Costco Essays (Examples)

Pricing and Distribution:

As an extremely important decision for a company, pricing is the only element of the marketing mix that generates revenue. The positioning of a product in the market is dependent on its pricing since customers tend to greatly resist attempts to change price once it has been set up. As compared to other elements in the marketing mix, price is the variable with which a competitive response can be quickly implemented. On the contrary, distribution basically involves the process of getting the product from the manufacturer to the intended consumer.

How Pricing and Distribution Complement each other at Costco:

Costco is a company that has itself as a means with which brides and grooms can create an unforgettable wedding day through reasonable prices. In the past few years, the warehouse store sells all wedding-related accessories including engagement rings, invitations, flowers, and trips for honeymoon. While it's difficult…

References:

Berk, C.C. (2011, March 7). Here Comes the Bride, All Dressed by Costco. Retrieved January

17, 2012, from  http://www.cnbc.com/id/41950692 

Bertini, M. & Wathieu, L. (2010, May). How to Stop Consumers from Fixating on Price.

Harvard Business Review, 88. 48-91.

The U.S. Navy falls more towards the engaged end of the continuum but they are not as actively engaged as Costco. The Navy's ethics relate to its core values. In many respects, honesty and integrity are crucial to the Navy's success. This is certainly the case with respect to internal interactions. ith respect to external interactions, however, the Navy moves away from active ethical behavior towards relative indifference to the issue. To some degree this is necessitated by the work the Navy must do. Combat work and other issues relating to national security occasionally require that the Navy not treat all stakeholders equally well. Such activity, secrecy or lack of public accountability is not actively unethical; it is simply necessitated by circumstances. However, the majority of activity of the U.S. Navy is conducted according to high ethical standards, which puts them towards the engaged end of the continuum.

orks Cited:…

Works Cited:

Goldberg, Alan B. & Ritter, Bill. (2006). Costco CEO Finds Pro-Worker Means Profitability. ABC News. Retrieved April 11, 2009 from  http://abcnews.go.com/2020/business/story?id=1362779 

US Navy Ethics site. (2009) Retrieved April 11, 2009 from  http://ethics.navy.mil/

Compensation Plan

Brief Overview of Costco's Compensation System

Costco has a unique compensation system within its industry. The company competes as a cost leader, where it features low prices as a means of winning business. Cost leaders typically try to have rock bottom costs throughout their operations, from the supply chain to labor and everywhere in between. These competitors will use their bargaining power to get the cheapest labor possible, bargaining down wages, benefits and other perks. This often results in a poor quality labor pool with high levels of turnover, but these companies accept that as part of having a low cost labor pool and account for that is the design of the low cost business model (Lutz, 2013).

The approach that the company has to compensation is therefore counterintuitive to the way that most of its competitors run their human resources, but there is internal logic to Costco's…

References

Costco. (2014). Benefits. Costco. Retrieved May 31, 2014 from https://costcobenefits.com/cms/your-wealth/401k/index.shtml

Deci, E., Ryan, R. & Koestner, R. (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin. Vol. 125 (6) 627-668.

Goldberg, A. & Ritter, B. (2005). Costco CEO finds pro-worker means profitability. ABC News. Retrieved May 31, 2014 from http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/susanm/semaccess/BA%20385/Costco%20CEO%20Finds%20Pro-Worker%20Means%20Profitability.doc

Gray, C. (2014). Tangible benefits of reducing turnover. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 31, 2014 from  http://smallbusiness.chron.com/tangible-benefits-reducing-turnover-21668.html

" (Ibid)

Transformation leadership is 'authentic' leadership which "builds genuine trust between leaders and followers." Furthermore transformational leadership "concentrates on terminal values such as integrity and fairness. They see the responsibility for their organization's development and impact on society." (Ibid)

Homig and MacGregor in the work entitled:" Transformational Leadership" state that the following ten 'tenets' are inclusive in the transformational leader's style of leading:

1. Leaders have high moral and ethical values.

2. Leaders express genuine interest in followers.

3. Leaders have an inspirational vision.

4. Genuine trust exists between leaders and led.

5. Followers share leader's values and vision.

6. Leaders and followers perform beyond self-interest.

7. Participatory decision-making is the rule.

8. Innovative thinking and action is expected.

9. Motivation is to do the right thing.

10. Leaders mentor. (nd)

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

While all of these theories were valid at some time or in relation to some…

Bibliography

Creating Futures (nd) Online available at http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:k13BWFbu_wIJ:u wfoundation.org/newsletter/June2005/43565Camp NewsletterFI NAL.pdf+Jeffrey+H.+Brotman,+Leadership&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9

Costco Wholesale Investor Relations (2006) Online http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=83830&p=irol-govBio&ID=13292

Employee Motivation, the Organizational Environment and Productivity (2006) Section 2: Basic Approaches Used to Improve Productivity. Accel Team Online available at http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03_mcgregor.html

Costco -5th Largest Retailer in U.S. And 11th Largest in the World (2006)  http://www.customer-service.com/newsletter/126E.aspx

