Part 1 SWOT Analysis BMOC, Inc.

Strengths BMOC has a history of producing quality walking shoes. Founder L.L. Nutt was often quoted as saying that A good walking shoe makes life worth living.' BMOC has enjoyed a loyal customer base in the bird watching activists, Amish communities, and rural country folk. By selling to upscale department stores, their shoes have lately been accepted by college graduates living in suburbs as well. BMOC is a national brand. It is the number one walking shoe brand in the world. Its famous Moose Logo is recognizable by birdwatchers around the world. BMOC has a large factory in Ashland, Maine as well as a new factory recently opened in Guatemala. Both factories are able to create the same styles of shoes, although currently, the Guatemalan factory has built mostly childrens shoes because of the smaller hand size of the workers there. BMOC has always been able to find celebrity endorsement, such as the recent use of BMOC products by the Duke of Greenwich at the recent international bird watching convention in Wales. Weaknesses BMOC does not have a diversified range of shoe products. The income of the business is dependent upon its share of the shoe walking market. It is this dependency that leaves BMOC vulnerable as the amount of rural walkers in the United States decreases. This has been combined with a fickle change in birdwatchers taste to use athletic shoes on their day trips. The retail sector for shoes is very price sensitive. BMOC does not have its own retailer, relying on retail stores for distribution. Since most of its income is derived from selling to retailers, BMOC is dependent on the whims of their perception of current market trends. Also, margins are constantly squeezed as retailers try to pass low prices to their customers. Page 2 of 12 Opportunities Expansion of the BMOC product line offers many opportunities. The BMOC brand is fiercely defended by birdwatchers. There is a new market base of suburban walkers that is slowly growing. Consumers that wear BMOC products do not always buy them to walk and watch birds. Some awareness of the benefits of wearing comfortable shoes is growing in disparate areas such as bus drivers and Certified Public Accountants. However, this growth has up till now been attributable to word of mouth, as no focused advertising campaign has yet been mounted by BMOC. The business could also be developed internationally since there is currently not much of an overseas market. Emerging markets such as China and India have a new generation of consumers who have the income to afford quality products such as BMOC brand shoes. There is also the possibility to develop products such as bird watching clothing,

sunglasses and binoculars. While such items have high profits associated with them, there is the need to develop a more diverse customer base that might lead to other products. NAFTA and CAFTA may be opportunities for BMSC. With one production facility already established in Guatemala, we will be immune to the imposition of potential tariffs and other regulations for imports from Asia. As labor cost rise in South East Asia, the cheap labor pool will dry up and the playing field will become more level. Threats If BMOC expands to other markets, it will find the market for sports shoes to be very competitive. Consumer interest in alternative brands is taking away BMOC's market share. Consumers are constantly shopping for better deals. Currently, the increased prices of BMOC products makes this comparison-shopping a difficult hurdle to overcome. However, if quality is taken into account, the reason for the prices can be evident. Shoes are still subject to high tariffs in international trade. However, shoes manufactured abroad at greatly reduced costs can absorb this tax and still be priced competitively with BMOC in the domestic market but the reverse is not true. Therefore, the cost of BMOC shoes needs to be decreased in some manner.

Different B2B Solutions

There is no doubt that ERP (enterprise resource planning) can help BMSC become more efficient, reduce costs, and improve distribution. But ERP software is expensive starting at $20,000 per computer for a low-end system from IBM. http://www-306.ibm.com/software/genservers/commerce/express/ This is a prohibitive investment for our small company. Indeed, there is some question as to how much money can be saved by this investment. "When the whole exchange and e-sourcing wave began, people were looking at 10 percent to 30 percent in savings by doing a piece of work more efficiently," Dave Horne, CEO of XPORTA, told the E-Commerce Times. "By 2001 and 2002, they had already gotten all of the low-hanging fruit and were down to the 1 percent and 2 percent gains they could get out of the technology." http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/32000.html Right now, therefore, one option is to purchase packaged software from existing ERP implementations. Competition between vendors has been heating up, with SAP, Oracle and other ERP players taking on established exchange software and service giants, such as IBM. There is, however a new alternative. Compiere provides open-source ERP/CRM (customer-relationship-management) system free of charge. It makes a profit by offering presales consulting, implementation services, and support through its network of partners. Jorg Janke, president and project lead, said the company's partners concentrate on small and midsized customers. Distribution chains, both owned and independent,

represent an important market niche and one in which neither SAP nor Oracle excels, he said. Compiere is the #1 Open Source ERP software application with fully integrated CRM software solutions. Compiere provides a comprehensive solution for smalltomedium sized enterprises (SME) in distribution and service on a global basis and covers all areas from customer management and supply