...Amazone.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy Case 1 – 2 (Applegate et al. Textbook p146-155) DUE DATE 2-14-2014 11:45 P.M. (20 points) Material Read the above case 1-2 in Applegate et al. textbook and the following two Amazon Case Articles posted under the Course Documents on the Blackboard: 1. The Institutional Yes: An Interview with Jeff Bezos 2. “Amid the Gloom, an E-Commerce War” New York Times, October 12, 2008 Assignment Questions: 1. Consider the challenges facing the company. As a member of the Amazon.com board of directors in early 2001, what actions would you take? 3 pts. I would not have partnered with the dot-com retailers because they didn’t need topartner with another dot-com realtor it was a good move to partner with companys that need the partnership. 2. Do you agree with the decision to pursue the Toys “R” Us deal? Why did the company do the deal? Should they do more deals like this? What impact does the Toys “R” US deal have on Amazon.com’s business model in early 2000? What is the present status of relationship between Toys “R” Us and Amazon.com? Provide your comments. 5 pts. The deal with Toys “R” Us were brought upon as a result of Amazon.com reevaluating its business model due to the dot-com crash and declaring bankruptcy. They made a decision not to partner with anymore dot-com retailers but to lean towards the traditional retailers. I do agree with the decision that was made to pursue the deal with Toys “R” Us because it brought expansion...
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...1. Case 1-2: Amazon.com: The Brink of Bankruptcy 1.1. How did the Amazon.com business model evolve from the company’s launch in 1995 to early 2001? 2.1.1. Product-Market Enhancements: Amazon.com launched as an online bookstore in a garage by Jeff Bezos in 1995. In order to be close to one of the largest book distributors he chose Seattle as the location. In 1996, they focused on enhancing its product and service offerings and capabilities. Amazon.com offered powerful search capabilities as well as recommendation center. In addition, and to enhance the online shopping experience they created shopping carts, 1-Click shopping, wish lists and greeting cards. By early 1997, the company went public and their revenues increased by $ 16 million. 2.1.2. Product Expansions: In1998, the company expanded to new products. Thus, Amazon.com enters the online music and video business. By late 1998, the firm expanded into selling toy, kitchen, and home stores. In 1999 the firm expanded marketplace business model with equity partnerships with leading online retailers. 2.1.3. Market Expansions: Between 1998 and 1999, the company expanded into international markets and entered Europe. Thus, they sold products in over160 countries by early 2001. Amazon.com had expanded from online bookstore into an online superstore. 2.1.4. Business Explorations: In 1999, Amazon.com launched new business models including Z- stores and auctions. Thus, the firm provided the software and service but...
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...1. Review of Amazon’s strategy between 2007 and 2009 Strategic analysis Profiling the business: ➢ Mission: Amazon’s mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible price[1]. ➢ Product/service analysis: Since the establishment of Amazon, new products has been kept adding into the original book category and Amazon has moved further to provide service. There are three product categories in Amazon, media category, electronic and general merchandise category and other category like Amazon web service and Amazon Enterprise Solution. This means you can buy almost everything from Amazon. ➢ Sales and gross profit analysis: The net sales growth of Amazon in year 2007 and 2008 was in average 30% and the total sales in 2008 was $19166m. In the same time, the gross profit grew from $3353m in 2007 to $4270 in 2008. Actually, both the sales and profits grew quickly since 2001 and they seemed to grow at a quicker way. External environment analysis ➢ Opportunities and threats: • Opportunities: to further improve the speed of delivery; international expansion in emerging markets such as China and India; extension of brands into new areas; through acquisitions and partnership to consolidate Amazon’s technological capability. • Threats: unexpected changes in regulatory requirements both U.S. and abroad ( take taxes policies...
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...and Amazon.com are two companies that both sold books but used different methods in operating their businesses. Even though they both were successful businesses, both companies had different leadership styles, visions and goals. Out of the two businesses, only one remain successful and present today. In this paper, I will show how both businesses started, how the leaders differ in leadership styles and techniques, and how Amazon continues to be a great success today. Description of the Businesses I will describe each business and how each business started. I will also describe three main challenges each company faced while establishing or running the business. Amazon.com was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as an online bookstore. As CEO he has built it into the largest retailer on the web, selling everything from groceries to electronics and shoes. Jeff Bezos was working in a quantitive analysis group at an investment firm, when he saw an opportunity to sell books on the internet. In 1994 he went on a cross-country drive from New York to Seattle to start Amazon. He typed his business plan as he went. And he picked up $300,000 dollars from his parents in Fort Worth, Texas. He set up his business in his garage and began selling books via the internet. His business became worth $4.4 billion according to Forbes' latest billionaire rankings in 2009. Since the start of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos came very close to failure. The company was on the brink of bankruptcy. Jeff...
