CalPERS vs. JC Penney Overview CalPERS investment program began on February 22, 2000 when they included JC Penney on their annual Focus List. CalPERS further exclaimed that due to declining sales and a deteriorating customer base they had lost confidence in Penney’s management. Subsequent to the release of their focus list JC Penney made numerous strategic decisions to revitalize and boost the value of the company. Penney forced their current CEO James Oesterreicher to retire. Next instead of promoting from within, they searched for new blood and hired former Barney’s CEO Allen Questrom.
Throughput is the rate at which the system generates money through sales while inventory is all the money that the system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell. And operational expense is all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput. In traditional meaning, throughput is defined as the rate at which the system generates money through production whereas inventory includes the direct labour cost invested on the products and operational expense is all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughout. I found the new definition is useful because it eliminates the confusion over whether the money spent is an investment or an expense . 2.
3) The sales budget is to estimate the profitability. As we know, sales budget is used to structure the company in a way to maximize profits. With an accurate projection of future sales, the company is actually can save the expenses and protects the company from failing. If the sales projection is overstated, the president has to decide whether to proceed or to have other alternative planning.
Argument: Due to the economic recession possibly coupled with poor financial decisions, Astrigo missed its earnings estimate by 20 cents a share and profits had dropped by double digits, regardless of efforts to slash inventory and expenses. Although Astrigo enacted aggressive promotions and price cuts, the Astrigo home-improvement stores were losing sales to cheaper retailers with far worse customer service. During the time of their financial struggle customer service was still upheld, talented team members remained innovative, and steps were taken to cut costs and drive sales (promotions, price cuts, slash inventory and expenses). There were strong implications, however, that Astrigo’s executive team may have been spending money in the wrong places. These implications come from the fact that the CFO, during a time when Astrigo was financially unstable, was making decisions about whether or not to layoff workers in an expensive and exclusive dining club.
SUMMARY In this case, I will be providing a cost analysis of a replacement valve for Mr. Fingold, a supply management supervisor at Frich Turbo Engine Company, to determine if the prices being charged by the suppliers are fair and reasonable. First, I will exam the cost breakdown submitted by Bayfleet Machining and Union Stamping. I found the fact might have caused variance between Bayfleet Machining and Mr. Fingold’s estimation is subcontracting. It decreases the manufacturing overhead. Also, a low profit margin decreases the price they proposed.
The company was unable to maintain and manage the bonus incentive plan that they had in place before the crisis. The employees started to complain about the company’s policies and its situation also by underperforming, which in turn leads to low productivity. The manager Ron Bent had to figure out a way to address these problems, and come up with solutions so that the company can continue operating and supplying its clients. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant was facing the problem of not being able to keep their employees motivated in both good and bad times. The bonuses were perceived as being part of their regular paycheck, not rewards for high performance, which in long-term lead to de-motivation.
Having unskilled employee in positions is often the cause of a high turnover and most employees can usually be replaced without a company’s lost in productivity. This is the reason why training and development is a vital aspect of the human resource department. Replacing employee is usually results in lost in revenue for the company. Several lost may occur for time it takes for recruiting, staffing, and training for potential employees. Turnover is expressed in most company’s annual percentage of the total workforce, so this is an expense in which the company has to account for.
Week 2 Learning Team Reflection Team A agrees, this week introduced new concepts and understanding. Week two the main objectives we focused on were production and cost analysis. We discuss the relationship between the number of inputs and the law of diminishing marginal productivity, and analyze the relationship between productivity and the cost of production. We collectively discussed the objectives and illustrated the topic we feel comfortable with, any topics we struggled with and how these topics relate to application in our field. Colander (2010) explains the role of the firm in production and how firms strive to maximize profits through maximizing productivity and minimizing costs.
Prior to polices established by Law of Commerce Henkel Iberica participated in aggressive pricing to increase market share. The consequences of this were a negative effect on margins, contribution margins, and profits on sales. To contend with its competitors, Henkel invested in promotions and additional product mix to increase sales, but due to lack of accuracy in long range forecast it was often left with either over stock that is difficult to reallocate or loss of sales due to out of stock products which eventually led to a decrease of net earnings in sales year before. Accurately forecasting demand is the key to every strategic, tactical, and operational decision designed to keep our business competitive. Obviously it is evident that Henkel Iberica current process isn’t working due to challenges of forecast exactness and demand variability for all the products it offers.
A firm’s performance is negatively impacted because it hires fewer employees, which decreases output and profit. Consumers and taxpayers end up paying for such costs through higher prices. The ability of the United States to stay globally competitive is diminished, thus efforts to cut costs push many companies to send jobs abroad. In the long-term, members of a union also become affected due to changes in the market environment—e.g. new entrants, including foreign competition within the domestic boundaries, so they may have to adapt to such changes by accepting lower wage rates.