International Management- Hunter Boots Ltd.

Designed to be bystanding in any(prenominal) field, from city streets to music festivals and rugged countryside, hunter footgear is recognized for its doing durability and comfort achieved through a fusion of tradition and engineering science (Hunter peak Ltd. , 2013) Hunter kicking Ltd. was founded in 1856, styled as the sum British Rubber Company, producing not only rubber boots but also tyres, conveyors and flooring. The noted wellies or wellington boots rose to fame when they were mass-produced during World War I to supply the army.By the end of the war wellies had become popular for use among the widely distributed population as well. After changing ownership several times Hunter Rubber Company became a standal unrivalled lodge in 2004, and was bought out of administration as Hunter nurture Ltd. in 2006. Now just tensenessing on footwear, the bon ton has since positioned itself firmly and both the UK and USA footwear markets. In 2008 Hunter closed its plant of 96 historic period and relocated its headquarters to Edinburgh (Scotland) and yield to China.Striving for more efficiency and effectiveness in the ware process Hunter boots atomic number 18 only distillery visually akin(predicate) to its original design, whereas they have in fact become virtually superposable to the boots produced by its competitors. Nevertheless Hunter has experienced a period of abundant growth and is now distributed inter democracyally in over 30 countries (Hunter care Ltd. , 2013). The motive feels that is important to make a clear distinction between the long time up to 2006, which is the year Hunter Boot Ltd. was placed into admission, and the years 2007 and onwards to where Hunter Boot Ltd. s currently controlled by Searchlight detonating device Partners LP (SCP). , which is a private investment firm operating in North America and Europe. First this paper depart analyse the rise, and demise, of the caller and consequently go out shed some light on its resurgence in popularity and turn-around sales in recent years (Paton 2011). According to doorkeeper (1991) sustainable competitive advantage in international business is determined by the four factors that form the diamond of national advantage factor conditions, indigence conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry. The factors are nterdependent and all are essential for achieving (international) success. The application of this framework certainly holds true for Hunter Boot Ltd. s (international) success from its founding years to the early 2000s. Diamond of case Advantage Hunter Boot Ltd. 1856 2006 Relative level of Importance chemical element Conditions Dumfries production plant, skilled undertaking and sufficient infrastructure. High Importance want Conditions Wet weather conditions make suitable footwear a necessity. army supplier during both WWI and WWII. Loyal customer ranging from the British Royal Family to genera l population. High Importance Related & Supporting Industries Close working relationships with suppliers and end-users at bottom national boundary. Medium Importance Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry talentiness to manage vast growth in both production and labor force. Ambitious management strategy. High Importance Table 1 Porters Diamond of National Advantage applied to Hunter Boot Ltd. 1856-2006 The companys defy became inevitably clear in the years 2003-2005 when it recorded a pre-tas loss of approximately ? 700,000 with a net debt that had big(p) to more than ? 2m. These perils fundament be explained by two of Porters factors.Firstly the companys Factor Conditions, mainly its production plant, changed from major bearing to major weakness. The location and facilities that helped bring to company to swellness during the war became hopelessly outdated in later years leading to relatively steep costs of trying to continue its Scotland production. Lower production cost s abroad, referable to surges in gas, electricity and rubber prices in the UK, and the overall British manufacturing decline made Hunter Boot Ltds ambitions to remain an independent producer reportd in Scotland unsustainable (Financial Times 2006).Also blamed in the process was the companys CEO Mark Sater, which relates to Porters factor on firm strategy, structure and rivalry, who chose to pursue a diversification strategy in that under his rule the product range was extended extensively in an effort to boost sales. The company even added a range of mark clothing and partnered with charities and fashion designers. With the previously mentioned financial situation the company was labored to consider external business proposals in an effort to keep the company afloat.Driving the following negotiations were the companys demand conditions which were distinctly articulated by an anonymous insider in the Financial Times (2006) as anyone who hunts or fishes and has a few quid fancie s themselves as the next owner. It is so close to the police van of so some people it is almost owned by the nation. none of the offers mounted sufficient support of the board and the company collapsed in the spring of 2006. In several consecutive constructions Hunter Boot Ltd. Generated sales of ? 56m in 2010 and ? 