...1 November 3, 2012 Stanley Renser, Chairman and CEO Broward,Fort Laudredale, Florida 754 Dear Renser, Please find attached the analysis of the case “Class or Mass. This report examines the problem of excess inventory faced by Neptune Gourmet Seafood. The various reasons for the problem have been explored. The alternatives have been examined on basis of criteria defined. The report also provides recommendations and action plan. I hope you find this report satisfactory. Sincerely yours, Shubham Gupta Research Associates, Inc. 1212 Trace Dr., Suite 3 Austin, Texas 78741 2 Executive Summary Neptune Gourmet Seafood is North America’s third largest producer of seafood offering premium quality products. The latest advancement in trawler technology and government regulation has lead to a situation of excess inventory. The situation is not expected to change in future. The problem is to find a suitable step to increase demand. The options are to offer a 50% price cut or launch a new value priced brand without affecting its existing offering. It’s recommended to launch a new brand. The brand promotion should differentiate between the two brands to prevent cannibalization. This will increase the market size and be a sustainable strategy to the problem. 3 Table of Contents Serial No. Contents Page 1. Situational Analysis 4 2. Problem Statement 5 3. Options 6 4...
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...CLASS OR MASS CASE ANALYSIS A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is having issues with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. Due to new coastal laws, investments in new freezer trawlers and fishing technology, Neptune has increased their average catch size. The demand in high-end market hasn’t been able to catch up with the increasing supply, and Neptune has been struggling with making a decision on how to deplete excess inventory (60 days) of their “Gold Label” branding. My recommendation is to launch a new mass-market product under a different product name to deplete the excess inventory for the short-run, and to capture more of the North American seafood market share in the long-run. Finally, in the future Neptune’s management should better analyze the growth in market demand when making such heavy investments in production. B. Situation Analysis Summary: Currently Neptune Gourmet Seafood is North America’s third largest seafood producer with 4.1% in market share (See Appendix F1) . Known for their high quality, Neptune has a reputation to uphold and caters to offering the best product possible to keep their customers satisfied. Neptune currently markets its product to a variety of customers bringing in revenue from different channels: * 30% of revenue from grocery chains * 33% of revenue from wholesalers * 33% of revenue from suppliers & cruise lines within 250 miles of Fort Lauderdale’s headquarter * 4% of revenue from...
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...Class – or Mass? A. Executive Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is currently struggling with what appears to be a temporary problem of excess inventory. A combination of new coastline regulations and an investment in new fishing vessel technology and freezer trawlers has increased their average catch size while demand in the current segment has not grown as quickly. The Neptune management team is faced with a decision of how to clear out its excess inventory that is not moving fast enough under its Neptune Gold branding. My recommendation is to launch a mass-market product under a different product line in order to monetize excess inventory and position Neptune to capture more of the North American seafood market share. Going forward Neptune management must be more cautious in matching investment in production to growth in market demands. B. Situation Analysis Summary: Neptune Gourmet Seafood is currently North America’s third largest seafood producer with 4% in market share. Tagged “The Best Seafood on the Water Planet”, Neptune has a reputation to maintain and focuses heavily on its product to keep its customers satisfied. Neptune has done a great job reaching a variety of customer. 30% of revenues from grocery chains, 33% from wholesalers distributing across the U.S., and the remaining third coming from sales to the biggest cruise lines and also choice restaurants within 250 miles of Neptune’s headquarters. Through the situation analysis it is apparent that...
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...Class- or Mass Written Analysis and Communication I Submitted to: Prof. Manaswini Acharya From : Joseph Anton To : Mr. Dan Wilson Date : 20th March 1994 Subject: Managing excess inventory issue This report includes a detailed analysis of the situation at hand and the different options available. The major criterions used for evaluation are our corporate brand and long term profitability and sales. After much analysis my recommendation would be to slash prices in a phased and methodical manner so as to protect our image as well as solve the excessive inventory problem. Executive Summary Neptune Gourmet Seafood is one of the largest seafood producers in North America. It is an upmarket brand charging a premium of over 25% over its competitors. Recently they made huge investment in technology to improve catching processes which lead to an increased inventory. They are now faced with the solution of this problem of excess inventory handling. Launching a new low price brand would cannibalize their premium brand so they should go in for a price reduction. This could be done in phases wherein they could employ an extensive marketing of their cost leadership and increased quality standards. Word Count: 99 Table of Contents Serial No. Contents Page No. 1 Situation Analysis 1 2 Problem Statement 1 3 Options 1 4 Criteria 2 5 Evaluations of options 2 ...
