Business Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Analysis - Research Paper Example According to Bruce (2011), Wal-Mart is given the top ranking in terms of the total sales that are made by the store alone. The retail offers variety of products that comprise of family apparel, electronics, household needs, electronics, fabrics, jewellery, shoes, crafts, health and beauty products and lawn and garden accessories along with pharmacy store, Photo processing centre and Tire and Lube Express (Walmart Stores, 2012). Wal-Mart is operating in four retail divisions that are called as Sam’s Club warehouses, neighborhood markets, Super centres and Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart stores and Super centres are one-stop shopping centres for the families; Sam’s Club in the members only club for warehouse purposes and neighborhood markets offer convenience shopping to the customers for general merchandise, groceries and pharmaceutical companies (Basker, 2007). Currently, Wal-Mart has about 10,185 stores and also location of clubs in almost twenty-seven countries; it is emplo ying more than 2.2 million people who are serving approximately 176 million numbers of customers every year (Walmart Stores, 2012). ... Advancements in information technology have helped the store to ensure that inventory level is properly maintained (Freeman, 2006). Investing in Wal-Mart: A good choice or not? Before making a final decision about investing in Wal-Mart for a mutual fund, it is important to look at the SWOT Analysis of the company. Strengths Wal-Mart has a strong powerful brand name in the market especially in the retail industry. It offers value for money, convenience of shopping from one place and diverse range of products at one place (Bruce, 2011). The growth of the store has been at an exponential rate and it has become a global brand. Wal-Mart has the strongest logistics system even at the international level; hence, the procurement of Wal-Mart is excellent and it gives it a core competence in using IT for supporting its logistics system. It has talented people and Human Resource department has a focused strategy for the training and development of all the employees working for Wal-Mart; hence, the workforce of the store is competent and loyal (Jenna, 2012). Weaknesses: Since Wal-Mart has become global and it has a huge span of control, so controlling such a huge empire becomes difficult for the management. The retail store might lack flexibility as compared to its competitors as it is selling products across various sectors such as food, stationary, clothing and etc. Although, the store has become global but it does not have a strong presence worldwide (Elkins, 2005). Opportunities Wal-Mart can merge or form strategic alliances with some well-reputed retailers at a global level that focus on specific markets such as Greater China or Europe region. In the countries, the stores are present as trade in only and have many opportunities for

Neo-Liberalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Neo-Liberalism - Essay Example use, with private businesses, wealth trickles downwards from the rich capital owners to the middle class and low income earners, since businesses and industries create jobs. These jobs, together with the revenue they churn, help pump money into the economy, and thereby leading to more jobs. Because of the above standpoints, the government should let markets be controlled by market forces, so that there is free international trade (Philoguy, 1). Opponents of neo-liberalism criticize it for its unregulated free markets as is promoted by neoliberals by arguing that free markets deny governments of sources of revenue, since governments are not supposed to exact tariffs on goods and services that are being traded. Again, the same argue that leaving markets and industries in the hands of market forces automatically means, making a dereliction on price controls and consumer protection. This therefore paves way for exploitation of the masses by entrepreneurs and rich capital owners. There are others who see unregulated free markets as unfeasible because it is based on assumptions that markets are equal yet they are not (Luxton and Braedley,

Developing Management Skills Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Developing Management Skills - Article Example The two components can be integrated in numerous ways that are structures, policies, values and Training and development practices that are being followed in the organization. Phase 2 that is the DO phase is all about selecting and implementing specific training programs and their content. The method of extracting the content for a training program is done from company's strategic objectives, culture, values and their decided skill needs. The most important training and development area is leadership training that is conducted by organizations through short courses. Mostly training and development resources are derived from inside of the organization and a minor amount is extracted from the outside environment. Phase 3 is the Check phase, unfortunately this is the most ignored phase in most organizations but organizations that give importance to this phase have developed successful Training and development programs. This relates to evaluation of the training and development program that is currently running. The aspects evaluated are whether or not the desired results of the training program are being achieved.

