Burton Snowboards Case Study
1. Investigate and analyze company’s history and growth
The whole history of snowboarding has very close ties to Jake Burton and his company, Burton Snowboards. This company from Manchester, Vermont, was founded in 1977 by Jake Burton Carpenter. He was inspired in the idea of the snurfer, which basically was the first type of snowboard, and consisted of two skis tied together and was invented back in 1965 by Sherman Poppen in Michigan. Afterwards it started evolving, but it was not until Jake Burton came around that the actual board started to be callod a snowboard. Snowboarding is a relatively new sport, then, dating from the 70s.
At Christmas 1977 , Jake left his job in finances in New York to go to Londonderry , Vermont, where he began to build his first snowboards. He bartended at night and built his boards out of his barn. This is how Burton Boards was born.
The same year, Burton launched his first board, the Burton Backhill, which was made entirely by hand. The sales did not just hit and instead he chose to promote their products more intensely by merely taking them himself to the slopes and use them, promoting the sport of snowboard at the same time.
In 1978 he moved back to Manchester, Vermont, and together with a couple of friends, he built, repaired and sold the boards. Over the next few years, sales began to escalate, going from a mere 300 in 1979 to 700 in 1980.
Jake started getting more involved with his sport, and began talking ski resorts into letting snowboards ride in their slopes, since they weren’t even allowed. He started organizing an annual championship in the Suicide Six Resort in Pomfret, Vermont (1982 was the first year), which was called the National Snowboard Championship and there he started marketing his products. The race was just an icy downhill run. He cointinued convincing resorts into letting snowboards into their trails, and the next one was another one in Vermont, Stratton Mountain. This went on and on while Burton became more famous alongside the sport of snowboarding as resorts started to let snowboarders into their trails.
In 1985 the National Snowboarding Competition became the US Open Snowboarding Championship, and was moved to Stratton Mountain. This is still the biggest and most important event in snowboarding throughout the year.
He soon had to start changing his design and coming up with new models, since the ones he built at first were design for powder, and not the more densely packed snow of the trails. Thus came the metal edges and the different materials of which the board was actually built, as well as the different shapes, which little by little started their way into the usual shape we have in mind for a snowboard.
Over the next few years, starting in 1985, Burton opened a new division in Europe and in Japan and moved to the biggest city in Vermont, Burlington.
Since then, over 25 years later, Burton Snowboards has been and is the leading manufacturer of snowboards, bindings, boots , coats , gloves and all kinds of technical equipment for snowboarding . The company has several divisions like Anon Optics (snowboard goggles) , RED Protection (helmets and safety material), Analog Outerwear (urban wear) and Gravis Footwear (shoes). In 2005 , Four Star Distribution sold its entire snowboard section companies to Burton , including Forum Snowboarding, Jeenyus Snowboards , Foursquare and Special Blend Outerwear (SB ) Outerwear included . Burton also owns Channel Island Surf Co.
2. Identify Strenghts and weaknesses within the company
Strengths
- Biggest snowboard company in the world
- First snowboard manufacturers: experience
- Very focused into development, with an entire facility (Craig Kelly Prototype Facility) only focused in finding new prototypes
- Jake Burton Carpenter as a CEO is very involved in the company and very respected within the sport, has a great deal of influence
- One of the best teams in the history of snowboarding (Shaun White, Jeremy Jones, Terje Hakkonsen, Kelly Clark)
- Sponsors for many events throughout the year in the whole world
- Charity programs (Burton Chill) to help children through snowboarding
Weaknesses
- They need to get deeper into some countries
- Marketing for the brand is only a thing in ski resorts
3. External environment
Opportunities
- Best selling brand in snowboards and gear
- Influence in the most important events, such as the US Open, created by Jake Burton
- R&D is the key to keep at the top of the competition
- A board for every kind of rider
Threats
- Many companies in the business
- Other brands are developing cheaper boards
- Other brands focus in some parts of the snowboard, for example bindings, bringing in better products which affect sales
4. Analyze your findings
Burton’s place in the business of snowboarding right now is a very comfortable one. The lead in sales and innovation and are well known for their quality products and their deep experience in the world. The fact of them being the company that “invented” snowboarding translates into respect from both riders and competition.
They are leaders in innovation. With a whole factory just focused in coming up with new prototypes with shapes, materials and sizes that haven’t been tried yet, they can be sure to maintain their positions as leaders, since this sport is all about performance, and the best riders want to ride the best handling and the fastest boards. On the other hand, there are many brands that are introducing cheaper lines in snowboards and gear to try and compete with Burton’s basic collection.
Some competitors are focusing in just single items in the experience of snowboarding. There are many brands that stick to building bindings, boots or clothes, while Burton does it all. This can lead to the other brands achieving an advantage in the way of coming up with new systems because of them being concentrated in only one thing.
However there are some things that they should improve and, in my opinion, the most important one is marketing. Snowboarding brands in general and Burton in particular, often only advertise in snowboarding magazines, ski resorts and cities or towns with ski resorts nearby, but, however, a big amount of the people that come to ski resorts come from far away.
5. Identify Corporate level strategy
Burton’s mission is to build the best snowboarding gear and clothes in the world, in order to keep the riders properly equipped to find themselves in the mountain.
Their tag line is very clear and summarizes what they want to do with the company: “We owe it to snowboarding”. The goals for the company are to keep expanding while remaining at the top of the business based on their research and innovation and their riding experience. They’re focused to bring the sport of snowboarding to all places, and contributing to the sport while marketing their brand.
6. Analyze implementations
The way to implement the business strategies has been very clear for Burton Snowboarding since the very beginning. They were the first brand to develop snowboarding as a sport and have been dedicated to expanding it for almost 40 years now.
They way that most naturally comes to them to implement their strategy is organizing events in which they can promote and show the performance of their products. This is how they started up in their first year, organizing competitions that would later become as important as the US Open Snowboarding Championship.
The company has a very original system. Their founder, Jake Burton, is still at the head of the company, and is still the first person to try all prototypes that come out of the factory. He is still the soul of all the enterprise and manages the business efficiently bringing in over $700 million a year. The employees at Burton Snowboards have a relaxed environment i the workplace which according to the company increases their productivity and creativity. They are allowed to skip work sometimes when the nearby mountains have fresh powder and enjoy the feeling of snowboarding, to better understand what they’re working for: to build the snowboard that will bring you to the perfect mountain experience.
7. Make recommendations
Surely, every person that has ever ridden a snowboard has heard about Burton Snowboards at a certain point. But I think the company has to consider whether that is good enough for them. I think they should focus into broadening the market. Trying to bring more people into the sport through their brand. Advertising in places where you can’t snowboard can maybe seem illogical but I think it makes sense. Humans are known to want what they don’t have, so advertising in a warm place, may lead to people travelling to ski resorts and experiencing snowboarding with Burton gear.
They should offer guidance for buying new boards, as well as instructors in certain resorts other than in the Chill Program, in order to get new riders engaged in the sport as well as help experienced riders improve their skills.
8. References
Burton Official Website, History and Meet Jake
http://www.burton.com/default/company
http://www.burton.com/default/meetjake
http://www.burton.com/default/history
The House: History of Burton Snowboards
http://www.the-house.com/portal/burton-history/
Wikipedia