Social Media

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently ruled that Costco's policy with respect to social media usage by their employees was too broad. Specifically, the ruling stated that the wording of Costco's policy "could effectively stifle its employees' right to free speech" under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. This section "protects employees who choose to take part in grievances, on-the-job protests, picketing and strikes" (Belicove, 2012). The case was brought to the NLRB by Local 371 of the United Food and Commercial orkers, who argued that the company's policies with respect to social media usage violated worker's right to free speech under the NLRA. The NLRB panel found that Costco's provisions were too broad, failing to exclude protected speech from the speech that was subject to penalty. The NLRB also struck down a number of other rules that were in the Costco Employee Agreement…

Works Cited:

Belicove, M. (2012). NLRB slams Costco on social media use policy: What it means for your business. Forbes. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from  http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikalbelicove/2012/09/28/nlrb-slams-costco-on-social-media-use-policy-what-it-means-for-your-business/ 

National Labor Relations Act. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from http://www.nlrb.gov/national-labor-relations-act

Post, A. (2012). NLRB publishes first social media decision. Inside Counsel. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from  http://www.insidecounsel.com/2012/09/18/nlrb-publishes-first-social-media-decision 

Smith, A. (2012). NLRB takes sledgehammer to social media policies. Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved November 7, 2012 from  http://www.shrm.org/legalissues/federalresources/pages/nlrbsocialmediapolicies.aspx

Marketing Strategies in Costco's etail Stores

etail Store Loyalty

Besides being one of the leading U.S. retail stores, Costco has won the hearts of many customers. As a customer, I have maintained my loyalty to this retailer, thanks to their small, surprise gifts that often remind me to visit the store in a delighted manner. Often, these unexpected gifts reflect the law of reciprocity, meaning the company responds to my positive actions with a positive action (Dahmen, 2004). The gifts range from simple things like a digital card. However, I feel that Costco could improve their customer experience by offering a personalized, compelling and seamless brand experience. While seeking to satisfy consumers' demands, the retailer must focus on the degree of involvement that consumers have with their brands across channels. Therefore, Costco must deliver value to me to continue earning my loyalty. In the wake of e-.commerce boom, Costco needs…

References

Dahmen, P. (2004). Multi-Channel Strategies for Retail Financial Services: A Management-Framework for Designing and Implementing Multi-Channel Strategies. Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universita-tsverlag.

Gillespie, K., & Hennessey, H. D. (2011). Global marketing. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. D. (2009). Essentials of marketing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

Sales Channel Comparison

Consumer Channel (Lands' End)

Land's End is a world leader in multi-channel retailing and multi-channel management, selling online, over the telephone, through its own stores, affiliate stores and through Sears' larger retail outlets. Sears Holdings acquired Lands' End in 2001 and has since then continually integrated the company's products into the Sears selling channels as well. The core focus of the company from a product standpoint is casual and customizable clothing for men, women and children including infants. In addition, the company also sells many accessory items including handbags, travel accessories and weather-related personal products. Another part of the company's channel are its 15 different Inlet and NQP-branded stores operating in Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin. The company has made many horizontal marketing system decisions including expanded into Land's End School and Land's End Business Outfitter, in addition to Land's End International. This last venture moved…

References

Sue F. Abdinnour-Helm, Barbara S. Chaparro, & Steven M. Farmer. (2005). Using the End-User Computing Satisfaction (EUCS) Instrument to Measure Satisfaction with a Web Site. Decision Sciences, 36(2), 341-364.

Prabhu Aggarwal, & Ram Ganeshan. (2007). Using risk-management tools on B2Bs: An exploratory investigation. International Journal of Production Economics, 108(1/2), 2

Baker, Thomas L. (1993). Leaders in selling and sales management: An analysis of the. The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 13(2), 91.

A GE B2B Faces Life on Its Own. (2002, June). Business Week (Online),1.

Attribute of Organizations

Autonomy at work

Autonomy at work and freedom to make decisions goes a long way to motivate the employees on achieving much beyond their targets with little or no supervision since they will be responsible for their own decisions. The most interesting job that I have done is being a picnic and tours guide for the high school vacation groups particularly during the school breaks. This involves helping the students to access the interesting sites in groups, planning their logistics, guiding their tours and putting together activities for them. In as much as there was sufficient room to make decisions on my own, there could have been more autonomy extended to me as a guide in terms of the choice of the sites to suggest to the different groups instead of the employer always dictating the sites where a particular group was to be take. There could…

Marketing

A comparison between two major department stores, Nordstrom and Wal*Mart can illustrate the concepts of pricing and distribution. The research shows that both Nordstrom and Wal*Mart use pricing and distribution strategically, but with different means, methods, and end results.

Pricing and distribution are integral parts of an overall marketing strategy. Pricing refers to the cost of the item, and is related to product positioning, perceived value, and the profitability of the company. Distribution refers to the methods by which the company delivers its goods and services to the consumer, and signals how consumers first come into contact with the items for sale. A comparison between Wal*Mart and Nordstrom helps to illustrate the interrelated concepts of pricing and distribution. Nordstrom and Wal*Mart are both major department stores that depend on strategic pricing and distribution strategies. However, their pricing strategies are completely different. Nordstrom lures customers with perceived quality and status,…

References

Bertini, M., and Wathieu, L. (2010). How to Stop Customers from Fixating on Price. Harvard Business Review Vol. 88 (May), p. 84-91

Burnsed, B. (2009, August 3). Where Discounting Can Be Dangerous . Business Week. New York. 49.

