Crocs: Revolutionizing an industry supply chain model
Crocs is a world leader in innovative casual footwear, having sold over 300 million shoes in over
90 countries since 2002.
There are four main core competencies of Crocs.
Firstly, Crocs owns the proprietary Croslite resin and controls its manufacturing. Croslite, which
is a closed cell foam material, molded to the shape of the wearer’s foot, provides an
exceptionally comfortably shoe. Moreover, the material is light, odor resistant, washable with
water and can be produced in distinctive, funky colors. This gives Crocs a competitive
advantage over other shoe manufacturers.
Secondly, Crocs has a supply chain that is different from that of traditional shoe companies. It
enables the company to fulfill new orders quickly within the selling season, quickly
manufacturing and shipping new product to retailers. Since retailers do not need to anticipate
and pre book the shoes 6 months in advance, importance of Crocs to retailers has increased,
thereby increasing their retail presence. Constant year wide ordering benefits both large and
small-scale customers.
Thirdly, global presence of manufacturing operations, which added capacity and ability to
respond to local customers. The company also took control of warehousing and moved
compounding in-house which lead to a vertically integrated supply chain.
Lastly, moving equipment between production plants helps Crocs respond faster to fluctuations
in demands.
Crocs can exploit these competencies in the future in several ways.
Further vertical integration will make the supply chain more stable as the company will own the
entire supply chain. Better response can be planned to shifts in customer demand.
Growth by acquiring manufacturing companies will be beneficial as there will be complete