Sara Chitsaz’s “Toms vs. Sketcher’s Bobs: The Ethics Behind a Social Enterprise,” questions the ethics of Sketchers’ BOBS  who positions itself as a company supporting ethical business practices. BOBS copied the social enterprise, TOMS, almost identically.

Created by Blake Mycoskie in 2006, TOMS generated popularity through the main focus of its business model. To help those in need, the One for One Program was created to donate a pair of shoes to a child in a less-fortunate country for every pair of TOMS sold. In 2010, Sketchers introduced BOBS which looked almost identical to TOMS and shared the same ethical business practices. Sara’s post questioned whether it was ethical for BOBS to replicate TOMS so closely; however, I am more interested in where Sketchers went wrong with BOBS.

Obviously giving away a pair of shoes for every pair sold had proven to be an effective marketing strategy for TOMS. By positioning itself as a leader, TOMS effectively claimed a unique position in the minds of consumers. The company was driven to success not by “how” the shoes were given away, but by “why.” Blake Mycoskie travelled to Argentina where he met countless barefoot children. His business model was derived from these authentic experiences and his desire to do good. Consumers do not respond to the “how” of these ethical practices, but instead the “why”. This is because the “why” is emotional and something consumers can connect to.

In contrast, BOBS positioned itself as a follower and focused on “how” they were an ethical company. However, instead of finding an unoccupied position in which it could be first, BOBS claimed the same position of TOMS by directly copying their business model. In addition, by blatantly mirroring TOMS, Sketchers showed a lack of creativity and left themselves wide open to accusations of disingenuous ethical practices.

Instead of exactly replicating TOMS, BOBS should have looked at where TOMS was going in the right direction and used these aspects of the business as points of parity. Then BOBS should have created points of difference to differentiate themselves from their direct competition and better position themselves as followers.

Works Cited

Chitsaz, Sara. “Toms vs. Sketcher’s Bobs: The Ethics Behind a Social Enterprise.” UBC Blogs. 18 Oct. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

Mainwaring, Simon. “TOMS vs. BOBS: How Skechers Shot Themselves in the Foot.” Fast Company. 21 Oct. 2010.     Web. 8 Nov. 2014.

“Skechers BOBS.” Ecouterre Skechers BOBS Comments. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.