...Concord Bookstore University of Phoenix Creating Change within Organizations HCS587 David Harrell 16 January, 2012 * The Concord Bookshop is a small town bookstore with a 64-year history and a cultural appeal enjoyed by the citizens of the town. In recent years the economic environment created fierce competition for the bookstore, coupled with a need for innovative technology meant a need for restructuring. The financial status of the bookshop was in grave distress. Fearing financial ruin the board members made a unanimous decision to implement significant changes. However, the board did not take the necessary steps of including the appropriate stakeholders in the change process and obtaining employee support. Several phases of organization change were not executed during the Concord Bookshop discussion, which ultimately led to the failure of the company. Strategic Renewal The board did not consider the employees talent, capabilities or experience as an important component to achieve the future goals of the bookstore (Spector, 2010). The residents of Concord frequented the bookstore, yet the board did not seek customer or employee support for their vision. Appropriate consultation may have saved the bookstore from financial despair. By failing to see the importance of stakeholder input and implementing changes before any valuable dialogue took place led to the gradual destruction of the bookstore. Strategic renewals are required by companies...
Words: 644 - Pages: 3
...not believe high school was almost over and it was time to pick a school. My first choice was Ball State University, because my father went there. I wanted to follow his footsteps and also Ball State was nearby my hometown, Westfield Indiana. I could not comprehend everything and the seniors before me were right, senior year flew by. Waiting and waiting for any news to know that I got accepted felt like an eternity. Then, surprising news came on an astounding day. On December 25, 2014, my acceptance envelope came and looking at the folder spelling out “Admitted” made me thrilled to see what the future has in store for me. I could not believe this was happening, especially having three older sisters going to college before me. I never knew it could come so fast. Then I realized… what am I going to pack for college, what will my major be, how can I budget and save my money, and who will my roommate be?...
Words: 1299 - Pages: 6
...Group 1 & 2 Case study 1 Can This Bookstore Be Saved? Barnes & Noble (B&N) has been portrayed in the past as a big bully that drove small independent bookstores out of business with aggressive pricing tactics and an unbeatable inventory of books. Today, B&N finds its role reversed as the company fights a fierce battle to survive in the inevitable era of e-books. Booksellers were one of the many industries disrupted by the Internet and, more specifically, the rise of e-books and e-readers. B&N hopes to change its business model to adapt to this new environment before it suffers a similar fate as many of its competitors, like Borders, B. Dalton, and Crown Books, or their peers in other industries, like Blockbuster, Circuit City, and Eastman Kodak. More than ever, consumers are reading books on electronic gadgets—e-readers, iPods, tablets, and PCs—instead of physical books. Although B&N still depends on its physical, brick-and-mortar stores to drive its business (B&N operates 691 bookstores in 50 states, as well as 641 college bookstores), the company has thrown its energies behind development and marketing of the Nook series of e-readers and tablets. Once simply a bookseller, B&N now styles itself as a seller of e-books, devices to read them on, and apps that enhance the reading experience. The company has had success gaining market share, but at a steep cost, and to stay afloat, it will need to contend with increased competition from Amazon, Apple, and Google—not...
Words: 3118 - Pages: 13
...Executive Summary Books4Hire.com is an internet base company that leases books to high school, college and graduate students at a fraction of the cost of new books. The company’s mission statement: Books4Hire.com will be a website not only where students can lease their books for less, but it will also be a website where parents can lease books for their children as well. The main plan for Books4Hire.com is develop a successful website that puts Books4Hire.com into the book industry as one of the main source for book leasing. As Books4Hire.com gets popular and business continues to grow, expansion will veer towards creating more programs. We will take our customer feedback very seriously and continue to improve our services. The target market for Books4Hire.com will be students both male and female. The competitors would be at a minimum since there are no other companies out there that offer the same specific service as Books4Hire.com. Pricing will be competitive to ensure we give customers the best possible deal when leasing their books. Books4Hire.com will obtain deals with publishers to guarantee that they get themselves along with their customers the best bargain for their buck. Since Books4Hire.com is a website base company, the main channel of distribution would be the internet. Books4Hire.com has developed a great approach to promote the new service of their company. They have decided to use the guerilla approach, reciprocal and vial marketing....
Words: 4035 - Pages: 17
...product was launched with an important revolution in the whole market. PostScript, in fact, became in a really short time the standard for printing in the graphic arts and publishing industries with a product extremely successful and diffused. Its success can surely be explained with the lack of competition for the novelty grade and the intrinsic characteristics of the product. In this way Adobe possessed a competitive edge due to its first mover strategy and had the possibility to change the game rules through his behavior. In order to establish PostScript as the standard of the market, Adobe decided to make the product open and freely available because it would have been impossible to avoid or to control the imitation of the product through the only use of patents or trademarks. Even if an open standard increases the competition and the imitation, the Adobe’s strategy was focused on the strict implementation of the product through its own competencies, the image of the brand and a sort of “tacit knowledge” about the product. PostScript, such as the other Adobe products, was based on “a product as a system”, that is a product who is the result of a strategic alliance of four firms: Adobe, Apple, Aldus and Linotype. In this way the product gained a different value proposition based on customers’ needs and professional quality. The creation of an efficient standard, the leverage on the market through the strong alliances and a qualified targeting of the demand led Adobe to increase...