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...Sasha Dinh (SID 1161552) MGMT 430 - Professor Jeffrey Barden Class or Mass? I. Brief Overview Neptune Gourmet Seafood is the third-largest seafood producer in the North America that is positioned as a premium high quality brand. Their products have reputation for being fresh and one of the best on the market. By applying new technologies into fishing process, Neptune was able to increase the efficiency and catch more matured fishes while leaving the immature fishes untouched. Furthermore, the new equipments allowed them to superfreeze the fish to -70 degrees F in just four hours, retaining the freshness and original flavor of the fish. As the capacity increased, Neptune's inventory soon got stocked up, alarming the company of overproducing. Thus, Neptune is facing decision whether to create a new brand to market the fish at a lower price to solve the inventory problem. However, this move can affect the company's brand image of being a premium producer. II. Competitive Advantage Neptune has applied new technologies that allow them to be ahead of the competition in terms of quality and quantity. Because of its reputation and its brand image, Neptune was able to price its products from 25% to 30% higher than then market average price. One third of Neptune's sales comes from restaurants all over the nation. Especially the sushi bars in New York to Los Angeles even preferred buying frozen fish from Neptune than feezing it themselves, and this once again proved the quality...
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...Neptune Gourmet Seafood has three options to deal with its excess inventory problems:- Collaboration with pharmaceutical company Sell some old ships and launch ready-to-eat, fish-based meals Launch existing product in new geographic region Donation of excess inventory Collaboration of Neptune with a pharmaceutical company proves to be an opportunistic move as it creates a win-win situation for both the companies where in Neptune would be diverting its excess inventory to the pharmaceutical company and the company will be assured of regular supply of fishes for the manufacturing of medicines and health products (cod liver oil based products). The eminence that this option carries is both companies gain mutual benefit of expanding the business as well as widening their networks. Since it is a long term strategy it contributes in strengthening the brand image and good will of both the companies. Collaboration seems to be a slow pace strategy because both the companies need to get each other’s consensus before making a decision. By selling old ships the inventory can be brought down to lower levels and there would be a sizeable immediate cash inflow. The excess inventory can be used to launch ready-to-eat fish based meals which would open up new frontiers for Neptune. By launching ready-to eat products Neptune would not lose its premium brand image and may increase the revenue. On the other hand it will cost a substantial amount to launch and promote the processed food...
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...quality the company has been known for. In doing so, they have found themselves reaching a decision point. Even though they have been going further out to sea, they have been bringing back larger than normal catches and because of this, their warehouse finished goods inventory has become bloated, with twice the normal supply on hand. This paper will address the decision process. In doing so we will define the problem, look at the decision dimensions, provide analysis of the supply and demand drivers as well as elasticities most relevant in the case, look at industry structure and concentration, and look at expectations of equilibriums and game theory as the future plays out. From this we can draw a conclusion and recommendation. Class or Mass Case Study The fish market is a 20 billion dollar industry (Kesner & Walters, 2005, para. 5) and one company has played a major role. Neptune Gourmet Seafood is an 820 million dollar corporation (Kesner & Walters, 2005, para. 5, 9) that has just recently invested heavily in technology, allowing their trawlers to move further out to sea to fish and maintain the quality the company has been known for. In doing so, they have found themselves reaching a decision point. Even though they have been going further out to sea, they have been bringing back larger than normal catches and because of this, their warehouse finished goods inventory has become bloated, twice the normal supply on hand. To address the decision they face, we will define...
