Group 1

The Ressurection of Spikeball

Posted on by tania30113f14

Have you ever heard of Spikeball? Spikeball is a sport that is becoming more popular in the United States. Spikeball is basically a combination of volleyball and foursquare. It’s a very easy game to play all you need is two teams of two people and the net. Spikeball is very portable it can be played in the backyard or on a beach.  If you purchase the product, which retails around $50 you will receive a trampoline like net which is a couple of inches off the ground, and a palm size ball. Basically, players stand around the net each team has up to three hits to transfer the ball to the opposing team. The purpose is to hit the ball into the net so the opposing team can’t return it. The winner is the team to get to 21 points first.

Chris Ruder is the founder and CEO of Spikeball. He first came across Spikeball in the 1980s when he purchased his very own Spikeball from Toys R Us. Ruder would always get the same question when people saw him playing Spikeball with his friends. The questions included, “What’s that game? How do you play? Where can I get one?” this were all simple questions but the last one because Toys R Us didn’t sell Spikeball anymore. That’s when Ruder had the idea to make Spikeball his own. Spikeball Inc. sold their first set in 2008 and Toys R Us was not involved. After having great success and growth Ruder quit his day job to focus on Spikeball. Spikeball has become more popular and has become a popular new sport. There are many tournaments in which people can compete in all over the United States. The top places are Chicago and Nashville. Other places include Los Angeles, New York, Georgia, and Iowa.

What makes this company interesting is the fact that how Ruder took Spikeball which seemed to be dying out and making it into something bigger. Ruder had no money to be able to advertise his product but it made it grow by simply going to the beach and people see him have fun. The game was originally trying to target a younger age group but Ruder realized that the target was not the correct target for Spikeball he believed that it was more for an older age group instead of kids. Ruder had to be in charge of everything that had to be done. He had to deal with inventory, customer service, and e-commerce. He had to be able to manage everything that had to do with improving Spikeball and making it known. He would also like to email customers that made purchases and ask them how they learned about Spikeball. By emailing the customers Ruder was able to receive better feedback regarding his product.

Have you heard of Spikeball before?

Would you try to play Spikeball?

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130730/lincoln-park/chicago-based-spikeball-exploding-popularity-nationwide

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/spikeball-toy-to-sport

http://spikeball.com/

 

The Dark Side of Globalization

Posted on by emily30111f14

jansport

One of the repeated topics we talk about in class is globalization and how it helps companies in a variety of different aspects of their business, such as improved products and operations, as well as reducing costs. However, what if globalization impacted a company negatively? That is exactly what happened to JanSport Apparel. JanSport previously supplied Cornell University with all of its branded school attire. Everything was going well, until a group of students, led by the group United Students Against Sweatshops, boycotted the apparel company and demanded that the university cut ties with the clothing company over its factory safety, or lack thereof. VF Corp., which owns JanSport, did not sign the “Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bandladesh, [which is] a set of standards for improving factory safety in the country.” Of course, VF claims that their factories are safe and has instead joined the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

The Alliance has a smaller population than the Accord, only 26 American and Canadian companies as opposed to 150 companies, but they do not necessarily have the same standards. Factory workers in the Accord, for example, “[have] a broader role in factory reviews.” According to the Alliance, though, “[it] has a Board Labor Committee that advises on the group’s efforts, [and] to imply that workers are not at the heart of our initiative is a direct contradiction of the facts.” The Alliance is also a smaller operation than the Accord because the Alliance inspected only 600 of its members’ companies, as opposed to the 1,100 factories inspected by the Accord.

Cornell University is not VF’s only concern. Prior to Cornell terminating their contract with VF, fourteen other universities, including schools with huge populations such as Arizona State, Penn State, and Syracuse have already terminated their contracts with VF due to the incidents that occurred in late 2012 to early 2013. During that time, a garment factory collapsed and killed over 1,100 workers, and another fire killed 112 workers. The incidents put Bangladesh factories on the international news and created an international movement in order to protect the country’s factory workers. Bangladesh factories supply some of the world’s largest clothing companies and is the “second-largest garment exporter in the world.”