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...INFO 410 Case Studies 1-2 Handout General Instructions Case studies are to be performed as described in the syllabus and in the Chapter 1 lecture notes. The questions provided here are NOT designed to be comprehensive steps, just some of the points I’d expect you to address while doing the case studies. So please go beyond the issues identified here; these are just help to get you started. 1. Case Study I-1 IBM’s Decade of Transformation: Turnaround to Growth (starts on page 5) This case study addresses several problems over the history of IBM, so it’s more like a series of little case studies. Focus your attention on the state of IBM when Louis Gerstner took over in April 1993, and address how he could have proceeded from that point. Of course the actual answer is the creation of One IBM, but what other options could he have pursued? Only use the exhibit data through 1994, and you can ignore the discussion of EBOs and other events well after 1994. Since IBM is both a user of IT, as well as an innovator and creator of IT equipment, they have an unusual position compared to many organizations. Focus on the problems IBM faced during this time and the alternatives they faced for dealing with the problems. What is the origin of the problem? Is it a technical issue, or customer relations, or competition, or something else? What functional areas within IBM were responsible for handling each problem (e.g. HR, accounting, marketing, engineering, etc.)? ...
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...skill sets -- Formulating Customer Centricity (deploying a new game strategy) -- Implementing Customer Centricity (reconfiguring the value chain) -- Reaping the gains from Customer Centricity Part IV – Staving off Competition: Click & Mortar model -- Industry going through a phase of Intermediating Change -- Where does Best Buy go from here? -- Experimenting may payoff but need to commit References used Page no 2 3 4-5 5-9 5 6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-12 9-10 10-11 11 12 13-14 13 13 13-14 15 1 Objective of Report Best Buy Co., Inc has been a leading player in the Electronics & Appliances retailing industry for several years now. It has withstood several cycles of churn in the Industry; seen many of its competitors go bust, and faced near bankruptcy on more than one occasion to emerge as an electronic retailer of choice for millions of shoppers in the US and other parts of the world. The group seeks to examine the changes that Best Buy had initiated at different points in time in its long history that have enabled it to emerge as a competitive and profitable player in the industry. The company...
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...Leadership Analysis Project: What Leaders Do? Jaeeun Yoo Northeastern University October 5, 2014 Author Note This paper was prepared for Develop Leadership Capability, LDR6100 70050, taught by Dr Goode. Summary Well-known for his ability of reconstructing failing companies, Carlos Ghosn is a great leader in modern business. He restored the Nissan motor group from the brink of bankruptcy, achieving record profits in two years. He is the best model for transformation leadership, which could be a spotlight in our society today. Transformational leadership gives more attention to the charismatic and effective elements, concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals (Northouse, 2013, p. 185). As many industries are becoming extremely competitive, the importance of effectively motivating subordinates is being emphasized. In addition, Ghosn’s transformational leadership demonstrates how leaders diagnose the cause of the problem and manage crisis. He is a successful businessman and a competent leader. A whole series of events brought him fame as a leader and demonstrate ideal leader’s roles in highly competitive society. When he joined Michelin tire in France, he was only 25 years old. He experienced life as a staff and manager in a factory in his first business career. Throughout the period of being a factory manager, he learned the importance of ‘Field based management’ and ‘fulfillment’...
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...specific industry for many years now. It is a proven fact that the competitive advantage has been taken away from the airlines as consumers have much of the information required at their fingertips on the web at all times.Javier Alfonso FIN6644 - Global Financial Strategy for Professor Krishnan Dandapani | Table of Contents Introduction 2 History of AMR 4 Financial Analysis of the Airline Industry 5 History of Expedia 8 Financial Analysis for Expedia, Inc. 9 Comparison of Both Businesses and Their Industries 13 Conclusion 15 Introduction The airline industry is one of the few truly global industries that flourished for many decades, but has hit hard financial times as of late. Since the 9/11 attacks, the onset of bankruptcy proceedings and mergers that have occurred throughout the industry have been vast and well documented. The industry continues to make huge strides in terms of online sales and customer service through technology....