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...France in 1907, the offspring of technological innovation. Nearly 90 years later, the spirit behind answering the needs of a Parisian hairdresser in search of more subtle and lasting hair color for his clientele, was at work in the Health and Beauty Aids aisles of K-Marts, Wal-Marts, drugstores, and grocery stores throughout the United States as L’Oréal sought to bring “class to mass” in the skincare market. From his office overlooking Fifth Avenue in New York City, Joseph Campinell, President of L’Oréal’s U.S. Retail Division explained L’Oréal’s strategy for the mass market: “We sell product in the department store and specialty store channels. The research and development we do in support of those brands like Lancôme and Biotherm can be leveraged into mass market outlets as well. We call this ‘trickle down and fire up.’ We trickle the technology down to the mass markets where the high volumes are and that fires up our next generation of products by funding the research and development. In the retail division we do what the company always does: drive sales with product technology. But, since the drugstores, mass merchants and grocery stores we sell through are “self- service” types of outlets, we have to support that technology with strong advertising, merchandising and promotions. We have been very successful with this in hair colorings. Our Preference by L’Oréal brand, with the famous advertising tag-line “Because I’m worth it,” has become the market leader. I’m sure we will...
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...L’oreal of Paris: Bringing “Class to Mass” with Plenitude Group: ThomasTrain (Cindy, Debbie, Juan, Ling Ling, Sherry) Problem Statement - L’oreal Plenitude has been introduced in the US for 8 to 9 years but the brand is still not making any profit. Should L’oreal switch everything to Revitalift which is the ‘star’ product or continue their effort in building the market share of Plenitude by improving it’s value proposition in cleansers and daily moisturisers? Recommendations – The decision is not to switch but continue the development effort by changing the existing marketing strategy and value proposition of Plenitude thus the sales in the daily user segment can be improved, which is $799 million in 1995. Analysis Analysis are being conducted in the following areas 1. Product Focus 2. Brand Identity 3. Market Segmentation 4. Profitability 5. Channels 1. Product Focus * Introduce new packaging to existing product line There were too many different types of products introduced at one time. 14 SKUs, covering three categories of basic moisturizers, treatment moisturizers and cleansers were launched to the US consumers. Based on the Acceptor/Rejector Studies in April and May 1996 (Perception of Plentitude as Full Product Line), indicates that the extensive product range confuses the US consumers and creates the impression that the Plentitude product is complicated to use. * Re-categorizing the existing Plentitude product line into three...
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...Essay on ”Race, Class, Violence and Denial: Mass Murder and the Pathologies of Privilege” by Tim Wise Often when racial inequality and discrimination is being discussed, we get to think of terms such as “white privilege” and American history with the Civil Rights Act in 1964. But we think of it, mainly as history. And that, according to Tim Wise, an anti-racism activist and American writer, is the biggest self-deception of the modern American world. Throughout an article posted on his own webpage, concerning school shootings, Tim Wise discusses the general American attitude towards this relatively new phenomenon in American society. With the use of especially pathos Wise argues that the most concerning thing about these events is how society is handling them afterwards. The problem is, according to Wise, that white people tell themselves ‘white lies’, and therefore never think that such actions could be taking place in their communities. He claims that there’s a reason why this happens in the outwardly ordinary societies. It’s because the people, trying to maintain at certain surface of innocence, refuse to see the signs of trouble, even when it’s going on before their very eyes. He wants us to take responsibility and stop excluding some parts of society from the “danger-zone” just because they look bucolic and normal on the outside and almost in the form of a provocative scolding he explains what damages these ‘white lies’ can do - not only to people of color, but to white...
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...Technology Division Abstract In this project the bootstrap methodology for spectrometric data is considered. The bootstrap can also compare two populations, without the normality condition and without the restriction to comparison of means. The most important new idea is that bootstrap resampling must mimic the separate samples design that produced the original data. Bootstrap in mean, bootstrap in median, and bootstrap in confidence interval are three kinds of effective way to handle mass spectrometric data. Then,we need to reduce dimension based on bootstrap method. It may allow the data to be more easily visualized. Afterwards, using results obtained by bootstrap, we use data mining method to predict a patient has ovarian cancer or not. Decision tree induction and neural network are usual way to classify it. Keywords: Bootstrap, data mining, classification tree, decision tree induction, neural network, mass spectrometry data, ovarian cancer, control... iii Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 1.2 1.3 Mass Spectrometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bootstrap Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1...
