...SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1 9 9 4 ness o by Peter F. Drucker ot in a very long time-not, perhaps, since the late 1940s or early 1950s-have there been as many new major management techniques as there are today: downsizing, outsourcing, total quality management, economic value analysis, benchmarking, reengineering. Each is a powerful tool. But, with the exceptions of outsourcing and reengineering, these tools are designed primarily to do differently what is already being done. They are "how to do" tools. Yet "what to do" is increasingly becoming the central challenge facing managements, especially those of big companies that have enjoyed long-term success. The story is a familiar one: a company that was a superstar only yesterday finds itself stagnating and frustrated, in trouble and, often, in a seemingly unmanageable crisis. This phenomenon is by no means confined to the United States. It has become common in Japan and Germany, the Netherlands and France, Italy and Sweden. And it occurs just as often outside business-in labor unions, government agencies, hospitals, museums, and churches. In fact, it seems even less tractable in those areas. The root cause of nearly every one of these crises is not that things are being done poorly. It is not even that the wrong things are being done. Indeed, in most cases, the tight things are being done - but fruitlessly. What accounts for this apparent paradox? The assumptions on which the organization has been built and is being run no longer fit...
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...Bus 620 Final Paper Ashford University BUS 620 In Line or Online? Shopping is a pastime for some and a necessity for others. Some people can spend hours in their favorite stores or malls merely browsing the windows and racks and sometimes do not purchase a thing. For some people, shopping is therapeutic, allowing them to soak their troubles in malls and department stores with a seemingly endless credit limit. For other people, going to the store is a task in which they never wish to participate. People have their reasons to love and hate shopping. Stores use the love of shopping to their advantage, supplying consumers with endless sales promotions and other attempts hoping to get the consumer into their store. Because the economy has seen a steady decline, department stores find themselves in trouble, however. A large competitive industry, consumers may not necessarily choose loyalty over price difference, causing many large franchise stores to close many locations throughout the country. One source that has taken off to provide a sense of relief for these stores is the ever-increasing trend of online shopping. This source, in fact, could be the saving grace for the future of these stores. Not that long ago, if you needed something other than staple items for the dinner table, consumers would drive to their favorite department store of choice and purchase what they needed. One department store that was worth remembering always had a little carousel outside of their place...
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...SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1 9 9 4 ness o by Peter F. Drucker ot in a very long time-not, perhaps, since the late 1940s or early 1950s-have there been as many new major management techniques as there are today: downsizing, outsourcing, total quality management, economic value analysis, benchmarking, reengineering. Each is a powerful tool. But, with the exceptions of outsourcing and reengineering, these tools are designed primarily to do differently what is already being done. They are "how to do" tools. Yet "what to do" is increasingly becoming the central challenge facing managements, especially those of big companies that have enjoyed long-term success. The story is a familiar one: a company that was a superstar only yesterday finds itself stagnating and frustrated, in trouble and, often, in a seemingly unmanageable crisis. This phenomenon is by no means confined to the United States. It has become common in Japan and Germany, the Netherlands and France, Italy and Sweden. And it occurs just as often outside business-in labor unions, government agencies, hospitals, museums, and churches. In fact, it seems even less tractable in those areas. The root cause of nearly every one of these crises is not that things are being done poorly. It is not even that the wrong things are being done. Indeed, in most cases, the tight things are being done - but fruitlessly. What accounts for this apparent paradox? The assumptions on which the organization has been built and is being run no longer fit...
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...According to St. James Press (2004),“Sear, RoeBuck and Co is a leading retailer of apparel, home, and automotive products and services, with annual revenue of more than $40 billion” (para. 1). In the area of retention and employee satisfaction Sears, Roebuck turned a challenging situations into a celebrated win for the organization. Sears amazingly linked employee satisfaction to employee retention, which led to customer satisfaction and higher performance (Streetdirectory, 2011). Sears identified a major component to turn their situation around which consisted of creating a better workplace. Sears main approach started with employee satisfaction by measuring employee’s attitude through an employee survey. The results of the employee survey were later compared to the customer results survey, then compare to profit trends. Sears found that the data revealed the power that employees have on an organization’s growth (Streetdirectory, 2011). After learning of these findings, Sears’s turnaround began by focusing on employee’s satisfaction in different areas of need. Sears was reluctant to take the usually approach through lay-off, outsourcing, reduction of benefits or streamlining operations. Sears started with a survey, that later revealed the true underlining issue, which was employee satisfaction. Sear willingness to overcome employee satisfaction through restructuring employee hourly status, pay rates, and total rewards packages, led to free advertisement and a positive...