This relates directly back to our class discussion. We always talk about the positive impacts of globalization, and there are certainly ways to globalize in an efficient, safe manner. However, with globalization come certain risks. International companies do not have control of their factories anymore. Instead, they are relying on managers in foreign countries to make sure their goods are being made and the manufacturing process is being executed in a safe, reliable manner. Some of these managers, though, do not always make the best decisions regarding their employees, but instead base their decisions on the bottom line and their productivity.

Would you consider boycotting a clothing company if you heard they were treating their factory workers poorly, or another incident in a factory occurred? What should American companies that export their labor do to ensure that their factories are safe and their employees are taken care of? How do you think these incidents would be handled in the U.S.?

Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-20/students-push-cornell-to-end-vf-corp-deals-over-labor-practices

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-28/a-year-after-deadly-bangladesh-factory-disaster-how-much-has-changed

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-14/wal-mart-sears-refuse-compensation-for-factory-victims.html

 

Quality Matters

Posted on by elizabeth3011f14

Quality is a factor that can affect what a consumer purchases. As consumers, we do not want a product that will fall apart the next day. We don’t want a car that will blow up if we get rear-ended. If a company produces products or services that consumers do not deem to be good, this can affect sales and also the company’s reputation. Because of this, quality is an important part of operations management. Our text defines quality as “the ability of a product or service to meet customer needs.” (Heizer 209.) This definition might seem vague, but in reality, quality can mean different things to different consumers, such as reliability, durability, or even performance. The textbook mentions that two ways quality can improve a company’s profitability are creating sales gains and reducing costs (Heizer 208.)

An example of how quality comes into play in management is the situation going on in the auto industry and the handling of vehicle quality and safety. Recently, Audi and Honda have recalled certain vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reported that Audi’s recall was a result of an air-bag deployment glitch. “Audi’s action is the latest in an industry burdened by recalls. There have been tens of millions of vehicle recalls issued this year, costing…billions of dollars and denting the reputations of executives the companies they run.” (WSJ.) This highlights the fact that when a company’s product or service is perceived to have bad quality, it will cost the company money and will impact the company’s reputation. In addition, not only will recalls affect customers’ perception of a company, but they can lead to government investigations, fines, and lawsuits, all of which will impact the company’s operations management. The article mentions that Honda is reforming its quality assurance structure and will create a new job to oversee the safety changes the company will implement.

Personally, I believe quality is a vital part of operations management. I prefer to buy and spend more for products that I know are not going to fall apart a right after purchasing them. With all of these vehicle recalls, I believe the auto industry really needs to look at its quality standards. Companies need to look at where quality ranks in its operations and consider improving the system. Quality can help a company gain a competitive advantage over others, which will lead to higher profitability and a better reputation. As the textbook mentions, quality can reduce costs and improve sales, which are two features that all companies want. For instance, a product made of higher quality material will have a lower warranty cost for the company. Also, if consumers know a company produces high quality products, they are more likely to buy from that company.

Questions for the reader:

How do you define quality? Do you think its has a big effect on operations management? What are your thoughts on the continuous product recalls?

Sources:

Heizer, Jay, and Barry Render. Principles of Operations Management. Upper Saddle River. 2013. Print. 208-209.

Pfanner, Eric, Boston, William, and Megumi Fujikawa. “Audi, Honda Swept Up In Concerns Over Safety.” online.wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal, 2014. Web.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/more-auto-makers-act-on-quality-defects-1414081212 

Razr WAS the New IPhone

Posted on by samantha30113f14

moto-razr-luk-hot-pink

 

A couple years back in 2004 when the Mortorola Razr was first introduced, it caught everyone’s attention. The razr’s unique, thin and light design made it stand out from other flip-phones. It varied in many colors, including a very popular hot pink color and everyone wanted one. Over time, new technology had introduced smart phones and this is where Mortorala ran into a huge issue.

When the razr hit the growth stage of the product cycle; they kept the same design but would add to it. It was a flip phone that had a camera, was able to send and receive emails, and although a bit slow you could surf the web. The reason they kept the design the same was because it was known for its design. People loved the Razr for that reason and it was known for being the best flip-phone out there.

