...To:_____________________________ From:__________________________ “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” I am often asked what my favorite quote or saying is. Frankly, there are hundreds of inspiring adages that help illustrate the incredible potential each of us possesses. I hope this Little Book Of Quotes will inspire, encourage and motivate you, provide hope and at times a smile. I trust you will find them insightful and in some context, useful. I hope they make you think, give you new ideas, and extract more of the potential in you. I am also hopeful that they will collectively reveal a philosophy. In what is essentially an interpretation of the Golden Rule, it is my sincere belief that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. See You Over the Top, A mbition A mbition Your business is never really good or bad “out there.” Your business is either good or bad right between your own two ears. The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job. It is easy to get to the top after you get through the crowd at the bottom. Success is not a destination, it’s a journey. The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won’t work – if you won’t. Motivation is the fuel necessary to keep the human engine running. Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when...
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...PART A: ANALYSIS OF HR PRACTICES AT 2 RETAILERS The two companies I have selected for the purpose of comparative analysis of Human Resource practices are Sears Canada and Wal-Mart Canada. Both are Canadian subsidiaries of large American conglomerates. Wal-Mart Canada Wal-Mart Canada was founded in 1994 with the purchase of several now defunct Canadian locations of the Woolco discount retail chain. The advent of Wal-Mart’s expansion has forever changed the retail landscape in Canada. Other discount retailers such as Canadian-owned Zellers, have been hurt by Wal-Mart’s formidable rise. Wal-Mart employs a low cost provider strategy, as evidenced by their slogan “We sell for less, every day”. They sell goods at low prices, but often of poor quality. Prices are kept low by developing special relationships with suppliers, employing many part-time workers, resisting attempts by their workforce to unionize and controlling labour costs, which includes “discouragement” of working overtime. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once said in an interview, “I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. Were going to be successful, but the basis is a very low wage, low benefit model of employment.” A number of Wal-Mart’s business tactics have been under fire by special interest groups and labour unions. In 2005, a store in Jonquiere, Quebec, was closed after workers came close to establishing a union. It would have been the chain’s first. While a spokesperson for Wal-Mart Canada...
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...1) What is Sears trying to accomplish with the introduction of the Elf program? The purpose of introducing the Elf program is to improve customer service by providing extra attention and service, which recreates the shopping experience. By assisting their customers with personal sales experts, Sears can have more access to identify their customer preferences and tastes, and at the same time allows their customers to enjoy more convenience and freedom assisting the customers with personalized service to deal with holiday shopping hassle. By introducing the Elf, Sears is able to reduce the intimidating environment of a department store: size, assortment, and traffic during holiday season, and turn consumers to explore the convenience of a one-stop shop. 2) Can the Elf program help Sears to increase its sales revenue or profitability? How? The Elf program definitely can help Sears to increase its sales revenue or profitability. Personal shopper not only adds positive value to the brand, but also re-energizes the shopping experience. Since all the personal shoppers are selected from among the existing sales representatives, those employees must be well performed and fully trained with a special knowledge of customers’ buying behavior and habits. This may create a potential comparative advantage for Sears, which also differentiates its assets (service) from competitors. What’s more, the convenience and pleasure that Elf brings to the customers drive them to visit...
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...a large organisation with many business units can be many. Some specific issues Sears may have had to face could have included: * The tendency for people to prioritise compliance over quality * Hostility from the frontline workforce * Less than full engagement from management From the case study it is clear that Sears has paid careful attention to implementation of the ISO 9000:2000 Quality management principles due to the nature of the success of the program. Some specific examples in the text include: Principle 5 – Systems approach to management. Leadership of the program structured it so that they would achieve registration of the carry in service centres and then turn to the in home service side. Most likely lessons learned from the implementation in one side of the business were used to avoid the same issues on the other. Principle 4 – Process approach. The increase in output of the Chattanooga facility shows that processes for repair of lawn mowers was standardised and documented. A doubling of output would not be possible without such measures in place to ensure everyone was following the same steps in the same way. Principle 6 – continuous improvement could then be utilised to refine the processes as necessary. Principle 6 – Continuous improvement. The reduction of the frequency of recall rate shows application of continuous improvement in their processes and training. Data was collected analysed on breakdowns with the data being used to diagnose a...
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...Running head: Sears Holding Business Analysis Sears Holdings Business Analysis Steven G Cole MGT/521 Leo Shelton Sears Holdings is an icon in the retail business since its founding in 1925. It survived the depression and many economic cycles since its founding. With the purchase of Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2005 and the unexpected recession of 2008 Sears has struggled financially. Their strategy of selling niche items of higher quality and brand names has not fared well in this valued based purchasing recession. They have continued to lose large amounts of money and continue sell off assets to raise capital. The CEO has announces new business strategy to implement to change the course of the company. Since the acquisition of Kmart in 2005 sales have declined steadily year after year. Last year alone Sears and Kmart had a total lose of 1.4 billion dollars. This year that amount is down to 421 million through the 3rd quarter. The continued movement of customers to discount stores like WalMart and Target has continued to erode the customer base at Sears and Kmart. Sears reputation of rundown stores and poor customer service is helping lead the way to the slow demise of the once retail giant. Sears is a leader in ecommerce investment, but poor customer experience in the store is translate to apprehension of customers to return to Sears online (Skariachan, 10/17/2011). In February 2012 in a note to shareholders, CEO Edward Lambert issued a lengthy letter to shareholders...
