CalPERS vs. JC Penney Overview CalPERS investment program began on February 22, 2000 when they included JC Penney on their annual Focus List. CalPERS further exclaimed that due to declining sales and a deteriorating customer base they had lost confidence in Penney’s management. Subsequent to the release of their focus list JC Penney made numerous strategic decisions to revitalize and boost the value of the company. Penney forced their current CEO James Oesterreicher to retire. Next instead of promoting from within, they searched for new blood and hired former Barney’s CEO Allen Questrom.
David starts by teasing these overweight individuals that are bring a lawsuit against McDonalds, but then later admits that he used to be overweight as a child and was able to change his life around. He made a point to show health concerns with being obese and eating fast food regularly, such as type two diabetes which has risen about twenty-five percent since 1994. This raise in diabetes also requires much funding for the United States to spend to try to find a cure. David explains how there is very few alternatives for the youth of America because those health alternatives are more expensive and harder to find. False advertising is also another unpleasant practice that fast food companies use to lure in costumers.
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.
Additionally, Starbucks has distribution agreements with office coffee supplier, hotels, and airlines. Using a variety of distribution channels allows the company to reach a wider market, however the company needs to be careful with this approach due to the potential channel of conflict. Implementation of Pricing Strategy Starbucks is the leader of the coffee market. As an individual company, it controls several times more market than any of its competitors. More than just a high priced coffee shop, Starbucks offers a combination of quality, authority, and relative value.
How to Defeat Wal-Mart In a study conducted by Dartmouth Universities School of Business, 90 businesses over a two-year span all had drastic changes in sales when a new Wal-Mart retail store entered their respective communities. During this study "supermarkets suffered sales declines of 17%, while mass merchandisers saw sales fall 40%, and drug stores saw a 6% decline in sales.” Although the study didn’t go into how the businesses fared after the two years and whether they’re closing their doors, or trying to stave off the retail giant with advanced marketing tactics. Professor of Marketing at Dartmouth Kusum Ailawadi states that when competing against Wal-Mart "it's no use to blindly cut prices,” and she is correct however many more techniques
Positions Livoria to take advantage of the growing population and addresses Paul’s concerns, but fails to address the current need to generating a net income of $1.1 million by 2015 (appendix 2) * Industry trend indicates 70% of restaurants in Dawkins are franchise. This will allow Livoria to be competitive however; this will require additional capital cost for training, monitory and new management which cannot be afforded at this moment. Implement alternative 1: Diversify menu to include vegetarian food. * This will generate enough revenue to settle the litigation and a net income of $1.1million by 2015(appendix 1) with current space and employees * Livoria will be well positioned to challenge competition, quality of sandwiches and brand image will not be compromised. * Additional capital cost will not be incurred and the restaurant will be well positioned to take advantage of the growing population in Dawkins.
Sales may be higher in zones where coffee is more popular versus where tea is the main selection. (Gurufocus.com) The rollout of alcohol and wine sales in some locations of Starbucks was a big risk to take for the company. Which is why they chose limited stores to partake in this venture. It started with one location in Seattle and then moved on to Atlanta, Southern California and Chicago. Out of all of the locations, Seattle saw the biggest and strongest sales trend.
Where do you see labour relations in Canada 50 years from now? Do you believe that unions will become weaker or will they become stronger? How will globalization affect Canadian unions? Traditionally, unions have fought hard to improve wages, benefits, hours of work, pensions, health and safety, job security and training for their members. The dramatic economic downturn in the world economy that hurt so many workers starting in 2008 only accelerated a decades-long trend toward more precarious jobs and the unstable hours, low wages, minimal benefits and insecurity that this work means for so many, as led decline in union membership and activities.
Not only is this changing its economic strategy, as coffee gets more expensive to buy for the company, but it more importantly improves the image of the brand on the social stage. Indeed, this presents Starbucks as a company which is concerned with the quality of the production, which employment conditions etc. Be careful! This marketing strategy tends to be misleading: Starbucks is not a fair-trade company! Only the majority of the coffee it purchases comes from fair-trade
Over the last couple of years, the United States has, not only, become the most obese country in the world, but also has a large increase in health problems such as heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, and strokes. Business executives of fast food restaurants do not consider the well being of their consumers because that same greed they have, doesn’t allow them to worry about them. In chapter two of the book, “Welcome to Fatland,” there is a focus on how executives came up with different ways to earn more profits and entice customers to buy their products. The best marketing strategy they have developed is “bigness.” Basically, this strategy consists of offering larger quantities to consumers. The cost to the company to produce bigger goods is only slightly different than producing the regular sized, and they could charge consumers a higher amount.