As this product matured there was fewer changes made because there was not much that could be changed with the design since it was known for its cool look. This is where the issue was because touch screen phones were now a hot product for consumers and Motorola was behind. “We didn’t look at what’s going to disrupt [the RAZR],” Wicks says. “Someone else was. We didn’t invest in disrupting our own leadership.” And even when Motorola did try to evolve and improve, it met resistance from the all-powerful carriers. “We got caught in that bad spot where we were locked into our next-generation product lines and specs based on everyone saying ‘we want the same thing,’ and once we were locked in everyone started to say ‘yeah, but that looks just like the RAZR.’ Then the iPhone came out, and marked another shift in the phone industry.”(“Status Symbols: Motorola RAZR.” ). Motorola was not prepared for the introduction of smart phones and did not know how to approach the situation. While Motorola attempted to change the Razr people kept saying they want the same thing and when they got the same thing they were not satisfied. Motorola was stuck in place and people started switching over to other companies. I believe that it was contradicting information for Mortorola because when they tried to compete with other companies and also satisfy consumers it didn’t work. Consumers did not like the fact that the new Motorola phone looked the Razr but yet were buying smart phones from Apple and Samsung.  “A 2008 report revealed that 24 percent of new iPhone owners in the U.S. switched from the Razr.” (“Remembering the Razr: The Device That Snapped Shut the Era of Flip Phones”). Consumers were clearly interested in trying a new product that did not resemble the Razr. This is where Motorola should have come up with a plan that would lure back their loyal consumers who indeed loved the Razr. They should have strategized in a way to target their loyal customers as well as new consumers. They were at a great advantage because the Razr was a hit a point and their next product could have also succeeded if it were marketed the right way.

In 2011, Mortorola had introduced the Droid Razr Maxx and it failed. They did not do a great job of marketing and trying to get consumers to switch over because I haven’t even heard of it before. They did not market themselves well and were competing against Samsung and Apple both major companies. “Motorola learned that companies have to excel at engineering, design, and marketing, he says, or they’ve got nothing.”(“Status Symbols: Motorola RAZR.” ). It’s true, in order to succeed you must do well at the engineering, design, and marketing part which Mortorla did not do and for that reason they declined.

 

Have you heard of the Driod Razr Maxx when it came out? How could have Motorola marketed to attract consumers?

 

 

Sources:

“Remembering the Razr: The Device That Snapped Shut the Era of Flip Phones.” Digital Trends. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.<http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ghosts-of-christmas-past-the-original-motorola-razr/>.

“Status Symbols: Motorola RAZR.” The Verge. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4798828/status-symbol-motorola-razr>.

 

Consumer Knows Best: Quirky Inc.

Posted on by matthew30111f14

quirky_416x416

http://i.forbesimg.com/media/lists/companies/quirky_416x416.jpg

When it comes to buying things, the consumer knows best.  Quirky.com takes this need to understand the consumer to another level of crowd sourcing by allowing potential consumers in Quirky’s online community to submit ideas and their own input in order to develop innovations. There might not be a better way to identify what a consumer wants than what Quirky is doing by allowing consumers to actually create what they want. Some of the innovations they have created include the Pivot Power, a flexible surge protector, and Stem, a citrus spritzer. The most promising ideas every week are chosen by Quirky’s staff are then voted on by the online community and the employees at Quirky.com, where the top three to five ideas get to move on to development and later distribution.

Quirky-Pivot-Power-Adjustable-Power-Strip

http://thecoolgadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Quirky-Pivot-Power-Adjustable-Power-Strip.jpg

14047669

http://scene7.targetimg1.com/is/image/Target/14047669?wid=410&hei=410

Quirky is set to record revenues of over $100 million dollars in 2014 after recording $48.7 million in 2013 and $18.2 million in 2012.  A lot of this revenue is created thanks to Quirky’s online community. Salim Ismail is the founding executive director of Singularity University, an educational organization and startup incubator in Silicon Valley, and he says that the online community has allowed Quirky to “scale very quickly” (Simon). At practically every stage of the product development stage, the online community is there with feedback such as on the style of the product or with their expertise in something like electrical engineering.