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...Can Sears Reinvent Itself? | Sears, Roebuck and Co. used to be the largest retailer in the United States, with sales representing 1 to 2 percent of the United States gross national product for almost 40 years after World War II. Its legendary Big Book catalogue was considered the primary (and sometimes the only) source for everything from wrenches to bathtubs to underwear. During the 1980s, Sears moved into other businesses, hoping to provide middle-class consumers with almost every type of banking, investment, and real estate service in addition to selling appliances, hardware, clothes, and other goods. This diversification tore Sears away from its core business, retail sales. Sears has steadily lost ground in retailing, moving from the Number 1 position to Number 3 behind discounters Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Kmart Corporation. Sears had been slow to remodel stores, trim costs, and keep pace with current trends in selling and merchandising. Sears could not keep up with the discounters and with specialty retailers such as Toys R Us, Home Depot, Inc., and Circuit City Stores, Inc. that focus on a wide selection of low-price merchandise in a single category. Nor could Sears compete with trend-setting department stores. Yet Sears has been heavily computerized. At one time it spent more on information technology and networking than other noncomputer firms in the United States except the Boeing Corporation. It was noted its extensive customer databases of 60 million past...
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...Name: Dat Ba Le GEB6930 – Research Report I. Executive Summary This study is undertaken by the University of South Florida’s Business Communication Group. The goal of this research is to identify whether choosing Dillard, a department store chain in the US, to purchase business attire a good decision for INTO USF student or not. The research draws attention to the fact that it is very important for INTO USF students to select the best business attire’s supplier among four big companies in the University Mall, which are Macy’s, Sear, Burlington and Dillard’s. Results of the data analyzed shows that Dillard’s is not a very good choice in comparison with the other companies. In particular, despite the fact that the prices on clothes in Dillard’s are affordable in general, it takes consumers a lot of time to find what business attire they want to buy because of the ambiguous classifications of labels, prices and materials. In contrast, Macy’s, Sear and Burlington organize their clothes very well. People can easily locate their favorite labels or a specific type of clothes. In addition, although there are plenty of casual business attire in Dillard’s, the volume of formal business clothes is extremely small in compare with other competitors. It is recommended for INTO USF students that: * If they have a lot of time and only want to purchase casual business attire, they should go to Dillard’s. * If they do not have much time and have not decided what to buy, they should...
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...Axeon Group Christine Smith, Xiaoyan Zheng, Carmen A Oketch, David Walton 1. How seriously should Brennan take the allegations against Sears? We agree that the allegations against Sears should be taken seriously. Because Sears has a lot to lose. At first, Sears loses its service center licenses. Second, its stock price falls down due to the revocation of the auto repair licenses. Third, there is a bad effect on its revenues. Sears has experienced a 15% drop in its auto center revenues nationwide. At last, the customer’s trust in Sears is badly damaged. It is highly difficult to restore when breaking the customer’s trust. Also, it seems that the study did have some flaws. The cars did appear to have wear and tear from mechanical problems, so some of the technician’s repair suggestions may have been valid based on what they saw. 2. Which of the alleged practices, if any, do you find problematic? Why? We agree that providing unnecessary repair services was the most problematic thing Sears did. Sears established the commissions pay structure in order to boost sales. This control management did not ask auto technicians to do anything unethical. However, mistakes may have been made. In order to meet sales quotas, the employees may offer more repairs including unnecessary repairs to customers. This rewarding system actually encouraged these wrongdoings. Another problematic practice that the presenters did not address was advertising a “low-ball” price of $59.95 for a brake job...
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...Strategic Marketing Plan Executive Summary Product Description/Objective This candle holder is a bottle neck pillar candle holder offered by Pier 1 Imports. The candle accessory is decorated in abstract design in neutral colors. Pier 1 Imports searches out artisans throughout the world to help them find and develop and develop fashion trends designed specifically for their customers. Target Audience The primary customers are those who enjoy decorating their home with a desire for distinct décor and good value. The target market for this product from Pier 1 Imports is women ages 25-34. These consumers are combining purchased goods, such as this pillar candle holder with their own home décor ideas to complete the look of their home. These consumers are generally either impulse buyers or they are purchasing under limited decision making, where they have done a surface research of different candle holders that have piqued their interest. Competition Current competitors for Pier 1 Imports include box retail stores such as Walmart and Target, large retail stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and IKEA and specialty stores such as Yankee and Crate & Barrel. Pier 1 Imports is positioned to handle competition through at least two forms of sustainable competitive advantages. First, Pier 1 Imports has built the brand and made a very good brand for themselves. Pier 1 Imports is iconic with home décor and is pretty much a household name. Many households in America...
