...Williams-Sonoma has shown much success and growth within a short amount of time and continues to show potential for future growth as well. If Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives the projected five years of the company will continue to show success and show a fast mass and maturity in growth. As technology changes it will allow William-Sonoma to open up new avenues to reach out to its customers both from the retail sector standpoint and the direct-to-customer approach. My view is that William-Sonoma could capitalize on the new technology that is out and blowing up the market. New apps on cell phones will allow a more expedient approach and allow customers to have access to various thing at their fingertips. As William-Sonoma continues to find new innovative ways to target their audience then their focus is on track. There is no denying that William-Sonoma isn’t working hard to please their costumers nor strategically thinking on how to outsource their items only relying on 4 percent (Rouse, 2010), of responsibility from each one while maintaining the core responsibility. After reviewing the case study, Williams-Sonoma is not alone when it comes to specializing in many of the products that are being sold on the market today. There are many competitors that Williams-Sonoma is up against however, because William-Sonoma values there customers, they value their merchandise as well, leaving no room for chance when a customer receives a product for it...
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...Williams-Sonoma Williams-Sonoma offers the upscale and wealthy market with a wide assortment of home furnishings. Consumers are reached by means of multiple sales platforms consisting of direct-to-customer channel, retail channel and e-commerce sites. Williams-Sonoma continues to increase its product lines yearly and enlarges its business operations by opening new retail stores to different states in the country. Having numerous brands help the company seize a huge potential customer percentage. If the Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives, it is not impossible that the company will become the industry leader in home furnishings. Michman & Mazze (2006) explained that "innovation was an important variable for Williams-Sonoma and it designs products and services to satisfy the needs of the niche segment; since the focus is on satisfying specific target markets, efficiency is maximized" (p. 132). In addition to this, the good supplier power of Williams-Sonoma allowed them to lower their expenses as they have varied manufacturers in European and Asian countries. Its excellent quality products permit them to gain the loyalty of its consumers. Due to its large distribution centers across the United States, there are no shortages of supply to the retail stores which do not cause dismay to the customers. Recommended Strategies Aside from creating an official website to Williams-Sonoma, loyalty programs would help capture more customers. If the customers...
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...1. If the Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives, where will it be in five years? As said by Rouse (2005) author of the Williams-Sonoma case study, Williams-Sonoma uses the diversification growth strategy. According to the text with this strategy the company expands product lines by moving into other industries (Wheelen & Hunger p. 208 par. 4). Initially Williams-Sonoma “opened its first store in 1956, selling a small array of cookware imported from France. Since then, the brand has expanded to hundreds of products from around the world, more than 250 stores nationwide, a direct-mail business that distributes millions of catalogs a year, and a highly successful e-commerce site” (Williams-Sonoma par. 2). Williams-Sonoma current lines include: Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PB Teen, Hold Everything, West Elm, and William Sonoma Home. (Rouse p. 1 par. 1). If the company continues to grow and delve into other innovations and markets it will have large market shares within the next five years. Due to the nationwide economic decline the company may suffer or face some difficulties caused by its high prices that only target the wealthier. Consumers may began to be more conservative in their spending and looking towards cheaper home good alternatives such as the competitors listed in the case study: Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, Pier 1 Imports, and The Bombay. If the company continues to focus on its current stores it will...
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...Abstract Williams-Sonoma is synonymous with high-end retail for the home. Creating an innovative market mix of retail, catalog and e-commerce, Williams-Sonoma is strategically positioned to retain market share of the diverse mix of house and kitchen wares, furniture, linens and home furnishings segment. With strong leadership, committed to consumers, shareholders and employees, Williams-Sonoma is continuing to be profitable and provide quality unique niche products domestically and internationally. Company Overview In 1956, Chuck Williams founded Williams–Sonoma Inc. (WSM). Mr. Williams identified a need for a place to purchase unique and niche home and kitchen wares. His passion for cooking and entertaining ignited a revolution within the United States that is still present today. The high-end American specialty retail company, Williams-Sonoma sells a diverse mix of house and kitchen wares, furniture, linens and home furnishings domestically and internationally. Products are sold in retail stores, catalogs and worldwide via the internet. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Williams-Sonoma became incorporated in 1976. The brand portfolio encompasses Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Williams-Sonoma Home, West Elm, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Bed & Bath and PBteen. Williams-Sonoma Inc. operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and franchises throughout countries...