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...book: Flattener #1: “11/9/89, The New Age of Creativity: When the Walls Came Down and the Windows Went Up.” On 11/9/89, the Berlin Wall fell (“the Walls Came Down”) and the citizens of the former Soviet empire were suddenly able to participate in the global economy. Friedman uses the fall of the Berlin Wall as a symbol for a general global shift towards democratic governments and free-market economies (where consumers determine prices based on what they’re willing to pay) and away from authoritarian governments and centrally planned economies (in which prices are set by government officials). India made the conversion from a centrally planned economy to a free-market system two years after the Berlin Wall fell, when its economy was on the brink of collapse. Their annual rate of India’s growth soared from 3% per year to 7%. Friedman argues that the Berlin Wall also represented a barrier to seeing the world as a “a single market, a single ecosystem, and a single community” (p. 53). When it fell, it became easier for the world to see itself as one gigantic economic playing field. Six months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in May 1990, Microsoft shipped its breakthrough...
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...S T R A T E G Y – II S T R A T E G Y – II S T R A T E G Y – II S T R A T E G Y – II S T R A T E G Y – II www.ibscdc.org 1 Transformation Corporate Transformation Korean Air: Chairman/CEO Yang-Ho Cho’s Radical Transformation A series of fatal accidents, coupled with operational inefficiencies snowballed Korean Air into troubled times. Then, at the beginning of the 21st century, its CEO/ Chairman, Yang-Ho Cho undertook various transformation initiatives - for instance, improving service quality and safety standards, technology integration, upgrading pilot training, better business focus; putting in place a professional management team, improving corporate image through sponsorship marketing, etc. He gave a new corporate direction in the form of '10,10,10' goal. However, Korean Air is held up by a slew of challenges. Among which are inefficiencies of - Chaebol system of management, possible clash of its cargo business with its own shipping company, limited focus on the domestic market and growing competition from LCCs. How would Korean Air manage growth as a family-owned conglomerate? The case offers enriching scope for analysing a family business’s turnaround strategies, with all the legacy costs involved. Pedagogical Objectives • To discuss the (operational) dynamics of Korean Chaebols - their influence/ effects on the country’s industrial sector and the economy as a whole • To analyse how family-owned businesses manage the transition phase - from a supplier-driven...
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...PART 2 The Global Marketing Environment CHAPTER 2 The Global Economic Environment Case 2-1 The Global Economic Crisis I n his 1997 book One World, Ready or Not, William Greider described the United States as “the buyer of last resort.” Greider explained that, for many years, the United States was the only nation that was willing to absorb production surpluses exported by companies in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Greider asked: “Who will buy the surpluses when the United States cannot?” The conventional wisdom has long held that strong spending by consumers in other nations would keep the world economy humming. However, by 2008, Greider’s question was taking on a new urgency and the conventional wisdom was being tested. An economic crisis that had its roots in lax subprime mortgage lending practices began to spread around the globe. In the United States, where the crisis began, economic misery was widespread: The housing market collapsed, real estate values plummeted, credit tightened, and job growth slowed (see Exhibit 2-1). As the price of oil passed the $100 per barrel benchmark, the average price of a gallon of gasoline rose to $4. American consumers were, indeed, less willing and less able to buy. However, the crisis was not confined to the United States alone. Consumer-goods exporters in Asia, which Exhibit 2-1: The bursting of the global real estate bubble was only one aspect of the worst recession in decades. The ripple effects from the economic...
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...SIXTH EDITION STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN ACTION Mary Coulter Missouri State University Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editor in Chief: Stephanie Wall Senior Acquisitions Editor: April Cole Editorial Project Manager: Claudia Fernandes Director of Marketing: Maggie Moylan Senior Marketing Manager: Nikki Ayana Jones Marketing Assistant: Gianna Sandri Senior Managing Editor: Judy Leale Production Project Manager: Kelly Warsak Senior Operations Supervisor: Arnold Vila Operations Specialist: Cathleen Petersen Creative Director: Blair Brown Senior Art Director: Kenny Beck Text Designer: LCI Design Cover Designer: LCI Design Cover Art: Svetoslav Iliev/Shutterstock.com Permission Specialist: Brooks Hill-Whilton Media Project Manager, Production: Lisa Rinaldi Senior Media Project Manager, Editorial: Denise Vaughn Full-Service Project Management and Composition: Integra Printer/Binder: RRD/Willard Cover Printer: Lehigh-Phoenix Color Text Font: 10/12, Times LT Std Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on appropriate page within text. Copyright © 2013, 2010, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. All rights...
