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STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 * SWOT ANALYSIS**
 * Core competency of Garmin is its ability to leverage GPS technologies and in-house manufacturing to create trendy but useful products with the ability to target high growth markets.
 * Provides efficient after sales services with superior customer support in areas like repairs, technical support and warranties services.
 * They manufacture their products in-house, thus reducing mishaps and poor quality products from having their products manufactured by a third party for bringing new products to the market.
 * The company owns its manufacturing facilities which are located in Taiwan and also receives tax incentives from the Taiwanese government, but are slated to end in 2011. The existence of cheaper labor also allows the company to keep its operating costs low.
 * Garmin produces quality products which are ISO certified and further approved for use in aviation by the FAA.
 * The company is lead by a well rounded and robust team of individuals that are well versed in their specific field of expertise to champion the company’s values and commitment to superior products.
 * GPS devices (inherent product weakness) are accurate to within 15 meters and certain atmospheric and weather factors may affect the accuracy of GPS receivers.
 * GPS satellite systems are monitored and controlled by the U.S Department of Defense. As such the company is not in complete control of the systems it relies on for its products. This may limit potential buyers of their products especially foreign governments that do not want to have another government collect sensitive data about their countries.
 * The company is plagued a low sales cycle during the first half of the year compared to the latter half of the year where there is a greater demand for their products. This is related to a kind of seasonality where during spring, Summer and fall the company experiences the highest demand for their products primarily because these are the seasons where a lot more people decide to go on trips, holidays and do marine activity, a time when GPS devices are needed/used the most.

OPPORTUNITIES
 * Garmin has embarked on a brand awareness drive to increase its visibility in the world, especially in Europe by sponsoring the English Premier League football club Middlesbrough, as well as a cycling team Garmin-Slipstream to promote their products.
 * The GPS trend has caught on with many people and varying age groups. As such, there are many applications for the technology which Garmin can continue to be the first mover or create more uses and services for the technology.
 * The need for all in one devices and the shift by most electronic and manufacturing companies gearing toward consolidated products and applications like in mobile phones with GPS devices and complementary services.
 * With the progress made by google.com with its Google-Maps, street level pictures embedded into the maps could be something that Garmin could capitalize/invest on.

THREATS
 * There has been a whopping increase of new entrants in the user of personal navigation devices which have been consolidated into mobile devices like the iphone and Blackberry.
 * GPS satellites run the risk of becoming inoperable due to a decaying gravity of the satellites as with time they will end up being pulled to the earth by the earth’s gravity.
 * There is a risk of market saturation of GPS devices because of their long life cycles and usability, hence reducing non-recurring sales/revenues coming to the company.

Sources: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090921-703769.html http://www.techradar.com/news/portable-devices/satnav/us-says-gps-satellite-coverage-may-fail-soon-599431 http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/Garmin-to-sponsor-well-known-UK-football-club-Middlesbrough_a278.html http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/picks/archive/2007/pick0417.htm http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/BuyHoldSellAnalysis.do?tkr=grmn http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/execBios.html?activeBranchId=investor


 * COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS:**

(By demographics, psychographics, geography, etc as applicable) Garmin’s target markets are currently broken down into four main segments: Source: GARMIN-LTD-10K-Annual-Reports-20090225
 * Target markets **
 * 1) Automotive/mobile
 * 2) Outdoor/fitness
 * 3) Marine
 * 4) Aviation
 * Market segments **
 * 1) Mobile cellular device owners, through the company’s new Nuvifone
 * 2) Car owners without in-built GPS systems in their cars.
 * 3) Nature and trail tracking enthusiasts, including joggers.
 * 4) Auto rental companies, to provide GPS devices as an option to their fleet of cars, for example Enterprise and Budget car rental companies.
 * 5) Resell companies that buy in bulk and resell their products i.e. Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
 * 6) Auto companies like Toyota and Ford that offer the product in their cars.
 * 7) Marine enthusiasts and for navigating Oceans, lakes and rivers.
 * 8) Aviation industry for air planes through aircraft companies like Raytheon and Cessna.


 * Position vs. competition**

PORTER’S FIVE FORCES: (Measurement scale: Very Weak, Weak, Medium, Strong and Very Strong)

DEGREE OF RIVALRY/COMPETITION – Very Strong Garmin’s main competition comes mainly from Tom-Tom with 25% market share while Garmin holds 50% (Newsweek.com) of the Persona Navigation Device market (PND) including GPS consumer products for automotive navigation. They also have stiff competition from their aviation centered products from L-3 Avionics Systems and Rockwell Collins. And lastly a new up and comer rivalry with Garmin are the mobile devices industry that have incorporated low cost GPS navigation services into mobile phones and PDA’s using 3G,EDGE and wireless internet technology as a base to download interactive maps. For example the iPhone and Blackberry are the strongest competition as regards to their personal GPS navigation line as GPS devices have ploriferated the market. Garmin has swiftly replied to this threat by releasing their own **Nüvi** mobile phone with downloaded maps. To out perform its competitors, Garmin has to provide good quality products, bundle services and add features that lend themselves to consumer satisfaction.

