What are Croc’s core competencies?

One of Croc’s core competencies is its revolutionary supply chain as discussed in class. Crocs have the ability to manufacture and deliver its products to retailers rapidly and produce an excessive quantity to avoid customer dissatisfaction. According to the case, in the traditional industry, retailers can only place bulk orders for each season many months in advance with little ability to make changes during the selling season. On the other hand, Croc’s model was to fill new orders within the season and quickly manufacture and ship new products to retail stores so to keep a positive relationship with its retailers. This gave Crocs a competitive advantage over its competitors. Another core competency is the ability to extend its marketing presence in foreign countries faster than other companies in the industry; this would allow the company to gain more information about the market and set the economies of scale of new entrants. This is called the early mover’s advantage as discussed in class.

As a new entrant in the shoe industry, Crocs changed the pace of the industry by penetrating the market with its unique funky-looking shoe and expanded rapidly into foreign markets. Crocs created value and took advantage of the opportunity and did the Better off Test by visiting wide range of events worldwide introducing its product into the new market and talked to customers about the shoes. This helped the company to establish a momentum not only in the U.S. but also in the foreign countries. In addition, Crocs did the Ownership Test as discussed in class and became a Multi-National Company and used large contract manufacturers in different countries to produce its products and respond to its customers rapidly; however, because there are uncertainties in the market, Crocs became a MNC to minimize the risks of market failure