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...THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR A BOOK OF PRACTICAL COUNSEL REVISED EDITION B E NJAM I N G RAHAM Updated with New Commentary by Jason Zweig To E.M.G. Through chances various, through all vicissitudes, we make our way. . . . Aeneid Contents Epigraph iii Preface to the Fourth Edition, by Warren E. Buffett viii A Note About Benjamin Graham, by Jason Zweig x Introduction: What This Book Expects to Accomplish COMMENTARY ON THE INTRODUCTION 1. 1 12 35 The Investor and Inflation 47 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 2 3. 18 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 1 2. Investment versus Speculation: Results to Be Expected by the Intelligent Investor 58 65 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 3 4. A Century of Stock-Market History: The Level of Stock Prices in Early 1972 80 General Portfolio Policy: The Defensive Investor 88 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 4 5. 101 124 Portfolio Policy for the Enterprising Investor: Negative Approach 133 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 6 7. 112 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 5 6. The Defensive Investor and Common Stocks 145 iv 155 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 7 8. Portfolio Policy for the Enterprising Investor: The Positive Side 179 The Investor and Market Fluctuations 188 v Contents COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 8 9. Investing in Investment Funds COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 9 213 226 242 10. The Investor and His Advisers 257 COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER 10 272 11. Security...
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...*IS1347* //integrafs1/cengage/3-Pagination/Cengage_US/Business_and_Economics/FFM13e/3B2/brigham_endpaper.3d, 11/16/11, 17:35, page: 1 FREQUENTLY USED SYMBOLS/ABBREVIATIONS ACP Average collection period ADR American depository receipt AFN Additional funds needed AMT Alternative minimum tax APR b Annual percentage rate Beta coefficient, a measure of an asset’s riskiness bL Levered beta bU Unlevered beta BEP BVPS CAPEX CAPM CCC Basic earning power Book value per share Capital expenditures Capital Asset Pricing Model Cash conversion cycle CF Cash flow; CFt is the cash flow in Period t CR Conversion ratio CV Coefficient of variation Dp Dividend of preferred stock Dt Dividend in Period t DCF Discounted cash flow D/E Debt-to-equity ratio DEP Depreciation D1/P0 DPS DRIP Expected dividend yield Dividends per share Dividend reinvestment plan DRP Default risk premium DSO Days sales outstanding e Approximately equal to 2.7183 EAA Equivalent annual annuity EAR Effective annual rate, EFF% EBIT EBITDA EPS EVA F Earnings before interest and taxes; operating income Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization Earnings per share Economic value added (1) Fixed operating costs (2) Flotation cost FCF Free cash flow FVN Future value for Year N FVAN g GAAP HVN I IFRS IPER I/YR INT IP IPO IRR LIBOR ...
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...Auditing Cases instructor resource Manual f our th e d itio n Mark S. Beasley Frank A. Buckless Steven M. Glover Douglas F. Prawitt do not coPy or redistribute Prentice hall Upper Saddle River, New Jersey ta b l e s e ct ion o f co n t e n t s 1 2 client acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S o l u tionS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 1.1 Ocean Manufacturing, Inc. 3 The New Client Acceptance Decision s e ct ion Understanding the Client’s Business and assessing risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 S o l u tionS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 2.1 Your1040Return.com Evaluating eBusiness Revenue Recognition, Information Privacy, and Electronic Evidence Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.2 2.3 2.4 Dell Computer Corporation Evaluation of Client Business Risk Flash Technologies, Inc. Asher Farms Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Risk Analysis and Resolution of Client Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Understanding of Client’s Business Environment s e ct ion 3 Professional and ethical issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 S o l u tio nS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 A Day in the Life of Brent Dorsey Staff Auditor Professional Pressures Nathan Johnson’s Rental Car Reimbursement Solving Ethical Dilemmas–Should...
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