...Executive Summary When you think of the discount retail industry there is no bigger name than Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has built them into the industry leader in a very competitive market, and they continue to set the bar for every company. But as of late Wal-Mart’s sales growth rate has been slipping, which is causing a major problem for them. For the past few years Wal-Mart has grown accustom to double digit sales growth rates, but recently they have been unable to match their previous success. Now Wal-Mart is faced with the challenge of regaining the success that they once had. In order to recapture these high growth rates it is important to understand what lead Wal-Mart to these high growth rates in the first place. When analyzing Wal-Mart externally you find that its 5 forces tend to have a positive effect on the company. The company has high barriers of entry, a moderate threat of rivalry with Target and Kmart due to its expansion of super centers, and it’s...... Business strategy Business Strategy Analysis of Wal-Mart Sam Walton, a leader with an innovative vision, started his own company and made it into the leader in discount retailing that it is today. Through his savvy, and sometimes unusual, business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years. Today, four years after his death, the company is still growing steadily. Wal-Mart executives continue to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Sam's legacy left behind...
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...Localization Strategies of Transnational Retailers in China A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS By Wang Yue (王玥) Supervised by Prof. Yang Zuxian (杨祖宪) Southern Yangtze University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China June, 2006 Contents Acknowledgements----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------i Abstract & Key Words-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------ii 1. Introduction---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 1.1The Problem and the Study Objective----------------------------------------------------------1 1.2 Current Study-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 2. Localization----------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 2.1 The Definition of Localization ----------------------------------------------------------------3 2.2 The Importance of Localization Strategy to Transnational Retailing---------------------3 2.3 Three Layers of Localization for Transnational Retailing----------------------------------4 3. Retail Transnational in China------------------------------------------------------------------------7 3.1 The Status Quo of Chinese Retail Environment --------------------------------------------7 ...
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...BEST BUY [pic] [pic] Making Life Fun & Easy! [pic] Tiago Alves Andrew Bornstein Mae Brana Grace Tan Meredith Walters Table of Contents Business Summary 2 Vision Statement & Corporate Values 2 Rankings 2 Market Share 3 Stock Chart – 5 Year Performance 3 Financial Highlights 4 History 5 Key Executives 6 Strategy 7 Customer Centricity 7 Value-added Services Business 9 Supply Chain and IT Systems 9 New Store Openings 10 Mergers & Acquisitions 10 Employees 11 Key Competitors 12 5-Year Performance vs Key Competitors 13 Appendix 14 Business Summary Best Buy is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services in a superstore format. It operates retail stores and commercial Web sites in the U.S., Canada and China, under the brand names Best Buy (BestBuy.com and BestBuyCanada.ca), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Magnolia Audio Video (MagnoliaAV.com) and Geek Squad (GeekSquad.com and GeekSquad.ca). As of Feb 25 2006, Best Buy operated 742 Best Buy stores, 20 Magnolia Audio Video stores and 12 Geek Squad stores in the U.S.; and 118 Future Shop stores, 44 Best Buy stores and five Geek Squad stores in Canada. Best Buy operates two reportable segments: Domestic and International. The Domestic segment is comprised of all U.S. store and online operations, including Best Buy, Magnolia Audio Video and Geek Squad....
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...weaknesses also. One outstanding challenge that has happened over the years is the new role of managers that are women(Mary Barra, General Motors), African Americans(Kenneth Chenault, American Express), Hispanic Americans(Oscar Muñoz, United Airlines) to name a few, and other minorities. These and other organizations will need managers who can think clearly and are capable of dealing with changes in all aspects of the companies so they can stay on top. III) What I have learned personally is that I need to make changes in my management style if I want to succeed at my job and company. I have always thought and have been told if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. I might think it’s not broke but there is always room for improvement and I need to step outside and look in to see what other people or my employees and bosses are seeing. I have also learned that companies including mine that think, create, and adapt to the changing times and conditions are the ones that will survive and be successful. #13 Management: The Science and Art of Managing I) The major point of...
