Supermarket Essays (Examples)

Supermarket Expansion Into Malaysia

A supermarket chain based in the United Kingdom is considering expansion to Malaysia. There are several factors to consider before the chain determines that expanding their stores to this market is an effective decision. The business environment of Malaysia is considered to help make this determination. To facilitate this discussion, a brief overview of the country is given. This is followed by a PESTEL Analysis, which reviews the country's political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors that may affect expansion.

Overview of Malaysia:

Malaysia's history is rife with political struggles. The country was under the control of Britain and Japan, prior to garnering their independence in 1957. The Federation of Malaysia was formerly founded in 1963, with Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joining the federation. Two years later, Singapore seceded from the federation and became an independent country. It wasn't until 1981, and the election of…

Fresh Foods Supermarkets:

Fresh Foods Supermarket is a chain of grocery store that was initiated about two decades ago in the Southeast of the United States. Since its inception, this chain of grocery stores has continued to grow forcing the firm to adapt new expansion strategies. The strategies have enabled Fresh Foods Supermarkets to open new stores in various areas including Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. While the company has been currently unable to reach the northern New England States, its management has decided to focus on the Southwest because of the population growth in this region. As part of its initiative to expand to Arizona, the company has asked the manager of its stores in Atlanta to relocate to this region. This has provided a new frontier for Fresh Foods Supermarket that seeks to include diversity initiatives into its corporate culture.

History, Corporate Structure, and Growth of Fresh…

Human Behavior Observation: Supermarket Context

Human behavior is largely defined in the field of psychology as a result of the interaction of mental states and immediate social situations (Lewin, 1951, p.12). While the observation of human behavior has been conducted over the centuries in many different settings, the aspect of this observation that has had the tendency to alter how people interact with their surroundings and with one another in terms of their daily behavior is the knowledge that they are being studied. Much like anthropologist Jane Goodall studied the aspects of chimpanzee social and family life through viewing them in their naturalistic setting, so have psychologists taken on a more anthropological role in observing human behavior through the utilization of naturalistic observation.

In observing human behavior in the context of a supermarket for instance, psychologists and researchers have the capacity to garner a truly unfettered look at certain aspects…

The case of Superior Supermarkets demonstrates the need for retailers to evaluate whether low pricing strategy is indeed the right solution and approach to increase competitiveness in the trade and for consumers. For Superior, the option to use EDLP as a pricing strategy must include an assessment of the retail grocery chain's pricing strategy prior to launching the EDLP approach. This way, Superior can best identify if the EDLP is the best approach after assessing pricing for all grocery items/product categories (i.e., do most or only few of the items need further reduction to increase pricing competitiveness). In addition, it would also be wise for Hall to determine, from consumer research results, the different "dimensions" that consumers give to the determinant "price." It is possible that "price" for consumers is simply looking at the price per se, and it is also possible that other consumers evaluate prices differently, attaching a…

ABC Supermarket PLC

Case Analysis

atio Analysis

The results of ABC Supermarket's financial performance are very different from the comments shared by the Chairman in the 2009 Annual report. Based on the evaluation below, the company's cash, profitability, and liquidity positions all weakened between 2006 and 2009. They also had an issue with managing inventory. However, the stock price increased successively over this period of time. This may have been a factor of raising more debt.

eturn on Capital Employed (OCE)

The eturn on Capital Employed ratio (OCE) tells us how much profit we earn from the investments the shareholders have made in their company. It is also the rate of return a business is making on the total capital employed in the business. Capital will include all sources of funding (shareholders funds + debt).

The single most important indicator of the inherent excellence of a business is the return…

Econo Supermarkets

Business Overview

ECONO Supermarkets came in 1970, when Facundo Colon, owner of a small supermarket in Hato Rey of 5,000 square feet and Rafael Acosta Pastrana, owner of Oscar Grocery in Hato Rey decide to establish a business model that would allow it to compete effectively with the big chains of the moment; since then ECONO affiliate team is dedicated to working with a high level of commitment that has led them to become one of the leaders in the Food Industry Puerto Rico (Econo Supermarkets, N.d.). Today the business operates nearly sixty stores and has over a million square feet of store spaces as well as over five thousand employees. The company has even won several awards for their retail effectiveness (Caribbean Business, 1999). Their business model focuses on consolidation, efficiency, and customer relations. The stores sell a full range of grocery items as well as some…

Operations Management

Alliance Supermarket Case Study

Point of sale (PoS) systems that is able to accurately track sales using universal product codes (UPC) has the potential to improve service and reduce costs. If the system was further adjusted, there would also be the potential to collect information on individual customers which would allow Alliance Supermarket to adopt some new, and potentially valuable, strategies.

Reducing Costs and Improving Service

he PoS system allows Alliance Supermarket to gather detailed information on sales patterns, looking not only at what level of goods are sold, but also when. his can be very useful for inventory control, as it may help the firm to gain information which may be used to better manage inventory, especially in terms of forecasting for future inventory needs.

Accurate forecasting may help to reduce the wastage in the supermarket, especially for perishable items, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy…

people at Work

Supermarket

The supermarket employee is part of team; or rather part of larger machine in which every person has a specific role in the running of the store. The hierarchies of employees that make up the staff contingency within a supermarket include management, stock control clerks, shelf packers, cashiers, customer care officers, and store cleaners. The efficiency of a supermarket, as perceived by its customers, is dependent on the effective interaction between staff members to ensure that applicable tasks are carried out.

