...L L Bean: Corporate Strategy L.L. Bean: Past Success For many years, L.L. Bean has proven itself as an increasingly successful company relative to its core competitors within its outdoor clothing and recreation equipment industry. The success has driven the company to its current position as the “largest mail order company in the specialty outdoor business.” Leon Leonwood Bean drove his company towards success and maintained this status through innovation and his progressive attitude within his community. Throughout its history, various critical factors have contributed to the success of L.L. Bean. Leon Leonwood Bean created a strong corporate foundation which has been strategically expanded since his passing. Presently, the company has achieved strong brand equity with an identifiable and relatable heritage that helps retain and maintain existing and prospective customers. Success can be attributed to the company’s core value, which is to treat each customer with respect. For this reason, the company has strived to maintain excellent customer service (i.e. fast and accurate), competitive prices and delivery time. These values have resulted in high customer loyalty and satisfaction, high employee morale, and an overall positive reputation as a provider of high quality products. External or environmental factors have created great opportunities for the company, many of which were projected by and capitalized on through LL Bean’s management team. For example, customer...
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...L.L. Bean has adopted a two stage ordering process for products with “one-shot” commitments (i.e. products that they get to order only once because of long supplier lead times). First they determine a forecast for an item and then they have a process for converting that forecast into an order quantity. Questions 1. How significant (quantitatively) of a problem is the mismatch between supply and demand for L.L. Bean? From the first page of the case we have an estimate of $11 million cost of lost sales and backorders and $10 million associated with having too much of the wrong inventory. These costs are stated as being a conservative estimate. 2. On the course website is an Excel file that contains demand and forecast data for a collection of items. Suppose those are the data L.L. Bean will use to plan their next season. Consider an item that retails for $45 dollars and costs L.L. Bean $25 dollars. The liquidation price for this item will be $15. The sales forecast for this item is 12,000. What order quantity would L.L. Bean choose for this item? Using L.L. Bean’s current methodology, our first step is to understand the frequency distribution of past forecast errors. We compute the error by dividing the actual by the forecast such that a number above 1 represents that the item was under forecasted. The plot below provides a histogram of these errors. As an example, from this plot, 50% of the errors are between 0.49 and 1.04 or 66.6% of the errors are between 0.49 and...
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...3. LL Bean utilizes a probability distribution methodology to help predict the optimal order size of a specific item. The probability distribution is driven by a series of calculations that will predict forecast errors. One of the major concerns is that LL Bean tends to order more inventory than what was predicted in the frozen forecast. Their logic for doing this is that the cost of understocking exceeds the cost of overstocking. According to Marck Fasold (CFO), this methodology leads to major discrepancies with forecasting the demand for their products. Also, this leads to buyers being challenged that products are being ordered that do not align with their forecasting predictions. In addition, Rol Fessenden eludes to the fact that the methodology has issues because they can’t find any real distribution errors among products and he is not convinced about the estimating contribution margins and liquidation costs. In summary, there are many challenges to LL Bean’s ordering process. LL Bean tends to be okay with just overstocking rather than focusing on making accurate predictions. This approach leads to unwarranted costs that can be eliminated if they focused on refining their ordering process and methodology. Secondly, it seems that buyers make forecasts that are not being applied by the company which turn leads to unsatisfied buyers because they feel their judgments are not being respected. Lastly, LL Bean should allow the distribution forecast errors to be handled by the...
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...Capella University Bus 3022 Nancy Seward L.L Bean Company overview From the very beginning the L.L Bean company has been focused on customer satisfaction. From the very first hunter’s boots that were sold and then ultimately returned L.L Bean was adamant that customer satisfaction was the very root for a successful company. Even if the customer was not seeking to purchase anything but rather looking for an answer to a question they were treated with care. The company not only gained a reputation for reliable products, but also a reputation for providing expert advice. In 1951 L.L Bean revolutionized customer service by essentially being available to customers 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It started with a bell that was used when a customer need help with something late at night to the store staying open at all hours and never locking up. In 1967 the company started using computers to send out their catalogs. The old system of sending out a few flyers and catalogs was being converted to a new age technology. With customer service and satisfaction still at the heart of the company this new advancement would make it easier for customers to see what was available. Over the years the company began to grow and thrive by the use of the credit card machine, the toll free help line and now the internet. L.L Bean started from very humble beginnings and the simple idea that they need to sell a product that customers are happy with and back that customer up if there is a...
