Rollerblade Case Study

Introduction

When Rollerblade, Inc. first started up, they had to overcome the obstacles with any new venture company, only no one had ever seen or heard of their in-line skate product. At this time, everyone was still using traditional roller skates, but the idea of in-line skates was not easily adopted right away. Rollerblade, Inc. eventually became a very profitable company with their in-line skates, however, today they seem to have grown to an elephant (profit growth is at a near standstill). This is largely due to increased competition in the industry as well as a loss of interest in the once widely popular hobby.

Problem Analysis

Rollerblade has two obvious problems:

Risk of brand name becoming generic

Saturated marketplace

However, both of these problems can be attributed to a lack of corporate strategy. The objectives presented above are all marketing level strategies. While Rollerblade Inc has acknowledged its use of a guerrilla attack competitive strategy, later mixed with some position defence, there is no cost leadership strategy present, no niche strategy present, and only now some differentiation strategy ideas starting to appear

If Rollerblade is to continue growing, it needs to look beyond the scope of its core product and begin focusing on the broader picture. Specifically, the corporate strategy needs to define the organisations scope.

Alternatives

1. Remain in Rollerblade market

Costs and Benefits

Rollerblade Inc.'s first alternative is to remain steady in the current market. As previously stated, the in-line skate market is approaching decline, so if this alternative is to be selected then a large investment must be made to research methods of reviving the market for in-line skates. This may be through developments in the technology of in-line skates, or through the discovery of alternative uses for in-line skates, or simply through marketing the product to new users.

This allows Rollerblade to focus on its ...