Inventors who get their product all the way up to development get 4% of revenue while there is an additional 6% that is split between the best feedbacks. It does not seem much but when you consider the starting costs for building a business around a single product to be around $200,000 just to do the paperwork and release a prototype, you might change your mind. There is also a lot of risk involved in getting into retail on your own when you do not have the contacts to get on the shelf, so Quirky would be a lot safer. For many people, like students and teachers, there is little risk and an immediate payoff if it works.  Jake Zein, inventor of the Pivot Power, got $28,000 in the first week of Pivot Power’s release after two years of being on Quirky. Now he has earned $696,343 as a result of his Pivot Power line.

Quirky has many competitive advantages under their business model. They get to keep the ideas that are voted into the development process. The company also avoids costs from the early design stages because of the online community’s validation as potential consumers. It helps as preordering allows recouping manufacturing costs to be a sure thing.

This company is set to grow. While most people do not always act on their innovations, Quirky can make the process a lot easier and less risky. Quirky’s mission to become a catalyst for innovation and it seems apparent to me that it will be.

Sites:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220045

http://online.wsj.com/articles/one-week-3-000-product-ideas-1404332942

https://www.quirky.com/jakezien/summary

Questions

Do you have your own idea that you would like to be made?

Would you team up with Quirky, Shark Tank, or with your own team to get your innovation potentially made?

What do you think of crowd sourcing ideas and its effects?

 

Do You Want Fries With That Shake?

Posted on by kristin30111f14

578159

In today’s growing world, it seems as if every one wants exactly what they want exactly when they want it. To accommodate this growing trend among needy and picky consumers, many businesses have delved into the world of mass customization. Mass customization is a “rapid, low-cost production that caters to constantly changing unique customer desires” (Heizer and Render 274). This process deals with high volume and high variety, with many parts and component inputs that result in many different and unique output versions. Mass customization dominates almost every economic and industrial sector – shoes, clothing, phones, computers, and now…food!

Due to the increasing trend of mass customization and consumer preference, fast food chains such as McDonald’s and White Castle have implemented kiosks into a few of their stores in the United States that allow customers to create their own customized order at their convenience. If you think about it, it really is ingenious. How many times have you gone to McDonald’s or any other fast-food restaurant, ordered a meal with certain specifications, and the cashier did not relay that information to the kitchen, and your order was messed up? As a picky eater, this happens to me all the time, and it is frustrating. Through the implementation of self-serve kiosks, customers can order their weird or picky combinations in their own privacy without having to repeat that same order back to the cashier multiple times to make sure they have it down correctly.

There are many advantages to using kiosks in fast food restaurants: reduced labor costs, enhanced customization, speed, convenience, and standardized menu information and marketing messages (Blank). Much like how Chipotle utilizes its more well-trained employees during peak rush hour times, these kiosks help alleviate pressure from the employees in restaurants by assisting with customer service (Kiosk Europe). However, there are also some disadvantages to using kiosks when ordering food. These include initial cost for purchase, training, and installation, customer support for when the customer does not understand how to use the machine or when the machine does not work, and maintenance. When looking at the disadvantages, I cannot help but draw comparisons to self-checkouts that many grocery and convenience stores utilize, which we briefly touched on in class. While these kiosks and self-checkouts might save time in theory, if a customer is unfamiliar with the technology, the process takes much more time than ordering or checking out from someone who is trained for that specific task.

From personal experience, I think that kiosks are good in theory, but not so much in practice. This summer, I travelled to Berlin and Prague with DePaul for a business seminar/study aboard. In Berlin, a few of us decided to check out a European McDonald’s to see the differences between an European McDonald’s and an American McDonald’s. Besides the change in general atmosphere, we noticed four kiosks, where people were placing their orders. We decided to try…and we failed. Not only was the kiosk in German, but we could not figure out how to change the language settings, and we were not familiar with the European menu!

Have you ever used a kiosk or tablet to order at a fast food restaurant? If so, how was your experience?

Will fast food kiosks go down the same path as self-checkouts at convenience stores, or will they have more success?

Sources:

Blank, Christine. “Burgers By Design.” QSR Magazine. January 2014. http://www.qsrmagazine.com/exclusives/burgers-design

Heizer, Jay and Barry Render. “Process Strategy.” Principles of Operations Management. 272-294.