Primary Network Characteristics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Primary Network Characteristics - Assignment Example They will require a wide range of equipment and plant, which will go along the schedule and sequence of activities that have been put in place. Thus, as indicated by Hecht (2012, par. 1), the accomplishment of this project will involve the use of fiber optic cables that are established in the submarine manner. As such, due to the challenges posed by the sea conditions and icebergs, it will be necessary to lay the cables using ships that are meant to work in icy conditions. These are the ice-rated ships (Hecht 2012, par. 3-5). The laying of the cable will need a distribution with the use of bandwidth that is composed of microwaves and terrestrial cables. Among the other equipment that will be necessary for this project include the cables, and repeaters of different wavelengths and capacities (Articfibre 2014, par. 1-5). Buffers or the outer jackets, claddings that are made of glass, as well as calculators will be important in finding the distance and fiber loss during the operation (I MC networks 2009, p. 9). It will be vital to note that these activities can only be performed during particular months of the year. In order to install the fiber optic, it could be wise to use a bandwidth of about 1 or 10 GB/s since it has the capacity to enhance the performance required. However, in the installation of the fiber optics, there are certain specific considerations that have to be made. They include the security of the fiber optic cables and their related expenses. The cables are left exposed and therefore hackers can gain access. The installation of fiber optics is associated with many expenses thus proper planning must be enhanced to ensure cost minimization.

The Oresund Bridge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Oresund Bridge - Essay Example In this case, people or basically the target audience of this bridge has the option of the ferry available. A rise in the prices will lower the demand for the bridge by a larger ratio as people will prefer to travel by ferry. Similarly, a fall in price will increase the demand by a larger ratio because more people would be able to afford it now. The second factor is that people like to travel from Denmark to Sweden, or vice versa, but they do not need it. Therefore people will only travel if the price is right, which is to say low. Whenever the price decreases, more people can afford it and this results in price elasticity. Q2) The Swedish government has estimated the price elasticity to be at -1.4. This has several implications for the traffic on the bridge. The Swedish government knows that first of all, an inverse relationship exists. This means that a decrease in price will definitely increase the demand and this can help the government in properly pricing it. The second implication is that any change in price will have 1.4 times the change on the demand. This means that for the government, it is beneficial to decrease the price to increase the demand. For example, if the government reduces the price by 10%, then it will result in a 14% increase in demand. Therefore, this information can be helpful in pricing the tickets for the bridge. Q3) This calculation of price elasticity of -1.4 is not beneficial in the long run because first of all, price elasticity tends to change overtime. Secondly, the government is thinking of changing the price and there is always different price elasticity for every pri ce level. Therefore if the price changes in the near future, then the price elasticity will change instantly. Lastly, advertisement campaigns play a huge role in changing the price elasticity, thus calculation is not useful in the long run. Case study 3.3: The Texas state bird Q1) PED= % Change in demand % Change in price Burbank-Oakland route PED= 120.68% =- 2.51 48% Kansas City-St. Louis route PED= 50.0% = 0.714 70.0% Q2) The above calculated price elasticity applies for the entire industry operating these routes. It does not specifically represent the price elasticity of Southwest Airlines because the values considered for the calculation are for the entire industry. This includes Southwest as well as its competitors. Q3) The Burbank-Oakland route has a high price elasticity of demand which means that the demand is price sensitive. The implication for the price setters is that these airlines should reduce the price of this route a little bit because this increases the demand by a great deal and increases the profitability. On the other hand, it must be kept in mind that the demand will decrease rapidly if the price of this route increases even by a little bit. If the price increases, then it will lower the demand by a large ratio and this will reduce the profits earned. Therefore this high price elasticity of demand can have very crucial implications for Southwest. (AmosWEB) Q4) Although the Kansas City-St. Louis route shows positive price elasticity, it may still prove to be profitable for Southwest to reduce their price. When a company reduces their prices or fares their market share increases and this often results in a long term profit. When Southwest will have a greater market share, they can change the prices according to their strategy. Also, although the price elasticity is positive, it is not at a high level and thus lowering the prices and making small short term losses is not a bad deal if it means increasing market share. Case study 5.1: Microso ft – increasing or diminishing returns? Q1) It is unlikely that a firm is experiencing increasing and diminishing return

