Blue and White: Case study

Résumé du document

During this next project, our team of researchers will be addressing the situation of a company called Blue and White, regarding its activities as a manufacturing company with hopes of exporting its goods and services to the U.S.A. market. During the development of this project, many of our previously acquired tools needed to be used such as managerial, administrative, and financial knowledge in order to obtain a clear view of what the company is doing right and wrong nowadays, but more importantly, so that we can understand the best possible different scenarios that the company should be expecting when the time comes for them to start exporting.

Blue and White is a company located in Mexico Distrito Federal. It was founded by Miguel Mier 9 years ago, as a uniform distribution center for many enterprises around the country. It started with only 4 employees but as time went by, Blue and White started to grow and it came a time when extra investment was needed, so a year ago, the company gained a new partner so that growing could be even faster.
Since the beginning, Blue and White has grown to have three full maquiladoras and a sale center with 12 employees. Its range of products has also increased along the way. In the start there were only 4 basic products that were sold, 3 different fabric shirts and Polo T Shirts. Nowadays, the range of the product is huge, since any piece of clothing can be done as long as there is a physical sample of what the client wants, so jeans, caqui, jackets, vests, hoods, and many other pieces can be done upon request.

Blue and White main goal has been to expand its reach so that its products can be sold to the main enterprises and all across Mexico, but since the new partnership, this goal was elevated and its pointing towards a bigger market in the USA. More specifically, the next logical step for the company is to participate in the Las Vegas clothing expo called "Magic". Here companies from many different branches of business come looking for new suppliers.

Extraits

[...] Since the beginning the decision to export to the US was very clear for Blue and White; nevertheless, an overview from the LCI Foreign Trade Solutions to the Fabrication of Textile Products industry depicts that the US is one of the most representative countries when it comes to the Textile industry. This country exports $ Million USD, whereas the imports ascend to $ Million USD (LCI - International Trade Centre, 2011). The previous information translates in a of the International Commerce for the textile industry in the US, which means that the infrastructure to this activity is already developed as well as the infrastructure, and resources to address a business of exporting uniforms. Thus making the decision to export to the US for Blue and White a neater choice. [...]

[...] That shows that the supply chain is efficient. Blue & White gets its raw materials quickly from its supply and can manufacture fast the orders that are placed. This strength is important to satisfy the customers and to get good mouth-to-mouth advertising. With a good working supply chain the customer base is enlarged and the financial position is secure. Blue & White has a wide product range. This gives the possibility to their customers to choose out of a huge variety of products. [...]

[...] Mexico is one of the most dominating countries as a textile and clothing supplier. Mexico has a advantage because Mexico is very near to the US and the products can be quickly transferred over the border (Frost & Sullivan, 2009). A trend in the uniform and work wear market is that brand loyalty is important in this industry. An opportunity would be to strengthen the brand recognition by advertisement and effective customer service management (CRM). CRM also keeps retained customers in the company and the cost to retain new one are kept as low as possible (Frost & Sullivan, 2009). [...]

[...] Nowadays the trend is that the customers want to design their own product, so that the product is not the same as everyone else has it and so that the product is unique. Blue & White has a unique selling proposition which is very important to survive on the market patterns. Due to this USP and wide range of product variety, the company has a good financial position. Each month the company produces 30,000-uniforms/ work wear a month. This makes around $500,000 pesos revenue each month. The firm sells directly to the customer that means the relationship between customer and firm is pretty good. Direct selling is a possibility to save costs. [...]

[...] Following, the opportunities are listed which are given by the US textile and work wear market. The US consumers set value on a good fabrication of the work wears and uniforms. It is a USP to have innovative technology methods to fabricate the clothing. It increases the awareness of the end user when there are innovative fabrications. Fabrication enhancement promotes price growth and drives revenue growth. The US market sets value on innovative design of the product as well as top quality. The products should be sustainable manufactured to save the environment. [...]