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...Accuracy of Braveheart The mass media plays a large role in modern society. Indeed, many have argued that people spend more time in “mass-mediated” interaction than in actual human interaction. The mass media, then, would seemingly be an excellent position to initiate social change, positively affect social problems, and help combat social ills that are considered normal patterns of behavior. Yet, the mass media has largely failed in addressing and helping to solve social problems. As seen through its presentation of the three major variables of race, class, and gender, the mass media has actually served to contribute to the social problems it covers, reinforcing them, and creating an inter-related cycle in which these problems continue. TV has become perhaps the primary vehicle that society receives its information and presents its values and expectations. One of the most important roles television plays is its presentation of news and information. What a station chooses to present as newsworthy can play a strong role in how people view their society and the world around them. Often, television news sources have followed a philosophy of “if it bleeds, it leads”, focusing on violence in urban environments. This violence occurs more frequently in black neighborhoods, resulting in what amounts to essentially as a steady, nightly stream of reports on violence in the inner-city by and among African-Americans. In this way, the television media plays a strong...
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...Bourgeoisie, ruling class who seek to own the means of production and impose a state of false class consciousness on the working class through ruling ideology. They believe certain cultures have negative impacts on society. Marxists believe one type of culture that has a negative impact on society is mass culture. Mass culture creates an unthinking, uncritical working class. This is shown in item A as it says "dumbing down", this suggests a lower quality of products is made as they are massed produced as they look inferior because they will have little value and are short lived compared to high culture products. This makes the working class feel content within their social positions so a lower quality of culture is created. The lower quality offers easy pleasure from its simplified types, therefore it stops people appreciating more complex forms of culture. This is shown in today's society as we have a capitalist system who creates false needs for the working class population where they produce vast profits through advertising and consumerism. However, this can be criticized as it could be what the 'masses' want to watch, dumbed down products that are appealing towards the lower class. Another culture that some Marxists believe that was similar to mass culture is popular culture. The sociologist Adorno compared popular music with mass produced music as an example of dumbing down. As a Marxist, he saw popular music as an attempt to maximize sales and profits just as mass produced music...
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...In other words culture is a common set norms formed within a group of the society or a society to which people identify themselves to. This essay aims to explain in which ways culture is transmitted within the society and the effects this may have on individual members of a society. The essay will look at concepts of culture in terms of mass and folk culture. Furthermore it will take into consideration age, gender, social class and ethnicity, which will help to understand the interrelationship between self, identity and socialization. To understand culture in modern world better, the essay will aim to analyze the link between cultural consumption and identity in the modern society. Main body: According to Linton (1945) culture of a society is the way of life of its members; a collection of ideas and thoughts, which they learn and practiced. This is shared from one generation to another. There are different types of cultures for example high culture and low culture or popular culture. Popular culture or low culture is persuade by middle class people or working class people, whereas high culture is persuade by professionals or upper class people like sophisticated pursuits . These sophisticated pursuits enjoyed or shared by high...
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...Winning the battle for China’s new middle class A huge wave of increasingly affluent consumers will constitute China’s urban majority by 2020. To serve them, multinationals must adapt—or be left behind. June 2013 | byMax Magni and Felix Poh The rapid emergence of a prosperous, more individualistic, and more sophisticated class of consumers in China is creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges for companies serving them. The opportunity is clear: in less than a decade, more than three-fourths of China’s urban households will approach middle-class status on a purchasing-power-parity basis (for details, see “Mapping China’s middle class”). But the market is rapidly bifurcating between a still large (but less affluent) mass market and a new, even bigger group of upper-middle-class consumers—one that’s so large and significant we’ve referred to it in the past as the “new mainstream.”1The people in this more affluent segment tend to live in China’s higher-tier cities and coastal areas, enjoy household incomes between 106,000 and 229,000 renminbi ($16,000 to $34,000) a year, and have opinions strikingly different from those of their mass-market middle-class counterparts.2 As China’s new upper middle class swells to include more than half of the country’s urban households by 2020—up from just 14 percent in 2012—it will strain many of today’s business models. Companies that have long catered to consumers trying to meet basic needs at affordable prices will face a shrinking...
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