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Mgt 485-Unit 2 Ip-Vermont Teddy Bear Co Inc Case Study

The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Inc. Case Study
The Vermont Teddy Bear Co., Inc was founded in 1981 by John Sorinto. The premise of the company settled on the sale of hand sewn bears. The focus of the company since that time has been the design, manufacturing, and direct marketing of highest quality teddy bears made in the United States using quality U.S. materials and labor. Until 1994, Vermont Teddy Bear experienced a great deal of success and profitability. The use of virtual teams to replace traditional face-to-face work groups is being driven by five trends: flatter organizational structures with increasing cross-functional management needs, tumultuous environments requiring more inter-organizational teamwork, increase in the autonomy of employees when it comes to the decision making process, greater knowledge base requirements stemming from an increase in the focus on service and an increase in the globalization of trade and corporate activity.
A company or organization that wishes to obtain or sustain success must regularly evaluate all aspects of the business and industry to determine strengths and weaknesses. "Environmental scanning involves monitoring, collecting and evaluating information in order to understand the current trends in the societal and task environments. The information is then used to forecast whether these trends will continue or whether others will take their place." (Wheelen, T. and Hunger, J. 2006) A company must monitor both the internal and external factors in the industry or environment it works within to provide a realistic look at the future success of the company. A company that does not complete an analysis of the factors that will contribute to success and/or failure will see reaction based decisions being made. The reaction based decisions generally result in added failure to the company as it jumps from one strategy to another trying to come up with a formula for success.
External Factors Analysis Summary (EFAS)
A firm such...