The supermarket employee most seen by the public is the employee who works at the register. Their day is a continual routine with one customer after another and then stolen moments of gossip and chatting between the onslaught of products to be rung up. They manage to maintain a sense of perspective throughout and the daily routines with a certain amount of enjoyment.

Occasionally an…

Publix Supermarket

Since 1930, Publix has been focused on providing a wide variety of grocery related products to customers in: Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina. The main focus of their strategy has been to create neighborhood stores in these states to become a part of the community. This is when consumers will have greater amounts of loyalty to the firm. As they believe that every Publix location, is providing them with the best products at affordable prices. (Mujtaba, 2007, pp. 23 -- 32)

However, during the last several years is when the overall amounts of competition facing the company have increased exponentially. This is because firms such as: Wal Mart and many foreign-based supermarket chains have been entering markets that are dominated by Publix. In order to compete, the firm has been focusing on: providing customers with private label products, moving into specialty markets and offering competitive prices. This…

British community, the rapid growth of supermarket has been a fact of life for more or less the last thirty years. This unchecked growth has been attributed to a variety of factors, including business enterprise coupled with laissez-faire planning and competition policies. Furthermore supermarkets have currently grown to affect every area of British life. Economic, social, environmental and cultural issues are for example under investigation when it comes to the possibly detrimental effects of large supermarkets on the British community. There are several problems that are then connected with rapid supermarket growth. The awareness of theses is growing, as can be seen in a variety of news releases and the like. The community is beginning to recognize that, along with the many benefits brought about by supermarket chains, there are also several detriments. These include elements such as unrestrained growth and its deterrent effects on sustainable development. While supermarkets then…

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain that has business operations in different states in the Midwestern region of the United States. The chain is well acknowledged and renowned for its quality and exceedingly observant consumer service. A consumer of Reed is to some extent older, richer and had a smaller family in comparison to the normal consumer. The average income of a shopper in Reed supermarkets is about 12% greater compared to the normal consumer. The Columbus market, which has the biggest market share, was comparatively steady; however Reed had experienced diffident share deteriorations in previous periods. Its market share has declined in the past number of years. Reed Supermarkets is facing fresh threats and worries to its position as a market leader amid the supermarkets in the region as well as from rivals such as dollar stores and the other stores that offer lower and attractive price points.…

III.1. Value innovation and Blue Ocean Strategy

The Blue Ocean Strategy was developed by Kim and Mauborgne (2005) and it's the result of long-term strategy study over 30 industries covering 120 years. The core idea of this theory is to create value for the firm and its buyers by taking the differentiation-cost trade-off to a different level. Successful firms may want to create "blue oceans," which represent the new/innovative solution in order to become more competitive, rather than compete in "red oceans', which stand for the existing market place (see table 1).

TABLE 1 - ED and BLUE OCEAN STATEGIES

ED OCEAN STATEGY

BLUE OCEAN STATEGY

Compete in existing market space

Create uncontested market space

Beat the competition

Make the competition irrelevant

Exploit existing demand

Create and capture new demand

Make the value-cost trade-off

Break the value-cost trade-off

Align the whole system of a firm's activities with its strategic choice…

Carrefour Supermarket

Company Background

Standard Costing

ABC Costing

Differences in ABC vs. Absorption

The Carrefour Group is one of the world leaders in retail industry and through over fifty years of dedicated efforts, is now the largest retailer in Europe and second largest in world. A literature review was conducted to see how an ABC costing method could potentially benefit this retail giant. It was found that the ABC method would be more accurate than the other costing methods and therefore provide a better representation of the retailer's actual costs. Furthermore, this costing system is also more in line with strategic goals and a focus on quality because it adds value through the managerial accounting perspective. Managers would be able to have better metrics to make key strategy decisions regarding costs as well as quality and could therefore create a better internal retail environment. This analysis will consider the advantages…

Marketing

ecently in the UK, there have been price wars in both the supermarket and mobile phone industries. These price war are a natural part of competition in a market economy, and the behaviour of these firms can be understood using microeconomic principles. This paper will examine both the supermarket and mobile phone wars using microeconomic models in order to demonstrate how these basic economic principles are applied in the real world.

Competition

While there are many types of competition in microeconomic models, most industries in market economies operate under the condition of monopolistic competition. This condition is where firms have many competitors, and each competitor seeks to differentiate itself in some way from the other competitors (Economics Online, 2014). In the supermarket industry, companies require fairly broad target markets in order to generate the revenue they require to survive. Thus, we see for example that Waitrose will tend towards…

Publix Supermarket

Many small, as well as medium-sized companies have faced challenges contending with Wal-Mart because of their low prices, one shopping structure and long opening hours associated with the Wal-Mart. Publix Super Markets is an exception, which recently opened another store to the public. It has a market share totaling to more than 40% in Florida and evidently, Publix supermarkets have taken over from popular supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and other established chain stores as they continue with their expansion into more states such as Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia among others.

