{"id":1471,"date":"2015-12-05T22:17:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T03:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/allen-edmonds-an-american-revolution\/"},"modified":"2015-12-05T22:28:43","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T03:28:43","slug":"allen-edmonds-an-american-revolution","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/allen-edmonds-an-american-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Allen Edmonds: An American Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"logo-original\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Company Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Launched in 1922, Allen Edmonds found success selling shoes through their innovative design which provided extra comfort by eliminating the need for a metal shank in the sole.\u00a0 The brand continued to flourish through WWII, providing shoes for military officers.<\/p>\n

By 2008, Allen Edmonds began struggling as revenue dropped 30% and was unable to keep up with its debt payments.\u00a0 Salvation came in the form of a $10M capital investment from a private equity shop.\u00a0 This capital not only helped the company avoid bankruptcy, the investment also gave other lenders confidence in the company\u2019s ability to turn itself around.<\/p>\n

Business Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allen Edmonds has built a brand that prides itself on three things: classic American styling, shoes made in America, and shoes that are built by skilled craftsman.\u00a0 The brand motto \u201cAn American Original\u201d captures what the Allen Edmonds brand means to its consumers.\u00a0 Revenue comes from selling shoes and accessories in Allen Edmond stores, other retailers, or online.\u00a0 They also provide a recrafting and shining services for customers.<\/p>\n

Operating Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allen Edmonds struggles in 2008 were due to both the economic recession and the lack of alignment between the operating and business models.\u00a0 Allen Edmonds built its brand around shoes crafted through traditional manufacturing processes by skilled labor in the United States.\u00a0 This classic operating model makes sense when selling classic styled dress shoes; however, in the early 2000\u2019s Allen Edmonds cancelled many of these classic styles in an attempt to break into the fast fashion market.\u00a0 The brand moved towards European fast-fashion and away from what made it successful: American styled, high quality products made in the US.<\/p>\n

After Goldner Hawn invested $10M to save the company from bankruptcy and Paul Grangaard took over as CEO, the company had one goal: to align its business model with its product line.\u00a0 It did this in three ways.<\/p>\n

First, Grangaard brought back the classic American-styled products.\u00a0 Models like the Strand became wild successes after the re-release.<\/p>\n

Second, the company had to cut costs.\u00a0 Since the traditional manufacturing process depended heavily on skilled labor, much their product costwas in labor.\u00a0 Additionally, availability of labor trained in crafting shoes is limited, so maintaining a proper balance of cutting costs and retaining enough skilled labor was Grangaard\u2019s priority.\u00a0 In the end, 8% of the workforce was cut, an amount chosen carefully to allow Allen Edmonds to retain its traditional crafting process.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the company launched its internet platform.\u00a0 The site was setup to track previous customer purchases and interests, allowing salespeople to better understand the needs of each customer.\u00a0 This information allows the Allen Edmonds sales force to reach customers in a personalized way online, similar to how the traditional sales force has been reaching customers in stores since 1922.<\/p>\n

Effectiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n

These actions have perfectly aligned the business model, which provides customers with high quality, American styled shoes, with their operating model, which crafts shoes in America and provides customers with high quality service.\u00a0 This alignment has positioned Allen Edmonds as a leader in the market, boxing out any US competitors in their price point with their established brand name, scale, and loyal customer following. Since 2009, the company has more than doubled its revenues and their employment has increased over 85% in the United States.<\/p>\n

The next steps for the company include a recently launched clothing line. \u00a0The unique business model of Allen Edmonds\u00a0allows them to enter the clothing market in a similar fashion as their shoe business.\u00a0 Allen Edmonds should leverage its current business and operating model for shoes to create a high quality, American styled, and American made clothing line.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem I see with Granaard\u2019s execution of the\u00a0clothing line. \u00a0The clothing companies that have found success have done so through the proper alignment of business and operating models. \u00a0As Kanye West and many others have found out the hard way, the clothing industry is difficult to break into. \u00a0For this reason, I am of the belief that Allen Edmonds\u2019 only chance for success is to copy its bulletproof shoe business\u00a0model.\u00a0 The issue is that the current line of Allen Edmonds clothing is outsourced, directly contradicting its brand\u2019s tagline, \u201cAn American Original\u201d.\u00a0 Time will tell how successful this new product line will be for Allen Edmonds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Strand2_1027x768\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.allenedmonds.com\/our-story\/heritage.html<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/business\/allen-edmonds-recrafts-its-business-model-d971guh-171860131.html<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/videos\/b\/c2dcc8ca-2b16-4332-907c-4b18cb2ae4eb<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kimberlywhitler\/2015\/05\/03\/ceo-paul-grangaard-on-the-allen-edmonds-turnaround-a-great-american-comeback-story\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHOES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":1473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[114,278,281,195,300,175],"class_list":["post-1471","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apparel","category-art","category-authenticity","category-awesome","category-kanye-west","category-shoes"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/the-tom-challenge-tom-winners-and-losers-assignment\/","yoast_head":"\nAllen Edmonds: An American Revolution - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/allen-edmonds-an-american-revolution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Allen Edmonds: An American Revolution - 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