Rock of Ages Case Study free essay sample

Executive Summary Rock of Ages (ROA) is an industry leader in granite quarrying and manufacturing, specializing in memorials. With nine quarries ranging through Vermont, Quebec, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and recently Ukraine, ROA offers a variety of granite colors and grades for the selective consumer. Until January, 2008, ROA also had a retail division dedicated to memorials. Although ROA has been in business for over a century, economic factors in a global economy are eroding on their once rock-solid consumer base. Specifically, ROA has operated at a loss over the last several years, with 2008 being a transition year due to the discontinuation of the Retail division. This case study serves to evaluate ROA’s strategic direction given both internal and external environmental factors using best-of-breed analysis tools. Table of Contents Executive Summary2 Rock of Ages Case Study 2 Table of Contents2 Introduction3 Mission and Goals4 Situation Analysis5 SWOT Analysis10 Porter’s Five Forces12 Sustainable Competitive Advantage13 Resources and Capabilities14 Performance Measures16 Strategic Integration17 Bibliography22 Introduction Rock of Ages is in trouble. We will write a custom essay sample on Rock of Ages Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The following pages illustrate ROA’s declining performance over the last five years in revenue while operational costs continue to rise. Return on equity plummets while debt continues to climb. This diminishes shareholder value for ROA, and impacts their long-term viability. The time for action is upon them. To evaluate the appropriate strategy to revitalize ROA’s business, we employ several analyses essentially inspecting the company from separate facets as though it were a prism. First, we analyze the current strategy and direction. What does the organization already have in motion to change their fiscal landscape? Next, we perform situational analyses of ROA by evaluating both internal and external factors which have shaped their current situation. These include: A financial analysis over the last five years, marking both long and short term trends. SWOT analysis to determine where ROA shapes their future, and where the present situations are allowed to shape ROA. Porters Five Forces analysis to evaluate how well ROA is positioned to respond to competitive pressures and which area of competition require immediate response. A competitive advantage analysis appraises how ROA differentiates them from the competition, and whether this advantage is sustainable. After gathering the data from these analyses, it’s used to create performance measures and mapped to strategic integration throughout the organization. The case study ends with recommendations based on the analyses for ROA to regain market share and preserve brand equity. Mission and Goals Founded in 1885, Rock of Ages (ROA) is nearing its 125’s birthday as a granite quarrying and manufacturing company. Priding themselves on lasting granite memorialization, the company sells wholesale memorials to independent retailers in the US and Canada. Until January of 2008, ROA operated three separate lines of business: Manufacturing, Quarrying, and Retail. The Retail division has been discontinued, allowing the company to focus on the remaining two core business divisions. ROA’s newly revised strategy now focuses on the following elements (ROA, 2008): Strategic alliances With the Retail division’s discontinuation, business partnerships with local and regional retailers, funeral directors, and cemetery owners is critical to ROA’s continued growth and success. Direct sales of private mausoleums and civic memorials Local, state, and federal funding are available for creating and renovating civic memorials. One of the recent commissions for ROA produced the world’s largest statue of Pope John Paul II at over 30 feet tall. (ROA Civic, 2008) Personalization ROA seeks to provide a product line with enough variability to meet the needs of anybody in search of a memorialization solution. Expansion of quarries and quarry business Until recently, ROA focused the business on domestic quarries only; owning and operating ten quarry properties in the US and Canada. ROA recently brokered a partnership with VIKA, Ltd. , a Ukrainian quarrying company, to broaden their product offering and remain competitive with overseas competition. Reduce overhead and streamline operations Having recently sold the Retail division, ROA seeks to decrease redundant job functions and administrative office space costs. ROA focuses on product differentiation through quality. The only company who offers a perpetual warranty (guaranteed forever), ROA products set the standard for granite memorials. Situation Analysis ROA’s situation is defined largely by recent financials. They have demonstrated year over year decline in revenue, profit, and net income since 2003 as demonstrated in Figure 1 (below). (MSN Money, 2008) Figure 1 ROA’s 2006 and 2007 financials have been resubmitted to accommodate for the discontinuation of the Retail organization, providing skewed trend lines. However, one will still note continued decline of net income between 2006 and 2007 in spite of a slight increase in both revenue and gross profit. This additional loss has been attributed to the costs of discontinued operations (Retail), and constitutes a $5. 2 million cost in 2007. The resubmission of 2006 financials have repositioned 2006 as a bounce-back year for some key metrics. Figure 2 (below) illustrates improved fixed assets turnover and inventory turnover, with a minor decline in total asset turnover. Figure 2 Figure 3 Not all key metrics show positive gain since the 2006 resubmission due to the Retail discontinuation. Figure 3 (right) shows continued decline of return on equity following the same trend line as 2003-2004. This demonstrates poor performance for stockholders. While return on equity falls, ROA’s debt ration continues to climb. Years 2006-2007 show this trend leveling off, and the current ratio in figure 5 has started to climb. These ratios will need to significantly improve to increase the company’s liquidity. Figures 4 5 While sales performance appears dismal, recent trends are largely due to the resubmission of the 2006 financials and the discontinuation of Retail. Sales revenue increased approximately 10% between 2006 and 2007 with the restated financials removing the Retail division. Figure 6 Figure 7 (below) evaluates the company’s assets and liabilities over time. This more clearly illustrates the benefit of selling the Retail organization, as the working capital once again approaches the current liabilities, and current assets are back