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...Quality Management at Sears Holding Corporation Felicia J Town Keller Graduate School of Management Managing Quality GM588 Professor Taylor October 10, 2011 Quality Management at Sears Holding Corporation Richard Sears, a Minneapolis railway station agent, sold lumber and coal to the local residents to make extra money. One day he received an unwanted shipment of watches from a neighboring jeweler and the light bulb in his head lit up, he was ready to start his own watch company. In 1886 Richard W. Sears began Sears Watch Company with the watches that he purchased for resale. In 1887 he teamed up with a watchmaker Alvah C. Roebuck, a young Indiana native to later form the firm Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1893. In 1896 the first general catalog was created. By 1945, Sears had opened a retail store on the west side of Chicago and sales exceeded $1 billion. Sears continued to expand and offer a variety of services. It was until the early 1990s that Sears noticed a significant blow to its sales. 1992 was the start of the retail giant’s culture shift from senior management down to the hourly sales associates (Sears, 2011). A deliveryman, clerk, bookkeeper and teacher- these were all the hats worn by Sebastian S. Kresge. His ambition to succeed and his penny-pinching attitude led him to become a successful businessman. Through five and dime stores to Kmart stores, he became a millionaire. In 1966 sales topped the $1 billion mark. Kresge once said, "I think I was successful...
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...date: | February 25, 2014 | | | | | 1. What is the business need uncovered by Sears Toronto? Support your answer with facts from the case. The main business need in Sears Toronto is customer retention. The Elf initiative was launched to help increase the number of repeat customers that come into Sears. The case study stated that it was not enough to just satisfy customers because satisfaction doesn’t necessarily guarantee customer retention. By providing the customers with shopping experience that is tailored to their needs Sears hopes to be able to build he type of repeat customer base that Saks Fifth Avenue has. By addressing this issue half of issues at Sears would be solved because it cost more to get new customers than it does to retain customers. 2. Where did the “ELF” concept come from? Was this the first use of elves or personal shoppers? In not, how are personal shoppers used in other companies? The Elf concept came from the personal shopper idea. This concept had mostly been exclusive to high end retailers such as Bloomindales and Saks Fifth Avenue. Stores like Saks use personal shoppers in many ways. They have private sessions with wealthy clients who don’t want to shop with the average customers. The sales associates are also encouraged to be personal shoppers by walking the customers to their destinations and assisting them in any and every department. Sears believed that by embracing this concept and bringing it to their stores would help build...
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...When Leaders Really Walk the Talk: Making Strategy Work Through People Timothy J. Galpin, Practice Leader for Merger & Acquisition Services, Watson Wyatt Worldwide G rowth has returned to the loretront of competitive thought for shaping commerce into the next millennium. Yet, many business leaders would argue that growth never left the collective corporate consciousness. They contend that the downsizing and cost cutting of the early 1990s were done to position the company for growth. This may be true; however, activities focused on the cost side of the profit equation were a relatively simple "strategy" to pursue. 38 HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING Witli laptops in liund, armies ol consullaiils were employed lo chum out graphs, charts, and tables that bolstered recommended head cuts in organizations across the globe. However, these activities have now given way to more popular growth activities. Strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, new market penetration, mass customization, customer intimacy, strategic alliances, and the like are all in the sights of businesses large atid small. More difficult than a downsizing strategy to develop and document, growth strategies, once contrived, present management with an even greater challenge: how to make their strategies work. Turning strategic plans into tangible business results can frustrate even the most seasoned manager. Unfortunately, the scenario follows an all-too-familiar pattern. First, there is ...
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...1912. By 1927, the Kresge Company started opening locations that sold items for $1 or less. Ten years later, he opened a store in a shopping center in Kansas City, Missouri (Sears Holdings, History). In 1968, Kmart begin to air television commercials to entice shoppers to the stores. Harry B. Cunningham became president in 1959, and developed a new strategy for the organization. While Cunningham was president, Kmart opened their first discount department store in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan; that same year seventeen more stores were opened. In 1976, Kmart made history by opening 271 stores in one year. In 1977, the company changed its name to Kmart Corporation. In order to fully focus on discount merchandising, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores (Sears Holdings, History). In 1990, Kmart took on a new logo and a new plan. As part of the plan, Kmart opened the first Kmart Supercenter in Medina, Ohio in 1991. Kmart was totally redesigned in 1996 and became known as Big Kmart. In 1999, Kmart launched a Internet presence, BlueLight.com; it offered free internet services (Sears Holdings, History). In 2002, the company filed Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court. Julian Day was promoted to CEO in January of 2003. Under his leadership, the company emerged from the Chapter 11 reorganization process (Sears Holdings, History). Strategic Direction Mission Statement The mission statement is a very important element in the business model of an organization. It is established...
