Justification Report With Recommendation

¶ … justification report provides recommendations to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which is a media empire that provides insights into a company's relations with its stakeholders, especially customer and shareholders. The firm is a diversified media and merchandising company that was founded in 1997 by Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is classified into four business segments i.e. Internet, Merchandising, Publishing, and Broadcasting media platforms product lines. As a result, the firm's business holdings incorporate various print publications, e-commerce websites, and radio and television programming. The founder of the company served as its chairperson, president and Chief Executive Officer until the ImClone Insider Trading saga occurred, which resulted in her forceful resignation. The resignation was fueled by the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to prohibit Stewart from serving in any capacity that would revolve around preparing, auditing, and disclosing fiscal results and information of a publicly traded company.

In the past few years, this company has been circling the drain because its domestic popularity has continued to fade. This is partly attributed to failure to build a coherent and successful corporate strategy that contributes to increased profits. Actually, its corporate strategy has mainly involved revolving several managers, none of whom has managed to make Martha Stewart's profits to bloom. While other business segments have registered losses for several consecutive financial years, its merchandising segment has remained relatively profitable. This segment provides an opportunity through which the company can generate more profits and regain in popularity in the market.

The report seeks to provide a recommendation regarding how the company can use RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to enhance its profits in the merchandising business segment. Generally, RFID technology provides strategic advantages for private or public organizations and businesses that can enhance efficiency, generate greater returns, and cost savings that improve profitability. Notably, many organizations have started using this technology or systems to monitor assets more effectively. This is geared towards helping the organizations to enhance business procedures based on the advantages and benefits of the technology.

The report is addressed to Daniel Dienst, the Chief Executive Officer and Director as well as the Chief Operating Officer. These are the recipients of the report because they are in a position to provide direction regarding the operations of the company towards the achievement of the firm's business objectives. In addition to taking care of Martha Stewart's operations, the officers also have a crucial role in the development of the strategic corporate culture that guides the direction of the company. Since they hold influential positions in the company, they will be able to determine the merits of this justification report and consider its application and use to transform the company's business.

As previously mentioned, the report basically seeks to demonstrate the significance of using RFID technology to enhance the profitability and operations of Martha Stewart's merchandising business segment. This consideration is based on survey conducted on how leading merchandising firms have used the technology to enhance their operations and improve productivity and success. Therefore, the report will not only explain what the technology is and how it works in merchandising business but also show its link with the merchandising operations of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. The process will culminate in demonstrating the significance of implementing the technology to help this company that is currently facing challenges in operations and productivity.

The application of RFID technology in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is to help the company enhance its operations and profitability of its merchandising business segment. The implementation of the technology or system will help the company solve the issue of revolving cast of managers without generating more profits. In essence, the firm does not necessarily need a change in corporate as much as it needs a transformation of its business operations. RFID technology will be a major step towards transforming the existing business operations in the seemingly profitable merchandising business. The technology will mainly be centered on the merchandising business as a model that will be used to transform the other business segments after evaluation of its significance and benefits is carried out. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia needs to transform its business operations because profits from merchandising have been put in jeopardy by recent incidents. One of these incidents is recent scenario where it was entangled in a nasty struggle between JC Penny and Macy's, which forced the firm to revise its partnership with JC Penny. The partnership acted as an important strategy for the profitability and success of Martha Stewart's merchandising business. Therefore, the implementation of the technology will help ensure the firm has a successful and reliable business strategy and approach that generates huge profits.

The justification for the use of RFID technology in merchandising will be supported by information from case studies of other leading merchandising companies that have embraced the system and generated huge profitability. The information and case studies serve as practical examples of how Martha Stewart can adopt and implement the technology for the good of its business practices. Furthermore, the company will be in a position to avoid pitfalls that could hinder or jeopardize the effective of the technology in merchandising business. The other important resource to justify the use of the systems is the development of the technology and its intended purposes. This information is crucial in this process to help promote proper, effective, and efficient implementation of the technology. The provision of information regarding the structure and application of RFID technology also enable the firm's executives to have insights on the system in order to make the most appropriate decision.

The justification process will be dependent on conducting extensive research on this technology and its use in the modern business world. The research will be carried out on the Internet, journal articles and databases, reports by new agencies, and business reports. These various sources of information will be used for the research because they provide credible information regarding the use of RFID technology in retail business. However, the main source of the information will be the Internet since it is easier to find such information. Moreover, the Internet provides a good platform for gathering necessary information because of the presence of variety of sources on the topic.