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES - Weak Garmin is at the fore front of providing directional information. The only substitute to the GPS navigation system offered by Garmin are maps that are periodically updated, printed and sold in local book and corner stores. The second is the use of online map and locations services like (Google maps) maps.google.com and mapQuest.com where you can route a journey and print it and follow the provided directions to your final destination. The reason as to why the threat of substitutes is weak is because the GPS based technology has been bundled with features like route mappings, frequently updated maps, voice turn by turn command and location based services like; gas stations, weather information, traffic and entertainment information. These bundled services give Garmin an edge over possible substitute products and give consumers added value because of the convenience of added services that they have at their finger tips.

SUPPLIERS POWER- Strong for data supplier and Weak for manufacturing Garmin has a single supplier Navteq for its data to digital mapping services. There is only one other possible supplier (Tele Atlas NV) for the same services but were out bided by rival TomTom for their services. Thus, making Navteq a powerful supplier as bundled services are what create the added value to Garmin products. The same is true in regards to a strong supplier power when it comes to SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. who as of 2005 provides an architecture on which Garmin devices are built. (SiRF Architecture.) On the other hand when it comes to suppliers for product components, Garmin has a select number of suppliers that individually provide sub components to their factories. These individual and separate suppliers with whom Garmin has arrangements for component supplies do not have much power.

BUYER POWER - Medium By the end of 2008, Best Buy accounted for 10% of Garmin’s total sales as per the 2008 Annual report. In the U.S consumer product sales channelled through Garmin’s network of dealers and distributors. The following is a list of major consumers of Garmin products as attained from company 2008 Annual Report; • Best Buy—one of the largest U.S. and Canadian electronics retailers; • Amazon.com—internet retailer; • Costco—an international chain of membership warehouses that carry quality, brand name merchandise; • Halford’s—a large European retailer specializing in car parts and accessories; • Petra—a large distributor who sells to such dealers as Costco and Amazon.com; • Target— one of the nation’s largest general merchandise retailers; • Wal-Mart—the world’s largest mass retailer; and • Wynit—a large distributor who sells to such dealers as Radio Shack and Amazon.com. And lastly, Garmin depends mainly on their automotive/mobile segment for 70% (2008 Annual report) of their revenues but because of the maturing nature of this segment of their business, there is less growth.

BARRIERS TO ENTRY - Medium First-mover companies like Garmin and its competitors like, “Cobra, Lowrance, Thales, Navman, Raymarine, Mitac, TomTom, Honeywell, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and PalmOne”, have invested heavily in GPS technology based infrastructure and have intellectual property rights protecting their businesses. Thus, making it hard for new entrant to enter the GPS navigation market. This leaves new entrant the option of creating add-on services which can be either sold to the GPS market competitors or as a way to stake a claim in this lucrative industry. It is however important to also note that there is vigorous price competition among the competitors as gone are the days when TomTom and Garmin used to charge $500 dollar based GPS navigation units. Today the have gone down to as much as $150 a unit and that does not include the cheaper bundled GPS models bundled with mobile cellular devices that have recently hit the market in the last 1 ½ years. The telecommunications industry under which Garmin operates is heavily regulated by the FCC, the same is true for the company’s operations in Europe where they also have to abide by European regulations and have to get certified for each product they bring to market. Thus, any loss in certification or delay in attaining these credentials may lead to loss of market share. This too is a barrier to entering the industry.

Sources: Daniel McGinn. “Setting a New Course” News Week Article Nov 7th 2007, Retrieved Oct 4th 2009 <[]>. Electronista. “Garmin hits iPhone directly with Nuvifone” Jan 30th 2009 Retrieved Oct 8th 2009 <[]>. Forbes. “Garmin Limited (NASDAQ: GRMN)” Retrieved Oct 4th 2009 <[]>. ABIresearch. “GPS Devices and Systems Will Generate Revenues of $240 Billion by 2013” Apr 28th 2009 Retrieved Oct 7th 2009 <[]>. Amol Sharma. “Who Keeps Digital Maps Going in The Right Direction?” Wall Street Journal, Jan 14th 2009 Retrived Oct 10th 2009 <[]>. Garmin “Garmin Chooses SiRF as Supplier on Selected New Garmin Devices” Press Release Aug 30th 2005 Retrieved Oct 11th 2008 < []>. Grmin. “10-K 2008 Filing” Retrieved Oct 11th 2009 <[]>.