on the rise. Again, as ROA reduces debt their market attractiveness will improve. Figure 7 Financial Summary While much of the fiscal landscape is in a period flux for ROA due to the discontinuation of the Retail business line, much work is left to put them on the road to financial recovery. Based on the company’s performance and analysts predictions, few investors would risk ROAC in their portfolio. (MSN Money, 2008) SWOT Analysis Highlights of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats currently met by ROA are illustrated in figure 8 (below). Figure 8 (Chapman, 2008) Strengths ROA has a long history of product quality. Backed by the industry’s only perpetual warranty, ROA stands behind their product for the customer and the customer’s heirs forever. The quality begins with the type of stone quarried from the Earth, as many of ROA’s quarries yield granite composition among the best in the world. (Granite Museum, 2008) In addition to quality, ROA also moves more quantity of granite than any other quarrying company in the US. (USGS, 1997) These factors have drawn and kept a talented workforce at ROA, and provided a brand name well recognized in the granite industry. Weaknesses Although ROA demonstrates generations of granite expertise, there are some modern day business challenges which impact ROA’s profitability. Distribution channels are in need of expansion to reach a broader and more diverse customer segment. While this must be driven through key business partnerships, better management of enhanced distribution partnerships will require investment in information technology systems to integrate the ROA web presence with consumers, partners, and suppliers. ROA suffers from limited RD funding, relying on an industry as stable and solid as the product they sell. With consumers growing increasingly demanding in terms of customization, ROA needs to stay ahead of the curve in terms of innovation. Perhaps a prospective customer could upload a photo and see various types of stone to virtually carve it onto in an effort to facilitate better and faster sales. Putting choice into the hand of the consumer will create another differentiating factor for ROA to sustain their competitive advantage. Opportunities Threats Some of the external factors for ROA present themselves as opportunities rather than threats. For example, the rate of cremation is rising – currently ~25% and expected to rise to ~40% by 2010 (see figure 9 below). This presents an opportunity for the growing customer market that need an alternate method for memorializing these loved ones. A new product or deviation from the existing product line would be required to meet this need. Figure 9 (CANA, 2006) SWOT Summary This SWOT analysis reinforces ROA’s key strengths (branding, quality, labor force) which the company should continue to maintain. More importantly, however, is the revelation of the weaknesses in the organization (distribution, RD, strategic partnerships) and threats (overseas competition, labor unions) requiring a plan of action. This case study’s recommendations for that plan can be found in the Conclusion and Recommendation section. Porter’s Five Forces ROA’s competition framework is illustrated in Figure 10 below. Porter’s framework maps out the five competitive pressures for an industry. Figure 10 For ROA’s quarrying and manufacturing divisions, the larger threats stem from buyer power and substitution. Buyer power is a significant force as ROA maintains high pricing in comparison to the competition. ROA seeks to differentiate their product offering through quality and their perpetual warranty, charging a premium for these services. Buyer power is also emphasized by the growing number of alternative solutions available for memorialization. Lower cost bronze markers are common for cremation memorials, as well as spending alternatives for the urn. In these instances, the granite products ROA is known for are losing market demand, and as a result consumers have a higher bargaining power. Another of the forces in need of attention is industry rivalry. In conference calls with Norwich MBA students, ROA representatives have stated overseas competition is the fastest growing threat. â€Å"A granite company in China can quarry, manufacture, ship and resell a product for less [cost] than it takes [ROA] to create a finished product. † (Brock, 2007) While ROA contends these overseas monuments are inferior quality, this source for price competition creates diminished profit margins for ROA. Summary Similar to our SWOT analysis, we’re seeing a common theme for ROA to focus on specific areas of the business: Overseas competition Price Dwindling market segment Need for strategic partnerships (distribution, retail) Focusing on these factors will stabilize the company and provide a basis for sustained competitive advantage. Sustainable Competitive Advantage ROA’s competitive advantage is based on quality in raw materials, quality in manufacturing, and the industry’s only perpetual warranty. While these differentiating factors allow dominance over a portion of the target consumer market, the remaining consumers are less discerning on quality and more driven by price. To meet the needs of this consumer segment, ROA will need to offer a lower priced alternative product line. This can be accomplished through overseas partnerships, similar to the VIKA partnership in the Ukraine. Limiting themselves to the premier segment of a diminishing market will spell ROA’s doom. To protect the ROA brand’s association to quality, the lower-end product marketing could be done under a separate business name. The following table lists the resources and capacities for ROA. Resources and Capabilities Table 1 Importance Relative Strength Comments RESOURCES R1. Finance 9 2 ROA has shown steady decline year over year. R2. Technology 5 2 ROA has not made significant investments in technology to enable the business R3. Plant Equipment 8 8 These facilities are key components to ROAs continued success R4. Location 4 8 ROA operates in Vermont in close proximity to their quarries R5. Distribution (dealership network) 9 6 With sale of the retail division, the distribution network is critical. R6. Brands 7 7 ROA has a strong brand in the industry CAPABILITIES C1. Product Development 6 5 ROA must develop new products to meet changing market needs C2. Purchasing 7 4 ROA needs to perform a cost benefit analysis for overseas procurement of raw and semi-finished product C3. Engineering 8 9 ROA has a strong skilled labor force C4. Manufacturing 8 7 Additional cost-saving measures may be available through partnerships. C5. Financial Management 9 4 Though the Retail division has now been discontinued, the company has suffered financial