kk (2)
Transcript of kk (2)
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Case study 1
sew what ?inc
question1
Search the internet to help you evaluate the business performance of
sew what? Inc and its competitors at the present time what conclusion
can you draw from your research about sew what?
Prospectus for future? Reports your findings and recommendations for
sew whats continued business success to the class.
Sew what? Was founded by Megan duckettinn1992 initially duckeet
was the only woman to start the business s and that too in her kitchen
with the passage of the few year with her dedication and creativity and
a hard work she uplifted the business to the evolve and grow into a
multimillion dollar company with 85 employees sew what? Inc provides
custom theatrical draperies and fabrics for stage concerts fashion shoes
and special event world wide
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Company profile
Headquarters Greater Los Angeles Area
Industry Entertainment
Type Privately Held
Company Size 35 employees
Website http://www.sewwhatinc.com
Sew What? Inc. is a respected Theatrical Drapery Manufacturer and
Custom Sewing Service working specifically with the entertainment
industry, special events, and trade show exhibit circuits. We've
manufactured stage curtains for elementary, middle and high schools,
community theaters and auditoriums, colleges and professional
theaters. Our drapery and fabric projects have also been used across
the country and internationally at rock concert venues, fashion shows,
conference halls and even at governor inaugurations
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Sew what? company Marketing philosophy
According to sew what?inc, You can be in business for years, and still
be one of your industrys best-kept secrets. (Thats not a good thing.)
But good branding and the right marketing strategies can make you an
overnight sensation. When Sew What? Inc. approached us, they had
been providing custom draperies to the entertainment industry for over
a decade, yet they were still struggling to gain awareness. Added to
that, the long-established category leader with whom Sew What?
Competed eclipsed just about every other player in their industry,
meaning it would be a very tough uphill battle for Sew What? Inc.
But we love a good challenge and this one was it We saw Sew What? as
little David going up against Goliath. The management was young and
a bit cocky. They werent willing to conform to others rules. They
spent a number of years in the Rock and Roll touring business. To us,
they were the rebels, the pirates, the iconoclasts who could pave their
own path to success. That was all we needed to craft a new branding
strategy that bucked convention and set them apart.
Our creative team developed a ballsy slogan: Sew What? Its not a
question. Its the answer. We designed a new logo featuring an
enigmatic Riddler-style question mark that was graphically simple and
striking at the same time. The bold yellow and black color palate we
created jumped off the page, the computer screen, collateral and
product labels. Just as important, we drafted a new branding
statement that the company adapted as the manifesto of theircorporate culture.
New print ads and an entirely re-engineered website (with significant
emphasis on search engine optimization) completed the opening salvo.
In concert with an aggressive PR program and ongoing marketing
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counsel, Sew What? celebrated a 25% increase in sales by the close of
the first year of its new branding. By the end of the third year, the
company had a quadrupled its business.
Additional marketing initiatives led to exposure far beyond theentertainment industry, and the company president received numerous
national awards and accolades as a business innovator.
The ultimate proof of success however comes from recent marketing
research that shows that not only are the companys customers thrilled
with the products and service Sew What? provides compared with the
competition, but they specifically indicated their belief in the brand
promise, meaning a solid connection between our clients marketingefforts and their customers values.
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IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES OF THE COMPANY
y Creativityy Against all oddy Must do approachy Passiony Flexibilityy Respecting business they receive from both big and small
customers
y Never say No approach
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Sew What? Inc. Its not a question, its
the answer."
Sew What? Was destined to be the answer from the moment it was
conceived. The early 1990s left no question in any production
managers mind that there was a desperate need for a soft goods
supplier with firsthand knowledge of the theatre, experience with the
tour ability of fabrics and the willingness to deliver the goods
yesterday.
Established in 1992, Sew What? Began by designing, manufacturing and
installing theatrical drapery and stage curtains. Strong company values
and a clear mission statement combined with unwavering
determination to provide a customer-centric service have helped
establish a loyal customer base and the reputation as the Theatrical
Drapery Manufacturer and Custom Sewing Service for the touringindustry.
