Strategy- the Hour Glass

6588 Words27 Pages
The Hour Glass BACKGROUND AND ISSUES OF THE CASE THG was founded in 1977. Its marketing strategy was targeted to fulfil the status and brand-consciousness of rich customers, where expensive watches are viewed to reflect status and lifestyle. Attempted to diversify into manufacturing of watches through the acquisition of GG and DR but unsuccessful and resulted in the divestment of the two subsidiaries. THG also diversified into highly non-related businesses such as Milano Pizza and was also unsuccessful. The businesses were also divested. THG reconciled its strategy and refocused to watch retail business with the change in a 3rd gen management. 1. CONDUCT OF INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF THG We will study the business fundamentals, and conduct the RCC. With the capabilities, we will then test the capabilities for THG’s core competencies. We will also use the value chain analysis to examine THG’s value-adding activities to the company. 1.1 BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS Finance and Accounting Solvency ratios 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Debt to assets ratio 0.25 0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24 Debt to equity ratio 0.34 0.35 0.32 0.32 0.33 Based on the financial information given in exhibit 1 of the THG case study, THG’s debt to asset ratios and debt to equity ratios have been consistently low from year 2004 to 2008. These low ratios indicated that THG is not heavily financed by debts. Since the debts are low, the principal and interest payments will not demand a very large portion of the THG’s cash flows. In additional, the risk of uncertainty due to interest rates fluctuation will be reduced. Liquidity ratios 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Current ratio 3.23 3.31 3.66 2.83 3.52 Quick Ratio 0.63 0.72 0.73 0.70 0.80 THG has high current ratios between year 2004 and 2008. The quick ratios between 2004 and 2008 are less than 1 and this implies dependency on inventory to

More about Strategy- the Hour Glass

Open Document