losses year over year. C6. RD 5 1 No real RD investment C7. Marketing Sales 8 5 Limited web presence, lack of integrated CRM C8. Government Relations 8 8 Much of the Civic Memorial business is dependent on this business line. C9. Strategic Management 9 6 Discontinuing Retail was a sound decision, but was it too late? The company needs to get a few profitable quarters to satisfy shareholder concerns. Figure 11 Several key strengths and weaknesses are evident based on this evaluation. Of particular note is R1- ROA’s financials. This has been an area of weakness due, in large part, to the Retail organization. By discontinuing Retail, ROA has stepped onto the road to financial recovery, yet there are still additional steps needed to ensure that recovery takes place. These are addressed in other key weaknesses, such as partnership management, market incentives for distribution dealers, and contraction of operational expenses. Focusing on ROA’s strengths, engineering and manufacturing remain core assets to the company. The government relations ROA has been making are also strong assets for the organization, allowing growth in the civic memorial business where federal funding is required. Performance Measures Through the SWOT, Porter’s Five, and Resource and Capabilities matrixes, we have identified several strategic areas within ROA which are core to the growth and business success. Table 2 (below) captures these objectives with key performance measurements. These metrics above are broken into the strategic areas of financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth. Table 2 Strategic Performance Areas Objectives Measures Actual (2006) Actual (2007) Change Financial Cash Flow Positive net cash flow Net change in cash $ 1. 36 Mil. ($ 1. 39 Mil) ($ 2. 75 Mil. ) Revenue Increase sales Gross sales $ 50. 16 Mil. $ 55. 55 Mil. $ 5. 39 Mil. Debt Decrease debt Current Liabilities $ 47. 00 Mil. $ 27. 87 Mil. ($19. 13Mil. ) Customer Dealer relations Improve relations Dealer based sales N/A N/A N/A New products Introduce new low end product lines Customer adoption of new product N/A N/A N/A Customer satisfaction Survey to evaluate customer satisfaction Survey results N/A N/A N/A Internal Processes Manufacturing costs Decrease costs Manufacturing COGS $ 17. 6 Mil. $ 18. 0 Mil. $ 0. 4 Mil. Inventory Turnover Maintain or improve Inventory Turnover 1. 77 1. 89 0. 12 Distributor relations Improve relations Distributor survey N/A N/A N/A Learning and Growth Employee Satisfaction Maintain or improve Employee survey N/A N/A N/A Core skill competencies Improve skills Skills testing N/A N/A N/A The financial section outlines areas of positive performance, but also opportunities for improvement. Revenue improved 10% between 2006 and 2007, and debt fell 40%. While these numbers are drastic improvements, they are tempered with the discontinuation of the Retail business line, providing uncertainty on the sustainability of the recovery trend. More troubling is the slip in cash flow, as it fell from a positive $1. 36 million to a negative $1. 4 million. One will note that many of the metrics necessary in other sections are unavailable. These are metrics critical for the organization to monitor, and have either been ignored or are not publicly unavailable. Dealer relations are of particular importance with the discontinuation of the Retail organization. Strategic Integration Many suggestions brought about from these analyses are consistent with ROA’s stated mission and goals. However, while the goals ROA works towards are correct, there is still some question on the strategy in place to achieve those goals. Table 3 (below) suggests a point rating for the various segments of the business. The following section will delve into each of these initiatives in further detail. Table 3 Functional Initiatives BSC Performance Areas Affected Objectives Measures Change (2006-2007) Points HRM Human Capital Focus on strategic job families to decrease overhead SGA Increased $0. 11 Mil 15 Finance Financial Perspective Increase Profit Net Income ($1. 19 Mil) 25 Marketing Customer Management Process Increase customer base Number of sales N/A 25 Operations Inventory Turnover Increase quality, reduce errors Number of returns 0. 12 15 Change Leadership Organizational Capital Successful discontinuation of Retail and subsequent cultural adoption Strategic job employee satisfaction N/A 20 The order of importance suggested of 1) Finance 2) Marketing 3) Change Leadership 4) Operations 5) Human Resources are based on ROA’s SWOT and Porters 5 analyses. The company has been in steady fiscal decline over the last 5 years, and every effort must be made to limit overhead and spending while increasing sales in this pivotal time. To carry these sales out, a new marketing effort is required, and strategic partnerships with retailers and distributors are a core component to that effort. Based on the recent company changes and forecasted changes necessary, leadership must focus on careful strategic communication to bolster morale and align culture with the new business direction. These new directions require operational processes and systems in place to enable the business. Finally, the company cannot afford to lose the talent which provides their competitive advantage. The human capital component must focus on retaining key performers during this transition period. Conclusions Recommendations Following the suggested order of importance listed in the previous section, we begin the recommendations with Finance. As a publicly traded company, ROA has a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders. (Friedman, 1970) Today, that responsibility is in direct conflict with the strongly held cultural values of ROA. The company has been slow to react to the overseas threat in availability and price, and has suffered significant market erosion due to this sluggishness. ROA prides themselves on being a US (and Vermont) company, and as a result of their industry and location are subject to significant overhead due to US Labor Union rates. While the quality of these skilled workers remains a differentiating factor, ROA must find ways to either lower domestic costs or increase offshore investments and partnerships to lower operational costs and provide a product line priced appropriately for the less discerning market segment unwilling to pay a premium for their product. This leads us into marketing recommendations. With the discontinuation of Retail, ROA is far more dependent on strategic partnerships in distribution and retail. Incentives for these partners are critical, and must be compelling enough to differentiate ROA from other granite wholesalers. ROA needs retailers and funeral home directors to sell ROA’s