While the Internet provides a good place to gather information for the research, some of the information accessible through this platform is not credible. Therefore, there is a huge need verify the credibility of the information through evaluation. The evaluation of the information collected helps in ensuring that the recommendations are based on facts and real-life examples that demonstrate how it can be used in retail business. The criteria for evaluating the information collected will include examining the credibility of the source. This implies that the information will be used depending on the credibility of the particular source providing the information. In addition, the credibility of the information will be determined by its content i.e. whether it is based on facts rather than theoretical assumptions. Factual information will be important in the process of developing this justification report and recommendation to ensure the practicality and effectiveness of the suggestion.

RFID Technology for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Course

Professor

Formal Justification Report

Course Name and Number

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

Starrett-Lehigh Building

New York City

Table of Contents:

Background 2

Preliminary Part:

Transmittal 5

Table of Contents 6

Executive Summary 7

Report Text:

Introduction 8

Problem Statement 8

Method Used 9

Findings 9

Analysis 11

Conclusion 11

Addenda:

References 13

Appendix 14

Executive Summary:

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. was founded in 1997 by Martha Stewart and has grown to become a media empire. The company currently operates across four major business segments that have been crucial to its profitability and success. The initial success of the firm is attributed to the business strategy of inspiring and engaging customers with exceptional lifestyle content and unique products. This business strategy enabled Martha Stewart to develop a customer base of 100 million customers who are served across different media platforms on a monthly basis.

The growth and development of this company has recently been affected by several incidents and controversies that have contributed to its declining popularity, bad reputation, and decreased profitability. One of these incidents is the publication of misleading financial information to investors, which made the Securities and Exchange Commission to ban its founder, Martha Stewart, from holding a position in any public company that would require preparation and disclosure of financial information. This incident contributed to a huge decline in the company's profitability because of the negative reaction it generated among its customers and investors. The effect of this incident is evident in the fact that three of its four business segments experienced decline in revenues for a long period of time across varying financial quarters due to poor operations. The second incident, which affected the other business segment that remained relatively profitable, is being involved in a nasty lawsuit between Macy's and JC Penney regarding the sale of Martha Stewart's home products. The effect of the lawsuit is evident in the fact that it affected Martha Stewart's merchandising business segment, which was the only segment that remained profitable amidst the challenges that the firm experienced.

Since Martha Stewart has attempted to overhaul its corporate culture through a cast of managers and failed to get profits blooming, there is need for the company to develop and implement an effective business strategy that will deal with these problems. The business strategy should help in establishing a new corporate culture and help the company regain its initial profitability. In addition, the strategy should also focus on rebuilding the company's reputation through promoting positive experiences among customers and investors.

In attempts to determine the most appropriate business strategy for Martha Stewart's problems, several measures were undertaken i.e. A critical analysis, extensive research, and feasibility study. The critical analysis was geared towards identifying and understanding the real cause of the declined profitability of the firm. The extensive research focused on identifying the most appropriate strategy for the firm to adopt in order to deal with these problems based on a case study of systems adopted by leading firms in the retail industry. The feasibility study seeks to demonstrate the applicability, relevance, and practicality of the identified technology for Martha Stewart. Furthermore, the feasibility study seeks to demonstrate how the technology will help in enhancing the firm's reputation, profitability and success.

These methods revealed that Radio Frequency Identification technology is the most appropriate technology or system for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. This technology helps internal auditors to track inventory in an easy and more efficient manner in order to avoid pitfalls that may contribute to misleading financial information. Secondly, the technology helps in improving the firm's profitability by streamlining supply chain processes and lessening the overall costs of operations without affecting the quality of products. Third, RFID technology helps to rebuild Martha Stewart's reputation by promoting good customer experiences at the store where its products are sold. Therefore, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. should adopt RFID technology to deal with its recent challenges and enhance profitability.

Introduction:

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. is a diversified merchandising and media company that inspires and engages consumers with exceptional lifestyle content and unique products. The firm has a customer base of approximately 100 million customers across different media platforms on a monthly basis. In addition, it currently has a growing merchandising presence in several retail locations. Some of the company's media brands that is available across several platforms including Martha Stewart Weddings, Martha Stewart Living, and Everyday Food. The other businesses provided by the firm include books, utility Apps, and television and video programming. In addition, the firm also develops and markets high-quality products in a series of lifestyle categories that are available through select retailers like JC Penney, PetSmart, The Home Depot, and Macy's ("Company Overview," n.d.).