Florissen, A., Maurer, B., Schmidt, B. & and Vahlenkamp, T. (2001, August). The race to the bottom: When industries deregulate, their managers face unfamiliar challenges. Price wars are often the unfortunate -- and unnecessary -- result. McKinsey Quarterly. McKinsey & Company.

Henricks, M. (2010 November 19). Price-Cutting Peril: Do You Know What You're Doing -- Really? The Debunker. BNet.

label slp 1 OPM 500 for session long project, analyze OM perspectives organization. You choose list: 1. Walmart Costco 2. McDonald's 3. Amazon. 4. Dell 5. United Parcel Services For SLP paper, identify introduction, discussion, conclusion section: 1) The organization's main line business, 2) How inventory managed organization, 3) How inventory management practices improve customer satisfaction / reduce costs.

SLP 1 OPM 500

Wal-Mart is the greatest retailer in the United States and it has managed to gain and consolidate its strong competitive position as a result of a well developed and implemented strategic endeavor. Nevertheless, its business model has not always been successful and the economic agent has been faced with tremendous criticism. The organization has for instance been accused of exploiting its staff members, paying minimum wages and asking them to put in long hours. Also, the company was accused of sacrificing quality and responsibility in the name…

References:

Greenwald, R., 2005, Wal-Mart: the high cost of low price, Documentary

Kumar, S., 2006, Total Quality Management, Firewall Media

Fisher, A., Fisher, T., 2009, The data asset: how smart companies govern their data for business success, John Wiley and Sons

Toomey, J.W., 2000, Inventory management: principles, concepts and techniques, Springer

orporate Mission

As the largest mass merchandiser in the world, Wal-Mart's work in supply chain execution, research, and policies defines best practices for the broader high volume retailing industry worldwide. Wal-Mart is comprised of three operating segments including the Wal-Mart stores, Sam's lub and the International Stores. The typical Wal-Mart discount store as 50 departments or more and a few are offering groceries in addition to apparel, fabrics, stationery and books, shoes, house wares, hardware, electronics, home furnishings, small appliances, automotive accessories, gardening accessories, sporting goods, toys, and pet food. Wal-Mart moved into the Superenter retailing concept in the 1990s and has at this point 1,700 of these Superenters worldwide (Sampson, 2008).

These Superenters range in size from slightly over 90,000 square feet to 260,000 square feet. These are substantially larger than its normal stores, ranging in size from 90,000 square feet to 261,000 square feet. Wal-Mart also runs smaller…

Concentrating on supply chain efficiencies to support is primary messaging of its Low Price Everyday (LPED) value proposition, Wal-mart is differentiating itself by concentrating on the two most critical aspects that consumers consider when purchasing more commodity like products, which are price and availability. The general marketing strategy is to concentrate on what Wal-Mart calls the price value shopper, which comprises 16% of its total customer base, followed by brand Aspirational (29%) and price-Sensitive Affluents (15%). This segmentation strategy is how the company defines its strategic objectives for creating a demand-driven supply chain as well.

The value chain for Wal-Mart is integral to its overarching marketing strategy. Only by having a high enough level of inventory turns and logistics, supply chain and operational efficiencies can Wal-Mart support is LPED value proposition. Further, the role of each SuperCenter as a Distribution Center (DC) in the supply chain also underscores the other critical elements of the LPED strategy, which is to focus on price and availability over premium product or pricing positioning. Strategic marketing planning at Wal-Mart centers on the Price Value Shopper Segment, the majority of which are women who shop for their families whose household income (HH) is $40,000 or less per year (Birchall, 2008). Wal-Mart has successfully defined itself as a shopping strategy for making ends meet in the Value-Shopper segment and as a result has been able to sustain strong customer loyalty. In the customer segmentation discussion Wal-Mart's specific approaches to managing each segments' unique requirements is discussed. Market Strategy

The Wal-Mart market strategy concentrates on the Price Value Shopper segment as its top priority followed by the Brand Aspirationals who comprise 29% of their total sales. With the primary

The Price-Sensitive Affluents, Wal-Mart has learned (Wal-Mart Annual eports) is more interested in finding an exceptionally good deal and not necessarily concerned about the shopping experience. This is particularly true as one of the strongest factors influencing the execution of their strategy, the emerging global recession during this timeframe, takes hold. Again as with the Price Value Shopper and the paradoxical purchasing patterns of the Brand Aspirational segment show, the cost savings, accuracy, and quality of products delivered with the Wal-Mart supply chain are much more important in the long run relative to store accoutrements and improvements. Admittedly nearly two dozen superstores are very dated in their decor and layout and do need to be re-vamped (Frazier, 38). Yet as this analysis of the customer segments shows based on Wal-Marts' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission over time (Wal-Mart Annual eports), the far greater contributing factor to growing same-store…

References

Richard Appelbaum, Nelson Lichtenstein. "A New World of Retail Supremacy: Supply Chains and Workers' Chains in the Age of Wal-Mart. " International Labor and Working Class History 70.1 (2006): 106-125.

