Billabong Strategic Management

[Name of the Institute]

Billabong Strategic Management

Introduction

Company Overview

Billabong is an established Australian garments company, which has garments global recognition due to its wide variety of predominantly surf related garments. The company was founded by Gordon and Rena Merchant 1973, and its headquarters are located in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia. The name of the company is inspired by the term billabong, which means the stagnant body of water attached to a waterway. The company is actively engaged in the process of large scale retailing and wholesaling surf, skate, snow and sports apparel. The company has managed to form a strategic niche market on the global stage and has even managed to extend its product lines, in order to appease the growing customer demands. Its extended product line also includes accessories, hardware and the licensing its trademark among the specific countries of the world. Although the company has managed to expand its brand throughout the global scale, majority of its market is condensed in the western regions such as Australasia, Americas and Europe.

Billabong international has a very humble beginning, which was initially started as a kitchen table idea by the husband and wife team of Gordon and Rena Merchant. The team of the amateur entrepreneurs first started out their business by selling knee long board shorts, specially designed to suit the lifestyle of the surfers. The garment used in the initial products along with the special cut design, was very popular among the surfers who required specialized garments for surfing. The duo was only able to earn a profit of AUS$ 5, 000 in the first year of business, but they had managed to establish a strong and loyal customer base. The surfing culture experienced a huge growth in the period of 1970s and the 80s, and it was able to be developed into a professional sport. Billabong was able to use its already established brand image and capture the growing interest in the surfing culture. Through several strategic activities Billabong was able to attach itself with several surfing events, and managed to advertise in popular surfer magazines. The company also became the official sponsor of the World Final Surfing event, held annually in Hawai. Due to these strategic moves the company was directed towards the global markets, and was able to establish itself as an original and innovative sports brand. It is dues to such activities that the company has been able to achieve exponential growth over the years, and now it consists of more than 6000 employees, in its global operations.

Vision Statement

“To establish globally renowned, surf related products brand. We want to establish ourselves as the world leaders in the niche market of surfing products, by maintaining our world class quality standards and innovative products”.

This vision statement essentially synthesizes the future outlook of the company and its core philosophy (MacDonald, 1987). It states that the company has an outlook to expand its reach beyond the national Australian borders, and become a strong brand in the global ...