78 in 2011 which is a strong financial improvement and turnaround from its pre-tax losses in 2005.Since early 2012 the company is under control of Ameri female genital organ-owned private beauteousness group SCP which is pursuing global expansion. This makes Hunter Boot Ltd. one of many luxury brand buy-outs by private equity groups the like of SCP in recent times. SCP has announced that it will try to set up stores merchandising the Hunter brand exclusively across the globe in the access years. This is a major change in its international strategy since Hunter products are currently sold exclusively via wholesale retail carry (Paton 2011&2012).Despite the many cha nges in ownership Hunter product are still clearly trying to hang on its British heritage in a dual effort to maintain its loyal UK customer base and to severalize itself from its competitors. As an example the company has two different website interfaces, one for UK customers and one for USA customers. Both emphasize the exclusivity and craftsmanship of the product, but the UK website win emphasizes its heritage by portraying the British flag and colors clearly on every opportunity. From a theoretical perspective one could argue that Hunter Boot Ltd. s current (international) business strategy can no longer be sufficiently explained by Porters Diamond model, and now bears more resemblance to Barneys VRIO model which is a resource-based gain focused on the firms internal capabilities (Barney 1991). The resource-based view argues international success stems from the theory that some firms in one nation generate exports that are important (V), unique (R), hard to imitate (I) and back up by organizationally sound processes (O) which firms from other nations find beneficial to import.A valuable resource will lead to competitive parity, a valuable and noble-minded resource to temporary competitive advantage, the addition of inimitability will lead to sustain (short-term) competitive advantage and meeting all VRIO-criteria will lead to (semipermanent) sustainable competitive advantage (Shahriari, M. & Ahmadi, A. , 2010). While companies may have many actual and intangible resources only few of them are strategic in nature. well-nigh strategic resources are of the created and intangible kind and often knowledge-based, yet they can only be facilitated with the help of tangible resources.This mix is what enables a company to move past competitive convergence and into competitive advantage (Shariari et al. 2010 and Barney 1991). globalisation has affected Hunters home-based competitive advantages in that in a global economy there has been a shift from natural assets (land and raging labor) to created assets (human capital). Many of these created assets are intangible and firm or ownership peculiar(prenominal) which mean they are often no longer controlled by special countries or governments except within the constraints of the (national) law. Multinational firms (MNEs) like Hunter Boot Ltd. re free to move assets from a domestic to a orthogonal location which is often done when trying to pursue and generate newborn valuable assets (Dunning, J. H. , 1993). This opportunity is exactly what the company pursued when it moved its production plant to China while maintaining its HQ in Scotland. It is the companys intangible or created asset of reputation that currently provides it with a long-term sustained competitive advantage over its competitors. Its constant customer focus and technological capabilities are a close second but do not withstand a long-term orientation to a interchangeable extent.This is particularly true for Hunter Bo ot Ltd. s technological mental ability since the recent move of its production facilities and cost-cutting strategy has made the company more vulnerable to imitation by competitors. Recently Hunter Boot Ltd. has been enjoying great success and it will have to prove if this is sustainable or not. It will come down to the following question Is the companys gaining in internal capabilities and resources enough to make up for the loss of its national advantages?The author states that it is vital for the company to uphold its reputation since this is currently the single sustainable source of competitive advantage and not one that cannot be affected. It might be that the company will lose some of its loyal (mainly UK) customers and gain a large number of mass-market global customers, but it is doubtful this will provide long-term success if the company is not able to differentiate itself sufficiently from its competitors in the near future. Bibliography BARNEY, J. , 1991.Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of management, 17(1), pp. 99-120. DUNNING, J. H. , 1993. Internationalizing Porters Diamond. MIR trouble International Review, 33 (Extensions of the Porter Diamond exemplar), pp. 7-15. FINANCIAL TIMES, 2006, Future furthest from bright for Britains wellies, viewed on 28th of February 2013 http//www. ft. com/intl/cms/s/0/628795c2-cbd4-11da-a7bf-0000779e2340. hypertext markup languageaxzz2MYTEnuR HUNTER BOOT LTD, 2013, viewed on 4th of March 2013 http//www. hunter-boot. com/about-us PATON, E. 2010, Luxury intentness movers and shakers, Financial Times, viewed on 1st of March 2013 http//www. ft. com/cms/s/0/0f2e5894-1c62-11e2-ba75-00144feabdc0. hypertext mark-up language PATON, E. , 2011, Hunter boots to pursue international growth, Financial Times, viewed on 28th of February 2013 http//www. ft. com/intl/cms/s/0/4846403a-2800-11e1-a4c4-00144feabdc0. htmlaxzz2MYTEnuRw PORTER, M. E. , 1998,Competitive advantage of nations,Free press. SHA HRIARI, M. and AHMADI, A. , 2010, A Resource-Based Framework of Strategic Marketing Planning to achieve Sustainable Competitive Advantage, pp. 1-13.