Executive Summary Webvan was dedicated to providing customers with a shopping solution that saved time and effort without sacrificing the quality selection or low prices that consumers had come to expect of traditional grocery stores. Webvan’s sophisticated system filled orders accurately 99% of the time and provided on-time deliveries 92% of the time. When the system ran at its intended full-design capacity, it was expected to generate an operating margin of 12% compared with the grocery industry’s norm of 4%. In this marketing plan, we analyze the profitability of this new venture, with a particular focus on the distribution system of Webvan. Situational Analysis (5Cs) Company Established in 1999, Webvan aspired to provide better service than was available at modern supermarkets through a same-day delivery system; within a customer selected 3-minute window.
If the sales outlook for the coming three years was only 20,000,000 and B.E. continued producing at the rate of 30,000,000 units, a total of 10,000,000 units would be dumped into ending inventory at the end of each year once again reducing costs of goods sold and falsely increasing income. By the end of year 2013, B.E. Company would have 35,000,000 units sitting in ending inventory taking up space and costing money to store. Once again if the president’s bonus is based off of net income, this situation is the most favorable for a high paying bonus and encourages stockpiling inventory to inflate net income.
It has resulted in a major drop of workers being late, which makes for better productivity throughout my department. I would like to outline two of the more important contributions I have made to this company. This will go possibly further than anything to support my request for a pay raise. First of all, I completely rebuilt the payroll process and changed the pay period from weekly to bi-weekly, which saves the company money in many different ways. There will be half as many paychecks that have to be prepared per year now.
How are your suggestion linked to improve customer satisfaction? In business literature, Delta had a primary capability on human relations by paying competitive wages, treating personnel equitably as it grew, and adopting a “no-layoff policy”. Things changed in the 1990’s for Delta though. Key business trends altered the competitive advantage, and the human resource strategy had to change too. After two straight years of financial losses in 1994, CEO Ron Allen rolled out a new strategy called “Leadership 7.5.” Allen targeted to reduce Delta’s cost per each available seat mile from more than 10 cents to 7.5 cents, which would match that of major competitor Southwest Airlines (Bryant, 1997).
There are several parallels that lead us to believe that history may be repeating itself. Today’s U.S. economy is producing 2.2% more goods output then before the economic recession started in the late 2000’s, but with 3.8% fewer workers. This can be attributed to our modern day recession stimulating huge productivity and efficiency gains as business let mediocre employees go to save on labor costs. They have learned to do more with less. Unemployment rates were steadily on the rise just a few months ago and corporate profits are at all time highs.
The next stage is Depression, this is where there is a lengthy period of declining Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – this is where there is little to no customer spending (there is some increase in the rise of employment). The last stage is Recovery, this is where the business starts to get better; the customers increase their spending, the business starts to feel more confident in their products and profits & unemployment is still continuing. b) Describe what influence the recession stage would have on your chosen business. If Tesco go into the recession stage of the business cycle that would influence them to cut back on hiring new employees when their revenues and profits start to go down, and also the business might chose to stop buying new equipment and stop new
Kudler Fine Foods Business Proposal December 15, 2008 Ashley Williams Kudler Fine Foods Career Development Plan From the beginning, Kudler Fine Food’s main goal has been to combine the convenience of one stop shopping with reasonable prices for customers. Although, Kathy and Kudler Fine Foods has been successful at achieving this goal, my team and I would like to take it a step further and help this company become even more successful than before. With the range of departments in the one-stop shopping center including baked goods, meat and seafood, produce, cheese and dairy, and wine, we feel the only thing missing is the morning perks……coffee! With a broad range of coffee, cappuccino’s, and latte’s,
Consumers are demanding chemical free homegrown products. It is easy for consumers to find other companies who can provide comparable services. However, new technology is only a fraction of what makes Gene One stand out over their competitors. Consumer loyalty and strong leadership will give them a major advantage. The challenge for Gene One will be to maintain their cohesiveness as a management team and maintaining a high level of social responsibility while expanding the company to a publicly traded organization.
They also faced increased operational expenses of selling, general, and administrative costs by 0.49%. Perhaps the biggest impact on their profit margin is the cost of revenues that were associated with their sales, an increase of 0.92% which affected their EBITDA (Earnings before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization). Overall, these show operating expenses as a key issue for the company as the operating income shrank by 2.72% in just a two year period. When analyzing the whole foods balance sheet in common size it shows they have been reducing their short term debt. In 2007, they reduced their current installments of long-term debt by 0.76%, accounts payable by 1.61%, and other current liabilities by 1.35% in just a year as portion of their Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity.
Combining a demographic base units with a geographical one reduce our target market and allows us to put our emphasis in very specific segments. This has the advantage to allow us to put in the market a product that to have answers to consumer needs and wants. Choosing the aged people as one our focus target will enable us to reach a group with a strong economic power and help them gain independency and be more autonomous. This group is growing each year and could give to our product a brighter future. The U.S. economy is in a growth path and the many people are overwhelmed by their work, choosing this group of people allows us to benefit of their buying power and also to give the opportunity to spend their precious time with their love ones.