Kiosk Europe. http://www.kioskeurope.com/ke/why-self-service/markets/fast-food

Meehan, Sarah and Jayne O’Donnell. “Self-lane checkouts boost convenience, theft risk.” USA Today. 9 April 2012. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-04-06/self-scanning-checkout/54117384/1

Photo: http://www.qsrweb.com/articles/mcdonalds-aggressive-change-includes-localization-digitization/

The Phantom of the Gaming World

Posted on by francisco30131f14

The Phantom is credited as immensely revolutionary and one of the best gaming consoles … that was never actually released.

Phantom Gaming Console

Why was the Phantom revolutionary and considered potentially “game changing” in the gaming world?

  • The Phantom was set to have PC like performance, far more superior than any other gaming system. Why is this important? It made the potential ceiling for games in terms of speed and graphics that much higher than any other games in the market.
  • The Phantom would not offer games in physical form. Instead it would be built with an internal direct download service that would let users download games directly from an internet connection to their console (much like Playstation and Xbox now offer). Why is this feature important? Gamers no longer had to walk/drive to the store or wait for delivery of highly anticipated games.
  • The price of their games were set to be around $2.00 to $50.00, which would be in similar price range with other consoles in the market.

Why was it never released?

The company with the task of creating the system was a virtually unknown company named Infinium Labs, who was venture-capital-funded. Ultimately their costs simply ran too high when trying to make the console actually work. Infinium labs began to have problems securing funding and had to abandon operations.

Questions

What do you think was the biggest problem surrounding the release of the Phantom Gaming Console?

In terms of  cost, time, and performance, what advice would you give Infinium Labs if you were hired as a business consultant?

Sources:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/phantom.htm

http://www.gamesradar.com/the-top-7-consoles-that-never-were/?page=7

Distributing Music Has Never Been Easier

Posted on by kevinf30123f14

In this post I will talk about Toneden and Splice, two music industry startups. They have streamlined very complicated processes to create services that are easy to use.

Distributing a new song is a process with many steps. Artists will often hire multiple managers and agents to assist them with distributing their latest work.

Today we have an unprecedented number of strong music streaming services (Spotify, Tunecore, BeatsMusic, etc) as well as social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc).

When a new song is created it can be shared to the entire world in a matter of minutes. However, minutes soon turn to hours when aspiring musician have to log in to dozens of different online accounts to create different posts.

As an artist myself I often get discouraged when I distribute my own work. When I finish a track I have to communicate with dozens of people through various mediums. Then I make posts on multiple different accounts. It is a real hassle at times. A few young entrepreneurs have thought about these problems. I believe that their solution is awesome. It’s called Toneden.

Imagine one website where you can manage all of your content. Since I began using Toneden my following increased while the time I spend on music distribution has decreased. All of my social network accounts are synced as well as my Soundcloud. Now when I upload a song I can share it instantly on multiple networks. This significantly cuts down on my promotion time. Furthermore I can consolidate all of my content into a single webpage that is hosted on Toneden.  Without the need for multiple websites I can focus on making better music.

Making music with another artist can be difficult if they do not use the same software as I do. When I make a song it usually has anywhere from ten to forty individual tracks. It can be a pain to send all of these to someone else. Conventional file sharing websites like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Mediafire are not simple or quick, and premium accounts are expensive. I recently started using Splice to work with other people. It is a web service that facilitates live collaboration in popular music programs. When anything is changed in a music project the changes are recorded for everyone connected to that project. This makes working together a lot more fun because more time is spent making music, and less time is spent transferring files.

With both ToneDen as well as Splice I spend more time making music, and less time fiddling with technology. Both companies essentially focus on the same concept. They have taken many separate activities and combined them into a single operation. Both companies are only startups with growing member bases. It will be interesting to see how they grow.

 

Sources

https://www.toneden.io

https://splice.com

Get in the Shower if it All Goes Wrong

Posted on by janelle30113f14

The worst think about working on a project, especially when you’re the manager, is when you can feel it failing. Both you and you team know you are losing your grasp on it and you feel powerless to stop it. Whether it be in a school project, or at work most of us know that feeling.  This is a hard pill to swallow because it means accepting that there is a problem with the path that has been taken.