Tom Belden. . "Big-Box Retailers Target, Wal-Mart Strike Early, Deftly in Toy Price War. " Knight Ridder Tribune Business News 10 December 2003 1.

Dave Blanchard. "RFID is off and running at Wal-Mart. " Logistics Today 1

Cherie Blanchard, Clare L. Comm, Dennis F.X. Mathaisel. "Adding value to service providers: benchmarking Wal-Mart. " Benchmarking 15.2 (2008): 166-177.

American Express

Creating ROI in a New Environment

American Express (Amex) is one of the world's largest financial services company in the world, as well as the largest provider of many travel services. The company has a long history of building value for consumers by offering many services that are often free to them. Most credit card companies charge the consumer an interest rate for the use of their services, however Amex created an innovative strategy to differentiate that model. AMEX typically does not charge interest rates and the company generates its revenue through merchant processing activities, annual fees, and various fees. However, has struggled with many of its growth initiatives in recent years and faces and increasingly competitive environment in the financial services industry as there is a high level of innovation from within the industry. This analysis will consider the company's current operations in light of the evolving…

Works Cited

DogFrog. (2016, April 4). KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: MARKET SEGMENTATION AND CUSTOMER TARGETING. Retrieved from FrogDog:  http://frog-dog.com/know-your-audience-market-segmentation-and-customer-targeting/ 

Franklin, R. (2015, March 24). American Express facing increasing challenges. Retrieved from TH Online:  http://www.thonline.com/news/national_world/article_e3125662-d239-11e4-9825-db2709cb705e.html 

Hempel, J. (2014, May 21). American Express CEO Ken Chenault: 'There's a $25 trillion opportunity'. Retrieved from Fortune:  http://fortune.com/2014/05/21/american-express-ceo-ken-chenault-theres-a-25-trillion-opportunity/ 

LaMagna, M. (2016, April 5). MarketWatch. Retrieved from 5 things to know about the Costco - AmEx breakup (and the new Visa):  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-to-know-about-the-costco-and-amex-breakup-2016-02-11

Speech to local Chamber of Congress -- Macroeconomic vs. Microeconomic influences today

Let's take a macro view of this problem! Let's take a micro view of this problem! hen we use such expressions colloquially, we usually mean taking a large vs. A small picture perspective. It is usually assumed that having a big picture perspective is the better one, because it is more far reaching in its nature. But a critical holistic view of macro and microeconomics theory shows that decisions made on the small-scale, or microeconomic level, can critically impact average buyers and sellers in ways that often are invisible to the naked economic eye of the consumer or capitalist as well. Both micro and macro factors must be considered together when making economic decisions on a personal level.

Microeconomics, also defined as classical economics as first preached by Adam Smith in his text the ealth of Nations, or…

Works Cited

"Aggregate Demand." (2005) The Digital Economist. Retrieved Jul 17 at 2005

http://www.digitaleconomist.com/ad_4020.html

Bick, Julie. (17 Jul 2005) "Listen Kids." The New York Times. Retrieved Jul 17 at 2005  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/business/yourmoney/17lemonade.html 

Greenhouse, Steven. (17 Jul 2005) "How Costco became the Anti-Wal-Mart." The New York Times. Retrieved Jul 17 at 2005

Besides that, the Costco site is very much like the Omegaxl site in that any additional information is provided through clicking a link; this is unlike Amazon where all the information is presented on the same page. Costco provides no immediate facility at the primary page for checkout or purchase. Hence, to do so requires that you select the item and them you are given checkout or purchasing options.

The shopping experience on the Costco site is the dullest of the three some may say it is the simplest. While the user experience is not bad it is arduous, as you have to make one click too many to access the information you really want. The absence of testimonials or product reviews on the main page is a letdown and the site could do more to provide product reviews, which assist in decision making. When shopping online, product reviews and…

References

Brynjolfsson Erik & Smith Michael D. (2000). Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers Management Science, 46(4):563-585

Danaher, P.J., Wilson, I.W., & Davis, R.A. (2003). A Comparison of Online and Offline

Consumer Brand Loyalty Source: Marketing Science, 22.(4): 461-476.

Filson, D. (2004). The Impact of E-Commerce Strategies on Firm Value: Lessons

Leadership

Two of the most pressing issues in corporate leadership today include gender equality and labor rights. In "Women See Slow Progress in Leadership," Gay (2013) cites numerous empirical studies showing that the glass ceiling remains nearly impenetrable at the highest levels of management. The report cites the work-life balance ideal as the most common reason offered for why many women are either opting out of the CEO lifestyle, or are not considered ready or willing to handle the challenges and pressures of senior leadership.