Retail analysts commonly associate Publix's treatment of employees, high quality customer service and capacity to tailor commodities to different customer groups as demanded by the market forces to be the main factors that have continued to enhance the supermarket's productivity and market dominance. Publix rankings tops in customer satisfaction and they have a solid reputation on…

online networking for small supermarkets. Using literature on the subject of networking and supermarkets the author of this paper presents an argument in favor of forming a supermarket group of network ability.

During the past few years, focus seems to have moved away from small business and moved toward large conglomerate organizations instead. One example of this can be found in small supermarkets. Family owned supermarkets were at one time a staple in America. Family owned supermarkets were close to the house, the clerks and management knew the names of one's children and remembered what one's favorite type of cheese and laundry detergent was. As larger supermarkets continued to build stores nationwide the small family owned stores found themselves unable to compete with convenience. In addition financial considerations began to appear. The small individually owned supermarkets were unable to purchase stock in the large quantities that garnered large discounts. The…

Finance

Financial Analysis of Morrison's PLC

Morrison's, the UK supermarket may be assessed as a potential investment. The firm may be considered by looking at the way that the share price is performing, comparing it to its past performance as well as benchmarking the performance against the industry

The share price will reflect the market expectations, so as well as looking a past performance it is also necessary to look to the potential future; this is often achieved by looking at the financial ratios of the firm considering the performance both vertically and horizontally.

Morrison's appears to have had a relativity mixed year; the share price stands at 277.60, closing price on the 24th August, 2012 (FT, 2012). The share price has been volatile, increasing and decreasing, over the last 52 weeks the high has been 340.00 and the low has been 261.00 (Yahoo Finance, 2012). Over the year the…

Morrisons PLC

In the UK, Morrisons PLC is one of the largest grocery store chains with the company serving over nine million customers at their 400 retail stores. At the heart of the firm's strategy, is to deliver quality products at affordable prices. For over 100 years, this has helped the company to be able to reach out to a large demographic of consumers. However, globalization has been leading to increased amounts of competition in many markets. This has been causing the firm to face greater pressures in adjusting with these new challenges. To overcome these issues requires utilizing the balanced scorecard to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company. This will be accomplished by focusing on: the different measures, how they are interconnected, which ones are leading / lagging indicators, how this can help in managing risk and what other control system could be implemented. Together, these different…

As a consequence, information
can become redundant, it may not be received by the desired receiver, or it
may be distorted.
All these affect the well-functioning of the company's operations. As
a consequence, a series of malfunctions start to emerge, they determine
other problems, which result in not reaching the company's objectives,
decreasing quality of products and services, and increased costs.
The same situation happens in the case of the supermarket's branches.
Each of these branches is run by a general manager and they establish their
own sets of goals and objectives that must be aligned with the general
strategy and objectives established at the headquarters of the company.
This way, each branch activates like a profit center. However, it is
difficult to control the branches. Although they establish their own
objectives also in accordance with the customer targets of each branch, the
demographics and the characteristics of the market…

Based on this information, supermarkets can highlight certain areas of their floor space over others. The supermarkets can thus charge higher prices for the more premium spaces, giving suppliers a choice of where to park their products.

This practice is a win situation for supermarkets, allowing them to meet their duties to their stockholders and their employees. In fact, any increased earnings from the premium display places can be passed on to customers in the form of savings as well. Thus, it can be argued that the use of premium display areas can allow a supermarket to cater more efficiently to the needs of its customers, as well as its employees.

It is important to note that the use of premium space does not deny customers one of their most important rights in a supermarket - the right to make an informed choice. This paper has argued that given the…

The third principle is alignment, which means that all the items on a page or document should have some visual connection with something else on the same page or in the same document. Nothing should be placed arbitrarily, and a sense of purpose should be at the basis of all the design elements. In a supermarket, this principle can be seen by the one connecting element among all the items, which is that they are all consumer items. Although there is little visual connection between a piece of cheese and a household item like a table cloth, they are bound by their nature as items that are found within a supermarket. All items are then placed within their specific departments. While there is therefore not a clear visual connection between every item within the supermarket, they are connected by the same underlying idea.

The final principle, proximity, means that similar…

" (GBS, 1)

In spite of this recognition within the context of the community noted, ASDA's detractors remain numerous. This is one of the inherent consequences of its chosen affiliation with al-Mart. Moreover, many claims have been cited against ASDA itself for its discouragement of labor unions, indications that it does more environmental harm than good, allegations that its prices are not actually the lowest in Britain and a host of other arguments that are common for a company of its scale and in its selected field of business. Still, ASDA continues to demonstrate growth and growth potential, with access to an enormous amount of capital making its expansion a matter of inevitability at this juncture.

For communities, councils and consumers, the best opportunities are in partnering with ASDA to preserve community priorities. As demonstrated by the examples indicated above, ASDA's success comes at least partially from the intuitiveness with…

Whole Foods: Current market conditions

Market structure

The supermarket industry is highly competitive. However, Whole Foods has been able to garner a market advantage through specialization. Whole Foods is a national chain but offers exclusively organic items to customers, thus conveying additional value for a specific yet rapidly-expanding demographic of customers. Growth in the organics market remains strong, even though it experienced a downturn after the recession. "According to the Organic Trade Association, U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $24.8 billion in 2009. That's 18.4% growth annualized over 19 years" (Beyers 2011).