Sew What? has manufactured soft goods for numerous artists,
including Maroon 5, Slip Knot, Green Day, Avril Laving, Sting, Dave
Matthews Band, Rod Stewart and Don Henley. Prestigious drapery
installations for theatres such as the historic "Victoria Theatre" in
Santa Barbara, CA are the result of competitive pricing and
manufacturing excellence.
Emphasis on customer service, consistent delivery of quality products
and timely deliveries has resulted in steady growth for the
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Corporation. Having recently expanded, Sew What? now occupies a
15,000 sq ft building in Rancho Dominguez, CA, and employs an
experienced staff of 33.
About Our Staff
With a strong and diverse team of sales staff, Sew What? designs and
manufactures for a broad range of entertainment related industries.
Our experienced sales team has expertise in the design and
manufacture of theatre draperies and concert soft goods, and each of
our sales staff has a unique understanding of the specific needs within
their field of study and experience.
Explanation Of Products
Sew What? Manufactures concert soft goods, as well as stage curtains
for schools, community theaters and auditoriums, colleges and
professional theaters. Our drapery and fabric projects have also been
used across the country and internationally at rock concert venues,
fashion shows, conference halls and even at governor inaugurations.
We offer a full catalog of products and services, including: soft gooddesign services, fabric sourcing, custom stage curtains and drapery,
tradeshow and exhibit supplies, traveler track and hamper distribution
as well as expendable production supplies.
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What Does The Future Have In Store?
Sew What? Inc. will continue to provide the highest quality draperies,
sewing services and related products in a timely manner to our
customers. We are committed to developing relationships built on
performance, trust, exceptional service and our ability to offer
appropriate solutions to an ever changing marketplace.
Q&A: Megan Duckett
Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Lisa Murphy
LD: You left Australia at a young age to work as a theatre technician
with one of the largest stage manufacturers in the US, but then you
decided to move into the sewing aspect of the industry. How did you
make the transition from technician to founder of your own business,
Sew What? Inc., which specializes in creating custom theatrical
drapery?
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MD: The years I spent employed in the entertainment industry both in
Australia as a lighting technician and then in the States in various
capacities offered me a variety of confidence-building experiences. I am
fortunate to have worked for top-notch companies such as All Access
Staging, where I was given excellent training and many opportunities to
better myself.
Deciding to make a break and embrace the unknown challenges of a
small business is certainly not for the faint of heart. Had I not had
complete emotional support from my husband, Adam Duckett, and
good will from former employers, I might have hesitated. My strong
determination to succeed combined with my Capricornia drive
definitely seems to have been the right mix for success.
Like many areas of the entertainment industry, there is no school that
teaches Theatrical Drapery Manufacturing. (Have you ever heard of
How to build a 60' turntable that will fit into a semi truck class?) So it
was, and still is, the school of hard knocks. By continuously trying to
refine our procedures and systems, we have been able to build abusiness whose two key focuses are customer experience and
employee benefits. Every member of our team, now 35 strong, is
encouraged daily to embrace our culture and offer the best client
relations and a premier product. In turn, we offer this amazing team as
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many benefits as we can afford, including paid school opportunities,
health, retirement, and vacation plans.
LD: You were recently awarded the Dell/NFIB (National Federation of
Independent Business) 2006 Small Business Excellence Award, which
recognizes small businesses for their innovative use of technology.
What specific technologies have played a part in the growth of your
business?
MD: Our oldest customers and employees would hardly recognize Sew
What? Inc. if they fast-forwarded to today with our new networked
office system (utilizing a Dell PowerEdge Server) and the launch of our
sophisticated and optimized web site.
Thanks to our recently installed server, our customer service
managers can satisfy their customers' needs with blazing
performance. Now they can deliver near-instantaneous responses,
email product quotations (who needs fax?), send digital photos, or
even videos of work-in-progress all at the click of a button. In
addition, computerized integrated packing slips have streamlined our
processes and brought the shipping and receiving department up to
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speed, which also means detailed and accurate content lists for our
customers.
The implementation of a new user-friendly FTP site has taken days off
the process of ordering digitally-printed backdrops, which, until
recently, meant burning CDs and waiting for snail mail to deliver. It
also gives us an easy means of delivering electronic previews of our
work, assuring accurate and timely review and input from our
customers.
