Retailers Extensions or New Format based upon changing Consumers and Assignment

Retailers Extensions or New Format based upon changing Consumers and Markets - Assignment Example My document examines effects of demographic shifts on consumption patterns. In addition, it highlights effects of changing consumer behavior on the performance off-price retailers and the marketing function numerous sources have revealed that demographic shifts pose significant impacts on the production, distribution, and individual consumer behavior. Significantly, demographic factors play a critical role in marketing. For instance, demographic trends can forecast change in the commodity demand. In addition, demographic variables influence profoundly on brand choice. Examples of off-price retailers include; the TJX companies, Ross Stores, and Big lots. These retail stores sell clothing and its accessories from major brands at relative discount. They take advantage of surplus and cancelled orders. In addition, they speculate on the mistakes made by counter parts in the full-price sector. Consequently, due to the increasing aging population, the declining middle class, and the high po pulation of working women, it implies that there numerous surplus in the markets. In response, there off-price retailers are able to purchaser commodities in large quantities. Additionally, since they get the commodities at considerable discounts, they sell the commodities at relative cheap prices. Symbolically the consumers are able to multiply their savings significantly; due to their friendly prices, the off-price retailers retain more customers than the full-price retailers. As a matter of reciprocation, there is a considerable change in the customer behavior. Accordingly, if the above trend in the demographic composition remains, the off-price retailers would be better positioned. Additionally, they make supernormal profits due to the large commodity margins. However, this demographic trend may influence negatively on the off-price retailers. For instance, due to the existence of online off-price retailers such as the Overstock Company and the Bluefly Company, the off-price ret ailers may not enjoy the said supernormal profits. Actually, e-commerce enables companies to offer enormous discounts on various commodities such jewelry and kitchen products. In addition, the bluefly companies offer numerous brands at discounted prices. Consequently, the consumers may decide to get goods through online despite the cheap prices offered by the normal off-price retailers. Generally, the full-price retailers stand better positions because they are immune such market uncertainties. Sources have revealed that, the current changing demographics coupled with consumer spending strategies, and the emerging numerous stores, have created a new retail environment. Additionally, new retail concepts have brought significant competition in retail trade influenced by the rapidly changing consumer demand. Moreover, the competition has intensified widely thus affecting both full-price retailers and off-price retailers because they are trying to maintain their share in the market (Car r, Babin, & Zikmund, 2012). In fact, there is the need for retailers to device appropriate strategies in order to reinvent themselves. For instance, they can ensure that they offer convenience, assortment, and value. In addition, some retail stores

Supply Chain Management Case Analayis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Supply Chain Management Case Analayis - Essay Example Effective supply chain management (based on collaboration between a manufacturer and retailer) allows companies to reduce costs and anticipate the demand. Another important factor is improved technology (the internet connection and computer databases) which improves coordination and control mechanisms (Simchi-Levi et al 2008). 2. In order to improve the situation, the companies should cooperate and plan their activities together. Also, they should pay a special attention to scheduling stage. Scheduling of production/operations covers detailed planning of quantities and times, facilitating the efficient and continuous operation of the process. Where smoothing is difficult to achieve, scheduling could play the role of a cushioning device. For example, it is difficult to make customers change their buying behavior, to buy diapers size two instead of size one. Instead of smoothing demand (externally) companies try to deal with the problem internally by producing at a constant rate throughout the year and building up inventories or by stepping up the production rate as the seasonal peak in demand occurs. Even if Kimberly-Clark opens its own stores, it will not benefit the company and can damage sales in Costco stores. The main problem is that Kimberly-Clark has limited product range and most buyers prefer to s ave time and visit supermarkets where they can buy goods and products for the whole family. Kimberly-Clark and Costco should cooperate and implement a new advertising campaign aimed to attract potential customers and popularize Kimberly-Clark products (Simchi-Levi et al 2008). 3. For Costco, the main advantages of supply chain management are low inventory cost and no need for ordering itself, 'full shelves' and low warehousing cost, low price which attracts consumers and saves on staff. For Kimberly-Clark, the main advantages are effective data analysis and forecasting of demand, stable sales and control over sales. This process helps Kimberly-Clark to plan its production and avoid overproduction of certain products. In general, the advantage of supply chain management is flexibility of all operations. In contrast, by encouraging the use of large batches, it deters a firm from becoming flexible in responding to changing customer needs. "A proposed supply chain is one in which all the operations that go toward manufacturing a particular product and its variations are grouped together" (Christopher 2005, p. 54). 4. The main advantage if in-house operation is a quick response, reduced time and control over the supply. Also, it allows the company to deliver better service and improve overall service level. The main disadvantage is limited number of products and dependency upon a single manufacturer. The advantages of external sources are market analysis and opportunities to switch from one supplier to another, buy low cost and high quality products from different suppliers. Many customers are brand loyal seeking a particular brand or a product. Cooperation (strategic alliance) with one company limits market opportunities of the retailer. In order to achieve greater value through reductions in both batch volumes and in barriers between operations, it would also be worthwhile and cost effective to use external sources of supply.

