The women’s trend being a primary breadwinner is increasing because the larger number of women are earning higher degrees and entering the workforce (Claire). Sarah Jane Glynn, an analyst with the Center for American Progress, told the Washington Post that the recent recession accelerated the trend. “Part of what’s happening is that more men have been getting laid off and are having difficulty finding work…And with the way the recovery’s played out, some men who lost their jobs wound up taking others that paid less,” she noted (Claire). With the rise of working women, it is beneficial for the family as they are contributing more income towards the family. In today’s economy, when the cost of everything is going very high, it is very hard to raise the kids and run the family.
If the company ceases to manufacture some products required by those big customers in order to decrease the inventory and cut off the cost, the company may lose contract with those important customers. Another problem confronting the company is that some medium and small-sized customers complained that there are insufficient products to be shipped. So, the dilemma comes out. The company has big inventory stored, meanwhile some customers always complains about the lack of products. One major reason is that the company always keeps the not-updated information and thus the improper inventory.
If markets for Apogee's goods and services exist in multiple locations, having one office hardly makes sense. Multiple offices should be opened to increase profit. The author could do a couple of things to make this argument stronger. For example, there is no evidence that shows the profitability of all the field offices is declining. There is also no evidence that shows the marketability of the field offices.
They assess potential risks before making investment decisions which is shown through Bob and Maggie refusing to take out a loan when they don’t have the means to make repayments as the majority of their money is tied up to their inventory, and their inventory faces a huge unpredictable risk from the weather. In addition Bob and Maggie both have calculations and predictions made using information available to them showing efficiency and awareness of the market conditions; alongside this Maggie’s conservative nature in regards to cost saving has helped them garner up more cash. The company’s weaknesses seem to be their low liquidity levels, which could see them in financial difficulty in an unexpected change in the market conditions, or potentially hazardous weather that could damage their inventory. To add to this risk Maggie has a strong deterrence towards any type of debt financing. 2.
We absolutely must improve our service and support. In the next few pages I will propose a plan to improve the overall ratings of our customer service in stores and online. Proposal to Improve Customer Service When we talk about customer service we all remember that one instance that was either good or bad, most of the time, it was the bad service that we remember. Our society today is fast-pace and most people, especially those in the retail field, do not have enough time to spend with each individual customer. Most companies have cut the sales force because of the unstable economy.
This leaded to a displacement and diffusion of responsibility. When the system is in charge for decisions, moral disengagement of the employees appears. 3) Loss of autonomy Do to the fact, that everything was guided and recommended by the IT System, there was no space for personal reasoning and finally nobody felt responsible. 4) Change of business strategy Through the acquisition of the LPB business the original “Feel-Good-Strategy” of Mrs. Field´s cookies was gone. Further not to franchise the original cookie business and to diversify the business concept was not beneficial and leaded to high depths of the company.
While the traditional accounting methods are good to measure past performance and financial stature, it does not allow for managers to see the impact or value that marketing has on the bottom line. For a manager to evaluate the impact of marketing they will need view the current marketing expenditures, sales, and profits to make a conscious decision on what methods are working. While I think placing marketing as an investment is a good concept, determining the value is too biased without a common measurement between all companies in a similar industry. Without understanding the current value of marketing, the marketing budget will be one of the first items cut when the business is in a downturn. Technology in all industries has increased dramatically over the past 10 years so being able to understand the current value of marketing methods should not be as strenuous as it has been in the past.
At first, the company experienced a period of deficit. However, as the sales of bakery growing steadily and start earning profits, the current capacity couldn’t meet the requirement of accommodating the growing business. So they started to think about expand the facility of the bakery. Before moving into a larger facility, she should have thought about whether the bakery needed the expansion. And she also overestimated the profits the bakery can made and the capacity they need.
From a standpoint of a shopper I would evaluate the store as a confusing mess that seemed like a sale every time one shops. Sales are advertised but employees don't necessarily push the sales. The management goals reflect the employees' goals to let the products sell themselves. This hurts the company knowing that consumers can shop products on a "take it or leave it" attitude. Most people are aware of the lack of customer service Best Buy does not provide.
These problems, as stated in the case study, include: lack of purchasing, design, and testing processes, inspections that are after the fact with out in-process controls or feed back loops. It also leads to a lack of product tractability, quality maintenance records of the equipment so improvement or stabilization data is not available. Designs are made on hunches - there is no decisions based on facts and data. Statements like “even if it is a little off spec was tolerable, we need market share now” shows a poor quality attitude and the schedule is more important. The inspector had used only a sample of testing to find the eight rejected cases but had no way of tracking where they had gone shows a lack of in-process controls and a lack of product tractability.