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...1. Mismatch of supply and demand causes an annual costs of lost sales and backorders were conservatively estimated to be $11 millions; costs associated with having too much of the wrong inventory were an additional $10 million. 2. Based on the data is given, the mean of the normal distribution demand is 13,060, and standard deviation of actual demand is 4,257. Cu = 40 - 22 = 18 | Co = 22 - 15 = 7 | | | F(Q) = Cu/(Cu+Co) = 18/(18+7) | 0.72 | | | | Q=13,080+.72*4,257 | 16,124 | Optimal Order Quantity | Expected lost sales = 4,257 * L(.72) | 588 | | | 0.1381 | | | | Expected sales = 13060 - 588 | 12,472 | | | Expected leftover inv. = 16124 - 12472 | 3,653 | | | Expected proft = 12472*18 - 3653*7 | 198,924 | | | F(.72) = .7642 | 76.42% | in stock probability | | F(z) = 90% | z= 1.29 | | | Q = 13060+1.29*4257 | 18,551 | order quantity of 90% in-stock probability | | 3. Their production commitments are only “one-shot” commitments, so there is a risk association with overstocked and under stocked. Especially with their nature of business, they should either figure out a way to adopt “just in time” inventory management strategy, or communicating with suppliers for shorter lead times and become more responsive to the market demand. 4. We think they have a pretty well organized and planned forecasting process. They spend a quality of time on forecasting and making adjustments to improve...
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...[pic] Item Forecasting and Inventory Management MANAGEMENT CONSULTING CASE 2: L. L. BEAN INC. Q1. How do L.L. Bean use past demand data and a specific item forecast to decide how many units of that item to stock? Ans. L. L. Bean use two main methods based on past demand data to determine on the quantities to be ordered for specific items to stock. Method One The First Method of forecasting is based on quite a conservative approach, primarily manual. Product related people sit together and decide on the basis of previous/book record. They look for dollar sales of each item and rank them on this basis. They also look for the forecasted quantity of items and check it with real sold quantity. But when they have to add a new item, they find that this item will create incremental demand or will cannibalize the sales of any other item. If they find cannibalization then they adjust the quantity of items accordingly. But this method is not the same all the time and can be changed accordingly, as per the need. Method Two The Second Method of forecasting uses historical forecast errors which is called the A/F Ratio i.e. (Actual Demand / Forecast Demand). |A/F Ratio |Remarks | |A=F |Forecast was perfect | |A>F ...
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...L.L. Bean’s website appears to appeal to the outdoor enthusiast and has a wide array of products available for the consumer. My guess is that L.L. Bean’s target market is more geared toward families that want to be equipped for the outdoors and that lead an active life. L.L. Bean continues to hold a very high spot in the market, known for it’s exceptional customer service and return policy. L.L. Bean’s product line is similar to REI’s with a more diverse array of products, such as, fly-fishing & hunting. L.L. Bean’s pricing is markedly lower than REI’s prestigious pricing. While L.L. Bean is able to keep prices lower, it still maintains a certain respect & dignity for quality in the market. REI limits its customers because of its pricing and definitely deters many average, middle class consumers from being able to shop there. REI offers a lifetime membership for $20 which claims discounted prices and special deals for joining. L.L. Bean is available to all consumers at the same price. The Sports Authority is another similar company that gears to the active and outdoorsman. The Sports Authority focuses mainly on traditional sports and doesn’t have as much to offer for the active, outdoor type people. The Sports Authority has struggled the past several years with the influx of other discount warehouses offering similar products & concepts. The Sports Authority’s prices are much lower than REI’s offering the average consumer better opportunities to afford their products...
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...Lista de cotejo Lengua y Literatura No.1 Nº | Nombre de los Estudiantes | Indicador de LogroIdentifica cada una de las letras y sonidos del grupo fonemático f, d en textos descriptivos y las aplica, de forma oral y escrita, en sílabas, palabras y oraciones. | | | Criterios de Evaluación (Aspectos a valorar) | | | Distingue y pronuncia el sonido f y d. | Representa el sonido con la letra o las letras que lo representan. | Traza las letras f y d mayúsculo y minúsculo. En letra cursiva. | Realiza dictado de palabras y oraciones. | Separa en sílabas | Alcance | 1. | Angie Lizbeth Ramos Martínez | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 2. | Ashley Grissel Mairena Centeno | AS | AS | AS | AS | AS | AS | 3. | Bárbara Massiel Díaz Soza | AF | AF | AF | AF | AF | AF | 4. | Gema Paola Espinoza Murillo | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 5. | Idalmis Esther Meneses Martínez | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 6. | Lesdy Yanori | AS | AS | AA | AS | AS | AS | 7. | Lismar Haylin Ríos | AA | AA | AS | AS | AA | AS | 8. | Lizandra Vanessa Hernández Zamora | AS | AS | AS | AA | AS | AS | 9. | Natalia Victoria Dávila Zeledón | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 10. | Axel Gabriel Castro Rosales | AA | AS | AS | AA | AA | AA | 11. | Carlos Zamir Loza Díaz | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 12. | Enoc Ezequiel Zamora Aguilar | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 13. | Héctor Danilo Mustafá Rizo | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | AA | 14. | José Manuel Rodríguez Blandón | AA | AA | AA | AA...