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...Sam Walton Made in America My Story by Sam Walton with John Huey BANTAM BOOKS NEW YORK• TORONTO• LONDON• SYDNEY• AUCKLAND This edition contains the complete text of the original hardcover edition. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED. SAM WALTON: MADE IN AMERICA A Bantam Book/published by arrangement with Doubleday PUBLISHING HISTORY Doubleday edition published June 1992 Bantam edition/June 1993 Photographs without credits appear courtesy of the Walton family. All rights reserved. Copyright© 1992 by the Estate of Samuel Moore Walton. Cover photo copyright© 1989 by Louis Psihoyos/Matrix. Cover design by Emily & Maura Design. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-18874. ISBN 0-553-56283-5 Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OPM 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 Contents Acknowledgments 4 Foreword 5 1 Learning to Value a Dollar 9 2 Starting on a Dime 14 3 Bouncing Back 25 4 Swimming Upstream 33 5 Raising a Family 44 6 Recruiting the Team 50 7 Taking the Company Public 58 8 Rolling Out the Formula 68 9 Building the Partnership 77 10 Stepping...
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...An Integrated Approach to Strategy Running Case Featuring Wal-Mart Wal-Mart’s Competitive Advantage (Chapter 1) ● Working Conditions at Wal-Mart (Chapter 2) ● Wal-Mart’s Bargaining Power over Suppliers (Chapter 3) ● Human Resource Strategy and Productivity at Wal-Mart (Chapter 4) ● How Wal-Mart Became a Cost Leader (Chapter 5) ● Wal-Mart’s Global Expansion (Chapter 6) ● WalMart Internally Ventures a New Kind of Retail Store (Chapter 8) ● Sam Walton’s Approach to Implementing Wal-Mart’s Strategy (Chapter 9) Strategy in Action Features A Strategic Shift at Microsoft (Chapter 1) ● The Agency Problem at Tyco (Chapter 2) ● Circumventing Entry Barriers into the Soft Drink Industry (Chapter 3) ● Learning Effects in Cardiac Surgery (Chapter 4) ● How to Make Money in the Vacuum Tube Business (Chapter 5) ● The Evolution of Strategy at Procter & Gamble (Chapter 6) ● Diversification at 3M: Leveraging Technology (Chapter 7) ● News Corp’s Successful Acquisition Strategy (Chapter 8) ● How to Flatten and Decentralize Structure (Chapter 9) Practicing Strategic Management Application-based activities intended to get your students thinking beyond the book. Small-Group Exercises Short experiential exercises that ask students to coordinate and collaborate on group work focused on an aspect of strategic management. Exploring the Web Internet exercises that require students to explore company websites and answer chapter-related questions. Designing a Planning System (Chapter 1) Evaluating...
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...An Integrated Approach to Strategy Running Case Featuring Wal-Mart Wal-Mart’s Competitive Advantage (Chapter 1) ● Working Conditions at Wal-Mart (Chapter 2) ● Wal-Mart’s Bargaining Power over Suppliers (Chapter 3) ● Human Resource Strategy and Productivity at Wal-Mart (Chapter 4) ● How Wal-Mart Became a Cost Leader (Chapter 5) ● Wal-Mart’s Global Expansion (Chapter 6) ● WalMart Internally Ventures a New Kind of Retail Store (Chapter 8) ● Sam Walton’s Approach to Implementing Wal-Mart’s Strategy (Chapter 9) Strategy in Action Features A Strategic Shift at Microsoft (Chapter 1) ● The Agency Problem at Tyco (Chapter 2) ● Circumventing Entry Barriers into the Soft Drink Industry (Chapter 3) ● Learning Effects in Cardiac Surgery (Chapter 4) ● How to Make Money in the Vacuum Tube Business (Chapter 5) ● The Evolution of Strategy at Procter & Gamble (Chapter 6) ● Diversification at 3M: Leveraging Technology (Chapter 7) ● News Corp’s Successful Acquisition Strategy (Chapter 8) ● How to Flatten and Decentralize Structure (Chapter 9) Practicing Strategic Management Application-based activities intended to get your students thinking beyond the book. Small-Group Exercises Short experiential exercises that ask students to coordinate and collaborate on group work focused on an aspect of strategic management. Exploring the Web Internet exercises that require students to explore company websites and answer chapter-related questions. Designing a Planning System (Chapter 1) Evaluating...