product line preferentially and only use a competing brand to save a customer sale. To facilitate this brand loyalty, ROA needs current marketing materials for consumers and information which is readily available and emphasizes ROA’s competitive advantage (quality, skilled labor, perpetual warranty) over the competition. ROA also needs a product line and pricing schedule which meets the needs of a broader segment of the market base. The ROA website needs a partner portal, such that retailers can sell ROA products through ROA’s site, as well as manage inventory and orders to ROA. This brings us to operations recommendations (we’ll address leadership at the end)†¦ One critical facet of operations is inventory management. ROA’s inventory turnover is too low. By implementing a partner portal, orders can be integrated into both lines of business (Quarry and Manufacturing), ensuring lead times are effectively managed and inventory reduced. As ROA increases its offshore presence, this type of a management system will be increasingly important to highlight areas of surplus and shortfall. By setting expectation with business partners accurately, ROA is enabling their partners to succeed, which in turn will anchor the partnership into the future. As ROA chooses where to allocate capital funds, marketing and operations should receive funding specific to these initiatives. As mentioned, ROA differentiates itself based on quality, and much of this quality stems from the skilled craftsmen and artisans which create their product offerings. Quality is core to ROA’s business, and outsourcing or off shoring these strategic job functions would likely lead to diminished quality, thereby destroying the competitive advantage ROA offers. Therefore ROA should maintain the finishing and final quality assurance inspection of all products domestic, but increase the offshore supply of raw materials (granite) and have products semi-finished shipped in. This will reduce both quarrying and manufacturing overhead, while maintaining the high levels of quality ROA is known for. The final section for recommendation is leadership. ROA’s leadership team has taken a bold step forward with discontinuation of the Retail division. However, it was done too late. The business has sustained years of lost revenue due to the failing Retail division. The leadership team has invested in offshore opportunities with VIKA. This, too, was done too late. International competition has eroded ROA’s consumer base and undersold their pricing structure. The first point of concern in evaluating ROA’s leadership is the sluggish reaction to threats and opportunities rather than proactively maneuvering the company for quicker responses. Now is the time to unite the company behind the manufacturing and quarry divisions to ensure positive momentum from the sales of Retail. Now is the time to confront the international competition threats by investing in offshore opportunities. Now is the time to solidify the relationships with distributors and retailers with strong incentives to bolster ROA’s sales and reinforce the market branding. The second point of concern is the culture in ROA which has lead to this situation. With the discontinuation of Retail, the company is provided with a rare opportunity to capitalize on the sense of urgency ensues to create change. (Kotter, 1996) With a carefully articulated vision and strategy, ROA has the opportunity to change the culture in the company from a lethargic reactive one to an energetic, proactive culture less likely to balk at the investment of an offshore manufacturing facility. Focusing inward on resource alignment is as critical (if not more so) as the external factors in ROA’s stated strategy. (ROA, 2008) Bibliography

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Due to the European unification and the laws that came with it, the British government can not do much to steer the industry sector, for it will then be seen as an act against the monopolies legislation. Also the reluctance of the UK to join the Single European Currency in an entrepreneurs point of view was not such a wise choice, looking at the possible as well as current economic and business related outcomes. Some international companies are pulling out or demand to be invoiced in Euros. 2.2 E C O N O M I C As stated at the threats for the company, the population structure is changing because of the ageing of the population. The concentration of the age groups will shift to an older one because of the tendency of smaller families. People tend to be more active in the last few years and outdoor weekend activities are more popular than ever before. The population is more mobile. On there free time and is willing to spend more on the attributes concerning these activities such as clothing. On the other hand there is also a trend that there is more need for casual dressing instead of the more formal requirements that used to be present at companies. The introduction of the ‘casual Friday and home working makes this possible. 2.3 S O C I A L / C U L T U R A L The consumers spending budget has increased significantly in the last few years due to the upturn in the economy. The ongoing trend of the last few years is the relaxation of dress codes throughout companies. A lot of corporations have adopted the ‘casual Friday as a day where the dress code is less strict and there is no need for formal dressing. Due to the fact that people are spending more time in leisure activities, demand for other fabrics and clothing was created that would suit their needs in their free time activities. Active leisure is more popular now. The current technological advances in clothing are found in the fabrics that have entered the market in the pas few years. Focus is on comfort, in wearing and caring for the material. Popular are the multi- layered Gore-Tex and the flexible materials as Lycra. The advantage of these materials is that they are warm, light, thin, comfortable and easy to clean. Also the further development of the Internet and the relative ease that people can acquire clothing without having to leave their house is an interesting development in the market. More and more retailers are becoming multi-channel retailers by offering their services online. Examples of this are of course www.nextdirectory.co.uk , but also the grocer at www.Tesco.com and bookstores at www.whsmith.co.uk. * The threat of new entrants is rather low, yet, as said before, the German ESPRIT company is trying to enter the market. This is an exemption, because ESPRIT has a lot of resources that make this possible as well as a lot of experience. In words of product differentiation they are in the league of Levis and Benneton. These brands have as extra