Where is boston whaler made

Running Head: BOSTON WHALER 1

BOSTON WHALER 9

SWOT Analysis of Boston Whaler Inc.

Joshua Rodgers

Ashford University

10/15/2019

Boston Whaler, Inc.

History, Products and Major Competitors

Boston Whaler Inc. is an American company that manufactures boats. It is considered as a subsidiary of the Brunswick Boat Group, which is a division of the Brunswick Corporation. It is a quintessential American motorboat. Bread from risk, innovation, and hard work, the reputation of the company for its fun, reliability, and safety has changed how people go about boating. The company manufactures boats for a runabout, yacht tender, backwater, utility, fishing water skiing, and overnighting purpose boat, among others (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). The company is based on the United States market. The company functions in a very competitive environment with some of the most established rivals. Some of the major competitors of the company include G3 Boats, Chris-Craft Corporation, Triton Boats LLC, Smoker Craft Inc., RangerBoats.com, Grand Banks Yachts Ltd, Chaparral Boats, and Avalon Pontoons, among others (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019).

Richard Fisher founded Boston Whaler in 1958. He developed the first twin sponsor 13’ Whaler and then tried his best to destroy it by driving it up rocky rapids and even went as far as cutting the boat in half. It indicated that the boat is unsinkable (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). The Boston Whalers are today more than just unsinkable. Richard Fisher started the journey of Boston Whaler at its production facility in Edgewater, Florida. Expert engineers and designers use cutting-edge CAD product development approaches to build and test the propriety innovations such as the dive door and subject every model to painstaking quality control standards. All the engineering processes were driven by the desire to create high quality, low maintenance boating experience. The fiber glasses that were used in the boats are hand-laid and use a superior resin system to give a tough and durable ride from the hull up. The first Whaler hit the waters in 1958, but the Unsinkable Legend was developed with a bold launch in 1961 when Richard sawed a boat into half before the people and piloted the remaining half of the hull around Wampatuck Pond in Hanson, Massachusetts others (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). This came as a shock to the people who were watching. The company made its mark in the boating history by showing that it had created a remarkable and unsinkable boat.

Boston Whaler Inc. is committed to producing boats that are purposefully designed for safety, functionally efficient, and low maintenance while delivering a lifetime of carefree pleasure. The founder of the company, Richard Fisher, loved the aspect of torture tests, which showed the unsinkability of the whalers. He drove the Whalers up rocky rapids, filled them with water and people. Boston Whaler products range from SuperSport, Montauk, Dauntless, Outrage, Conquest, Vantage, Realm, Guardian, Justice, Challenger, and Vigilant others (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019).

Financial Performance and Conditions of the Company

Boston Whale announced the 4th quarter and 2018 year-end results today, showing a total marine revenue amounting to $4.12 billion for the year. This was a 12% increase from the previous financial year. The company’s financial performance and conditions depend, to a larger extent, on the well-being and the continued popularity and reputation for the quality (SEC Gov., 2019). Around 40% of the company’s revenue in the 2018 fiscal year came from the sales of new boats manufactured by Brunswick, including around 26% from Brunswick’s Sea Ray division, 10% from Brunswick’s Boston Whaler division, and around 4% from other divisions of Brunswick (SEC Gov., 2019). The company depends on its manufacturers to provide products that are comparably favorable with competing products with regard to quality, performance, safety as well as advanced features that include the latest advances in navigation and propulsion systems.

2018 Sales and Earnings

Amount Adjusted

Growth

Marine Engine Sales

$2.99 billion

+13.7%

Boat Sales

$1.42 billion

+6.2%

Total Marine Sales

$4.07 billion

+11.5%

Marine Operating Earnings

$589 million

+19.0%

The positive customer growth of Boston Whales results from the implementation of their five pillars of the marine strategy. These include:

