Wawa has been a highly successful Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain that has existed since 1803. As of 2007, there were roughly 564 Wawa stores spanning across five Mid-Atlantic States. The company has been able to achieve continued success through its adaptability and competitiveness. Wawa has had a history of both being able to change with society and become pioneers of the convenience store industry, learning along the way what works and what doesn’t work. Their recent technological innovations and resourceful relationships with suppliers and distributions has given Wawa a significant competitive advantage as well as increased profit margins.
MBA611 Week 2 | Core Competencies | | | | | Background Kmart was once the one of the largest chain of department stores in United States . The company was established in 1899 by Sebastian S Kresge under the original name SS Kresge Company. However, the first Kmart store was not opened until 1962 in Michigan. The name was officially transformed into Kmart Corporation in 1977. The company receives tremendous attention due to its Blue-light Specials arrangements , where they provide incidental discounts in specific departments of the store The image grew through the 70 's and 80 's (`Corporate History , 2006 When the company enters the 90 's , its course of luck began to change The company no longer experience considerable growth in image and profits , but instead , experienced a chain of problems that finally lead to its bankruptcy in 2002 (Evans , 2002 .
Global Cultural Issues Affecting Chevron Outside the United States Jerry Teague ETH/316 July 29, 2013 Ed McCullough Global Cultural Issues Affecting Chevron outside the United States Chevron ranked number three recently in the Cable News Network (CNN) list of the world’s largest companies as of 2012, up the previous year’s number ten ranking. Presently, the company headquarters is in San Ramon, California, with more than 60,000 employees worldwide including around 4,000 service station employees. Chevron recently sold its Ireland refinery and some assets in the Caribbean and Africa. It bought Atlas Energy and is confident about its prospects in the Gulf. Chevron conducts business worldwide as one of the global integrated energy companies.
The oil spills in California and Massachusetts raised serious issues warranting an environmental conference to prompt international awareness of environmental concerns. A combination of one natural disaster after another gave birth to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in early 1980s. The EPA implemented measures for environmental improvements. It was also in the 1980s that the Chernobyl disaster spawned further action by world leaders to birth the Montreal Pact in 1987. This pact promised worldwide support for environmental concerns.
Over its 60 years of business, Lowe’s has expanded all across the country and now operates stores not only in the United States, but also in Mexico and Canada. Although times have changed since Lowe’s first opened its doors in 1946, Lowe’s values have not— the company remains committed to offering high-quality home improvement products at everyday low prices, while delivering superior customer service [ (Lowe's Company Information, 2012) ]. Lowe’s operates more than 1, 745 stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They employ more than 248,000 people and serve about 15 million customers weekly. The stores stock 15 product categories ranging from appliances and tools, to paint, lumber and nursery products.
Case Summary -China, India, and Wal-Mart: Issues of Price, Quality, and Sourcing: “Sam Walton understood the immense clout of the company he created long before it was the largest retailer in the United States or the largest corporation in the world. In 1985, he launched his Buy American crusade, offering to work with U.S. manufacturers to bring production back to our shores. In his autobiography, Walton acknowledged that ‘we had fallen into a pattern of knee-jerk import buying without really examining possible alternatives.’ For a time, he took great pride in replacing everything from imported stacking chairs to apparel with U.S. products.”[i] However, since Walton’s death in 1992, Wal-Mart’s Buy American crusade has clearly evaporated. Wal-Mart sources everything from apparel to toys to lighting fixtures to electronics in China, representing about 90% of all the company’s imports. [ii] Critics of Wal-Mart maintain that “the U.S. manufacturing sector is being killed by too-cheap-to-beat Chinese imports.”[iii] A Wal-Mart spokesperson, however, asserts that the retailer still prefers to buy domestically whenever possible but that “some products are simply no longer manufactured in the United States in the volume we need.”[iv] Nonetheless, “one domestic supplier after another has been shut out of
Walmart was founded in the summer of 1962 by Kingfisher, Oklahoma native Sam Walton. Although Walton’s original vision for the store was relatively modest, the half century since its founding has seen Walmart morph into one of the biggest companies in the world. Today headed by one Doug McMillon, Walmart boasts more than 5000 stores in the United States of America alone and employs more than 1.5 million people. Walmart is undoubtedly an American institution, yet each Walmart store feels like its own little country. Walmart seems to have its own laws and customs and the people who shop their on a regular basis appear almost primitive in their behavior as they go about raiding the store’s shelves and wrestling with fellow customers for discount flat screen televisions and bulk packages of two-ply toilet paper.
Collins and his team of researchers used various types of research methodology for extensive 5 years to reveal the secrets of good to great companies and stayed on a strict standard’s to identify a group of eleven elite companies that made the jump from good to great for at least fifteen years. The real surprise of Good to Great isn’t not something about how the companies do to force themselves to greatness – but it is about why more companies haven’t done the same thing more often. The framework of the book is quite understandable provided that the findings are summarized, showing the small steps and continues effort to lead to a movement that barely is stoppable is the main moral behind everything in the book which starts with the Build Up stage and end with Breakthrough stage. In this stage of the Build Up there are three main features included: i) Level 5 leadership ii) First who then what iii) and Confront the Brutal facts. i) Level 5 leadership: This team Level 5
The entire western world has been taught that Columbus was the first man from cultures known to us to reach the “New World” what if what we’ve been taught is false? The fact of the matter is that what we have been taught is incorrect. Take a gander with me if you will. The Europeans arrived 1492, in vessels maxing out their holds at 20 to 90 men and supplies for them to survive. The vastness of the Chinese is demonstrated six centuries ago, a mighty armada of Chinese ships crossed the China Sea, then ventured west to Arabia, and East Africa.
Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT May 17th, 2011 * * * Case Review Prepared By: Michael McCarthy Table of Contents Case Review Prepared By: 1 1 Executive Summary 3 1.1 Customer Support Revolutionized 3 1.2 Sponsoring Change - Adjusting to Rebaselined Customer Expectations 3 1.3 3 1.4 3 1.5 3 1.6 3 2 ASD 4 Executive Summary Otis Elevator (Otis) successfully transitioned from an Industrial Revolution elevator manufacturing and servicing division of United Technologies (UTC) to a globally integrated service company under the command of President Ari Bousbib. Their change was rapid, successful and profitable. Otis increased their bottom line contribution to UTC by 10% in just 4 years. Their business model and culture changed by embracing a technological infrastructure that removed redundancies and streamlined their company into a Global Service industry, rather than a relic from the Industrial Revolution. The contents below highlight the following topics a.)