benefits: Image and superior quality. * As we already know, the bargaining power of our suppliers is very low for there are a lot of companies supplying this market so substitution is easy (see table 10). The problem, however, is the quality we ask from our suppliers. Most of the suppliers only deliver into this market, yet can also change to other markets (professional clothing) that are less profitable and the level of competition is great. * The products that can reduce our sales in the form of substitute products or services are not there, there is however a ‘threat of Internet portals and other forms of home shopping. This is not a severe threat for the company already is active in this channel of selling. The discount retailing of A-brands as Levis in outlets through parallel imports can be a problem. * In the prospect of the consumers there is not much leverage from their account: their money spent on clothing per person is not substantial enough looking at our total sales and their total spending budget. * There is some rivalry in the ranks of the market, for there are declining sales due to a decreasing market. In order to attain customer base, companies have increased their discounts and that leads to the destruction of the market. This is caused by the fact that people do not want to pay the full price amount of the products and companies will have to suffice with lower profit margins. The companys philosophy is to offer quality fashionable clothing, accessories and furnishings for a good price. We can ensure good prices because of our knowledge of the market and by buying in large volumes. Next puts a lot of effort in ensuring and improving our service to our customers and we constantly seek new innovative opportunities to expand our business to fulfil the market needs. The employees of next all work towards the same goal; providing the customer good value and quality in service in all the companys fields of business and build a prosperous company image. The company has a strong drive to increase the value of the company and actively looks new ways to achieve this goal. We have made sure of this in the past and definitely will continue this trend in the future in order to increase shareholder wealth. 4.1 E x p l a n a t i o n After careful examination of the companys features, we came to the Mission Statement above, to give the company a sense of direction. Referring to the book Marketing Strategy and Management by Michael Baker, we found that the following core points should be in a mission statement and we give a brief explanation how we inserted them Company philosophy: This is also directly linked to the other points that are included, for it provides the way the company wants to be seen: its image. Concern for shareholders: Shareholders are the providers of finance for a company and there is no activity before there are financial inputs for the company. In order to secure this in the future, when expansions are current issues, we need extra monetary incentives to achieve these goals. The part of the mission statemetn that deals with shareholder wealth is in line 7 Concern for Employees: Employees are the most important part of the company for they are the direct link to your customers and represent the company. To give them a sense of belonging and a notion of what the company expects from them, the part in line 5 is included. Customer care: Next always seeks to give the price, value and quality products and services the upper hand when turning towards customers. This can also be seen in the way the company sees the importance of its personnel in relation to its customers. Future objectives: The company needs to look into the future and sees it as expanding into new (parts of the) market and improving the customer care by streamlining activities. It also wants to continue the trend of success it has had in the last 5 years 5. C O N C L U S I O N S P R O P O S A L S 5.1 OPTION A: ENTER A NEW AGE GROUP WITH NEW SHOP As stated in the SWOT analysis earlier on in this document, the target group of NEXT is decreasing in size due to the fact that the bay boomers are moving out. There could be a possibility to increase profits by entering this part of the market, as the CEO of Esprit, Heinz Krogner, says in the Times of 28 November 1999: ‘ The population is getting older but not in their attitudes. People do not want to look old, they want to dress young'[1]. People of older age are more established and have more money and free time. Also stated in this report that there is a propensity to tune your clothes towards the free time spending and that is another possibility to increase turnover and therewith profits. 5.2 OPTION B: GO INTO NEW PRODUCT AREA: Search another product area, in which the target group is interested; during research, there was a statement in Mintel that one of the causes of degradation of sales was the fact that young people spend more on technology (mobile phones, sound carriers, etc). This addition to the product range offering, can create a ‘total package and lift the product range of clothing and accessories to a new level. Th problem is that we will be introducing different brands into our product offering and that will decrease the level of exclusiveness of our products, for we have only sold NEXT branded products so far. 5.3 OPTION C: INCREASE SHOP SIZES AND PRODUCT OFFERINGS: In a report of Mintel, it concluded that men prefer to shop in the largest shops where there was everything on hand, so that they only had to go to one shop in order to buy the things they wanted. If you increase shop sizes and hence increase the number and types of clothing and accessories, it will have a larger impression on the potential customer. Larger shops also create larger economies of scale and that brings on favourability in pricings looking at the competition and the need to lower our fixed costs 5.4 R E C O M E N D A T I O N S As the marketing department of the company, we suggest that we expand our services as stated under option A. Option B will bring a lot of disadvantages with it including staff training and more competition. For sure, the customer needs to be educated to know that the NEXT Company sells personal audio and other accessories. As a disadvantage of option C we see that this will not generate that much extra sale, yet decrease our fixed costs. A company must not see reducing cost as their core objective when there is an opportunity to increase sales and create a base for further growth as stated in option A. The number of people outside our regular target group will exceed the number in it in the near future (as can be seen in table 8) and that is why we need to be innovative and use this opportunity in our benefit.