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...½ cup canned black beans, rinsed 2 tbsp salsa Heat skillet on medium setting. Using a paper towel lightly coat with olive oil. Scramble eggs. Add black beans until heated. Fold egg, beans, salsa and cheese into tortilla warp. Heat in oven at 170ºF or microwave for faster prep until warmed. Frittata with goat cheese, roasted tomato & rocket 4 large egg whites (or ½ cup egg whites) Olive oil cooking spray 2 tbsp fresh tomatoes, roasted 2 tbsp goat cheese, crumbled Quick on-the-go chicken Wrap 3 oz. grilled skinless and boneless chicken breast 1 cup baby spinach or any greens ½ red pepper, cut in strips 1 Tbsp vinaigrette salad dressing of your choice 1 7” whole wheat wrap Chop chicken and toss with vegetables and dressing. Place meat, vegetables and spinach onto tortilla, fold and enjoy. Quinoa Salad 1 ½ cups Quinoa, washed and drained 1 ½ cups water ½ cup green bell pepper, diced ½ cup roasted red peppers, packed in oil or water, chopped ½ cup red onion, minced 1 ½ cups sweet corn, fresh, canned or frozen ½ cup green peas, fresh or frozen 1 cup fresh basil, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil ¼ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed 15 ounces navy beans or garbanzo beans, drained 1 Tbsp plum vinegar, or to taste Place quinoa, water, corn and peas in a sauce pan. Cover. Simmer on low for 12-15 minutes. Remove and place in bowl. Fluff with fork and cool. Add red onion, basil, roasted peppers and beans. Blend the lemon juice...
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...Bean Beatle Competition Lab RESULTS: In the two control petri dish that consisted of 20 beans with eggs previously on them, the females laid two to three eggs. In the two control petri dish that consisted of 20 beans without eggs previously on them, the females laid to 2 to 6 eggs. The average number of eggs laid on the eggs that already had eggs on them was 1.25 eggs and the standard error was 0.5522. The average number of eggs laid on the eggs that did not already have eggs on them was 6.91667 and the standard error was 0.9728 (Figure 2). A comparative t-test was performed and from it the t-value, degrees of freedom, and p-value were determined. The t-value, for two-tailed distribution, was 2.20099, the degrees of freedom was 11, and the p-value was 0.00033 (Figure 1). DISCUSSION: Our hypothesis was accepted because the female bean beetles preferred to lay eggs on the beans without eggs rather than the beans with eggs already on them; therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected, because the p-value, 0.00033, was less than 0.05. This research is important because it tells us more about the ovipositional preferences of the female bean beetles. Larvae can’t move from the egg which is deposited, so the bean determined the future food resources that is available for their offspring, which would affect the the influence of the growth or reproduction; therefore, minimizing competition of resources between the offspring. It also important to know how if intraspecific...
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...“There’s nothing bigger than a man who learns to grow.” This sentence appeared in the story “The Growin of Paul Bunyan”. I agree with this statement because it’s not an easy choice to make. Actually, who of us would request something harder vs. easier? Therefore, the bigger man does the harder stuff. If everything was easy, life would be boring. Some examples from the story are on page 21. “Paul learns how to plant seeds to grow trees.” This was big for Paul because he decided to challenge himself and learn something new. Before he was chopping down all the trees. As soon as Johnny Appleseed could get a sapling growing, Paul would chop it down. My second example I found, is on page 18. “Paul likes chopping trees because it makes him happy”....