As well as health-conscious consumers, Whole Foods also offers a wide array of international, gluten-free, peanut-free, and other specialty items. It is a relatively large chain, although still dwarfed in size by major national supermarket retailers like Wal-Mart. Thus, the market structure is that of a competitive market, with…

being specific. In addition, the use of advertising and sales promotion also is used on products that are quickly purchased yet have a high level of customer loyalty associated with them. All of these conditions would favor using an advertising and sales promotion driven approach over a personal selling one. Examples of products in this category include soft drinks, groceries of all types, and low-end consumer electronics that are purchased quickly based on brand loyalty over intensive analysis. In general, products that have lower margins and are highly commoditized are those that are sold through this approach. Personal selling on the other hand is very expensive as a sales strategy are often is used in situations where the sales cycles are longer as customers evaluate options more thoroughly, and where the products being sold are much higher in price. The greater the price of a product, the less commoditized it…

Business

Performance of the Top Four UK Supermarkets

The UK supermarket is dominated by four companies; Tesco, ASDA which is owned by alMart, Sainsbury and Morrison's. In 2011, the four firms combined had a 75.8% of the UK market (Fooddeserts.org, 2012). ith four firms controlling in excess of 75% of the market this is a highly concentrated market. The concentration has increased over the last decade; in 2002 the same four firms had only 64.8% of the market. Three out of the four firms have seen their market share increase over the since 2002, the only firm which lost market share, despite increasing sales significantly, was Sainsbury. Morrison's had the greatest increase with the acquisition of Safeway in 2003, this increased the market share, however, as part of the agreement Morrison's had to sell 52 of the Safeway stores following the acquisition, which is a factor in the decrease in…

Management: Tesco Supermarket

Tesco's Goals and Targets

Functions of Management

Organizational Structure

Internal Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses

Creating more Innovative Organizational Cultures

Benefits of Effective Communication

Understanding Management: Tesco Supermarket

Tesco supermarket is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer. Tesco is headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England in the United Kingdom. Tesco deals with a wide range of products, which has high demand in the market aiming at full customer satisfaction. Tesco was founded in the East End of London, London in 1919. The fist chief executive officer was Dave Lewis. Tesco was originally dealing only with grocery, but it later diversified to various products in various geographical regions.

Introduction

Tesco has opened many branches in different countries, and it is aiming to reach even people in rural areas. Tesco has stores in 12 countries all over Europe and Asia, and it is the leading grocery…

Borderless Society on Food

As disparate regions of the globe become more and more intertwined through the expansion of global capital and the practical disintegration of international borders for massive companies, the food people eat is simultaneously delivered from every region of the globe so that seasons no longer dictate the availability of any given food. However, the ability to obtain any given food out of season brings with it environmental and ecological damages because the farming and transportation practices which make this global food market work are almost entirely unsustainable and detrimental to the continued health of the global food ecosystem. In order to better understand the nature of this borderless society and how it affects the food one eats on any given day, it is useful to trace the path a couple of meals have taken from farm to plate, because only by doing so does the ramifications…

(Bhatnagar, 2004)

PART III

INSTRUCTIONS

The following Decentralization orksheet contains some observations on decentralizing. As you review each of the statements, provide an example that illustrates why this statement is important and related problems and benefits of the situation or condition indicated in the statement. SELECT ANY 2 Decentralization orksheet: A large number of factors determine the extent to which a manager should decentralize. Clearly, anything that increases a manager's workload creates pressure for decentralization because only a single person can accomplish a finite level of work. As with many facets of management, there are advantages and disadvantages to decentralization.

Question

The greater the diversity of products, the greater the decentralization.

An organization, such as a national supermarket chain, that sells a diversity of products will benefit from decentralization because decentralization allows local and regional managers to tailor the selection of goods to the specific market -- and also prevents…

market communication plan for Divine Chocolate that produces chocolates for a noble cause of supporting the cocoa farmers of Ghana and promoting Fair Trade. The paper consists of an analysis of its business environment as well as a set of recommended strategies which it can use to beat the competition and effectively communicate its marketing messages to the most potential target customers.

Divine Chocolate is one of the leading Fair Trade chocolate manufacturers in the United Kingdom and United States. In addition to producing the best quality chocolates, Divine Chocolate also aims to promote fair trade in the Global community. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the current business and marketing strategies of Divine Chocolate and proposes a market communication plan which can help it better understand its target market, effectively run its advertising and promotional campaigns, and beat the competitor brands which are supported by numerous unknown credential…

For example, if birds feed on seeds and a certain variety of insect, without the seeds, the birds may disappear, and the insects would then overpopulate the area.

In addition, the cost of GM crops is initially high to the farmer. These seeds cost much more to develop and test, and so, they are much more costly to the farmer. They might benefit Third World agriculture in many ways, but few Third World farmers could possibly afford the increased cost of these seeds, and so, they would not be available to a majority of the people that need them the most. Cost is an important factor in the continued growth of GM crops, and so, manufacturers must eventually address the cost of these seeds, and reduce the cost so that more people can afford to plant them.