· Exceptional brands and products

· Excellent consumer experience

· Operating and quality experience

· Customer-centric innovation

· Leading employee and best partners in the industry such as Brunswick

2019 is projected to be a strong year in terms of revenue and earnings growth with an excellent generation of free cash flow. Around 9-12% annual sales growth is expected (SEC Gov., 2019). All signs indicate that Boston is moving in the right direction, and in the near future, it will come to outperform some of the major players in the market.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths – as one of the major companies in the industry, Boston Whaler has several strengths that enable it to flourish in the market. One of the strengths of the organization is the high rate of customer satisfaction. The company’s products are of high quality and assure the consumers of the safety and convenience of others (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). At the same time, the company has a devoted customer relationship management sphere that has enabled it to attain high rates of customer satisfaction among the current consumers and a superior brand image among potential consumers. Automation of various activities within the organization resulted in the consistency of the products’ quality and has enabled the organization to improve with regard to the demand for its products. The company also has a strong base of reliable suppliers of raw materials enabling it to overcome the supplier chain challenges. Boston Whaler is known as one of the best companies to work for. It maintains a highly skilled workforce through effective training and learning programs. The company has heavily invested its resources in the training and development of its employees, creating a workforce that is motivated and highly skilled. In the past few years, Boston Whaler has invested heavily in creating a strong brand image (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). This has enabled it to expand into new product lines easily. Another strength is its new excellent performance in fresh markets. Boston Whale has sharpened its expertise in entering new markets and succeeding. The expansion has enabled the company to create a new revenue stream and diversify its economic cycle risks within the different markets it exists (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

Weaknesses – Boston Whales has weak areas where it needs to improve to better its operations. One of the weaknesses of the Boston Whaler is that it is not so good at product demand projection. This has often led to missed opportunities when compared to its competitors. Another weakness of the organization is the high employee turnover rates than its close competitors. This has affected the efficiency of workflow and makes the company spend a lot of money in the training and development of new employees that they hire. The organization functions in a centralized structure. This means the company relies on one individual to make decisions and give direction to the company. The owner is responsible for the operations of the company. This structure impedes the process of decision making because the employees are not involved in the problem-solving and decision-making process. As a result, operations within the company are slow, particularly when a decision must be made from one person. There is a lack of creativity and morale (Cummings & Worley, 2015).

Opportunity – Boston Whaler is based in the US market. However, with the advent of globalization, the company has an opportunity of venturing into the global markets with its innovative products. Within the US market, its products have been in high demand because of their quality. Venturing into the global market will give it an opportunity of increasing its revenue collection and expand its market base. Additionally, the company should make use of the increased internet access to reach to their customers and interact with them, especially through social media (Pearce & Robinson, 2014). This would ensure that the company gives its customers an excellent experience by listening to their ideas, views, and feedback. When customers are satisfied with the level of services offered, they will most likely refer a friend or a family member to use the products of the company.

Threats: The main threat that the company faces is the cut-throat competition within the industry. Companies are coming up with more advanced technology, which proves to be a significant threat to the existence of Boston Whaler in the market because consumers are opting for more quality and cheaper boats that would give them a good experience. Stability has increased the number of players in the industry in the last ten years, putting downward pressure on its profitability and overall sales. Another significant threat is product imitation. It is essential to note that Boston Whaler produces some of the unique boats in the market. Many organizations would wish to create such kind of products. As a result, they may imitate the product design, which may affect the brand name of the Boston Whaler.

Areas that Requires Change and Recommendations

One of the key areas that require change is product leadership. The company should focus on developing products that are desired by consumers in a better and faster way than consumers. The company should maintain an aggressive product development pace to ensure that it meets the customer need and ultimately gain a better market share (Pearce & Robinson, 2014). Secondly, the company’s marketing approach is relatively poor. This is one area that requires immediate attention. They need to use modern marketing approaches to reach the customers, e.g., through social media and designing an interactive company website, etc. With the expanding number of customers and the size of the organization, I believe that the company should change from the centralized management structure to a decentralized structure to ease the efficiency of operation and enhance better management and decision making (Pearce & Robinson, 2014).

So far, the performance of the company has been positive. It is providing high-quality products to consumers. But to improve its operation, the company needs to improve in certain areas. In order to reach a large number of customers across the globe, the company should change its objective from functioning as a local firm to a global company with its networks based in different countries. As earlier mentioned, expanding into the international market will allow the company to get new customers and increase its profit generation (Palmer Dunkin & Akin, 2016).

Better dealer management at the organization would be key to its continued growth. Boston Whaler manufactures high value, high-performance line of power and boats for commercial, recreational, and other market purposes. It has 250 dealers who are served by a small force of regional managers (Bostonwhaler.com, 2019). Many of the dealers are not entirely Whaler distributors. The dealers committed to the company should be increased through new dealer agreements, training, or minimum stocking requirements. This will help bring reliability in the distribution of the company’s products to the market.

References

Bostonwhaler.com (2019) https://www.bostonwhaler.com/

Cummings, T.G. & Worley, C. (2015) Organization Development and Change (10th Ed.). Stamford, CT. Cengage Learning.

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2006). Managing Organizational Changes: A Multiple Perspective Approach: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Pearce, J., & Robinson, R. (2014). Formulation, Implementation, and Control of Competitive Strategy. New York: Irwin McGraw-Hill.

SEC Gov. (2019) Form 10K. Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057060/000119312514440112/d776959d10k.htm