The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan Research Paper

The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan Before the Taliban 3 The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan During the Taliban 4 The Treatment of Women In Afghanistan After the Taliban 5 How Afghanistan is Still Not Where It Needs to be in Respect to Women’s Rights 6 Conclusion 8 Works cited 9 The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan Before the Taliban The treatment of women in Afghanistan before the Taliban is seen to have been relatively quite fair. The Afghan women’s right to freely choose their possession and work is seen to have been written into the 1980 Afghanistan constitution when Afghanistan signed both the UN Convention on the elimination of Discrimination Against Women as well as the International bill of rights for women that had been issued by the UN in 1979 (Verdirame 176). Under the convention, the right to work is considered as being an inalienable right of all human beings and when Afghanistan become a signatory nation, women in the country were seen to quickly emerge as key participants in the country’s economy and held key positions as farmers, teachers, doctors, equal partners in the country’s civil service and engineers. In a 2001, US congress report, it was pointed out that before the Taliban; women were treated in a affair manner that saw them emerge as active leaders in both politics and public life. This is exemplified by the fact that women teachers in the country essentially represented an impressive 70% of the teachers in the country, in addition to their also accounting for an estimated 40% of the doctors as well as a vast majority of the health workers’. Of note also is that, over half of the university students in Afghanistan were women. In fact, in 1977 women were seen to essentially make up an estimated over 15 percent of the country’s highest legislative branch; a percentage that is notably higher than the 14 percent of women that served in the United States con gress as at the time when the report was being presented in 2001 (US Congress 21276). The freedom that women enjoyed before the Taliban was also seen to allow those living in cities to wear western-style clothing and makeup (Banting 23). The Treatment of Women in Afghanistan During the Taliban When the severely repressive Taliban regime first came into power, its treatment of women is seen to have been quite biased an unfair. The Taliban repressed the women’s right to education by issuing an edict in 1997 that sought to try and enforce a nationwide ban on access to public education for all girls and women in the country and transformed most of girls’ schools that were being run by the former state into all-male institutions (Linschoten and Kuehn 108). When determined Afghani attempted to still educating their children while complying with the law by setting up numerous private educational institutions, the Taliban responded by issuing another repressive edict that stip ulated that all private funded education in the country be limited to only those girls that happened to be under the age of eight years in addition to this education being limited to the study of the Koran only. In 1997, the Taliban issued an edict that banned all women from engaging in any work in public places (Crews and Tarzi 98). Although this edict affected all the different sectors of the economy across the country, the health sector is seen to have been most severely affected primarily as a result of the large number of

Urban Education Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Urban Education Policy - Essay Example It further recommended for equal funding between wealthiest and poor district schools so as to improve quality of education in the state irrespective of social and economic status. The court ordered provision of adequate education to children from these areas through implementation of certain reforms and standard education with parity support. Question 1: How would Anyon, Ravitch, and Tyack and Cuban analyze the limits and possibilities of Abbott at reducing the achievement gaps? Basically, Abbott aimed at reducing achievement gap that exists between children from wealthier districts and those from poorer or less privileged districts. Main argument of Abbott is provision of equal funding for the schools irrespective of economic or social status of the respective schools’ location. Abbott advocates for equal education provision. However, analysts such as Anyon, Ravitech, Cuban and Tyack found out certain limitations that might not effectively allow for effective implementation of the Abbott recommendations and narrowing of the achievement gap between less privileged or poor students and the wealthy or fortunate students in New Jersey State (Abbott and Burke, 1990, p 37). ... This can be achieved, but cannot adequately assist in closing the achievement gap to a greater extent. According to Anyon (2005, p 73), provision of equal funding and learning materials might not adequately close the existing achievement gap in the state. Furthermore, the author argues that this should be coupled with family support. According to Tyack and Cuban (1995, p 67), family support has a great impact in increasing chances of students achieving success in their education. Furthermore, Cuban and Tyack argue that the basic cause of achievement gap in education is the prevailing poverty levels in the urban areas. Therefore, educational policies ought to address the prevailing poverty levels in the urban areas to effectively close the achievement gap. This is because poverty greatly contributes to underdevelopment of students and minimizes their chances of achieving success in education. In urban setting, there are low-resourced and high-resourced learning institutions. This has led to differentials in cost of learning depending on the available resources in respective schools or learning institutions (Tyack and Cuban, 1995, p 92). Less privileged students may easily afford low-resourced institutions leading to the achievement gap. Furthermore, family income also assists in shaping behavior of individual student and attitude towards life and achievement. Privileged students’ perceptions are most likely to be positive leading to positive behavior in school too. This increases their achievement chances as opposed to those from less privileged families who have negative attitude leading to less chances of succeeding in studies. The author also argues that changes ought to be made in several areas for the

