The Everlasting Footwear Pte Ltd is a manufacturer of a wide range of footwear. The company is focussed on understanding its customer needs and providing adequate high quality footwear solutions using the latest medical and footwear technology available. It strives to continually upgrade its existing products. Overall, its operations are organised into four divisions which are fashion, industrial, leisure and children. Each division manager is given important performance targets to achieve at the beginning of the financial year. Performance bonuses paid is based on achieving a target Return on investment.

The Fashion division manufactures a range of high quality footwear which is sold to a leading retail store which has branches in every major city in the countries they operate. The industry sales has grown from $200 million three years ago to $350 million today. The company sales have grown from $60 million to $122 million in the same period.

The Industrial division manufactures a wide range of high quality, innovative footwear which has been designed for use in various industries. In an attempt to increase sales volumes, the company introduced the sale of these products on-line recently. The industry sales has grown from $150 million three years ago to $450 million today. The company sales have grown from $5 million to $5.5 million in the same period.

The Leisure division manufactures a wide range of footwear designed for outdoor pursuits such as running and mountaineering. The companys products are well established branded labels in this industry. The industry sales have grown from $40 million five years ago to $41 million today. The company sales have grown from $20 million to $21 million in the same period.

The Children division manufactures a narrow range of school and casual wear which is sold to leading retail stores. The industry sales have grown from $20 million five years ago to $21 million today. The company sales have been constant at about $1 million in the same period.

Required:

1. Briefly identify Everlasting Footwear means of competitive advantage. (3 marks)

1. Outline three key success factors for the company. (6 Marks)

1. Briefly identify the organisational structure in the companys operation. (4 marks)

1. Discuss the degree of centralisation associated with the four divisions. (4 marks)

1. Identify the responsibility accounting centre applied to the four divisions. (4 marks)

1. Briefly comment on the appropriateness of the existing performance measurement and reward system. (4 marks)

1. Using the Boston Consulting matrix, use thefour categories of items to define the market position of the four division andassess the competitive position of the four divisions of the company in terms of the four categories. (16 marks)

1. Advise the management of Everlasting Footwear Pte Ltd of three strategies to improve the future performance of company. (9 marks)