It doesn't stop with our customers. Our vendors, too, are benefiting
from our newly improved ways of operating. Our computerized
purchase order system has checks and double checks in place to ensure
accuracy of orders placed, as well as timely payment of received and
approved invoices for goods and services provided.
Having redesigned our website to truly speak for us our virtual
receptionist we are now able to reach more potential customers
than ever. Heavy search engine optimization of the site delivers
targeted customers to us each and every day, our specialized fabric
sub-navigation system helps us share fabric color palettes with our
customers, and the design of the pages lets us share portfolio images
to each and every viewer.
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These changes and more have allowed us to provide world-class service
to a world-wide clientele from New York to Athens to Sydney, all at
Internet speed. Our customers now regard us as their creative equal in
the world of theatrical drapery and performance and have come to
depend on us to deliver when others can't. All this has been made
possible by combining traditional business values with today's newest
technologies.
LD: How has your business grown in the last 18 months?
MD: Our revenue has grown 45% since our website redesign, and
looking at the change of demographic for our customers is fascinating.
Just 18 months ago, 80% of our customers were in California, our
home state. Thanks to the redesign and our aggressive optimization,
we now have a customer base that is 33% in California and a
tremendous 66% out of state. In fact, we have sold to each and every
US state except for Vermont. Embracing the World Wide Web has
certainly allowed us to reach cities and communities that we might
never have dreamt of reaching via other conventional methods.
Beyond our borders, we have also had over 55 successful
international transactions in the last 18 months. Targeting
international clients would be virtually impossible without the
website.
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To keep up with the growth, we have incrementally added technology
into the company infrastructure. Our server allows us to save data in a
safe and centralized area; networking of all our staff likewise allows
for faster and more efficient access to customer files. We have
developed our own proprietary software to convert drapery orders
into sewing plans which sets us apart, as we are now able to store
sewing plans indefinitely for customers, allowing us to reproduce pieces
again, months after the original order.
With the generous award from Dell, we plan to automate the
warehouse.
LD: What high profile projects have you worked on? In what capacity?
MD: We've done sets for Sting, Fleetwood Mac, Dave Matthews Band,
Stevie Nicks, and in May, our drapes were on the cover of Rolling Stone
magazine. (That was the celebrated 1,000th edition.)
We are currently involved in the manufacture of complex and unique
stage draperies for the Toni Braxton show, which will be in Las Vegas.
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Just last month, we stitched up over 1,200 yards of terry cloth into the
world's largest beach towel (131' 77') for Nabisco, which was
recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records on June 28, 2006.
We recently manufactured Ricky Martin's Kabuki drapes for his current
tour and have been involved in several of his previous tours over the
years, in differing capacities.
And at this time, we are in the process of manufacturing a complete setof stage draperies to replace those damaged by hurricane Katrina in the
historic Rosa Hart Theatre in New Orleans, as part of the city's relief
project to rebuild the devastated district. We are honored to have been
chosen for this project.
LD: Can you tell us about one project that was particularly challengingand/or rewarding?
MD: Sew What? Inc. has leapt headlong into the international
marketplace with our web redesign and a determination to understand
the needs of such international customers. We had a specific customer
scenario that, despite its inherent challenges, was a very rewardingproject:
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From the moment that we began redesigning our website, we knew
that we needed to reach customers in the far corners of the world. This
meant a much broader understanding of the international search
market online.
By optimizing for common terms in multiple countries, Greek
artist/producer Peter Young was able to find us on the web. Up until
then, he had difficulty finding a US vendor of customized theatrical
drapery services due to his limited technical vocabulary in English.
Thanks to our fabric sub-navigation system that allows customers to
browse within a fabric category much like flipping through actual
fabric swatch samples while in a retail store Young was able to look
at each and every fabric available to him and see the entire color
palette, even though he was 6,900 miles away. He was able to choose
all the fabrics and linings necessary without needing to see a physicalswatch.
Despite the great distances, we corresponded with Young daily in real-
time. Detailed contracts were shared via email, and daily reporting
was done by way of live video feeds, progress photographs, and
installation diagrams.
In the end, Young's final product was exactly what he wanted, delivered
when he needed it, as if he was in our shop to check on progress daily.
