Dilemma Owner of Runners Supply, Julie Yellowrobe has discovered that while her business is doing well, it is no longer experiencing increasing sales. She believes this leveling out has occurred because her previous target market has aged over the past 20 years and have turned to other less strenuous activities to keep in shape and an increase in competition from fashion and discount retailers. Julie has attempted to introduce a wider range of product including more fashionable and custom made products. The fashion product created a direct competition with discount outlets such as Wal-mart who could cut prices more deeply than she could. The custom made product captivated the attention of the serious runner however her previous supplier went out of business leaving her a more financially risky alternative.
Although Starbucks does face much competition, one of their biggest threats seems to be themselves. They have grown quickly which means they had to spend numerous amounts of money to open new stores and expand their products. “The company had its success through baby boomers in the 90’s, but now the Generation X is not liking the environment of the shop and the young generation feel out of place in the coffee shop, above all the price of coffee seems to be little expensive to them ("Case: Starbucks- Going Global Fast", 2012)”. With Starbucks wants to grow r rapidly and business oriented, it could be possible that they forget how to give customers that one on one customer service. Starbucks was a coffee shop that allowed friends to come together over a cup of coffee and now it has expanded with Wi-Fi in stores, and online stores.
Section E - Group No 4 (A) Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. – Case Analysis 1. Discuss the factors that drove Harrah’s customer relationship strategy. With the advent of new luxury casino hotels like Mirage and Bellagio and the rapid expansion of casinos due to relaxation of gambling laws, Harrah’s witnessed intense competition in the late 1990s. Customers were not making repeat visits and Harrah’s was losing its customers to other flashier properties. Since it was difficult for Harrah’s to make huge capital investments to spruce up its properties, it realized that a shift was required from its existing people management strategy to a new customer relationship strategy.
Market errors (mistakes in processing transactions due to FA or client associate errors Merrill was responsible for) declined 54 percent. The client satisfaction measures improved including “ satisfaction with client associate service”, “percentage of clients feeling they need more FA contact (declined)”, “percentage of clients feeling their FA exceeds in ‘looking out for their best interests’ ” and “ satisfaction with FA”. In my opinion, Merrill-Lynch need Supernova to be successful or grow in the future because historically, It was based on Merrill-Lynch making money by selling products to clients for FAs to make money. However, the retail-brokerage environment had changed with the deregulation of stock brokering, so many new firms entered the market to carve up the profits of this industry by implementing kinds of effective strategy to compete. Thus, if Merrill-Lynch wanted to keep its state and reputation, it must to find out a different way to support its continuing profit growth, it seemed that Supernova was well deserved in that situation.
Starbucks was hit hard, the net income was down nearly 70% and it also dealt with its first ever decline in quarterly revenues. CEO Howard Schultz suggested that Starbucks is following a well organize plan to rebuild the strength of the business through more developed operations. While declining sales and profits could be the main reason, because on the global recession, Starbucks share price showed more of a concern about the company’s future. Starbucks problems could have also came from several other factors: Could Starbucks expansion resulted in too much store mass in a few metro areas. Growth of competition, not just from other coffee restaurants but from big-time fast-food restaurants like Krispy Kreme, McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts.
Business Research Process Sean Trowbridge RES/351 January 3, 2012 Business Research Process I’m employed by a company that distributes high end cosmetic brushes to makeup and cosmetology retailers. We distribute a line of brushes that have changed little in the last 40 years. However despite a stabilized product line, our company is involved in a substantial amount of predictive studies in an attempt to stay ahead of trends. As with many industries, the beauty industry is a difficult one to stay current in. There are always new contenders attempting to create and sell the consumers on the latest trend it makeup application.
The company basically personified itself as a woman that is caring and successful role model for women. This strategy has been particularly successful in increasing sales and establishing presence in the domestic market, but Mary Kay Cosmetics has not been able to transfer this success to international markets. The company has been selling products overseas for over 15 years, and the share of international sales have been at a dismal 11% of total sales compared to its rivals. The failure of Mary Kay Cosmetics in replicating its domestic success in foreign markets is the primary issue that will be addressed in this case. The analysis of this case will help us understand the process Mary Kay Cosmetics took to internationalization of the firm, reasons why the approach the company took to internationalization hasn't worked, and why its competitors are more effective in foreign markets.
One of the most important is the revolution of the yen. As a result the margins of the companies were cut and many Japanese subcontractors found their order-books empty as their customers turned to overseas suppliers. Unemployment was risen, so, more and more Japanese firms were able to move swiftly into growth areas like electronics. In this case, we have two companies specialized on producing of sport shoes: Cougar International - which is oriented on the west and has the biggest sales in UK and Germany, and Cougar Japan oriented on the east sales, especially in Japan. Hugh Nicolson, Managing director of Cougar Japan suggested related (vertical) diversification which dealing with the same products on the Japan market (up and down market in the share of sport shoes).
“Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have resulted in the consolidation of retail chains, thereby substantially altering the retail competitive arena” (Bolton, Venkatesh, & Dentra , n.d., p. 246). SunBright Outdoor Furniture, Inc. is in a debilitating position before its customers, as retailers grow in size as a result of the acquisitions and mergers. Industry The nature of the retail business has changed in the past few years. In addition to the negotiating pressures from retailers to lower prices and higher quality, many manufactures have moved to use private labeling strategies. This strategy lowers much of the production costs and the burden of managing the manufacturing process.
While I do agree that women have come a long way from the discrimination and problems they faced in the last century when it comes to the work place, I still believe that gender discrimination still exists. Some would disagree with me quoting facts and statistics that there are many women that have broken through to climb up the corporate ladder and even some have reached high and made it into the Fortune 500 club by having salaries and leading companies that help them earn millions of dollars each year. They may also argue that we have made great strides in self-made millionaires by women owning their own businesses and developing products that other companies will produce for them. One of the last arguments that they also make is that we now have several laws in this country that is supposed to actually prohibit gender discrimination. This is for companies to have equal opportunities for men and women.