Words: 1477 - Pages: 6
...Washington was a hot spot for the rapidly growing high tech work force. Bezos had a hard time finding initial investors, because he did not project a profit for the first five to six years of the company’s formation. Bezos startup funds came from family and friends, he ultimately raised one million dollars for his initial capital. Amazon.com started its operations in Bezos garage selling books, but quickly grew to the Amazon.com we know today. Amazon.com sells DVDs, CDs, furniture, jewelry, electronics, software, video games, toys and even food. Amazon.com sells its products all around the world and can reach any consumer that has an interest connection. Borders, or Borders Group, Inc., started out as a single used bookstore in Ann Harbor, Michigan. Borders was founded by Louis and Tom Borders in 1971. In 1975, Louis and Tom bought out stock of Wahr’s an eighty year old bookstore that was closing its doors and moved their store to a much larger location. Borders was bought out by Kmart in 1992. Kmart tried to expand Borders into Canada, but failed because regulations could not be met. Borders did manage to expand internationally in 1997 by opening a store in Singapore which was quickly followed by stores in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. By 2003 Borders had over 1,200 stores under their name as well under their parent company Waldenbooks. Borders made arrangements with Starbucks in 2004 to operate Cafés in their stores. By 2006, Borders was starting to feel...
Words: 1648 - Pages: 7
...to my best friend (Stacy Morneau) a little over a year ago; now looking forward to the day I receive her as my Proverbs 31 Wife, in addition to my best friend. I have a love for the Arts and appreciate the passion and creativity each artist possess. I am currently wrapping up my last year of college. I’ll be finishing with a degree in Economics. I am in love with Jesus and I fight to live out an example of what it looks like to be saved by grace, and to inherit true Sonship. My mission is to empower this generation to persevere through the trenches and become the individuals we’ve been created to be. I believe that God has a divine will for us to come together as one church and invest our lives into spreading the gospel through any form of communication God has given us to pursue. I want to encourage anyone reading this to open up your heart and receive the promise that was given to you. If you’re not familiar with this promise, it can be found in the most profound leadership book ever composed. Just go to your local Christian bookstore and ask for the book that contains 66 books within, and is divided up between the Old Testament and the New...
Words: 271 - Pages: 2
...2.0 Situation Analysis All New Ebooks (ANE) is a new ebook store that will target African American ebook readers and will virtually be the first online bookstore of this kind. Although competition may come due to the rise of interest in ebooks, ANE will have gotten a jump on the competition and set the stage. The two owners are African American self published authors that have extensive experience in publishing, web technology and social media therefore they have the skill sets to make the estore successful. They understand the shortcomings of the publishing industry in terms of serving the African American community. Ebooks and the ebook publishing business currently are changing the nature of publishing. Eventhough ebooks have been around for years, new technology has given way to a revolution where ebooks are becoming more popular. E-readers have captured the attention of consumers and have increased the demand for ebooks. Research shows that roughly 7% of the adult population is reading ebooks and numbers are growing. New e-readers and e-reader applications have been developed to meet the needs of all types of consumers. “Content is king” as they say and the holder of the content is going to drive the ebook industry as a whole and especially will provide for niche markets that larger companies can’t accommodate. 2.1 Market Summary With the advent of the Apple Ipad, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and other e-readers as well as apps for mobile phones...
Words: 2183 - Pages: 9
...TermPaperWarehouse.com - Free Term Papers, Essays and Research Documents The Research Paper Factory Join Search Browse Saved Papers Search Home Page » Business and Management Bis 320 In: Business and Management Bis 320 Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business Team Names Here BIS/320 Date Applying Information Security and SDLC to Business Amazon.com - Bookstore Amazon.com is known as one of the largest retail online stores in the world. Of course this online retail store was not always the largest and had a shaky slow start because the online layout was not eye-catching. In 1994, Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon.com started his business in his garage in Washington State selling books. However, in 1994, Nick Hanauer took an interest in Bezos business and invested $40,000, and in 1995 Tom Alburg invested $100,000 to join this venture. After receiving these investments Bezos decided to create a website that would be more appealing to customers and hoped to get his business to take off. Over the next three years Amazon increase in book sales, which amazed Bezos because after an analysis was completed he was shocked to find out outside of local customers who were purchasing books from Amazons but customers around the world. In 1997, Amazon reached revenue in the amount of $15.7 million. By 1998, Amazon was starting to show signs of success when Bezos started listing new products for the customers...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...They also believe that Adam was not made of the dust of the earth that he was God and the father of Jesus Christ. Their belief also believes there are “different levels in the afterlife”. They are as followed: A. The Celestial Kingdom B. The Terrestrial Kingdom C. The Telestial Kingdom D. The Outer Darkness… They also believe that Jesus was born of Mary, but as a virgin. They are taught that God and Mary had a “physical relationship. Also believe and are taught “Salvation can be earned by faith and good works”. This is not true in order to be saved you need to ask forgiveness for your sins. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did on the Cross for your sins, and confess your sins. A brief history of the founder Joseph Smith Jr. in 1820 claimed he had a “vision from God telling him all Christianity was an abomination in their site and he was not to join any”. When he told others about his vision they “persecuted him”. He was 15 at this time. In 1823 when he was 18 he met “the angel Moroni “the glorified son of one Mormon”. Moroni came to Joseph “three times” and said to him to look for Gold-Plates on a hill in Palmyra, but to wait four years before he took them and not to show the tablets to anyone”. In 1827 he claimed Moroni brought the plates to him on September 22nd when he went to hill “Cumorah in Palmyra, New York” as he was told to do so four years earlier. For two years he worked on “translating the Gold Tablet which...
