Question 1: To what extent do you sense that Diana Nelson got up to speed quickly on the dynamics of the toy industry when she took over Kazoo & Company in 1998? What impact would it have had on the ultimate success of Kazoo if Nelson had spent more time initially focused on the specifics of her business (i. e. , store layout, hiring personnel, placing ads in local newspaper, writing press releases, setting up the accounting system, and so on) rather than gaining a complete understanding of the toy industry as part of her work to carefully develop a business plan?
Diana Nelson’s journey in Kazoo & Company starts when she saw a lot of hidden potential inside the store while others not. When she decided that she wanted to own a toy store she really meant it. This is proven when she willing to gamble everything she has to take over Kazoo & Company. She also well aware of what are the risks she will face and ready to deal with it. When she became the owner of Kazoo & Company, she managed to think out of the box in order to ensure the survival of her small store in a vast market.
Diana Nelson created a different and firm business plan compared to other toy companies. She was able to see opportunities of being different yet a unique toy store. She focused on selling educational toys especially for disabled children. This specification was such a new idea because other toy company was more interested with products from Mattel or Fisher-Price. Diana Nelson knew that providing ordinary product which can be found in other stores cannot make Kazoo & Company compete with Toys ‘’R’’ Us or Wal-Mart.
She immersed into the customer sector and examined what their needs and wishes are. This is the reason why most parents prefer to buy products from Kazoo & Company. The perception of ‘’ educational’’ really affected the customer’s mind. She successfully transforms Kazoo & Company from a small non-competitive to still small but well known and competitive toy store. She was that entrepreneur who can seek a mere opportunity and turn it from potential to golden profit. If Diana Nelson focused more on the specifics of her business, Kazoo & Company will be just like the rest of other toy stores.
Her store will filled up with products which has the same brand like the products in her competitor’s store. If this happen, her business cannot grow up and beat well-known toy stores. Diana Nelson might face failure if she did not establish customer needs in her business plan because Diana Nelson has to know what were customers wanted in order to keep them coming. Thus, Kazoo & Company would not survive in the toy industry for a long period as the competition between toys store was very stiff.
