How would you characterize Caterpillar’s competitive situation? What are the implications for how it does business? I would characterize Caterpillar’s competitive situation as an oligopoly. I am not sure how many other company’s there are that work in this line of business but from what I read there are only three main competitors which are, “multinational giants”. The implications for how it affects the business are that 69 percent of their sales come from outside the United States.
Also, Russian GDP has declined during the time. Belco, on the other hand, is competing in a very low market margin like 2 to 4 % that makes the company cannot afford any late payment, so having not received $84,000 that Kooritsa Kiev owed and upcoming $78,000 in 15 days could be a problem. At the same time doing any unfavorably action toward Kooritsa Kiev can cost Belco more than the late payment, since Kooritsa Kiev is a wholesaler that supplied local restaurants and food markets with poultry, pork and other products. These products are the biggest portion of Belco’s core product and inquiring big orders. Problem Statement How Belco Global Food can collect its money from Kooritsa Kiev without damaging the relationship between two companies especially when the buyer’s country was on the brink of a financial crisis.
When dividing the gross margin price by the selling price, the gross margin is about 29 percent. Parameters Although there is no average gross profit margin for a small retail business, many small businesses operate within the parameters of having between a gross profit margin of 25 percent and 35 percent. It is important to remember that when operating expenses rise, it becomes necessary to increase the gross profit margin. Failing to do so puts a business at a loss. In 2005, independent booksellers had gross profit margins of slightly over 41 percent, yet had operating expenses of slightly over 42 percent, thereby causing many booksellers to operate at a
No one wants to live in a country where he or she would have to work more than needed. “Here's a startling fact: Based on labor market statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans aged 15-64, on a per-person basis, work 50% more than the French. Comparisons between Americans and Germans or Italians are similar” (Edward C. Prescott Wall Street Journal). We don’t want to work away our youth. We want to enjoy being young.
Some family-based immigrants may be highly educated or skilled, but the vast majority of admissions are made without regard for those criteria. The immigrant population reflects the system's lack of emphasis on skill. Nearly 31 percent of foreign-born residents over the age of 25 are without a high school diploma, compared to just 10 percent of native-born citizens. Immigrants trail natives in rates of college attendance, associate's degrees, and bachelor's degrees, but earn advanced degrees at a slightly higher rate (10.9 percent, compared to 10.4 percent for natives). Illegal immigrants are the least-educated group, with nearly 75 percent having at most a high school education.
GDP composite of china 2009 Physical capital accounted for almost 50% of total growth and labour for only a little over 10% over recent. Total factor productivity contributed the remaining growth, partly driven by the reallocation of labour from the rural sector to manufacturing. China’s savings are high but it is not the household saving, it is unchanged since 1990's, therefore the consumption is 35%. The corporate savings have increased due to the firm tendency to retain earnings. According to World scope data, over half of listed Chinese industrial firms did not pay a dividend over the past decade.
The company was growing with an higher rate of the industry even if was the market leader (9% vs 5%) b. the operating margin was in line with the industry, that highlights that the company was not leveraging the bigger scale to increase profitability (2-4%). c. The company substituted the CEO, but only 8 Seniors Executives over 30 and no middle manager maintaining the structure of the firm d. Indeed analyzing the 10-k and the DG report we can see that most of the improvement came from operational efficiency 2) What was KKR investment thesis? DG dollar have a leading position in the convenience store market and did not extract all the value from operational efficiency. We can extract more value focusing on maximizing store performance and investing in new technologies to reduce OPEX. Additionally interest rates for store relocation was forecasted to go down since we were on the verge of a crisis 3) Key area of operational efficiency?
Kooritsa Kiev is one of only two customers who are working under open account comparing to the others six who is working under cash in advance. Late 2008 some events happened that could delay customers’ payment. Currency depreciation against the dollar leaded to low demand and had not enough money to cover the dollars payment. Also, Russian gross domestic product is declined. Belco, on the other hand, is competing in a very low market margin that makes the company cannot afford any late payment, so having not received $84,000 that Kooritsa Kiev owed and upcoming $78,000 could be a problem.
Frequent shoppers often have a resistance to new discount stores. K Mart’s Lay-Away plans also help those customers who need an installment plan for purchases. (GlobalData, 2011) K Mart SWOT Analysis -A discussion here about the SWOT- K Mart’s Main Problems K Mart has many problems. The first of which is segmentation, which involves choosing a market to focus on, and identifying and focusing a business model specifically for that market or group of people. The segments that K Mart should focus on are Black American families, Asian families, Hispanic families, and a multi-ethnic family which live in the urban areas, along with families living in suburbs of cities.
The rich are 1% of the population while the middle class and the poor made up the other 99%. “As of 2007, the top 1 percent of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).” This quote points out the issues in distribute of the wealth in the US. There is a social problem with the distribution of income. Income is what people earn from work but is also interest earned dividends and any other royalties that they earn. The problem with distribution is that the top 1% or the rich while 99% is the middle class or the poor.