1. IntroductionIn 1981, John Sorinto began selling hand-sewn teddy bears from a pushcart in Burlington, Vermont. He started doing this after playing with his son and noticing that most stuffed animals were made in other countries. He thought that teddy bears were an American tradition and, therefore, some quality teddy bears should be made in the United States. Thus the Vermont Teddy Bear Company () was founded. During the first fourteen years, Vermont Teddy Bear experienced continued growth and success. However, in 1995, they began to have some problems as they experienced changes in leadership and an identity crisis. One of the things that made Vermont Teddy Bear successful in the early years was its Bear-Gram service. Customers could call a toll-free number and place a special order for a bear similar to how people might send flowers to someone for a special occasion. Additionally, Vermont Teddy Bear had used only quality American materials and craftsmanship for its teddy bears. Vermont Teddy Bear's primary goal was to "design, manufacture, and directly market the finest American-made teddy bears using quality American materials and labor" (). But, in 1996, the new leadership of Vermont Teddy Bear decided that it would be convenient to use some foreign materials in their teddy bears, and they also began to move towards retail sales and limit their focus to Bear-Grams (). 2. Organizational Environment To plan for the future success of Vermont Teddy Bear Company, we must be able to analyze the organization's external and internal environmental trends. These trends could include customer service, human resources, manufacturing and production, financial resources, product quality and craftsmanship, stakeholder opinions, and organizational culture. Categorizing and assigning values ​​to these factors allows us to rank them to show the company's performance, likelihood of success and market potential.3. Strategic Management Process In most companies, top management must initiate and manage the strategic management process. To do this, they often require different divisions within the organization to propose their own strategic plans (Wheelen, et al. p. 36). This allows top management to compile and evaluate these proposals in order to create an overall business strategy. When considering the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, it seems that the most appropriate scenario would be a top-down approach to strategic planning.