Mattel Incorporated in 2018 Can Ynon Kreiz Save the Toys?
Exam Case: to complete this exam, read and refer to the Mattel case.
Objective: to determine a level of comprehension for material covered to date.
1. What is Mattels strategy? Which of the five generic competitive strategies discussed in Chapter
5 most closely fit the competitive approach that Mattel is taking? What type of competitive
advantage is Mattel trying to achieve?
2. What does a SWOT analysis of Mattel reveal about the overall attractiveness of its situation? Does
the company have any core competencies or distinctive competencies? Also provide a TOWS
Matrix that pulls together your SWOT and core competency thoughts.
3. What are the primary components of Mattels value chain?
4. What does the data in case Exhibit 4 reveal about Mattelsfinancial performance? How well is the
company doing financially? Case Exhibit 1 might also help with this information. Use the financial
ratios in Table 4.1 of Chapter 4 as a guide for doing the calculations needed to arrive at an analysisbased answer to your assessment of Mattels recent financial performance. In addition to the
ratios in Table 4.1, there are occasions when you will also need to calculate compound average
growth rates (CAGR) for certain financial measures. The formula for calculating CAGR (in
percentage terms) is as follows:
CAGR % = [ending value beginning value] 1/n 1 x 100
(where n = the number of year-to-year or period-to-period changes)
5. What does the data in case Exhibits 3, 4, and 5 reveal about Mattels operating performance?
6. What does the data in case Exhibit 6 reveal about Mattels business segments?
7. What toy companies appear to be Mattels closest rivals?
8. What does Mattel need to do to strengthen its competitive position and business prospects vis-vis other toy company rivals?
9. What strategic issues and problems does Mattel management need to address?
10. Works Cited