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...9-706-401 REV: AUGUST 25, 2006 KRISHNA PALEPU TARUN KHANNA INGRID VARGAS Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global Only by entering the international market can we know what our competition is doing, can we raise our competitive edge. Otherwise, we’ll lose the China market to foreigners. — Zhang Ruimin, 19961 All success relies on one thing in overseas markets—creating a localized brand name. We have to make Americans feel that Haier is a localized U.S. brand instead of an imported Chinese brand. — Zhang Ruimin, 20032 On December 26, 2004, Haier Group, ranked China’s number-one company by the Asian Wall Street Journal,3 celebrated its 20th anniversary with annual sales topping RMB 100 billion.a (See Exhibit 1 for Haier revenue growth.) Starting with a defunct refrigerator factory in Qingdao, Shandong province, founder and CEO Zhang Ruimin built Haier into China’s largest home appliance maker.b Globally, Haier ranked third in white goods revenues, and was the second-largest refrigerator manufacturer (with about 6% of the global market) behind...
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... The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice All successful firms must design a compelling offering and manage the workforce to deliver it at an attractive price. But service firms must do even more: deal with the frustrating fact that their customers can wreak havoc on service quality and costs. To consistently deliver service excellence, ensure that each of these four elements reinforces the others: For example, a customer dithering at a fastfood counter slows things down for everyone else waiting in line. An architect’s client struggling to clarify how a new facility will be used drags out the design process. To tackle this challenge, Frei advises aligning four key elements of your business: • What your service offering consists of • How you fund the excellence you want to provide • How you manage employees to deliver quality service COPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. • What you do to help customers enhance— not erode—service Get these elements pulling together, and none of them can pull your...
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...Work Contracted for the H2O Corporation Table of Contents Background & Introduction Outline and Review of HRIS Systems Explanation of Manpower and Technology Needed to Operate HRIS Assessment of the importance of the HRIS function within an organization Metrics HRIS system can produce for the organization Best practices of 5-10 US organizations Key action items for H20 implementation of effective HRIS system Overview of Staffing Methods Cost per Hire Staffing and Training Requirements Consideration of Recruitment/Time to Fill Vacancies Unique/Best practices for Staffing Review of Training and Development-Strategic Alignment Cost Analysis of Training Program – In house vs. Consultant Best Practices for Training and Development Recommended Training and Development Programs Overview HR Functions- Outsourced Benefits/ Cost Savings of Outsourcing Best Practices- Outsourcing Key Actions and Recommendations- Outsourcing Overview of Performance Management Philosophies Analysis of Best Practices – Theory Analysis of Best Practices- Applied Table of Contents (Con’t.) Recommendation PM Program HR Budgets- Components/ Elements Cost Reduction Strategies Budget Cut Recommendations Summary of HR Department Budgeting Challenges Recent Practices from 3-5 US organizations Review of Typical US Rewards Programs. Analysis of Best Practices for Compensation, Benefits, and Perks Consideration of US Taxation...
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...Competing on Analytics By Thomas H. Davenport This article originally appeared in Harvard Business Review Article Reprint No. R0601H brought to you by Harvard Business Review articles are brought to you by Zurich HelpPoint as part of the Managing Risk Series. Zurich neither endorses nor rejects the information presented in the article. We do not guarantee the accuracy of this information or any results and further assume no liability in connection with this publication including any information or methods contained herein. Competing on Analytics The Idea in Brief It’s virtually impossible to differentiate yourself from competitors based on products alone. Your rivals sell offerings similar to yours. And thanks to cheap offshore labor, you’re hard-pressed to beat overseas competitors on product cost. How to pull ahead of the pack? Become an analytics competitor: Use sophisticated data-collection technology and analysis to wring every last drop of value from all your business processes. With analytics, you discern not only what your customers want but also how much they’re willing to pay and what keeps them loyal. You look beyond compensation costs to calculate your workforce’s exact contribution to your bottom line. And you don’t just track existing inventories; you also predict and prevent future inventory problems. Analytics competitors seize the lead in their fields. Capital One’s analytics initiative, for example, has spurred at least 20% growth in earnings...
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...The World is Flat Thomas L Friedman Kq p K To Matt and Kay and to Ron Kq p K Contents How the World Became Flat One: While I Was Sleeping / 3 Two: The Ten Forces That Flattened the World / 48 Flattener#l. 11/9/89 Flattener #2. 8/9/95 Flattener #3. Work Flow Software Flattener #4. Open-Sourcing Flattener #5. Outsourcing Flattener #6. Offshoring Flattener #7. Supply-Chaining Flattener #8. Insourcing Flattener #9. In-forming Flattener #10. The Steroids Three: The Triple Convergence / 173 Four: The Great Sorting Out / 201 America and the Flat World Five: America and Free Trade / 225 Six: The Untouchables / 237 Seven: The Quiet Crisis / 250 Eight: This Is Not a Test / 276 Developing Countries and the Flat World Nine: The Virgin of Guadalupe / 309 Companies and the Flat World Geopolitics and the Flat World Eleven: The Unflat World / 371 Twelve: The Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention / 414 Conclusion: Imagination Thirteen: 11/9 Versus 9/11 / 441 Acknowledgments I 471 Index I 475 Kq p K :::::How the World Became Flat ::::: ONE While I Was Sleeping Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our...
