Eddie Keating
Principals of Marketing
Case Study 1 There are several different forces in the marketing environment that appear to pose the greatest challenges to Timberland’s marketing performance. Some examples of these problems are the following * Global marketing- meeting the consumers’ needs on a world-wide scale. Because consumers around the world all find different values in what they want to purchase, having a global appeal is difficult to do. * Having safe and reliable suppliers- In the first quarter of 2012, 6 out of 20 factories that were inspected had received rejected or ATBU-High Risk scores. (timberland, 2012) * A drop in the economy that causes consumers to spend less.
Timberland faces many ethical
Weaknesses * There are many different competitors in this market like Nike, Columbia Sportswear Company, and Wolverine World Wide. * They depend on the entire market globally to do well. If Europe or Asia has a fall in the economy, it will affect Timberland. * They spend more money than most companies do to maintain stability.

Opportunities * An increase in consumer spending due to the economy beginning to strengthen. The unemployment rate has begun to slowly decrease. (Bureau of Labor Statistics) * Laws in other countries may help aid in creating a better work environment for the employees and helping Timberland have more eligible partnerships and suppliers. * Any failures of a competitor that may help drive them to choose Timberland. An example would be Nike having negative publicity and losing their customers.
Threats
* Although the economy is slowly on the rise. It is still significantly worse than it has been in years according to the unemployment statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and this may cause them to see a longer decrease in sales than expected. * Global trade regulations are constantly changing and because Timberland holds such a high standard on their suppliers, they could lose them. * Customers will change their preferences. (This is very hard to foresee especially in a global market.)

References
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012). Labor Force Statistics from