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...Jack and the Beanstalk summary Jack and the beanstalk is the story of a young boy living with his widowed mother in a tiny house. Their only means of small income is a cow. When this cow stops giving milk one morning, Jack is sent to the market to sell it. On the way to the market he meets an old man who offers to give him tiny, little magic beans in exchange for the big, healthy cow. Jack takes the beans but when he arrives home without money, his mother becomes furious and throws the beans out the window and sends Jack to bed without supper. While Jack was sleeping, the bean grows into a gigantic beanstalk. Jack wakes up to behold an enormous beanstalk. He climbs the monumental beanstalk and arrives in a land high up in the sky where he follows a road to a gigantic house, which is the home of a giant. He enters the immense castle and asks the giant's wife for food. She gives him food, but the giant returns and senses that a human is nearby. The giant says he smells the blood of an Englishman and would want to grind his bones to make bread. However, Jack is hidden in a closet by the giant's wife and from there tiny Jack heard the giant sit down at his monstrous table. His wife serves him from a huge bowl and he drank from his very big wine glass. Afterwards, the giant asks for his hen that lays golden eggs. The giant watched as it laid dozens of large admirable golden eggs before he sleeps off snoring. Jack steals the hen which lays big golden eggs. He is almost caught...
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...kiwi, plums” and so on (choosemyplate.gov). Make sure when you are picking out your fruits to go on your plant you need enough for half of your plate. Vegetables, are the next thing that needs to have half of you plate. “100% vegetable juice counts as two serving” (V8.com). Your vegetables consist of “dark green vegetables, such as Bok Choy, broccoli, collard greens, and dark green leafy lettuce” (choosemyplate.gov). Starchy vegetables consist of “green bananas, green peas, green lima beans, plantains, and potatoes” (choosemyplate.gov). Red & orange vegetables consist of “acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, hubbard squash, pumpkin, red peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and tomato juice” (choosemyplate.gov). Beans and peas consist of “black beans,black-eyed peas (mature, dry), garbanzo beans (chickpeas), kidney beans, lentils, navy beans, pinto beans, soy beans, split peas, and white beans” (choosemyplate.gov). Then there is your other vegetables such as “artichokes, asparagus, avocado, bean sprouts, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, green...
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...“Earth's Bounty” is a restaurant that severs vegetarian westernized food. The food is kept at a low priced to reach out to not only vegans and vegetarian’s, but also a younger generation seeking to try something different. Earth Bounty will be open 24 hours and mostly populated within the suburban area. Earth's Bounty goal is to attract a younger audience from the ages of 16-24, research shows that this age demographic makes up the largest vegetarian/vegan population. Another target audience Earth's Bounty is tying to market to are people that are looking for a healthier food alternative when deciding to dine out because vegetarian food is known for being healthily. By being located in suburban area’s it’ll make eating healthier an option over the abundant amount of fast food restaurants. Both vegans and vegetarians need more local restaurants to go to so they don’t have to worry about food cross contamination. Knowing that vegetarian food is healthier then most non vegetarian dishes, the market for healthy eaters would likely help the success of this brand. Few restaurants offer vegetarian meals but in my personal experience their is a huge market that hasn’t been fully exploited. With Earth’s Bounty being urban, warm and inviting with the use of toned down greens and warm browns, customers will feel welcoming and come in and try food maybe a little out of there comfort zone. A competitor Earth's Bounty is up against is Nuba Restaurant on 207B West Hastings. This restaurant...
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...SEED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SEED PRODUCTION PRACTICES FOR BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) belonging to the family Leguminosae is a commercially important vegetable variety. It is one of the widely cultivated vegetable varieties. The seed production of this crop can be taken up in July – September and January – February. Method of seed production Bean is a self-pollinated crop. Cross-pollination occurs very rarely since self-pollination takes place before the opening of the flowers. To maintain the varietal purity an isolation distance of 25 metres for certified and 50 metres for foundation seed production is necessary from the fields of other varieties and of the same variety not conforming to the varietal purity requirements of certification. Seed production stages Breeder seed Foundation seed Certified seed Land selection The land selected should not be cultivated with other variety of the same crop in the previous season and should be free of volunteer plants. The land should be fertile with neutral pH. The soil should be light with proper drainage facility. Seed selection and sowing Certified seeds of good quality should be obtained from an authentic source. Seeds should be healthy with good germination percentage. Remove the off coloured and out sized seeds. The seed rate varies depending on the variety. It is 26 kg/acre (65 kg/ha) for bushy variety and 10 – 14 kg/acre (25 - 35 kg/ha) for pole varieties. Treat the seeds with powder form of...
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