While no study has found GM food to be harmful to humans, opponents…

In this case, it was a $4.9 billion bank account. However, credit would have been granted against an asset like that. Finding such an account did not exist, banks would have wanted their money back, and Parmalat would not have had it. This would be grounds to take the company into insolvency, especially if somebody at Parmalat was counting on that account to pay off its debts.

4. These fraudulent activities, as noted, would have boosted the accounts receivable at Parmalat, and could potentially have reduced the inventories as well. The effect on the balance sheet, if the inventories were not affected, would have been to boost the a/R and therefore the current assets. As a result, the quick ratio would have improved, on the basis of an inflated accounts receivable.

5. Citicorp was a victim here. There are some controls that can be done to ensure that the financial…

TWS Liability

Ms. Jones slipping on a banana peel on her way into the Wonderful Supermarket is unfortunate. While there are factors that make TWS look negligent, this case is far from simple in that Ms. Jones at least partially contributed to her own injury and the fact she suffered very similar injuries just six months prior complicates what can be attributed to TWS and what is attributable to the prior accident.

Problems for Ms. Jones

There are a couple of facts and circumstances that do not help Ms. Jones' case against TWS. First, the fact that she is near-sighted and that she took her glasses off after she parked her car but before she made entry into the supermarket raises the idea that she would have clearly seen the banana peel had she had her glasses on. Another factor that does not help Ms. Jones is that she suffered…

Music on Grocery Store Shopper Habits

Marketers continuously attempt to influence shopper habits by manipulating their environment. It has been known since the early 1970s that factors such as lighting, layout, sounds, colors and temperature invoke emotional responses in consumers (Kotler, 1973). esearch has shown that the amount of time spent in a restaurant was directly related to the amount of money spent (Caldwell and Hibbert, 2002). Musical preferences were found to play a factor in the restaurant experience. However, the tempo of the music was not found to be significant (Caldwell and Hibbert, 2002). Several researchers have focused on the effects of music on consumer behavior (North, Hargreaves, and McKendrick, 1996; Yalch & Spangenberg, 1990; Milliman, 1982).

There have been two types of studies performed regarding the subject of environment and shopper behavior. The first group of studied treats the store atmosphere as a whole. Other studies focused on…

pneumothorax.We identify the two main types of Pneumothorax with its causes and possible treatments. We also analyze a case study involving a 33-year fruit vegetable merchant, who, while delivering merchandise a mini supermarket developed chest pain difficulty breathing. And then subsequently admitted to casualty and diagnosed with pneumothorax.

Pneumothorax which is defined by Light (1995) as the unprecedented entry of air into an individual's pleural space is a serious ailment. Its pathophysiology described by Combulsier in 1747 (Mohebbi and ad, 2007). This was after realizing that the noted reduction in the pulmonary function was as a result of lung compression caused by air present in the pleural space as outlined by Sadiron et al., (1997).

Types and causes of Pneumothorax

Simple pneumothorax

This type of pneumothorax is caused by the presence of air within a victim's pleural space. It is a consequence of a blunt or a penetrating trauma with…

Organics trip to the local grocery store will reveal that organic vegetables and fruits not only look better than their non-organic counterparts: they are in many cases also not that much more expensive. As a result, many mainstream supermarkets are starting to carry organic lines of produce, offering more choice to consumers. The Albertson's chain in ashington State recently started stocking shelves with organic coffee; UK food retail giant Safeway added organic meats to its shelves, all of which is locally produced. Increasing numbers of packaged foods are being made with organic ingredients and many of them don't cost more than non-organic counterparts. However, the organic food industry still has a long uphill battle to fight. Organic agriculture is a system of production that eliminates "the use of synthetic inputs, such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, veterinary drugs, genetically modified seeds and breeds, preservatives, additives and irradiation," replacing them with…

WO and argue against this concept and its application within City Super in Hong Kong. The argument in this paper is that McNair propagates that retail institutions evolve over time implying cost leadership strategy is suitable for emerging retail institutions to adopt to enter the retail industry. In addition, Walmart is a good example for demonstrating cost leadership strategy because of its success. However, I found service quality to be a critical element in enhancing the perception of overall merchandise quality in supermarkets especially when studying the case of City Super in Hong Kong.

The Wheel of etailing had been initially created by Professor Malcolm P McNair within 1958. McNair claimed that whenever new retailers get into a customer marketplace, they function below the idea of becoming lowly priced, reduced margin businesses. They do that since it will be the most economical method to obtain because numerous clients as you…

Personal Statement

It is often said, when discussing the importance of volunteering, that if an individual can only save one person, than he or she has lived a worthwhile life. In my case, I have volunteered for the past two years at UMASS Memorial hospital, a commitment that was preceded by my work at Santa Teresa Hospital, also as a volunteer. Of course, as a high school student, I cannot brag that I have saved many lives, or found the cure for any number of infectious diseases. Someday, I can say, I hope to do such things, but as yet I can only dream. If I have 'saved' even one individual through my current medical efforts, this 'salvation' has only come through my combined efforts with the doctors and nurses whose efforts I serve. But truthfully, I know that my volunteering has saved at least one person -- it has…

37). Indeed, the company's emphasis on so-called "social clauses" (discussed further below) has been at the forefront of its corporate philosophy: "Socially, ecologically, and ethically produced products were key aspects of Migros' product offering. iedener knows that Migros benefited from a unique position -- and he wants to make sure that Migros defends it from both new and old competitors" (einhardt et al., p. 37).

