foam Creations.” Now, Crocs owned the manufacturing of their product and the proprietary croslite resin that comprised their shoes (Marks et al, 2011, para. 5-6). As per the Crocs’ website, croslite is “a proprietary closed-cell resin that gives each pair of
The flexibility in the Crocs supply chain has been in the company’s ability to provide additional products within the same season of release by not requiring their customers to order one time for the season and months in advance
(Marks, Holloway, Lee, Hoyt, Silverman, 2011, para. 11). However, this design is not without dependency for a demand for the product. In its current structure, this supply chain is designed for continuous periods of demand.
There is a lack of a strong contingency plan for periods of lower than anticipated demand or unforeseen disturbances, such as a recession (Suresh, 2013, para. 6). In order for Crocs to continue to grow and for the Crocs supply chain to remain successful during both periods of low and high demand, Crocs will need to centralize its facilities and continue to either own or run their partner’s operations with the assistance of a developed ERP system.
Crocs began in 2002 selling out of a warehouse in Florida and turned into a multi-country, multi-building, multi-partner supply chain (Marks et al, 2011, para. 4). The first edition of the Crocs supply chain existed in two locations, U.S. and Canada, and two companies, Crocs and Finproject NA. Finproject manufactured the shoes and distribution of the shoes occurred through Crocs outsourcing over the U.S (Marks et al, 2011, para. 6, 10). The next edition of the supply chain is where Crocs took the first steps to vertically integrate their supply chain and developed two core competencies. In 2004, when Robert Snyder from Flextronics joined Crocs, Finproject became company owned, under the new name of “Foam Creations.” Now, Crocs owned the manufacturing of their product and the proprietary croslite resin that comprised their shoes (Marks et al, 2011, para. 5-6). As per the Crocs’ website, croslite is “a proprietary closed-cell resin that gives each pair of
References: Crocs. (2013). Fact Sheets. Retrieved from http://company.crocs.com/fact-sheets/ La Motta, Lisa 2008/04/15/crocs-retail-closer-markets-equity-cx_lal_0415markets31.html Mark, Michael, Holloway, Chuck, Lee, Hau, Hoyt, David, Silverman, Amanda, (2011) html Oloffson, Kristi (2010, May 11) Crocs Acquisitions, 2004-2006 Acquisition Date Acquired/Purchase Source: Crocs form 10k for the year ending December 31, 2006, pp. F-11, F-12, F-30 Source: