Their backlog of policy requests (WIPs) for said week is 82 and the number of new policies and endorsements do not seem to be generating as much revenue as in the past. As pricing and commission differences among insurance firms have narrowed, agents have increasingly made referrals based on customer service (i.e. quick TAT). Fruitvale’s backlog and TAT indicate the presence of a bottleneck which is resulting in idle time for some employees while overburdening others. Moreover, they are losing renewal business to competitors while trying to keep their employees, especially the senior underwriters with many years of experience, from going to Golden Gate.
Overall, a rise in revenue and reduction in cost adds to CB’s profitability in Years 6 and 7. In reviewing Competition Bikes total selling expense, it was able to ascertain a huge 33% increase from Years 6 and 7 then managed to decrease that spending in Years 7 and 8 for about 14.9% (approximately $59,000) which is a strength for CB because they were managing their spending. For the Total General and Admin Expenses, Years 6 and 7 had a 20.4 % increase while the following years, 7
This combined with the inadequate amount of working capital added to their woes. How did they respond? Coleco was borrowing as much as they could but at a 9.5% interest rate. This was only compounded by the multiple million dollar credit agreements that were set to expire in the first half of the year in 1988. This led to Coleco shareholders increasing the number of authorized preferred shares from 300,000 to 12 million.
• There is a high staff turnover, particularly with new members of staff leaving the company as soon as they have been trained. There are particular problems in the East Cheam bistro, with high staff turnover, poor financial results and quality standards not being met. (151 words) Part (b) I have chosen to use a SWOT analysis from study session 2 to analyse the situation. I believe this is useful as it can outline the current problems experienced by the Lodge chain and identify how opportunities and positive factors can be used to remedy these and take the business forward. The concept of a SWOT analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats affecting a business.
He is also looking to hire the most creative people so that he can be a step ahead of the competition. Home Depot appeals to the values tradition and security. They downsized the number of employees, they made a significant effort to help the current employees and they lowered the sales and profit goals so the hourly employees could receive bonuses. 2. How would you describe Steve Ellis’s affective, cognitive, and behavior components of his attitude towards managing in a recession?
This culture change caused demoralized staff and created ‘culture of fear’. Furthermore, many top executives left the company and many employees were replaced. External Problems: * The fallen stock price Home Depot’s common stock had fallen 30% since Nardelli had taken charge of the company. * Increasing competition Home Depot main competitor, Lowe’s, had been moving into areas previously dominated by Home Depot. * Decreasing customer satisfaction The high quality customer service was Home Depot’s competitive advantage and differentiated it from its competitors.
A total war requires money. This is accomplished in several ways, most of which affect every American citizen. Corporations stop making their regular products to manufacture goods needed for war. The government provided loans, but generally only the biggest corporations received them. This forced many small businesses to fail because they couldn’t compete.
Any additional raise of minimum wage would totally jeopardize the everyday lives of all Americans. The fewer jobs available, because of the pay hike, will mainly be the cause of the lower class workers’ unemployment. Simply, the minimum wage debate is a touchy subject among many economists and political figures. There are an immense amount of arguments toward the good and bad aspects of minimum wage, but one incontrovertible fact is that a minimum wage elevation causes loss for businesses, as well as, working people. The larger businesses try to make things seem more at ease than they truly are.
Around August of 2007, banks become afraid to loan money out due to the fact that they did not want to suffer from losing money yet again. “This led to the $700 billion bailout, and bankruptcies or government nationalization of Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac Bank, and Washington Mutual. By December 2008, employment was declining faster than in the 2001 recession.”(useconomy.com). With so many foreclosures on houses, many americans were either homeless, or had bought a cheap apartment to keep them from being homeless. Because of the recession, and bad economic, many Americans have no jobs, and barely have a house.
Case 13-2 According to the case, revenues of Athenian Press were down over the past 2 years by 7%, while the company made its targeted growth of 2%. Steve Womble, the sales manager for the Athenian Press, felt that most of the decrease in sales was due to the need for change in the sales organization. However, there are several factors that impact the sales: 1) Competition for retail advertisements is strong in this area 2) Each salespeople handle too much customers (8 sales reps: 800 accounts) 3) each sales reps has too many responsibilities. Reorganizing sales division can solve those problems. Revising sales territories can be the most hurried things to do because it can be seen that in past two years the sales division has never reorganized.