In "The Best etail Companies to Work for ight Now," Smith (2013) describes Costco's approach toward human resources management. The company has recently been named one of the best companies to work for in the United States because of their relatively high salaries, supportive work environment, opportunity for growth, and job security. Its ethical labor rights practices are helping gain positive publicity for Costco, showing…

References

Gay, M. (2013). Women see slow progress in leadership. The Wall Street Journal. 14 Nov, 2013. Retrieved online:  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579196123043065800 

Greenleaf, R. (2013). Ten principles of servant leadership. Butler University. Retrieved online:  http://www.butler.edu/volunteer/resources/principles-of-servant-leadership/ 

Lavinsky, D. (2013). Are you a visionary business leader? Forbes. Retrieved online:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2013/04/26/are-you-a-visionary-business-leader/ 

Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership (2013). What is servant leadership? Retrieved online:  https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

Financial Analysis

Suppose you are comparing two firms within an industry. One is large and the other is small. Will relative or absolute numbers be of more value in each case? What kinds of statistics can help evaluate relative size?

Gibson, Charles H. (2012-05-10). Financial Reporting and Analysis (Page 217). Cengage Textbook. Kindle Edition.

When comparing two firms that are unequal in size, the relative financial ratios are more appropriate for any type of comparison. The advantage of using ratios is that they represent a metric that can be easily compared with industry standards or other specific companies of different sizes. The financial statement represents a snap shot of a company's performance over a given time period and the financial information that these reports provide can allow the analysis of a wide range of different ratios. These ratios can provide insights to factors such as the company's ability to repay…

control mechanism Wal-Mart: Price

Pricing controls -- Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart advertises itself as a company that provides the lowest prices, all of the time, in comparison to its generic and specialty-store competitors. It is able to deploy this low price model in a successful manner by selling at a high volume. It is also dependent upon cheaper and exploited labor in foreign nations, where many of its products are manufactured. For example, employees in China not only receive low wages but are "housed in dismal dormitories; they may choose to live elsewhere, but still have to pay the dorm rent. In Bangladesh…working hours are 8 a.m. To 10 p.m., seven days a week, for 13 to 17 cents an hour" (Gates 2011). By limiting the benefits of all of its employees, in the United States as well as abroad, and depending upon a relatively low-wage, part-time workforce, it is also able…

References

Gates, Anita. (2005, November 24). Review of Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price The New

York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2011 at  http://www.walmartmovie.com/reviews_nytimes.php 

Manners, Tim. (2005). Wal-Mart vs. Costco. Fast Company.

Retrieved April 25, 2011 at  http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/tim-manners/shop-talk/wal-mart-vs.-costco

oolworth vs. al-Mart

oolworth's has a long relationship with al-Mart, and in recent years has attempted to compete with al-Mart as a low-cost provider by adopting of some al-Mart's supply chain efficiencies and pricing practices. This paper will analyze strategic decision-making at oolworth's and compare it to that at al-Mart in order to gain an understanding of how each of these companies is run. There will also be a section in this paper about the nature of decision-making at each of these companies.

According to Michael Porter's typology, al-Mart is a cost leader and this drives virtually everything that the company does in terms of its operations (QuickMBA.com, 2010). The company supports its strategy by leveraging its buying power over suppliers and by using economies of scale to win efficiencies throughout its supply chain (Alagse, 2011). oolworth's has in recent years begun to compete using that same strategy, after finding…

Works Cited:

Alagse. (2011). Customer focused low cost leadership strategy. Alagse. Retrieved May 5, 2011 from http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s10.php

Bloomberg.com (2009). Australia's Woolworths, facing Costco, takes tips from Wal-Mart. Fresh Plaza. Retrieved May 5, 2011 from  http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=48001 

Greenhalgh, J. (2007, 1). Woolies against the world -- Part 3: Key strategies. The Intelligent Investor. Retrieved May 5, 2011 from  http://www.intelligentinvestor.com.au/articles/Woolworths-Limited-WOW/Woolies-against-the-world-Part-3-Key-strategies-.cfm?articleID=10002883 

Greemhalgh, J. (2007, 2) Woolies against the world -- Part 2: Markets, brand and culture. The Intelligent Investor. Retrieved May 5, 2011 from  http://www.intelligentinvestor.com.au/articles/Woolworths-Limited-WOW/Woolies-against-the-world-Part-2-Markets-brand-and-culture-.cfm?articleID=10002882

Wal-Mart Corporation

Mission and Vision Statement Analysis

Linking Wal-Mart's Mission and Vision to Their Strategic Goals ands Objectives

Assessing the Link Between Wal-Mart's Financial Performance And Its Strategic Goals

Wal-Mart Competitive and Marketing Analysis

Wal-Mart Marketing Analysis

Selecting An Appropriate Strategy (low cost, differentiation or niche) For Maximizing Organization's eturn on Shareholders

Potential Wal-Mart Merger & Acquisition Strategy

Incentive and eward Strategies for Wal-Mart Employees

Evaluating How Current Strategies Define Ethicacy Levels at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart atio Analysis

Income Statement Analysis, 2007 -- 2011

Wal-Mart Capstone Analysis

Mission and Vision Statement Analysis

The foundations of the Wal-Mart value chain and its global success is predicated on how well this company aligns every internal system and strategy to their unique value proposition of Low Price Everyday (LPED) leadership. This unique value proposition galvanizes the mission and vision statement of Wal-Mart and is one of the foundations of their success and continued growth.…

References

Nabil Alghalith (2005). Competing with IT: The UPS Case. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 7(2), 7-15.

Jonathan Birchall. (2009, October 23). Walmart set to focus on growth outside U.S.. Financial Times,16.

