Research Paper on:
NAUTICA AND VF: A SWOT ANALYSIS

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industry, VF Corp.s deal to acquire Nautica has created quite a stir partly because of the size of the deal and partly because of what the deal will  do for both companies. On the surface, the deal is probably no different from other acquisitions currently taking place in the industry  -- as we will see later on in this paper, such activity is being used as a tool in part to help offset the ravages of the sluggish economy.  But this is also a deal that will likely benefit both companies in the long run because the products manufactured and sold by  both companies are definitely complementary rather than competitive. The problem with many acquisitions is that the acquiring company ends up purchasing another company that mimics its products/services. This  is not the case however with VFs acquisition of Nautica. In this paper, we will examine the facets of the acquisition, and  perform a SWOT analysis of how the acquisition will help position VF in todays marketplace. In order to do this efficiently, we will first provide an overview of both  companies and then analyze their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Overview WHY THE ACQUISITION Perhaps understandably, many analysts and critics are curious  as to why giant VF would be interested in acquiring the troubled Nautica. But according to VFs CEO Mackey McDonald, the acquisition is beneficial to both firms (Nowell, 2003).  McDonald, for one thing, explains that Nautica is an ideal fit for VFs product line (Nowell, 2003). McDonald noted that in purchasing in