The Great Depression in America Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Imagine losing all of the money you've ever earned in a few years. This may seem quite far fetched, but the Crash of 1929 made this a reality. The crash of 1929 established the beginning of America's most memorible era; the great depression. According to the London Penny Press, following the week of Black Thursday, one could go to New York and see speculators hurling themselves from windows because they had lost everything in the crash. (The Great Crash 1929-Galbraith) Many people had everything they could ever dream of before the crash occured, but after the crash they found themselves poor, hungry, unemployed, and devastated. ErmDux14: Of course during hard times people need someone or something to blame, and unfortunately the president of the United States Herbert Hoover was a very convinent candidate. Most people didnt realize the nature of the economy. It cant continue to skyrocket forever, and very rarely does it just level off ; therefore the crash was inevitable. Before the crash many previous presidents and their administrations practiced lassiez fairer, and for the most part kept out of the market and its issues. However, in 1929 the situation was so immense that Hoover had no choice but to get involved. He came to the aid of the people as best as he could. Never before had a president had to deal with such a situation. President Hoover didnt recieve enough credit for the things he did. Many didnt realize that there was very little he could actually do. ErmDux14: The stock market is a very strange thing. It can be very unpredictible, yet patterns can be detected. After the industrial revolution and with America gaining prosperity, the New York stock market found itself doing quite well. The stock market continued to boom which meant real estate and stock prices would also increase in value. One could look in the paper day in and day out, and find his stocks were continuing to rise. The increase sucess in the stock market eventually had to end. Stocks could not continue to increase, the crash was inevitable. Prices would stop rising, people would no longer be buying for an increase, and owning stocks would be useless if no one wanted to buy them. So eventually the market would fall. (The Year of the Great Crash) A law in physics states: 'What goes up must come down', and that's exactly what the stock market had to ... ... to a sharp decrease in world trade as each country tried to protect their own industries and products by raising tariffs on imported goods. Parents of young children found it hard to be able to leave their children in school, because they were needed to work on the farms to bring in money. Due to illness and unemployment, about 30,000 immigrants had to return to their home country. (Encyclopedia Britannica, The Great Depression) ErmDux14: The rampid speculation that occured in the 1920's came to a screaching halt with the Crash of 1929. It took almost a decade for the economy of the United States to recover, though many individuals never recovered financially. The lessons learned during that time help to form the start of many new financial policies that would help the economy and markets grow in the future. Bibliography 1. Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Crash of 1929 . New York: Houghton Mifflin Company,1954. 2. Gordon, Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts. The Day the Bubble Burst. Garden City, NY :Doubleday and Company, 1954. 3. Hoover, Hebert. The Memoirs of Hebert Hoover (The Great Depression) New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952. 4. Encyclopedia Britannica, The Great Depression

Beauty: Wish and Jane Martin Essay

The play â€Å"Beauty† by Jane Martin was a great play as in it tells you of how there are some people out there that are not satisfied with whom or what they have. And wish to be someone else or have what someone else has. And the magic a Genie can bring to give them their wishes and let them see how it feels to change places with the person you admire most. Like the saying â€Å"the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.† The conflict that was going on in the play was between two women, Carla and Bethany. Bethany was the first to come forward with her feelings of inadequacies and wishing she was more like Carla. She then brings these feelings forward to Carla, who states her wish to be more like Bethany. Carla was beautiful and not too brainy, but care free with her life. Bethany was a not so beautiful woman but had a great head on her shoulders, and took life more seriously than Carla. Once Bethany and Carla brought forward their feelings about wishing they were the other, they had decided to make a wish with the Genie in the bottle that Bethany had found on the beach earlier that day. I believe at this time is where the rising action reaches its climax. The women make their wish to the genie, who then changes each one into the other. The women are now the other. They are stunned and happy at the same time. It was now time to live each other’s lives. Life went on for a few very long years with the women living each other’s lives. They then met up again. They had not been happy being the other. They missed who they had been. When Bethany had been Carla she found her new looks and less than intellectual ways had made people look at her differently, and not in a good way. Carla had seen that being as intelligent as Bethany was a double edged sword as well, not being very attractive and smart usually left you rather lonely and never considered the center of the males attention. I believe that before they met up and while they had lived one another’s lives is when the falling action began. I believe the falling action was them discovering that they should have appreciated who they were more before they had made this wish. The techniques that were used in the play was in how it was written and played out in a way that showed you important information and meaning in a very short amount of time by having the genie found and the wishes being known and acted on immediately, then showing them living each other’s lives and then them coming together to undo what they had done. This play accomplishes the meaning and the thought behind it