Susan Christopherson 2007. Barriers to 'U.S. style' lean retailing: the case of Wal-Mart's failure in Germany. Journal of Economic Geography: Transnational Retail, Supply Networks, and the Global 7, no. 4 (July 1): 451-469.

Richard De Santa. (1998, January). Technology. Supermarket Business, 53(1), 18.

Irrational consumption: more is more 'More is more.' Consumers tend to associate 'more' -- as in more volume, larger amounts of a product, and even simply bigger products -- with greater value. Companies have capitalized upon this by using super-sized portions to convey a sense of value, or even charging consumers for the privilege of buying in bulk from so-called 'big box' stores. To encourage sales, companies may keep their packaging the same size while shrinking the actual amount of food within the boxes.

The perception of 'more' being good is particularly manifest in the irrational consumption patterns exhibited by consumers who eat fast food. Fast food is attractive because it offers predictable food, quickly, at an apparently bargain price for its volume. Fast food restaurants emphasize their cheapness by having 'dollar menus' and creating the perception of value. But this 'value' hides many hidden facts, including the cost of…

References

Study: Costco Customers Are Irrational. (2007). U.S. News and World Report.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/alpha-consumer/2007/12/28/study-costco-customers-are-irrational

Analysis of the faulty perception of 'value' derived from paid, warehouse shopping. Consumers spend more, even when items bought in bulk are discounted.

Study: Fast-food consumption rises with income. (2011). LA Times. Retrieved November

Capital Structure Decision and Cost of Capital

My SLP Company of choice is Wal-Mart Stores. The other two companies I will be relying on for purposes of this discussion are Target Corp. And Costco Wholesale Corporation. Both companies happen to be in the same industry as Wal-Mart Stores. Most specifically, this text will compute the debt ratio and the debt-to-equity ratio of Wal-Mart Stores and discuss whether or not these ratios could be regarded too large or too small. Further, comparisons will be made between the debt-to-equity ratio of Wal-Mart Stores and that of its two competitors - Target and Costco.

The debt ratio in the words of Graham and Smart (2011, p. 44) is "a measure of the proportion of total assets financed by a firm's creditors." It is computed by dividing the total debt figure with the summation of equity and total liabilities. All the dollar figures below…

References

Borowski, A. (2010). Financial Management: The Role and Importance of Capital Markets and EMH. Norderstedt Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Graham, J. & Smart, S.B. (2011). Introduction to Corporate Finance (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Porter, G.A. & Norton, C.L. (2010). Financial Accounting: The Impact on Decision Makers (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Quiry, P., Fur, Y.L., Salvi, A., Dallochio, M. & Vernimmen, P. (2011). Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice (3rd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

MT Equity

The beta for al-Mart, according to MSN Moneycentral, is 0.29. According to Yahoo! Finance the yield to maturity on a Treasury bond that is due 15-Mar-12 is 0.296%. e will assume a market risk premium of 7%. ith these figures, the cost of equity for al-Mart can be calculated using the capital asset pricing model (CAPM):

Ra = RF + ? (Rm -- Rf)

Ra = 0.296 + (.29)(7)

Ra = 2.326%

This cost of equity is lower than I had expected. In general, the cost of equity for a firm is fairly high. The reason why al-Mart has such a low cost of equity is that the company's beta is so low. al-Mart has very little correlation with the broad market, and is not very volatile. As a result, al-Mart's cost of equity is low, because it is much less risky than the market as a whole.…

Works Cited:

MSN Moneycentral: Wal-Mart Stores. (2011). Retrieved March 7, 2011 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?Symbol=U.S.%3aWMT 

Yahoo! Finance bond screener. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://reports.finance.yahoo.com/z1?b=2&cpl=-1.000000&cpu=-1.000000&mtl=6&mtu=24&pr=0&rl=-1&ru=-1&sf=m&so=a&stt=-&tt=1&yl=-1.000000&ytl=-1.000000&ytu=-1.000000&yu=-1.

Investopedia. (2011). Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). Investopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2011 from  http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/apt.asp

al-Mart faces an industry that is generally challenging, but its strength in the industry results in the industry being favorable. al-Mart's success is predicated on excellence execution of key components of the discount retail value chain -- procurement, logistics and merchandising. al-Mart has numerous strengths, but as befits the world's largest company it has relatively few weaknesses. In its intensely competitive businesses, al-Mart sees many threats, but there are still tremendous opportunities that al-Mart can take advantage of. In general, the external environment is favorable for al-Mart to continue to use its strengths to capitalize on its opportunities.

Porter's Five Forces. al-Mart's industry is intensely competitive, but the five forces work differently on al-Mart as an established, dominant player than they would on a new entrant. The five forces are power of suppliers, power of buyers, threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants and intensity of rivalry (QuickMBA.com, 2010). Supplier…

Works Cited:

Iwata, E. (2008). Some companies (like Wal-Mart) thrive despite recession. USA Today. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from  http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-12-03-recession-proof-companies_N.htm 

MSN Moneycentral: Wal-Mart. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from  http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?Symbol=wmt&s=qbeb 

QuickMBA.com (2010). Porter's five forces. QuickMBA.com. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from  http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml 

Schmitt, E. (2009). The profits and perils of supplying to Wal-Mart. Business Week. Retrieved March 20, 2011 from  http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2009/sb20090714_270767.htm

The proposed location for a new BJ's would ideally be situated some distance from the Costco, in order to lure customers that find the Costco out of their way. BJ's Wholesale can therefore take advantage of an already existing market demographic: consumers who already make their purchases at wholesale clubs and who are used to our method of shopping.