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...In Line or Online? David Slade Ashford University BUS 620 Dr. Susan Sasiadek August 12, 2011 In Line or Online? Shopping is a pastime for some and a necessity for others. Some people can spend hours in their favorite stores or malls merely browsing the windows and racks and sometimes do not purchase a thing. For some people, shopping is therapeutic, allowing them to soak their troubles in malls and department stores with a seemingly endless credit limit. For other people, going to the store is a task in which they never wish to participate. People have their reasons to love and hate shopping. Stores use the love of shopping to their advantage, supplying consumers with endless sales promotions and other attempts hoping to get the consumer into their store. Because the economy has seen a steady decline, department stores find themselves in trouble, however. A large competitive industry, consumers may not necessarily choose loyalty over price difference, causing many large franchise stores to close many locations throughout the country. One source that has taken off to provide a sense of relief for these stores is the ever-increasing trend of online shopping. This source, in fact, could be the saving grace for the future of these stores. Not that long ago, if you needed something other than staple items for the dinner table, consumers would drive to their favorite department store of choice and purchase what they needed. One department store that was...
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...Baseball, Steroids and Business Ethics: How Breaches of Trust Can Change the Game: Knowledge@Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1902) Baseball, Steroids and Business Ethics: How Breaches of Trust Can Change the Game Published : February 20, 2008 in Knowledge@Wharton The day after former Senator George Mitchell released his damning report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball last December, President George Bush, a former baseball-team owner himself, seemed to speak for many disgusted fans when he pronounced, "Steroids have sullied the game." The Mitchell Report fingered 89 professional ball players, but many of these allegations were nothing new for baseball watchers. Game of Shadows, a 2006 exposé by a pair of investigative journalists, and Juiced, a 2005 tell-all memoir by player José Canseco, described a world of professional baseball rife with performance-enhancing drug abuse. The ongoing scandal, which first surfaced in the late 1990s, has bubbled on for a decade, leading commentators to label it the "steroids era." With fans aware of such egregious bad behavior, why has attendance at Major League Baseball games reached record-breaking highs during that same time period? Are baseball's "consumers" impervious to the ethical lapses of their teams? No, say Wharton professors, but the case demonstrates how bias, competition and a lack of oversight worked together to create an ethically toxic atmosphere. This is a single/personal...
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...I. Problem For Sears Holding Company (SHC) to come up with a business strategy that will address competition, culture, and synergy and create a distinct brand image and identity for the company, which will help them succeed in the long run. II. Subproblem For the two companies, Kmart Holding Corporation (“Kmart”) and Sears, Roebuck & Co. (“Sears”) to be able to act as one company and create value. III. Objectives 1. To create a brand image identity 2. To create a culture of success 3. To generate consumer loyalty 4. To appropriately position the company in the retailing business industry 5. To be able to address competition 6. To make SHC a profitable company in the long term 7. To build a broader customer base IV. Case Facts and Analysis The merger of Kmart and Sears in late 2004 occurred to gain competitive advantage over its competitors by combining strengths of Sears and Kmart for the long-term value for SHC. This merger will benefit both companies in an ever changing and competitive retail industry. SHC will be able to enter into new markets with its combined expertise of Kmart in discounter stores and Sears in department stores. This merger benefits both companies in different ways separately and to the new merged entity – SHC. Kmart will benefit from the planned cost sharing of several of Sears leading proprietary brands as well as present opportunities to capture significant revenue and cost synergies including merchandise and non-merchandise...
