There are several successful golf equipment manufactures but for this study five major ones will do. These are TalyorMade, Titleist/Cobra, Callaway, Nike and Ping. Golf equipment includes golf balls, golf clubs, golf gloves, flags, pins, sports equipments and golf tee. A comparison of the financial report for each will include a comprehensive study of individual company information as well as well as that of the market.
A look at the trading partners as based on commercial and financial strength could tell which of these manufactures lead. TaylorMade trading partners include, Easepal Enterprises Limited, Yuan Huang Enterprise Co.ltd, Wuyi Huaou Furniture Co., Leisure Way International, and Leisure Way International and Leisure Way International Co.,ltd. Callaways has several trading partners and they are Extensor World Trading Ltd.c/o Max, Fooguo International Company Ltd, Qingdao Suntech Sporting Goods, Tsulien Manufacturing Inc. and Pt. Holi Karya Sakti. Titleist/Cobra’s trading partner are fewer. They are O Ta Precision Industry Co., and Long Beach Ca. Nike as sports equipment manufacturer is enormous and it is not suprising that Nike Golf has many trading partners too. These are Dongguan Cheong Ming Printing Co, Princess Cruises Ltd, Zhangjiagang Pro Fixture Co, Apl Logistics China, Ltd and Arburg Gmbh Co. Finally we have Ping with just one partner that is Goody S Ms L.p. We can safely assume that the major players when it comes to trading partners are TaylorMade, Callaways and Nike Golf while Titleist Cobra and Ping have much fewer trading partners and which should go hand in hand with commercial and financial strength.
When it comes to saleS, all have high sales. But it is expected that one reigns. Going by factors that determine success and industry matrix, we can come up with several things. First, Callaway is a leader in product performance and technological innovation. It had a net sale of $ 967,656 for the year 2010. TaylorMade is also a leader in innovation and records high sales as well because of that. Because of brand image, loyalty and endorsements, Nike Golf is also known to have high sales. It have been able to get big names such as Tiger Woods to endorse it and therefore when people see that they buy their products though they are not as good as Callaways and Titleist/Cobra. Ping and Callaway trail behind in such endorsements. When it comes to management team experience Callaway tops the list again with a rating of four while the rest share the following position with a rating of three. There has been a slow down generally in the sports growth down to the economic down turn. Growth has been seen in other sports as people can no longer afford to take up golf as a leisure activity. The golf industry is targeting on keeping the players that are already there. But smaller golf companies which in this case would be Ping and Nike should experience as slower rate of decline if not the fastest growth. There have also been several restrictions on innovations therefore smaller golf equipment manufacturers are growing as the field is being leveled.
Nike Golf is the most profitable of the five with 4.5 million customers over the last ten years in pure regards to golf balls as a result of an agreement with Tiger Woods. Because of the same, Nike’s overall profit in golf ball sales was $1.6 million. This is followed closely by Titleist/Cobra. Callaway, TaylorMade and Ping follow in that order.
Generally,the overall performance of the five on this basis has Callaway is the leader, followed by Titleist/Cobra, TaylorMade, Ping and finally Nike Golf.
Reference
http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDFArchive/ely2010.pdf
