Mattel Swot Analysis Case

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Mattel as a company has many strengths. Some of these are being an industry leader, being a fantastic corporate citizen, their licensing agreements and acquisitions, and how they manufacture their abundant products.

With sales numbering in the billions, they are no doubt the industry leader in the toy market. For example, in 2006 their gross sales were $2.7 billion in their international business division. Their U.S. sales also were $3.4 billion. (See Exhibit 1). Mattel is clearly a leader in their industry and more than likely will remain for the near future.

Mattel also excels at being a great corporate citizen. They strive to engage in charity functions. Mattel operates their own children foundation that can be found in 37 countries throughout the world. CRO magazine also placed Mattel in the top 100 Best Corporate Citizen companies in 2006. Mattel was also extremely open with the public about recalls, as well as striving to correct the predicaments. With this global reputation, Mattel has created a certain utility and competitive edge within their industry and consumers.

Throughout Mattel's history, they have also acquired several licensing agreements and acquisitions of other companies. (See Exhibit 2). This acquisitions and licensing agreements have helped Mattel spread across the globe and reach other niche markets in the industry. With the exception of the acquisition of The Learning Company, all of their other acquisitions have been successful.

Mattel also has a unique way of how they manufacture their products. Currently all of their products are manufactured overseas. After selecting a product to be manufactured, they are run in "pilot" manufacturing series. These series allow the engineers of Mattel to evaluate the process of manufacturing their products and to ensure quality control. Sometimes the quality control is not correctly followed for some batches. Overall, this gives Mattel an edge over their competition.

Weaknesses

Mattel has demonstrated some weaknesses in their career as a corporation. These include, but are not limited to, product recalls caused by failure to supervise 3rd party manufactures and their somewhat questionable product safety record.

Mattel has a diminutive history of product recalls. For example, in 2007 they failed to supervise one of their 3rd party manufactures that operates in China. One of their products was found to have excessive levels of lead in the paint. (See Exhibit 3). A similar situation was also reported with some of their magnets used in other products. The magnets were prone to becoming loose. This can be contrived as a weakness in the Mattel Company.

The company as a whole has a somewhat questionable product safety record when it comes to recalls as well. As