by making you think from the very beginning what the actors were trying to portray to us and pushed right through to the actions that were going to take place and what would come of these actions. And lastly, the final thought on how their original feelings had changed and how they then were changed back into themselves, and tell of how they appreciated more now of who they had always been and didn’t want to be anyone else. Although the play is only ten minutes long, the events that happen in those ten minutes makes you see and maybe appreciate a little bit more of what you have and how changing places with someone else that you think you envy for whatever reason, may not be the way to go. Although it was only a ten minute play, during that ten minutes you were able to see what the women were feeling and what it was they had desired. It showed what their own insecurities about themselves were and the envy toward the others life and who they were. It’s amazing that Jane Martin could right all this and have it come across so clearly in a ten minute play. Jane Martin put the women that were total opposites together as friends and then she was able to show each ones strengths and weaknesses. As a whole person, they probably would have been Wonder Woman, each of them had a strength the other didn’t have and a weakness that the other didn’t have. But, when they were together as friends they completed each other. 1. The conflicts that were present were the two women who had wished to be the other and not satisfied with who they were as themselves. 2. The rising action was when the girls make their wish to change places with the genie. 3. The falling action begins toward the end of the years they spent being one another and seeing what the other’s life was like. 4. The techniques that were used to move the actions along were having the play begin with finding the genie and the fast way the women got into stating how they had wished to be the other and then showing how much they disliked being the other and meeting up and letting the other know their dislikes in having being the other and how they wished to be themselves again, and then making the wish to change back. The quickness of each spoken and acted out emotion and the clarity of what was being said and felt made this play able to be done in a ten minute time without taking anything away from what was coming across to the audience.

Essay on Models of Disability

Essay on Models of Disability Essay on Models of Disability Essay on Models of DisabilityToday, diverse models of disabilities develop different concepts of disabilities and, therefore, offer different policies in relation to people with disabilities. In spite of the diversity of models and different approaches to disability, which they offer, there is no universal model that would take into consideration special needs of each patient with disabilities.Medical model of disability is grounded on the juxtaposition between normalcy and pathology. Patients with disabilities are treated as individuals with pathology, who have special needs and require treatment. Unlike other models, the Medical model focuses on the physical or mental health condition of individuals and deviations from the norm to a certain extent is disability. Therefore, individuals with disabilities are supposed to be treated with relation to their specific health problem (Hamre, et al., 2006). Unlike other models, the Medical model does not take into consideration social factor s that influence patients with disabilities. For example, the social environment of people with disabilities does not matter for the Medical model. Therefore, the Medical model suggest no assistance to patients in terms of the maintenance of their social relations and their integration into their community. Therefore, the Medical model focuses on the maintenance of the health of patients with disabilities minimizing the effect of disabilities on health of patients but not on their social life.Social Constructivist model holds the premise that the concept of disability is a social construct that means that disability is what makes individuals incapable to perform basic functions, which the individual is supposed to perform, according to existing social norms and beliefs (Bayton, 2001). The main idea of the Social Constructivist model is the creation of the social environment that is comfortable for people with disabilities. Unlike the Medical model, which focuses on health issues onl y, the Social Constructivist model focuses on social issues mainly and aims at helping people with disabilities to integrate into their social environment and be a part of their community.Sociopolitical or minority model views patients with disabilities as minority and their distinct feature is disability. As a result, unlike other models, the Sociopolitical model views all individuals with disabilities, regardless of their cultural or social background, as one social group, where people have a set of health problems, social problems and other issues caused by their disability status (Biklen, 1988). Therefore, unlike the Medical model and Social Constructivist model, the Sociopolitical model focuses on the treatment of people with disabilities as a solid social group focusing on their specific social and health problems. In a way, the Sociopolitical model combines elements of both Social Constructivist and Medical model addressing both social and health issues of patients with disab ilities.At the same time, along with the aforementioned differences, there are certain similarities between the three models mentioned above. These similarities uncover the imperfectness of these models in their understanding of disability and distinction of people with disabilities. In fact, the aforementioned models view patients with disabilities as a social group with certain health or social issues, which they confront. However, the problem is that these models fail to take into consideration the diversity of patients with disabilities. Each patient with disability has special needs. Even though each model recognizes those special needs, they do not offer the personalized approach to each patient with disability. Instead, they focus on their treatment as a distinct social group with certain health or social issues.