Location X is therefore ideal for the new BJ's Wholesale Club outlet in the Bellingham area. It is located closer to the Canadian border than the Costco is, and can therefore take advantage of that burgeoning market. The value of the Canadian dollar has risen considerably and continues to rise against the United States dollar. Therefore, Canadian consumers will be making more purchases south of the border. Moreover, the BJ's Wholesale Club in location X in Bellingham will be situated in a location visible from Interstate 5 and easy to get…

Tesco, the largest UK company, employs 260,000 people. This corporation has global aspirations and has come a long way in a relatively short period of time" (2003, p. 3).

According to the company's promotional literature, the employment figure for 2003 has almost doubled today, as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Current Key Figures for Tesco

Category

Statistic

Staff worldwide

472,000

Staff in the UK

287,669

Stores worldwide

5,008

Total stores in the UK

2,545

Extra

13

Homeplus

Superstore

Metro

Express

OneStop

Number of markets

14

Which markets

China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, UK, USA

Note: Facts correct October 2010

Source: Tesco Quick Facts 2010

Figure 1. Respective Number of Tesco Retail Formats in the U.K.

Source: Based on tabular data in Tesco Quick Facts 2010

A brief summary of the company's guiding corporate strategy is provided in…

al-Mart

Threats

There are a number of threats that al-Mart faces in the external environment. These include intellectual property rights, rising cost of production in China, and the threat that is posed by intense competition in its many spaces.

As al-Mart expands its retail footprint in emerging markets, especially China, it must take into account that the intellectual property protections are different in other parts of the world. In China, for example, one of the major competitors is u-Mart, where name confusion is not only evident but deliberate. Such knock-offs can not only siphon business away from al-Mart, but can also reduce consumer impressions of al-Mart as well, particularly if the knock-off is inferior. Other countries that have potentially high growth also have weak intellectual property protections.

Another threat that al-Mart has is its dependence on China as a source for its goods. al-Mart typically deals with third-party suppliers, but…

Works Cited:

Ketchen, D. & Hult, G. (2007). Bridging organization theory and supply chain management: The case of the best value supply chains. Journal of Operations Management. Vol 25 (2007) 573-580.

Liu, Y.; Li, W. & Yang, Y. (2008). The influence of RMB exchange rate on China's inflation: The view of exchange rate pass-through. Journal of Financial Research. Vol. 3 (2008).

Palmeri, C. (2008). Wal-Mart wins big during downturn. Business Week. Retrieved November 3, 2012 from  http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-10-29/wal-mart-wins-big-during-downturn 

Willcocks, L. & Plant, R. (2001). Pathways to e-business leadership: Getting from bricks to clicks. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved November 3, 2012 from http://www.carig.co.uk/pages/userdata/carig/articlesmrwillcocksplanpathwaysebusiness.pdf

Demand and Supply

There are a number of different factors that Edgar needs to take into consideration with his idea to invest in the gas station business. Let's pretend for a minute that he is not just paying the fair market value for the gas station -- he is -- and simply discuss his theory about the economics of the gas market. If the market for gas stations is even remotely efficient, the price of that gas station will be the present value of expected future cash flows, meaning that all of the knowledge about the determinants of the gas market are already priced into what Edgar is going to pay. His profit comes from the value that he can add to the station through his own management. But let us digress and get Edgar up to speed with what the market has already priced into that gas station.

There…

References

AP. (2008). Stations hope you fill up with more than gas. NBC News. Retrieved May 23, 2014 from  http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23904590/ns/business-retail/t/stations-hope-you-fill-more-gas/ 

Energy Information Administration. (2014). Gasoline and Diesel fuel update. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved May 23, 2014 from  http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel 

Feldman, A. (2011). The tiger in Costco's tank. Fast Company. Retrieved May 23, 2014 from  http://www.fastcompany.com/60019/tiger-costcos-tank 

Haab, T. (2008). The long run elasticity of demand for gas. Environmental Economics. Retrieved May 23, 2014 from  http://www.env-econ.net/2008/06/the-long-run-el.html

Of course, they can use Microsoft and other search engines, but this will force them out of their 'comfort zones' and they will see the degree to which corporations have shaped their access to information and their social and work lives.

The final brands that will be featured will be the popular discount merchandizes Costco and Target. Because of their advertised cheapness, which is paradoxically fused with an aura of exclusivity due to Costco's membership fees and Target's attractive store designs, many consumers view shopping at these stores as 'experiences' rather than as chores. Consumers may buy all of their household's items in bulk from Costco; Target markets itself as offering beautiful items at bargain-basement prices to consumers. The close relationship of consumers to these brands will make it all the more difficult for frequent patrons to abandon their favorite shopping locations.

