Mattel Incorporation Case Study

In the past years Mattel Incorporation, probably the largest toy corporation in the world, dealed with a differentiation of the international product with respect to the one that it was marketed originally, maintaining and increasing its strength thanks to its ability to innovate, maintaining unchanged the core line products of the firm which are the keys of its success.

This started to became necessary in the last decade, when toy industry started to be compromised by children habit to move away from traditional toys and start using electronic games. (acquisition of radica games)

This company present a structured portfolio that includes brands such as Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, American Girl®, Radica® and Fisher-Price® whose products are mostly

made the choice to distribute worldwide only a part of its products, keeping the American Girl brand only in the United States. This diversification was probably made because of a progressive expansion of the market in different countries so the company might have decided to start with just two business units to commercialize worldwide, also because the globalization of the firm might need a change in the name of the brand itself (American Girl).

Diversification

We all agree that Mattel Inc. focused a lot on the diversification of the product, enlarging the age of targeted customers but also starting to deal with electronic games such as Radica Games, even if the brand still focus on toys production and distribution. This has been made both by an internal growth, creating new plants and new products but also with an external growth thanks to the multiple acquisitions that the firm made.

A really important aspect about the diversification of products is the strategic alliances that the company made and is till making with the most important entertainment brands. The greater example is the alliance with Disney that helped to generate a tremendous amount of profit thanks to the film production and