Gender Oppression essays

Gender Oppression essays Since the beginning of time every angle of life has been looked at from a male/female standpoint. People begin to feel uncomfortable when the ground between man and woman gets broken. After watching Sally Potters Orlando (1993), a movie based on a novel written by Virginia Woolf (1923), in which a man transforms into a woman over a four-hundred year period, and watching Kimberly Pierces film, Boys Dont Cry (1999), I began to understand more how the world looks at the two genders. Although Orlando managed to end her life happily, she still had to fight the battle of gender, whereas when Branden Teena was discovered as Teena Branden, the people around her became uncomfortable, and unfortunately, she did not get the same ending as Orlando. Orlando projects a feminist future full of promise, while Boys Dont Cry answers Woolfs optimism with a brutal, resounding not yet! Throughout Orlando, Orlando never changes who s/he is no matter what body s/he inhabits. When he changed into a woman he simply looked into the mirror and said, Same person, just a different sex. Branden Teena, on the other hand, feels completely determined by her body and her self-presentation. When discovered as a girl, Branden did not want to be seen by others, she felt closed up and very insecure. Even though she knew that people knew she was not a boy she still denied that she was female, she had the mindset to be man and still faced things like a man. When being questioned by the police, Branden kept up the tough act and kept her secrets, that is until the police began to harass her because of the manner in which she behaved, calling her a dike or a lesbian and so forth. Even Brandens family criticized her for the way that she exposed herself. Brandens cousin tried to relate the way she was, but all he saw was a girl wearing his underwear, dating other wom...

English class assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

English class assignment - Essay Example For example is the commercial ad of Bud Light where it uses the punch line of â€Å"Whatever is coming, #UpForWhatever† (MrMayoFella). This kind of rhetorical device appeals to public because it is easy to understand and to remember. Also the use of product endorsers is a big plus to the commercial advertisement. The maker of this ad uses repetition wherein the words in the punch line are repeated in such a way that people will get it easily and will have more impact. Another Super bowl commercial ad that used rhetorical choices as its strategy to public viewers is the commercial ad of Doritos. It has a punch line of â€Å"Doritos For the Bold†. In its commercial ad, the boy was proposing to his girlfriend and placed the ring inside the Doritos. His girlfriend accidentally ate the ring (MrMayoFella). Analyzing the commercial ad, the rhetorical choice used was appeal to pride because of the punch line â€Å"For The Bold†. It’s like the advertisers are advising the public viewers that they should eat Doritos to gain boldness or pride. While the other commercial ads are modernized, the commercial of Audi used the rhetorical choice of appeal to history. The Audi commercial presented its past showing its credibility in car-making (MrMayoFella). Also the use of stating credentials can be said to be used in the Audi commercial ad because the credibility of the Audi was being stated in the commercial clearly. Also the M&M’s commercial ad used another rhetorical choice to appeal into the public viewers. The company showed an M&M chocolate singing â€Å"I’ll Do Anything For Love† while resisting to be cooked or eaten by people (MrMayoFella). This kind of rhetorical choice is satire. Analyzing the commercial ad, the advertisers made the public viewer laugh while inserting their point that you M&M chocolate are delicious combined with other foods. For the halftime show, the Super Bowl organizers invite famous singers to entertain the crowd. Then the

Inventory Management and Production Planning and Scheduling Essay

Inventory Management and Production Planning and Scheduling - Essay Example These usually shares 50%-70% of the total items yet contribute only 5% to 20% of their total value. As A items are most valuable in the business operation, stricter and tighter inventory control policies are implemented for their maintenance. For one, A items requires the most accurate and detailed records which are done through a more rigid control on transaction documents. Also, daily updating is done to gain a regular accurate insight of their demand and order quantities. I believe that these tighter inventory policies for type A items are logical. Since they constitute the highest dollar value of the total stock of merchandise, they must be treated with utmost care. These items do entail the stricter documentation as loss of only a minute portion will lead to huge losses for the company as their per unit value is relatively high. Also, inventories with higher values are typically marketed at a higher price to customers. Type A are considered high-end products as they typically require a huge amount of purchasing power from the consumer. Since they are sold to the high-end market, a loss of a single sale of the inventory will lead to a significant loss to the company. Closely monitoring the level of these stocks will yield a higher profitability for any business operation. B items, though given a less strict policy than A items, requires normal control which involves accurate records and timely attention. As opposed to A items which require daily updating, order quantity and order points for B items only need to be revised on a quarterly basis. These stocks require only normal processing, yet they are given top priority when critical situations arise. Moderate control policies are implemented in keeping B items as they comprise only an intermediate value of the company’s total inventory. These items do not require