Current and past issues.

The company faces some profound challenges in its efforts to grow its business in the future but has continued its corporate philosophy of socially responsible corporate citizenship (einhardt, Dessain, & Sjoman, 2005). The company's management has been examining ways to assist emerging economies in the countries where it competes or intends to expand to facilitate it future growth while helping improve the quality of life for the residents in these regions. In this regard, Sternquist and Kacker note that, "Many Eastern…

The cyclicality of Choice, evidenced by their beta, and the intense competitive pressures, means that the firm is at risk for periods of difficulty. If they are too highly-leveraged, these periods could cause irreparable harm to the company. Ideally, Choice would limit the downside damage caused by the inevitable turbulent times. The medium debt ratio achieves this.

The ideal capital structure for Dell Computers is a high debt ratio. Dell's business is growing. From their beta we can infer that Dell itself is relatively stable, since they have such a broad customer base. They sell to both businesses and consumers, with several of their product lines being business only. Thus, the bulk of their risk is market risk.

The high debt ratio gives Dell sufficient leverage to participate in their industry's growth. ithout a strong cyclical downside, they are in a good position to take on a higher debt ratio,…

Yet, the benefits of the technique above could have turned into disadvantages if the spokesperson lost his temper, didn't know what to answer or provided details that shouldn't have reached the media.

Fourthly, the corporation established non-stop toll-free numbers. These offered two major benefits: the softening of the corporate image (PepsiCo appeared as an entity open to dialogue and concerned about the safety of its consumers) and the permanent feedback provided by consumers. Yet, the main drawback is that some joking callers could use a false identity and report untrue events just to put the company on the wrong track and make it lose time. However, benefits are heavier than drawbacks, in this case.

Fifthly, the corporation used a slogan at the end of the crisis - "Pepsi is pleased to announce...nothing." This was a witty remark suggesting that the company remained the producer of the same qualitative beverage and…

Lactose-free milk serves a specific market niche of lactose-intolerant people. Soy and goat milk serve a similar role in delivering the benefits of milk to people with medical or philosophical reasons for avoiding cow's milk. Chocolate milk appeals to people who want the benefits of milk but want to drink candy instead.

There are potential geodemographic segments that are served by some of these products. The Asian community, which has a higher than average degree of lactose intolerance, also has in some areas soy milk as a traditional product. Thus, in areas with high concentrations of Asians, it can be expected that more soy milk products will be available. As noted, it is reasonable that more progressive areas will have different milk selections than will less progressive areas. Thus, there might be different varieties of organic milk, and in more sizes, in such areas. The availability of niche market milk…

Utley Food Case Study

Utley Food Markets was founded in the 1930s in the St. Louis area. It grew to 86 supermarkets in the Missouri and Southern Illinois area. Up until 1948 it was a family owned company, but then sold and went public, with the Utleys moving out of managerial roles. The company is now heavily unionized, and even those employees who are not union members receiving similar salary increases as to union members. One of the largest concerns is the manner in which employees are reviewed; now typically with the supervisor answering, "how did this employee do in the past year." There is no quantitative data, dialog, supervisory committee, or employee response. This has resulted in a culture of mistrust and suspicion, with the general view that the system is unfair. hen employees complain, supervisors typically respond with a larger than average raise simply to make the concern…

Lust" to "A&P," "Girl" and "A Sorrowful Woman" both similarities and differences can be seen, with these noticeable in relation to the themes present, the protagonist character of each, the perspective and the way the story is told.

The main obvious difference between "Lust" and "A&P" is the nature of the protagonist. In "Lust" we have the female and in "A&P" the male. The character in "Lust" takes the place of the girl in the supermarket which Sammy lusts after. Sammy and the girl in "Lust" are looking at the situation from opposite angles. The similarity between the works is that they both focus on the same situation, that of finding one's place in society and especially finding one's place as a man or woman. In "Lust" the character remains almost unaware of the man's viewpoint, she simply reacts, giving them what they want as it is easier than refusing.…

Accounting and Finance

Comparison of Selected Financial Performance Data for WalMart and Target

WalMart and Target compete in very similar markets, competing in the supermarket segment of the retail industry, with some diversified interests. To assess the performance of these two firms, their results for the financial years ending January 2012 and 2013 may be examined and compared. This paper will look at the performance in terms of revenues, cost of goods, accounts receivable and payable and inventory management.

evenues

The performance of a firm often starts with an assessment of the revenue that is generated and the way in which this changes over time. The revenues for both WalMart and Target are shown in table 1.

