SciTronics had net fixed assets of $ 18,000 and sales of $ 244,000 in 2008. Its fixed asset turnover ratio in 2008 was 13.6 times, a deterioration from 16.3 times in 2005. Leverage Ratios: How soundly is the company financed? 1. SciTronics’
Wii Encore Case Analysis Since 1983Nintendo has continued to introduce game consoles to the gaming market starting with Famicon in 1983 and more recently the Nintendo Wii in 2006. They have focused on keeping the platform prices low but also offering the consumer high game quality as well as image quality. Nintendo has been associated with popular games such as Super Mario Brothers (1985), The Legend of Zelda (1987), and Metroid (1987). Since the release of the Nintendo Wii in 2006, famous for the introduction of motion-censoring controllers, Nintendo continued to outsell its two competitors, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. It was not until 2010 that both of Nintendo’s competitors launched their version of motion sensing controllers.
(Exhibit). Whereas, the preceding marketing campaign, launched in October 2007 was unsuccessful to create the buzz to attract 10,000 subscribers and awareness for companies who were willing to advertise on Blue Orb’s website. The freeware/advertising-based revenue model for SwitchBlade did not achieve its goal. Thus, Mike Bowers (CMO) and Pete McAlindon (CEO) at Blue Orb are now considering a new marketing campaign for its first time SwitchBlade Pro paid subscription model. It is known that out of 70 million console and PC video game players
Since then, Microsoft has spent billions of dollars in acquisitions to either eliminate competition or gain competitive advantage in the market. In 2000 they purchased Visio (wholesale drawing software) for more than 1.3 billion dollars. In 2002 they purchased another software company called Navision; again for about 1.3 billion, and in August of 2007 they acquired aQuantive – a digital marketing company for a whopping 6.3 billion plus. Initially, such a purchase does not seem to jive with the purpose and vision of a computer software company; perhaps Alan Tanaka’s vision of Templar Towers (though not highly favored by the others) is a direction Friar Tucker ought to take the company. Perhaps they ought to indulge in the proposed office complex; while 18 million dollars is the largest sum of initial investment between three other projects it does appear to have the potential to yield the largest Return on Investment (ROI).
MGMT 211 – Management Foundations Case Analysis #1 Netflix Los Gatos, California CEO Reed Hastings started Netflix in 1997 after becoming angry about paying Blockbuster Video $40 for a late return of Apollo 13. Hastings and Netflix struck back with flat monthly fees for unlimited DVDs rentals, easy home delivery and returns via prepaid postage envelopes, and no late fees, which let customers keep DVDs as long as they wanted. Blockbuster, which earned up to $800 million annually from late returns, was slow to respond and lost customers in droves. When Blockbuster, Amazon, and Walmart started their own mail-delivery video rentals, Hastings recognized that Netflix was in competition with “the biggest rental company, the biggest e-commerce company, and the biggest company, period.” With investors expecting it to fail, Netflix’s stock price dropped precipitously to $2.50 a share. But with an average subscriber cost of just $4 a month compared to an average subscriber fee of $15, Netflix, unlike its competitors, made money from each customer.
Amazon Evolution Amazon, the largest online retailer, has annual sales in excess of $10 billion but investors have not seen the consistent profit growth they expected (Rainer & Turban, 2008). Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in 1995 by selling books because he believed that only the Internet could offer customers the convenience of browsing a selection of millions of book titles in a single sitting (Small Business Notes, 2009). According to Small Business Notes (n.d.), “Since 1995, Amazon.com has significantly expanded its product offering, international sites, and worldwide network of fulfillment and customer service centers.” Amazon continues to grow and evolve as an excellent e-commerce platform by giving customers more of what they want such as low prices, vast selection, and convenience (Small Business Notes, 2009). However, many analysts wonder if Amazon will ever fulfill its original promise to revolutionize retailing (Rainer & Turban, 2008). According to Rainer & Turban (2008), “By 2007, Amazon had spent 12 years and some $2 billion building the infrastructure of its online store, which is among the biggest and most reliable in the world.” However, Amazon does not use but a small amount of its processing capacity at any one-time so the company decided to provide a series of computing, storage, and other services that make its infrastructure available to companies and individuals to help them run the technical and logistical parts of their businesses (Rainer & Turban, 2008).
His wife was Laurene Powell. They have 3 children- Eve, Erin, and Reed (“Jobs” 320). According to TIME, “It’s a rule of thumb in the world of technology that you get to revolutionize one industry at most, but Jobs did it every few years with stunning regularity: computers, movies, music, phones” (Isaacson 38). Personal computers, animated movies, digital music, and cellphones would have never been the way they are today without the contributions by Steve Jobs. He was awarded TIME Person of the Year (Isaacson 40).
There was very little manufacturing footprint in high cost countries such as Switzerland, Denmark and the United States in which the LEGO Group maintained presence. Furthermore, the 200Os saw a rise the consolidation of the retail industry particularly in the United States and the growth of big box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. This meant that traditional distribution channels that had been used by companies like LEGO in the past were no longer viable. The consolidation in the retail sector also meant that retailers were amassing power in the toy industry which has an impact of putting pressure on the operating margins of the manufacturers. The intensity in the retail arena saw companies such as Toys R Us being taken over by private equity firms which further intensified the dominance of companies like Wal-Mart.
Mattel has revenues of $5.4 billion as of 2009 putting them at the top of this market. However, Mattel is followed by a close second know as Hasbro. Hasbro is the second worldwide producer of toys, and they have revenues of $4.7 billion in 2009. History of Mattel The history of Mattel dates back to the early 1900’s. In 1945 Ruth and Elliot Handler and Harold Matson founded Mattel.
Old Spice The power of advertising has never had a reach so far as it has over the last decade. Billions of dollars every year are thrown the ways of writers and directors to create an appeal to audiences everywhere in hopes consumers will purchase their product and stay on board for repeat business. This is especially critical for companies such as Proctor and Gamble to do with older brands such as Old Spice. Having been around for over seventy years, Old Spice was in need of a campaign that would not only appeal to the purchasing audience, but also to revamp the image of such a staple in the hygiene industry. The advertising drive of 2010 featured the hit slogan “The man your man could smell like” (OldSpice, 2010).