So how do you get past this? How do you revive a team like that? Should you scrap the project all together losing all the time, energy, and resources put into it? Or should you power through with a bad plan just so you can finish? Maybe you could complain loudly, but ultimately do nothing to change the situation. I’ll admit I have occasionally been that person. It’s not something I’m proud of.

While these steps might be easy to do they aren’t always the best course of action. Here are some simple tips to get your project back on track:

Identify the problem

To fix the problem you have to know the problem. Take a step back and evaluate the situation, you need to understand exactly what went wrong and when. Now you have a starting point to build upon.

Get in the shower

Literally or figuratively clean yourself off! Rid yourself of the bad feelings you previously had towards the project. While this tip might seem unessential, it is actually quite important. If you refuse to let go of your past failures with the project it will make moving forward virtually impossible, it can hinder your ability to come to the table with an open mind ready for a fresh start.

Talk to your team

Communication is key. To get your team back on track everyone needs to be on board and working towards the same goal. This is not a time to try and place blame. Make sure everyone knows their role and how it contributes to the bigger picture. If possible, encourage an open line of communication to eliminate a breakdown in the project due to a breakdown in communication.

Reboot

Learn from your mistakes and refocus yourself. Based on your identification of the problem create a new plan that solves it. “Issue a revised scope statement, obtain the funding, reset the schedule and obtain appropriate approvals. You have been given a new lease on your project” (Cutting).

This list is by no means comprehensive and these are only beginning steps to fix a bigger problem. But start here and you’ll be on the right track to saving your project.

How could you expand on this list? What tips do you have for saving a project? What doesn’t work? How do you know when a project is no longer salvageable?

Sources:

http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/how-to-really-fix-a-failing-project.php

http://fortune.com/2013/11/22/4-steps-to-turning-around-a-troubled-project/

*Snowboarders Only*

Posted on by Jon Claxton

You do not need to know much about snowboarding to know about the Burton brand. Burton is a snowboarding company that was started in 1977 by Jake Burton Carpenter. He did not create snowboarding but he might as well of since he was able to build up a company that is nearly the face of the sport itself. Over the years Burton successfully made snowboarding something more than just a sport, but rather a lifestyle. The company was able to blossom into what it is today by living true to that idea.

The sport of snowboarding has grown a lot in recent years but with the increase in popularity comes an increase in competition as well. Burton has been able to remain at the top of this industry because of superb managerial decisions. The company itself has a number of family brands within the same industry which makes it the largest and, according to many shredders, the most powerful. Making sure that all of these brands are heading in the right direction puts a lot of stress on management.

Just last year, the company announced a realignment plan that would better position Burton, all its family brands, and its stake holders for the future. Burton has grown an immense amount and is continuing to experience great income growth from year to year but the founder, Jake Burton Carpenter, felt as if the company was losing focus on what would lead to long term success. He commented on the big plan by saying that the company needs to “narrow [its] focus to the sport and lifestyle that got us here – snowboarding.”

Well that seems simple enough. It should be easy for a snowboarding company to be focused on snowboarding. With that being said, the economy can be very manipulative. The economy forced Burton outside of its realm of snowboarding and that is where I believe they lost focus. The big realignment plan actually is very simple but that does not mean that it will be an easy task. The company is simply just returning to its roots, a snowboarding company built by snowboarders, for snowboarders. So with this, Burton has demonstrated their new focus with substantial investments in infrastructure and Burton Headquarters. The purchase of a huge building next to its headquarters in Vermont is now home to a new research and development facility and a wholesale showroom. This structure is known as “the most advanced and sophisticated snowboard prototype facility in the world.” This allows the company to keep with the new focus and also stay ahead of the competition by creating and testing new snowboarding technologies.

I will now leave you with some questions to think about.

Is it a good decision to pull back from branching out into other industries even if the a company is doing well in those areas?

If you are unfamiliar with snowboarding, how do you feel about a company that has such a narrow customer focus despite being so large.

Lastly, are there any companies that have lost their reputation(or flourished) by expanding into other industries?

Sources

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/news/burton-realigns-its-family-of-brands-for-long-term-success/

http://www.burton.com/default/history