This reality show, rather than promoting brands, will…

Works Cited

Matthews, J. "An introduction to the situationists." The Anarchist's Library. 7 May 2009.

[10 Jun 2013]  http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/jan-d-matthews-an-introduction-to-the-situationists

strategic HM

There are a number of career paths within SHM. These include the human resource generalists, but also a growing number of specialists. Some of the specialties where the strategic human resources practitioner can contribute to the company's success are workforce planning, workforce development/onboarding, total rewards/compensation, labor and employee relations, training and risk management.

Organizations have begun to recognize that these specialized roles can be an important part in meeting the organization's strategic objectives. In the knowledge economy in particular, it is the skills, knowledge and experience of the employees that will often give a company its competitive advantage. Systems can be replicated by competitors fairly easily, but a superior workforce is much harder to duplicate. It begins with recruitment and onboarding, where finding the right candidates to execute the company's strategy is critical. Even with good people, they typically need to be trained. Then the company needs to…

References

Beer, M. & Eisenstat, R. (1996). Developing an organization capable of implementing strategy and learning. Human Relations. Vol. 49 (5) 597-619.

Davoudi, S., Cherati, H. & Kaur, R. (2012). Strategic human resource management: Providing sustained competitive advantages for organizations. Asian Journal of Social Science and Humanities. Vol. 2 (5) 289-303.

Huselid, M. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal. Vol. 38 (3) 635-672.

SHRM. (2014). Careers in human resource management. SHRM.org. Retrieved April 25, 2014 from  http://www.shrm.org/Communities/StudentPrograms/Pages/careersinHRM.aspx

Programmatic marketing is as some will say the next best way to advertise. In digital marketing, new techniques are being developed to effectively and efficiently target a broader audience through online and the web. The amount of smartphone and tablet users are growing by the day which means companies and organizations need a more cost-effective and faster way to advertise to them. Any types of events can trigger programmatic marketing. Accordingly, it can also be deployed through the use of a set of rules applied by algorithms and software. Human skills are not needed to deploy the marketing aspect of this innovative technique, however human skills are still necessary for software and algorithm development as well as programmatic campaigns since the rules necessary to start the automated process require pre-planning beforehand and proven by marketers. This means that although human labor will be to some extent lessened, it still requires…

Works Cited
Cable, Courtney. \"THE AKRON CIVIC THEATRE: A DIGITAL PRESENCE.\" ETD. The Graduate Faculty of the University of Akron, n.d. Web. 8 May 2014. .
Cameron, Nadia. \"Reports highlight rise and challenges of programmatic video advertising.\" CMO. CMO, 12 May 2014. Web. 13 May 2014. .
De Lombaerde, Veerle . \"Six things to consider before choosing a programmatic advertising partner.\" theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 May 2014.

Incentive Pay: Strategic Compensation and Its Impact on Human esource Management in the United States

Compensation refers to a wide array of benefits and pay that a company uses to reward employees for performance. Strategic compensation refers to any type of compensation strategy that is aimed at rewarding good performance. Because the variety of companies and their internal structure varies wildly, strategic compensation strategies can vary wildly. For example, many direct sales companies where employees are actually independent contractors use strategic compensation strategies, giving prizes for hitting certain sales goals and increasing compensation percentages with sales. On the other end of the spectrum, large corporations almost always include stock options in higher-level compensation strategies, which directly ties the degree of financial reward to overall corporate performance. Individual companies can tailor their compensation strategies to what their firm does, the number of employees, and what is likely to motivate those employees.…

References

Berrone, P. & Gomez-Meija, L.R. (2009). Environmental performance and executive compensation: an integrated agency-institutional perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 52(1), 103-126.

Chen, C. & Huang, J. (2009). Strategic human resource practices and innovation performance:

the mediating role of knowledge management capacity. Journal of Business Research, 62(1), 104-114.

Chenevert, D. & Tremblay, M. (2009). Fits in strategic human resource management and methodological challenge: Empirical evidence of influence of empowerment and compensation practices on human resource performance in Canadian firms. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(4), 738-770. doi:10.1080/09585190902770547

Such deep discounts on a type of product responsible for such a large percentage of the company's profits will clearly have a negative effect on the company's profit margin.

Thus one of the corporation's key vulnerabilities at the present time is the competition that it faces for bestselling titles from big box retail stores like Wal-Mart. It shold be noted, however, that this race-to-the-bottom-of-the-price war for bestselling books carries risk for other companies as well, as Surowiecki (2009) describes:

Wal-Mart began by marking down the prices of ten best-sellers -- including the new Stephen King and the upcoming Sarah Palin -- to ten bucks. When Amazon, predictably, matched that price, Wal-Mart went to nine dollars, and, when Amazon matched again, Wal-Mart went to $8.99, at which point Amazon rested. (Target, too, jumped in, leading Wal-Mart to drop to $8.98.) Since wholesale book prices are traditionally around fifty per cent off…

References

Barnes & Noble, retrieved 22 March 2010 from www.bn.com.

Barnes & Noble corporate website, retrieved 23 March 2010 from

/ & Noble plans e-book reader. The Wall Street journal. Retrieved 24 March 2010 fromhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461502390635462.html

 http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com /