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...not always good, some of newly created companies go bankrupt and in some cases, mergers companies disband in a sort of corporate divorce. There are no guaranties in corporate mergers, it is inherently risky and without proper strategy, intuition, and knowledge mergers can easily fail. For instance I will examine the merger of Sears and Kmart and evaluate the merger circumstances and the result of the merger. The merger of the two corporates came as a result of the failing of the legend store Sears in the end of the twentieth century. Sears found itself slowly failing as its competitor’s success of low-end big stores likes Target and Walmart, and high- end department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. On the other hand Kmart itself was struggling and field chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 that was leading to closing of 600 stores and termination of 57,000 employees and cancelation of company’s stocks. The merger for the Kmart was a remarkable comeback deal. In 2005 Edward Lampert who’s Greenwich, Conn. based investment firm controls Kmart and Sears largest individual shareholder with a 15. 8 percent stake, purchased both failing corporates Sears and Kmart,...
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...not always good, some of newly created companies go bankrupt and in some cases, mergers companies disband in a sort of corporate divorce. There are no guaranties in corporate mergers, it is inherently risky and without proper strategy, intuition, and knowledge mergers can easily fail. For instance I will examine the merger of Sears and Kmart and evaluate the merger circumstances and the result of the merger. The merger of the two corporates came as a result of the failing of the legend store Sears in the end of the twentieth century. Sears found itself slowly failing as its competitor’s success of low-end big stores likes Target and Walmart, and high- end department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. On the other hand Kmart itself was struggling and field chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 that was leading to closing of 600 stores and termination of 57,000 employees and cancelation of company’s stocks. The merger for the Kmart was a remarkable comeback deal. In 2005 Edward Lampert who’s Greenwich, Conn. based investment firm controls Kmart and Sears largest individual shareholder with a 15. 8 percent stake, purchased both failing corporates Sears and Kmart,...
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...and a Marketing Review of Sears 1st submission Date Due in: April 19, 2012 Number of pages: 23 Word count :3,281 Table of Contents sEARS bUSINESS STRATEGY REVIEW i Executive Summary 2-3 introduction brief history and background of sears 4 mission & obJECTIVES II evaluation of sears existing mission and objectives 5-6 External analysis IIi Competitors 7 PEST 8-9 Five forces Analysis 10-11 Opportunities & Threats 11 InternaL aNALYSIS iV Strenghts & Weaknesses 12 Financial ratios analysis 13-14 Past and current strategies 15 Sears current strategic position v Sears current strategy Balance Scorecard 16-17 Porter’s Generic strategies 17 rEcommendations vi Objectives and strategic actions 19-21 Evaluation 22- 23 Conclusion 24-26 Bibliography Executive Summary Sears, once the leader of the retail industry, is now facing financial troubles and is relegated to the 10th position in the market (Store org, 2011). Even after the merger with K-Mart, the retail conditions have not seemed to improved, but in fact, Sears Holding’s financial reports continued to reflect loss. Investor confidence in Sears Holding and its SBUs has been consistently declining over the past few years, due to Sears’ poor performance. Consequently...
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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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...SEARS Targeting College Students Prepared For: MKT 360 – Marketing Analytics April 25, 2012 Table of Contents Section title Page Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Purpose of the Study 5 Sears: Trends in Sales 5 Competitors 7 Sears Consumer Segments 8 Purchasing Trends 11 Legal Issues 11 Social & Cultural Issues 12 Economic Trends 14 Technological Innovations 15 Research Objectives 17 Methodology 18 Data Analysis & Results 21 Profile of the Sample 21 Descriptive Results 23 Difference & Associative Analysis 33 Limitations 37 Conclusions & Recommendations 40 References 46 Appendix 49 List of Illustrations Figures Page Figure 1.0: Sears Brands 5 Figure 2.0: Respondent’s Gender 21 Figure 3.0: Past Six Months Mall Visits 22 Figure 4.0: Clothing Stores 23 Figure 5.0: Percent of Respondents that Purchased Fitness Equipment in the Past Two Years 24 Figure 6.0: Fitness Equipment Purchase Location 24 Figure 7.0: Most Popular Sears Brands 28 Figure 8.0: Incentives to Increase the Probability of Entering a Store 30 Figure 9.0: Social Media 31 Figure 10.0: Facebook Presence 32 Figure 11.0: Gender vs. Mall Visits 35 Tables Page Table 1.0: Respondent’s Age 22 Table 2.0: The Appeal of the Kardashian Kollection to Females 23 Table 3.0: Perception of Sears 25 Table 4.0: Cause Marketing Practices 29 Table...
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...source of unfairness. This issue may be faced through the adoption of automated assessment tools for essays. A system for automated assessment would at least be consistent in the way it scores essays, and enormous cost and time savings could be achieved if the system can be shown to grade essays within the range of those awarded by human assessors. This paper presents an overview of current approaches to the automated assessment of free text answers. Ten systems, currently available either as commercial systems or as the result of research in this field, are discussed: Project Essay Grade (PEG), Intelligent Essay Assessor (IEA), Educational Testing service I, Electronic Essay Rater (E-Rater), C-Rater, BETSY, Intelligent Essay Marking System, SEAR, Paperless School free text Marking Engine...
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