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...Introduction Sears, the ten largest retailer in the united states was founded by Richard W. Sears in 1925. By 1963, Sears became the number one retailer in the US. Kmart was founded by S.S. Kresge Co in 1967, becoming the second largest retailer in the US. In November 2004, Sears and Kmart announced the merging of the company. The initial purpose of both companies merging is to leverage the combined strenghts of Sears and Kmart. They merger also to obtain greater long term value. The new corporation, which selected preferred name is Sears Holding Corps over Kmart, planned to offer customers a new experience. The Problem The preliminary problem statement is “through organizational behavior, how would Sears Holding Corp improve their current CEO approval rating. The approval rating sits at 30%. Some suspect the approval rating is a reflection decisions made under the CEO watch. One decision that was questioned was fund manager tur ned CEO Eddie Lampert purchasing a $40 million dollar home, while 173 stores were being closed. Forbes magazine called him the second worst CEO in an American company with views suggesting that he has destroyed Sears. Since Sears and Kmart merged, the organization has been on the decline. There was a lost of 4.7 billion in revenue, which is the second worst among peer group. No matter how hard Sears is trying to change their image, they are not having much success. Preliminary Solutions Now that the problem was discovered. The...
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...Sears Holdings Corporation is a company that came from two very well known organizations, Sears and Kmart. Both companies go back even farther than the 1900s and unfortunately both companies experienced financial difficulty at one point. With the merger Sears Holdings Corporation has the experience of both organizations as well as their different style of operating. Along with an improved customer base and a new outlook Sears Holdings Corporation is experiencing financial growth. Richard W. Sears was an agent at a railway station. This job provided him with loads of free time, so he would sell lumber and coal to local residents for extra money. During his employment with the railway station he came across some discarded watches and decided to repair and sell them. He made a good profit and decided to try it again. In 1886 Sears began the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis. After moving his business to Chicago, IL Sears advertised for a watchmaker and came across Alvah C. Roebuck who claimed to do excellent work. In 1893 Sears Roebuck and Co. was formed. Adapting the motto, “Shop at Sears and Save” Sears quickly became the place where farmers shopped to save money and cut out the middleman. Sears’s prices were much cheaper than rural stores. By 1895 Sears was producing a 532-page catalog with many other items, such as stoves, women’s clothing, wagons, furniture, china, firearms, glassware and baby carriages etc. “Sales in 1893 topped $400,000 and two years later...
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...A resurgent Kmart, home of the blue light special, is buying the once-dominant Sears department store chain in a surprising $11 billion gamble it is counting on to help both better compete with Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers. Led by Kmart Holding Corp. chairman Edward Lampert, the new Sears Holdings Corp. would be the nation’s third largest retailer. Both chains would survive, but several hundred stand-alone Kmarts throughout the country are expected to be transformed into Sears stores. The goal: A quick kick-start to sales away from Sears traditional base of shopping malls. Lampert and Sears chairman and CEO Alan Lacy, in announcing the deal on Wednesday, promised up to $500 million a year in savings within three years from store conversions, back-office job cuts, more efficient buying of goods and possible store closings. Shares of both Kmart and Sears, Roebuck and Co. surged on the news, but some analysts are skeptical that it amounts to a home run. “Both have been broken in some sense,” said Dan Hess, president and chief executive of Merchant Forecast, a New York-based independent research company. “Kmart has to learn to survive in a Wal-Mart world and Sears needs to learn to survive in a world of Home Depot and Lowe’s.” Lampert, 42, was as an assistant to Robert Rubin at Goldman Sachs & Co. before leaving to form a hedge fund at the age of 25. He orchestrated the deal and will lead a new board that will be dominated by Kmart directors. “We need to have a very...
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...Employee Absenteeism Kmart Corporation Alvin Williams Professor Whatley LG415 Quality Control Park University INTRODUCTION The purpose of this research paper is to identify employee absenteeism and explain the process of how Kmart was able to successfully merge with Sears effectively without completely diminishing employee morale and loyalty. Let us first begin by going into detail to primarily explain what employee absenteeism is. In the workforce it is described as a failure to appear for work in a routine period of time. It also means the number of occurrences of missed work without valid reasoning. Picture the scenario that you are shopping in Kmart and you have finally completed your shopping to proceed to check out. The time just so happens to be three o’clock, which are the shift change hours for cashiers. There are three customers ahead of you and only two lanes open. You notice that there is a delay in check out times. You finally get to the counter to pay and over hear the cashier complaining that she will have to stay another two hours because her replacement has called out sick once again, without proper notice. At this point the cashier becomes a little irritated in her responses and appears to be in no way interested in pleasing the customer. What happened to the employee that was smiling just three customers before you? I can easily explain. The motivation the...
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