Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study: Marketing a business. Explain why Sears or Wal-mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image. Wal-Mart is better known for their lower prices and to do this they buy in big volume. Whereas the trendy market merchandise is more expensive; although Wal-Mart could buy this type of merchandise they would have to charge more. That is not what they offer or how they have in the past represented their company.
Walmart sells many items at ridiculously low prices. They are able to offer low prices on their items due to an incredible mark-up on imported products. Especially in today's economy, the buck is the big winner. Everyone wants to save money, and they can do that by shopping at Walmart, where many items are the lowest price in town, even if it's only by a few pennies. But consumers aren't helping their fellow countryman earn his own living by buying these imported items.
Discuss the extent to which firms in the leisure industry always seek to maximise profits. Profit maximisation is achieving the highest possible profit where marginal costs are equal to marginal revenue. This is what some firms in the leisure industry will seek to do, such as cinemas, as the business' main objective is to create high levels of profit. Profit maximisation can be seen on the graph at point MC=MR (the two curves cross). This is the point where profits are maximised.
Sweatshops may exist in any country but are more commonly found in LEDC’s. Many of the clothes sold in retail outlets in MEDC’s are manufactured in factories in LEDC’s. In many industries, including the fashion industry, jobs have been lost in MEDC’s because goods and clothes can be produced (manufactured) cheaply and more efficiently in the poorer parts of the world. This is because manufacturing overseas is cheaper; the wages there are lower, due to lots of workers being available and there being no minimum wage. Therefore manufacturers make bigger profit.
"We save people money so they can live better." This all too popular mission statement is not to be taken lightly. The retail industry is dominated by few retail giants, with Wal-Mart competing in several retail categories. Wal-Mart competes against Kmart and Target in the general merchandise retailing; against Costco in the warehouse club segment; and against Giant and Safeway in the supermarket retailing realm. The core feature of Wal-Mart’s strategy is overall low-cost leadership.
A report on the Financial Sense WrapUp website says, “The small business retailers have never recovered. Even when resisted, expansion is relentless and almost unstoppable.” (Small Businesses and the Big- Box Era, par 1) Clearly the effects of this “big-box” phenomena spreads much like a wild fire. Discount superstores have the advantage over small businesses because of two huge business strategies. “Their foundation, apart from IT systems, is built upon cheap Asian supply of products, and low-paying jobs at their stores” (par 1). A combination of cheap manufacturing, as well as low wage back in the store gives them that ability to charge much less than the typical retailer.
In a highly competitive business world, on a firm’s priority list is the subject of increasing profit and reducing cost. One might than pose the question, has this put them out of business (mom and pop store)? The answer is absolutely not, but rather, they too benefit from cheaper prices as they continue to buy in bulk and continue to operate as the name suggest, convenient
There may be other similar businesses, but in the case of a monopoly, there is only one business or individual that can provide a specific product or service. An oligopoly is where the product or the service may be available from more than one vendor, but only a few big merchants are in control of the market. This makes it hard for new competition to try to enter the field. Industrial regulations suppress monopolies and oligopolies from price fixing. The regulations make competition a necessity which in turn keeps the prices to consumers more affordable and competitive.
Evaluate which stakeholder groups are likely to be most influential in the achievement of objectives [18] A stakeholder is a person, or group, who has an interest or is affected by the activities of a business. SLSL have a number of stakeholders which could have a major influence in achieving their objective of increasing revenue by 4% as well as expand into Market Harworth. These stakeholders could include the managers, owners, the customers and the competition. If one were to consider these stakeholders in relation to the Stakeholders Matrix, they would fit into the top category (high influence as well as high interest) and so they may be considered to be the most influential in the achievement of objectives. One objective that may have a high level of influence from stakeholders is the aim to increase revenue by 4%.
1 Barriers to Critical Thinking Teri-Ann Phillip Instructor: James Nobis HUM/115 07/30/2015 Barriers to Critical Thinking There are many barriers that can, and do affect us from thinking critically. Mostly these barriers can impede our abilities and cause a lack of effectiveness in our decision-making skills. Can also result in poor choices that create undesired effects. It is best to think things through to the best of one's abilities. The Self-Serving Bias One barrier to critical thinking is self-serving biases.