• Pou Chen Group’s Strategic Approaches Facing the Waves of Anti-Globalization and Automation

Abstract

Pou Chen Group is a leading original equipment manufacturer of sports shoes that has been highly successful despite inflation and its partner brands constantly cutting sales prices. In addition to internationalization, its success can primarily be attributed to its ability to continually lower its production costs and vertically integrate its supply chain. However, these attributes currently face several new challenges. First, its brand partners have made demands for accelerated automation. Both of its major partners, Nike and Adidas, have initiated efforts for automation in response to e-commerce and increasing demands for custom-made products. Second, challenges have been made to internationalization. The United States withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership soon after the 2016 presidential election, firing the first shot for antiglobalization. Pou Chen Group must reexamine the feasibility of establishing a plant in the United States. During the proposed course, students are expected to learn to identify a corporation’s core competencies through a case study, which will serve as a basis for devising various options for solving the challenges it faces. Subsequently, the students will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of these options and develop a future strategy for Pou Chen Group.

Keywords: Anti-Globalization, Automation, Manufacture-on-Demand, Resource-Based Theory/Resource-Based View