Words: 1073 - Pages: 5
...Introduction It’s like a family quarrel that nobody wants and nobody knows how to stop. The Concord Bookshop, a 64-year-old independent store regarded as one of the best in New England, is beset by a bitter clash between owners and staff. The conflict puts pressure on the store at a time when independent booksellers are reeling from competition from chains and the Internet. Eight of Concord Bookshop’s employees, including the trio of top managers, have quit or given their notice. The staffers’ years of service add up to 73. The three managers, including [the] general manager have worked at the store for a total of 34 years. Meanwhile, a group of outraged local authors . . . has fired off a letter to the owners supporting the staff. The precipitating event was a surprise announcement last month by the owners a group of three families represented by a board led by President Morgan “Kim” Smith of Concord—that a new general manager will be hired. No one was laid off, and no one’s salary was cut. Yet many of the staff were outraged at the de facto demotions, as well as by what they saw as the owners’ immovable stance. “We asked for a meeting with the whole board,” says [a departing staff member]. “We presented our concerns, and they thanked us for our input and said, ‘We’re going to do it our way, and if you don’t like it, each of you will have to make up your mind as to how to proceed.’ Something in me died, the fragile alchemy that made it such a great place to work had...
Words: 2614 - Pages: 11
...Assessment Questions in Market Assessment Competition Analysis Marketing Strategy Technical or Production Analysis Prototype or Sample Product Management Capability Financial Analysis Required Financing Economic Impact Conclusions and Recommendations Appendices J2 School Supplies Store Executive Summary This kind of business will be profitable when it comes to students and when the school year starts. We came up of this business because, as a student, we know the needs and wants of our fellow students also when it comes to school supplies. We want to give the customers’ desire so; we will do our best just to buy all the things that we think is really necessary. Having involved in this kind of business is not tasky, you just need to organize every little thing that is happening in your store/business. It could help you to be a better organizer and thinker when it comes to this. And also, you need to be updated about the things that are trending in present so that you can attract more customers especially when it comes to kids. Introduction Our school supplies store is like a mall open for everyone, self-service and you just need to pay it in the counter. We made it like this so that it will be easier for the customers to pick and choose what they want. School Supplies store is just very feasible when the months of May and June came over because these are the months the students are preparing for school. However, in month of March and April, your sales will go down because it...
Words: 1698 - Pages: 7
...the World Chess Federation. This year, the group also hosted an essay contest on how a players' club activities advance the purpose of US Chess, which is "to empower people through chess one move at a time" and their vision, which is "to enrich the lives of all persons and communities through increasing the play, study, and appreciation of the game of chess." In 2015, the inaugural...
Words: 499 - Pages: 2
...the world by contributing their advancements in categories such as, but not limited to, medicine, education, mapmaking, and trade because we use and/or see many of these inventions and advancements to this day. Similar to how voyaging into the unknown had been a part of European culture since Odysseus, the Muslims’ “deep-seated curiosity about the world and quest for truth reached back to Mohommad himself” (Document 1). The Muslims were interested in sciences because they wanted the doctors...
Words: 509 - Pages: 3
...Report on the Textbook Rental System at Appalachian State University Prepared by the University Bookstore Committee March 24, 2006 Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling, Chairperson Dr. Patricia E. Allen Dr. Terry Wayne Cole Michael G. Coston (ex officio) Dr. John P. Geary Christopher Pereira Dr. Thomas Patrick Rardin Rebecca Jean Stamilio Laura Westmoreland, Secretary 2 C ontents Executive summary........................................................................ 3 Introduction ................................................................................... 4 The committee’s process................................................................. 5 Economic background of textbook price increases .......................... 6 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Price increases in recent years ................................................................6 Why are these increases happening? ......................................................7 How have students responded to textbook price increases? ....................10 Possible remedies for high prices ............................................................11 Predictions about the future of textbook prices .......................................14 Faculty viewpoints on the textbook rental system ........................... 15 Student viewpoints on the textbook rental system .......................... 20 Recommendations.......................................................................... 24 Rationale for the recommendations...
Words: 16404 - Pages: 66