Thursday, June 30, 2011

Distributing $CROX

[guest post by TS]

Reading, Reading, Reading, and a wee bit of watching. That's the life of a speculator.

You read that right: speculator.  And proud of it. An investor makes careful, well-thought-out, mathematically enforceable/supportable decisions for long-term purchases, and will not back out of a purchase without careful deliberation.  I'm no such beast.  In the air of the Victor Niederhoffer I learned of via his autobiographical The Education of a Speculator, I make snap decisions in an effort, using knowledge gleaned from dozens of sources, to augment the fortunes of my descendants--my success is ongoing.  Niederhoffer's book was in fact at the top of my summer reading list two summers ago.

Having said that, it's difficult for the average person to look at a company like Crocs, Inc. and see a global company.  What they see are the Beach and Cayman (Classic) bright-colored Croslite shoes on the feet of their kids, not a strongly positioned global retailer.  They are clearly not, unlike you and me, reading the source material available at SEC.gov.  I found the following in the 10-K, filed on 2011-02-25, which gives some clue to the global distribution of Croc's products:

Location
Use Approximate
Square Feet
Ontario, California
Warehouse 399,000
Narita, Japan(1)
Warehouse 289,000
Aurora, Colorado(2)
Warehouse 264,000
Leon, Mexico
Manufacturing/offices 226,000
Leon, Mexico
Warehouse/offices 214,000
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Warehouse 183,000
Shanghai, China
Warehouse 76,000
Niwot, Colorado
Corporate headquarters 69,000
Niwot, Colorado
Regional offices 60,000
Tampere, Finland(3)
Warehouse/offices 60,000
Melbourne, Australia
Warehouse 48,000
Shenzen, China
Manufacturing/offices 32,000
Den Haag, the Netherlands
Regional offices 27,000
Padova, Italy
EXO's Regional offices/manufacturing facility 28,000
Singapore
Regional offices 26,000
Gordon's Bay, South Africa
Warehouse/offices 24,000
Niwot, Colorado
Warehouse 15,000
Shanghai, China
Regional offices 13,000


Distribution does not a successful brand make, but it does help with getting product in front of the buying public to replenish supplies that are moving off the shelves.  What other small companies are similarly seeking a global footprint to enhance their long-term survival?

..TS.

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