Leadership and change Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership and change - Assignment Example I exhibit a high level of confidence in situations that require leadership. I have confidence in my ability to deliver exceptional results from any situation. My confidence complements my decision-making skills especially in situations that need quick and real-time decisions. I have the ability to use the available resources in any task to deliver outstanding outcomes. I show a high level of organization when accomplishing leadership roles. In all situations, I try to plan and to apply a high level of order during all tasks. When planning, I set ambitious yet achievable goals that help to create an optimal level of operation and diligence. As a leader, I display flexibility in all situations. Being flexible helps to change strategies and plans whenever unexpected problems or challenges crop up. Flexibility helps me to adapt to uncomfortable environments or situation. Being flexible is useful when using feedback and new information to improve or change processes or policies. I apply a high level of fairness and equality when handling the people I lead. I make sure that all people are treated with respect despite their roles or position. Finally, I have the ability to encourage and motivate other people to work towards a common goal. My weakness during situations of leadership is that I have poor negotiation skills. During negotiations, I usually fail to recognize some factors that have a huge bearing on the process and the final outcomes. I have problems handling presentations.

Company analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Company analysis - Essay Example For instance, McDonalds engages in a serious training program for its managers. The training program is referred to as Hamburger University where professionalism is the base of its success. The McDonalds plan to win encompasses a framework for its global business. Through its strategic focus of the elements of people, product, place, price and promotion, the company has been able to capture the largest number of customers in the fast food industry. This has been in line with combination of financial discipline that has made it possible for the organisation to develop and maintain competitive advantage. For there to be success in any business, Yuece (5) argued that there is a need to have innovative ideas that enable a company to develop the existing products and services including introducing new products for the customers. This goes in line with the continued market research especially on customers’ needs and preferences. With this in mind, McDonalds has been able to able to design online services where customers are able to order online. This creates efficiency and reduction of time wastage. However, the company has been experiencing bad image in relation to unhealthy food habits encouraged by the consumption of fast foods that have been linked to obesity and other bad eating habit complications. This has led to the company being involved in several lawsuits and other legal cases. For instance, many cases have been brought forth in relation to trade mark issue. In addition, due to increased competition, McDonalds has faced stiff competition from its competitors. This has been attributed to what McKean (4) termed as rationality of consumers. This is the situation where customers become rational in consumption depending with the variety of choices that go in line with their needs and preferences. Therefore, if McDonald’s competitors offer what some customers think best suits them, there are high chances that

Individual report 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Individual report 2 - Essay Example This site has vast information about the company. The challenges that were experienced in the process of collecting information about the company was separating relevant information from irrelevant information. This is mainly because of the amount of information which is accessible in this site. Because of the amount of information, I experienced challenges in time management. This is because I found myself taking most of the time looking at the amount of information instead of starting the project. In the future projects, I would improve on the time management issue by developing and following strictly a personal timetable. I would also try to read severally the requirements of the project in order to ease my ability locate key points for the project. Time management would also help save time that can be useful in case of any unexpected delays. The general information about the decision making process that mainly looked at the decision making process was retrieved from published books. Although the information on this section is straight forward from the published books, it was crucial to read a huge amount of information and write the section in my own opinion while avoiding using direct quotes (Lunenburg, 2010). This was crucial so as to relate the theoretical part of the paper and the topic being discussed. In future research that I will work on, I will gather all the information in time in order to have enough time to look at all the document. In normal cases, just like any other student, I assumed that there is plenty of time to complete the project. Even though there is enough amount of time provided by the lecturers, there is always the tendency of postponing the assignment until the last minute because of other engagements in the university. In order to make improvements, it is crucial to develop a personal time ta ble indicating the timeliness of