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Not only was it challenging, this project was also very rewarding. We
came to realize that we are able to offer the same services to other
nations, and with careful planning and some caution, such transactions
can be very successful. When Young emailed us pictures of thedraperies installed on the stage in Athens, it was an incredible thrill. To
see our work hanging on the other side of the world was just amazing.
It took establishing a creative, information-driven Web presence to
help us reach customers beyond our local community and provide
customer service that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. And theicing on the cake? Young has just contracted us for another complete
design and manufacture of a second theatre club in Athens.
LD: How do you see Sew What? Inc. growing in the next five to 10
years?
MD: It must be said that we definitely think big at Sew What? Inc. From
the get go, our goals for the future have always been aggressive.
On that note, it is our plan to continue to pursue perfection in all areas
of our business. We plan to increase the number of products available
via e-commerce as well as introduce more targeted and unique
products into the theatrical marketplace. Our goal to go global with a
satellite location will undoubtedly come to fruition. Already registered
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as a foreign business in Melbourne, Australia, we hope to reach out to
other locations as the opportunities present themselves.
As artists whose palette is fabric we plan to be the top-of-mind
company for top-of-the-line artists. How will we achieve this? By
combining today's technologies with some good old fashioned
customer service.
Strategies followed by sew what?inc To survive in the market
Sew What? Inc. is a respected Theatrical Drapery Manufacturer and
Custom Sewing Service working specifically with the entertainment
industry, special events, and trade show exhibit circuits. We've
manufactured stage curtains for elementary, middle and high schools,
community theaters and auditoriums, colleges and professional
theaters. Our drapery and fabric projects have also been used across
the country and internationally at rock concert venues, fashion shows,
conference halls and even at governor inaugurations. Today, Sew
What? celebrated an incredible feat two years (730 days) injury free!
What do I mean by injury free? I mean that there have been no
workplace injuries at Sew What? in two years. This really is an amazing
accomplishment. Most traditional offices dont think too much about
workplace injury there just isnt very much likelihood for injury. Its
different at a manufacturing company like Sew What? Our sewing and
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warehouse staff work with a variety of machines (sewing machines,
grommet machines, forklifts, large format digital printers, etc.), and
even the slightest distraction on the part of the staff member could
result in an injury. Many of our custom stage drapes are large andheavy and unwieldy. So to go two years without an injury is a
tremendous accomplishment. We are so proud of our staff for their
diligence in working safely. Every 90 days, we celebrate by providing a
catered lunch to all of our staff, and on the large milestones, we take
the celebration up a notch. This time, in addition to a delicious catered
lunch, we brought in a mariachi band to entertain. The mariachi band
was a hit! Many of our staff are Latino/Latina, and so they had a greattime singing along. The rest of us simply enjoyed the music (and even
some dancing!).
Role of it in the growth of business
Sew what? Were recently awarded the dell/NFIB (national federation
of independent business) 2006 business excellence award which
responses small business of innovative use of technology. let us see
what specific technology has played a part to the growth of their
business.
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Conclusions
This case reveals the importance of being brave and accepting the
challenges which are brought up by the market and finding new ways
to position the product services or the brand in the minds of the
customers learning from mistakes and after that fully dedicating
oneself to overcome that and also to cope up with the changing trend
of the market duckett says:
When I see a problem I just dont get back down I find a way to
overcome it and I use everybody I know to help me
Findings
Sew what?Inc become a premier provider of custom sewn theatrical drops and
fabrics created records by sewing worlds largest beach blanket and has
become an industry leader in rock and roll staging we also find the
company is growing as per the requirement of the how it is adopting
new technology and new method to attract and provide maximum
customers satisfaction likewise at present time duckeet is planning
To introduce bar code in her business this would help her to evaluate
the business performance and short her useless cost this wouldincrease her effectiveness and efficiency
Rent what?
A contract has developed a new idea of durable portable pop up frame
which provides instant 8*8dressing rooms in 2 minutes itself on stage
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Recommendations:
Though the company itself doing a lot of innovation here are a
few more recommendation for her future growth:
y Brining stage Curtin in action giving it a moving or alive viewWorking on argental base those customers who cannot afford use
her creativity on rental basis.
y To find and alternative with same characteristic for sharkstothscrim since there is a storage of this fabrics.
y Collecting the scraps from the other fabrics industries collectingthem showing her creativity in it.