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...Hodgetts−Luthans−Doh: International Management, Sixth Edition Back Matter Endnotes © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2005 Endnotes ■ Chapter 1 1. J. Whalen and B. Bahree. “How BP Learned to Trust Ally That Once Burned It,” Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2003, p. A4; “BP Won’t Abandon Driving Forces,” Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2003, p. A7. “Dell Set to Create More Than 100 Full-Time Jobs in Bray,” Irish Times, August 17, 2002, p. 15. Peter Landers, “Foreign Aid: Why Some Sony Gear Is Made in Japan,” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2001, p. A1. Barnaby J. Feder, “IBM Beats Earnings Expectations Again,” New York Times, January 17, 2003, p. C4. Peter Landers, “Volkswagen and GM Racked Up Strong Sales in China in 2003,” Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2004, p. A3. Peralte C. Paul, “Daimler Bails Out of Deal,” Atlanta JournalConstitution, September 24, 2003, p. A1. Nicholas Itano, “GM Returns 10 Years After End of Apartheid,” New York Times, January 30, 2004, p. W1. Saritha Rai, “A Giant So Big It’s a Proxy for India’s Economy,” New York Times, June 6, 2004, p. W1. Ibid. WTO, “World Trade 2003, Prospects for 2004; Stronger Than Expected Growth Spurs Modest Trade Recovery,” WTO Press Release 373, April 5, 2004, p. 1. Ibid. Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999). Jonathan P. Doh and Hildy Teegen, Globalization and NGOs: Transforming Business, Government, and Society (Westport, CT: Praeger,...
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...managing NOW! Gary Dessler Florida International University Jean Phillips Rutgers University Houghton Mifflin Company Boston New York To Samantha Vice President, Executive Publisher: George Hoffman Executive Sponsoring Editor: Lisé Johnson Senior Marketing Manager: Nicole Hamm Development Editor: Julia Perez Cover Design Manager: Anne S. Katzeff Senior Photo Editor: Jennifer Meyer Dare Senior Project Editor: Nancy Blodget Editorial Assistant: Jill Clark Art and Design Manager: Jill Haber Senior Composition Buyer: Chuck Dutton Cover photo credits Main image: © Bryan F. Peterson/CORBIS Lower left image: © Stockbyte/Getty Images Lower right image: © David Oliver/Getty Images Additional photo credits are listed on page 516. Copyright © 2008 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Houghton Mifflin Company unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to College Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116-3764. Printed in the U.S.A. Library of Congress Control Number: 2007924351 Instructor’s exam copy : ISBN-13: 978-0-618-83347-4 ISBN-10: 0-618-83347-1 For orders, use student text ISBNs: ISBN-13: 978-0-618-74163-2 ISBN-10: 0-618-74163-1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7...
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...www.hbr.org Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze, and act on data. Every company can learn from what these firms do. Competing on Analytics by Thomas H. Davenport Reprint R0601H Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze, and act on data. Every company can learn from what these firms do. Competing on Analytics COPYRIGHT © 2005 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. by Thomas H. Davenport We all know the power of the killer app. Over the years, groundbreaking systems from companies such as American Airlines (electronic reservations), Otis Elevator (predictive maintenance), and American Hospital Supply (online ordering) have dramatically boosted their creators’ revenues and reputations. These heralded—and coveted—applications amassed and applied data in ways that upended customer expectations and optimized operations to unprecedented degrees. They transformed technology from a supporting tool into a strategic weapon. Companies questing for killer apps generally focus all their firepower on the one area that promises to create the greatest competitive advantage. But a new breed of company is upping the stakes. Organizations such as Amazon, Harrah’s, Capital One, and the Boston Red Sox have dominated their fields by deploying industrial-strength analytics across a wide variety of activities. In essence, they are transforming their organizations into armies...
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