Cross-Cultural Analysis Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cross-Cultural Analysis Report - Essay Example The purpose of writing this report it to analyze the issues that Bran Company may face while venturing into the international market. Bran Company which is located in Australia and whose cultural perspectives used in the company relates to those of Australians plans to venture into the American market. The company deals with the manufacture of food products. I was appointed as a human resource team member in studying the market environment of the target country. The team identified various cultural issues in the other country. Some of these issues include differing social classes, religion, education background, social institutions etc. The team also carried out a market survey in order to establish the culture of people living in the regions where the company is to open up more business stores. It was found out that the American market is comprised of people from different races. Their consumption behavior depends on their social class, family set up and the level of education. Due to the prevailing market competition, businesses have been forced to expand through merging or through joint ventures. They mingle and associate with other individuals from different countries possessing different cultural backgrounds and language but participate well in business matters. Hofstede (1997) describes that it is important for managers in a particular company to be aware of the culture of that other country before venturing into the market. This is because being unaware about the culture and beliefs of the people in a country results to differences and misunderstandings between the customers and the sellers. It also makes the business environment unstable. To avoid this occurrence, it is necessary to involve intercultural training before planning to venture into the American environment (Aaker and Maheswaran, 1997). In this intercultural training, the participants or the company’s manager

Contract Case Map Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contract Case Map - Essay Example She alleges that because she had asked for two bedrooms in her suite and not two bathrooms, this in effect amended the contract. GE Marquette Medical Systems is a company that had engaged the Biomedical Systems Corp. to make home uterine activity monitors (a.k.a. HUAM) These medical devices are regulated by the FDA. The contract between GE and Biomedical contained stipulations which stated that GE had to obtain pre-market notification clearance from the FDA, which for that purpose, Biomedical needed to give 90 days notice of intent to market the device to the FDA. The 90 day notice is for the FDA to check if the HUAM is substantially similar to other devices already approved for sale. However, GE instead requested that the FDA reclassify the HUAM device, which is a process that took over three years to complete. Thus, Biomedical sued GE for breach of contract and the jury awarded it damages. GE filed an appeal on the allegation that that the clearance procedure Biomedical wanted in the contract violated FDA procedure. The Supreme Court affirmed the lower ocurt's ruling. The Court struck down GE's raising the defense of illegality because this defense is not available. The contract with Biomedical clearly stated that GE would apply for clearance which it failed to do. Furthermore, the Court held that the FDA itself would have decided if clearance was proper. Petitoner won the case Kain v. Bluemound East Industrial Park, Inc., 2001 WL 1042674 (Ct. App., Wisc., 2001) Bluemound East is in the business of real estate, and had sold to Kain a parcel of land, which had been filled. Kain had informed Bluemound that he intended to construct a building which would exert 3,000 pounds per square foot. Bluemound stated that the land was safe for that building, and even warranted it in the contract. Kain had built a building that exerted even less than 3,000 pounds per square foot, and in a few years had sunk 2 inches. This resulted in Kain having to pay substantial sums for damage repair and preventive measures against further sinking. He then filed suit against Bluemound for breach of warranty. The lower court dismissed the claim for lack of evidence, thus Kain appealed. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's ruling. It held that Bluemound had made a warranty as documented in the contract of sale, which is an assurance by one party to a contract of the existence of a fact upon which the other party may rely. A warranty is intended to relieve the promisee of any duty to ascertain the fact for himself, and amounts to a promise to indemnify the promisee for any loss if the fact warranted proves untrue. Seeing as the warranty by Bluemound is clear and unambiguous, and proof that the sinking was not due to Kain's own fault or negligence, the lower court is reversed. Petitoner won the