Table 1; evenue for WalMart and Target 2012-2013

WalMart

Target

2012(Jan)

2013(Jan)

2012(Jan)

2013(Jan)

evenues ($ millions)

446,950

469,162

69,865

73,301

Change in revenues from previous year

The levels of revenues demonstrate that…

Community Health Education

Obesity response

The aim of every community is to have a healthy society where each individual can carry on with their daily activities with ease and also contribute back to the welfare of the society. This is the target that I aim at in engaging in the community-based programs like the obesity reduction bid among adults. The number of obese adults within the U.S. was pegged at 34.9% between the years 2011 to 2012 and amazingly this was the same prevalence rates experienced between 2009 and 2010, meaning the prevalence rates did not change (CDC, 2013). This is a worrying trend since the adult risk of developing chronic illnesses and subsequent waste of their life in treatment is a real threat. This is one of the central motivating factors for my involvement in the pursuit to ensure the reduction in the number of obese adults and in…

Strategic Advantage

Introduction and Description of the Problem

Tesco is the market leader in the UK supermarket industry, with a share of 28.8% as of the summer 2014 (Statista 2014). Other major firms in the industry are Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons, but the industry overall is highly fragmented. Most firms in the industry compete in the mainstream segment of the market, including Tesco. Few major players operate with a premium platform. The industry has recently been characterized by the rise of discounters, including new market entrants from the continent in Aldi and Lidl, both of which compete in the discount segment, along with incumbent discounter Iceland.

The emergence of the discounters is a major strategic problem for Tesco. The discounters, well-financed and operationally sophisticated, have been able win market share in the UK with their low prices, and at this point are stealing share away from the more established companies.…

furnishes a literature review of five strategic management viewpoints, that include Porter's (1980) Generic Strategies, Porter's (1980) Five Forces, Porter's (1985) Value Chain Analysis and Bowman and Faulkner's (1997) Bowman's Strategy Clock. This paper has made use of UK's Tesco supermarket retailer for case study. The analysis of Tesco using Porter's Generic strategies revealed that Tesco's generic strategy needs to be cost leadership given that they can successfully differentiate their clothing line to be able to charge a premium. Apropos globalization, Porter extends the generic strategy construct to international situation. However, Tesco cannot be bracketed as belonging to one particular category. Porter's Five forces revealed that in spite of cost leadership strategy the company has managed to create a very high value when compared to that of its key competitors. Tesco's advantage has been its range of stores, which are within reachable distance from most of residential localities across UK.…

As the UFCW president and director Shaun arclay says, "This pact fits the same pattern of their actions three years ago when they forced UFCW members and their families into the streets and disrupted shoppers for nearly five months in a grab to end meaningful health care coverage for employees."

UFCW] the pay hikes that the CEO's of these supermarkets received last year attests to their improving profitability proving that the supermarkets are crying wolf. [UFCW]

However, the situation has turned around and currently the workers are once again bargaining with the supermarket chains. Unlike three years ago, this time the Union is negotiating with the supermarkets individually. [Uprising] the plan seems to workout better for the Union. As a positive trend, the UFCW has successfully negotiated good contracts with Stater ros and Gelsons, two comparatively smaller supermarket stores. [UFCW]. If these two smaller supermarkets can do this without the…

Strategic plan for Tesco -Vietnam branch

Current supermarket industry analysis

Competition in the supermarket industry is high with the British market being hypercompetitive.

In Vietnam, the competition landscape is not stiff with the only significant competitor being Big C. which has its origins in Thailand.

Big supermarkets like Wal-Mart present a one stop shopping experience for their customers hence influencing the contemporary industry.

The current supermarkets are also seen to get more into the private label trends which emphasizes on both discounted goods and quality as well.

The supermarkets are now focusing more on the specific goods that their clients need as opposed to the previous times when they stored thousands of good that only helped in confusing the client and wasting time for them.

The fresh produce section is of late a point that most customers consider when deciding which supermarket to shop from (Peterson H., 2014).

Competitor landscape…

Natureview has, to this point, been successful operating within the natural foods channel. The company has expanded its product range over the years and has become one of the industry leaders in the natural foods segment. Natureview has attained within ten years of startup national distribution in its segment. The company has captured a 24% share in the natural foods market. While this equates to just a 0.7% share of the total yoghurt market, it is a strong starting position. Given the expected growth of the natural foods channel, maintaining this market share in that channel would give Natureview total sales of $26.6 million by 2003. Thus, its objective of increasing sales to $20 million by 2001 is not unrealistic at all. It equates to a 25% revenue increase in each of the next two years. The company has enjoyed a compound average growth rate of 62.5%, while the natural…

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…

Strategically, the first option is the best fit given the financials, the revenue targets, and the way it sets the firm up to succeed immediately and subsequently expand into other segments and markets after meeting with this success.

Action Plan: The company should adopt option 1. This will require several changes. The current marketing team should be retained to work on the natural foods channel, which is rapidly growing. However, a new marketing team should be brought in to work on this initiative. This will allow the current staff to remain within their comfort zone and abilities. True grocery people will be needed because the business is more competitive and also because the company cannot afford any missteps as they introduce their yoghurts to this market. By operating the grocery and natural foods divisions separately, the company minimizes channel conflict, even if it costs a little bit more. Moreover, the…

Retail Grocery: Industry Strategic Employment and Compensation Analysis

An Analysis of Ukrop's Super Markets

Although Piggly iggly was the first self-service store opened in 1916, the first supermarket to open was King Kullen Grocery Company in New York in 1930 (Food Marketing Institute 2004). Today, though, there are over 69,461 supermarkets competing nationally for a share of the American consumer food dollar. In Central Virginia, Ukrop's Super Markets have achieved a degree of success by focusing on providing busy consumers with a wide range of prepared foods, in-store cafes, full-service pharmacies and a prohibition on alcohol sales. This paper will provide an overview of Ukrop's Super Markets and the sector within the North American Industry Classification System in which they compete. An analysis of the number of establishments within the sector, the average payroll and average number of employees will be followed by an assessment of the types of benefits…

Future of Unions in Labor Relations

Unions came about from the struggles and pain that individuals had to go through early on in history. Unions were something that did not spring up overnight, but rather took a great deal of time to develop as individuals began working out for themselves what types of organizations would be the best to protect their rights and ensure that they could not be treated cruelly or unfairly by those that they worked for (Kearney, 2001). The right to collective bargaining took almost 200 years in the United States but today these rights are held in almost every country (Kearney, 2001).

For many years unions were thought to be very important in labor relations. At least, employees have thought so. Much of the opinions had by those who have had to deal with unions in a dispute situation have been less than tolerant of unions…

The company is permanently spending considerable amounts on &D to innovate its products and on advertising to maintain the brands awareness high. Shareholders are more satisfied than ever after Procter's recovery in the late 1990s, early 2000. But they did not encourage much the recovery process because it took almost two years and they were expecting a fast recovery process.

Pantene

Currently there are over 100 Pantene products. Pantene shampoo has 25 products in the supermarket shelves to cover all types of customer needs. In terms of sales, the brand has had a "blockbuster" evolution. It was introduced in the market about 10 years ago and it has been reinvented since maintaining a top market share. Pantene, the shampoo is actually the leader in this market, followed by Elseve from L'oreal. Overall, Elseve product line is better positioned in the market, having a larger market share for all hair care…

The flavors are quite simple, as the company chooses to focus more on the toothpaste's health characteristics, rather than the taste.

The product has one size and the packaging is made of plastic, which is more hygienic than metal, as the later one may go through oxidation. This type of packaging differentiates the product from other toothpastes and marks its individuality.

The product is always strictly associated with the idea of relieving tooth sensitivity and pain from sensitive teeth. The name itself was thus conceived so as to associate the brand with the effect of having used the product.

On the other hand, for a long period of time, Sensodyne was associated with the idea of medication and the company has committed a lot of effort in the last decade to diversify the consumer perception and induce the idea that Sensodyne is less a medication and more of a product…

" (Sinha and atra, 1999)

Sinha and atra state that "most researchers now content that a generalized price -- quality relationship does not exist" although the "degree to which a higher price implies higher quality" has been examined and as well has been the "topic of considerable research in marketing." (1999) Therefore for the purpose of this study this antecedent relating to price consciousness will not be a variable in understanding the questions posed in this study.

Sirha and atra (1999) state that this inference "is widely accepted as being context-specific, moderated by situational characteristic such as the extensiveness of a consumer's cognitive schemes and his/her product class knowledge" and cite the work of Peterson and Wilson (1985). Therefore, it can be understood that while the consumer might believe that a higher price being paid obtains the same equal receipt of quality in some categorical purchases but yet not in…

Elg & Robinson

This promotional material contains photos and other visuals of the Elg & Robinson storefront without the company sign at the entry of the Coles Supermarket, the storefront with the company sign, some prepared meat products, population forecasts in Hobsons ay City, promotional photograph for the company, and a photography for the company Customer Loyalty Program.

The first photo shows the side of the storefront at the entry of the Coles Supermarket but which does not show the identifying company sign. The second photo shows the front part of the store at the Supermarket and the company name, elegantly lighted and posted on top of the store. The third photo shows a portion of the counter with prepared meat products. The fourth photo consists of population statistics of Hobson ay City. The fifth photo shows office supplies with Elg & Robinson's logo. And the sixth photo shows items…

A group of authors continues, "Only a limited number of choices are based on conscious information processing strategies. The rest of the variance left to explain is caused by unconscious effects of all kinds of subtle cues in the environment" (Dijksterhuis, Smith, Van Baaren, and Wigboldus 200). Thus, when it comes right down to it, the consumer who chooses organic produce may be looking for a healthier alternative, or they may just be motivated by the healthy looking customer who just chose organic herbs and salad greens for their own dinner that evening, it is difficult to pinpoint just what motivates every customer.

eferences

Dijksterhuis, a.J., Smith, Pamela K., Van Baaren, ick B., and Wigboldus, Dani l H. "The Unconscious Consumer: Effects of Environment on Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology; 2005, Vol. 15 Issue 3. 193-202.

Harris, Brian. Burress, David, and Eicher, Sharon. Demands for Local and Organic Produce:…

Farmers' markets: A history

Farmers' markets are often praised as the solution to many of our nation's food problems. "Farmers markets are an integral part of the urban/farm linkage and have continued to rise in popularity, mostly due to the growing consumer interest in obtaining fresh products directly from the farm" (Farmers Markets, 2012, USDA). Farmers' markets are defined as places were farmers can sell products directly to consumers. The products are believed to be more likely to be locally grown and the food sold there is viewed as having a lower carbon footprint regarding transportation. According to the USDA: "farmers markets allow consumers to have access to locally grown, farm fresh produce, enables farmers the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with their customers, and cultivate consumer loyalty with the farmers who grows the produce" (Farmers Markets, 2012, USDA). In an age in which so many people feel disconnected…