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...website. They have fewer brick and mortar stores than Williams Sonoma. They offer high style but at a lower price point than Williams Sonoma. Crate and Barrel focuses on furniture rather than kitchen products. The Company is in the process of changing its combination of online and brick and mortar stores, repositioning some of its stores in their current markets (Sweeny, 2014). Restoration hardware sells pricey vintage style furniture. They compete with William Sonoma in the direct to customer market. Restoration Hardware targets the wealthiest 10 %, Williams Sonoma targets wealthiest 20%. A former senior manager left Pottery Barn to work or restoration hardware (Rouse, 2010). This inside knowledge helps with Restorations’ positioning. Its strategy is to target fast growth. Pier one stores offer similar offerings to Williams Sonoma. Pier 1 aims to get the competitive advantage by offering a variety of products to fit various market. They offer an array of household, kitchen and specialty items. Bombay Company offers classic, traditional accessories and large furniture. The company also has outlet stores that targets those they desire high style at a lower price point. While targeting a group of consumers that have less disposable income, this strategy may isolate the consumer that is looking for trendy high end items. Door Store and Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium are regional competitors to William Sonoma. They each have a few retail stores, catalogs, and a web presence...
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...November 23, 2010 In five years with the present strategies and objectives of marketing specialty home products William-Sonoma, I believe will continue to grow as it is betting on its online expansion venture of moderate price West-Elm chain to revive growth. The key I think is with diversification and understanding the different economic housing markets. In some states where housing market is high with Foreclosures and declining home purchases the process of exploring strategies targeting retails in remodeling is significant in future success. These strategies of old will support growth to an extent but needs to evolve over time. The company used the primary selling channels of retail and direct to customer channel. The retail consisted of four means to deliver products which were through Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Hold Everything. The Williams-Sonoma brand of providing home goods, decorative accessories, and more importantly children market is expected to grow because of the expectations in birthrates. The competition in this market will continue to grow and startup companies are flooding the retail market to get its share of the pie. Today’s market involve new technologies and companies are continuously seeking methods to get there products to the customer faster and at any time. With this understanding Williams-Sonoma should continue to seek and build upon its strategies in order to be ahead of their competitors and new business ventures. Another...
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...Answer The problem is to be formulated as two integer programming problems, one for the first year and the other for the second year. I Year Problem Total fund available = $10,000 For convenience rename the brand Petite Sirah as Brand I and brand Sauvignon Blanc as Brand II For Brand I the cost for grape is $0.80 per bottle and for Brand II the cost for grape is $0.70 per bottle. It is given that one dollar spent for promoting Brand I produce a demand for 5 bottles and one dollar spent for promoting Brand II produce a demand for 8 bottles . This means the advertisement cost per bottle for Brand I is $0.20 and the advertisement cost per bottle for Brand II is $0.125. The cost-profit structure of the two brands during the first year is as follows. Brand Grape cost Advt. cost Total cost Selling Price Profit Brand I $0.80 $0.20 $1.00 $8.00 $7.00 Brand II $0.70 $0.125 $0.825 $7.00 $6.175 Suppose George decide to produce X bottles of Brand I and Y bottles of Brand II Then the total profit function to be maximised is Total amount required is . Hence the constraint on the funds becomes C1: Further, it is given that the proportion of Brand I should be between 40% and 60%. The corresponding constraint becomes This can be expressed as two constraints as follows C2: C3: Thus the first year problem can be expressed as the following integer programming problem. Maximize Subject to X and Y non-negative integers ...
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...Williams-Sonoma is a nationwide specialty retailer that sells high quality, upscale products for the home through its 478 retail stores and various direct-to-customer channels. Its retail concepts are comprised of Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, Chambers, West Elm and Hold Everything. Williams-Sonoma, a San Francisco based company, generated $2,361 million in revenue dollars. The company employs approximately 6,000 people nationwide. The organization rates a 10 in job satisfaction because it pays well and offers excellent health benefits; however, opportunities for advancement are limited locally due to employee loyalty and long tenures. It rates a 12 on the functioning of small groups due to its commitment to customer service and its ability to maintain a 98% service level of a two day product delivery within its direct-to-customer channels. Company culture rates an 11 because of high employee loyalty. Its employees are highly committed and loyal to the company in partly due to its "Friends and Family" referral program, in which employees are allowed to refer friends and family for work during peak shipping seasons. The average tenure in the distribution center is between 6-10 years. Finally, Williams-Sonoma rates a 12 in organizational performance because of its high product delivery rate, high customer service level and high customer. Analyze key elements of training and development geared toward improving the performance of the specific...
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...1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain and "Alta California" became a Mexican province rather than a Spanish colony. A new era began in California as ranch life flourished and American trappers began to enter the territory. The Mexican government secularized the missions in 1834 and they were eventually abandoned. In June 1846 a party of settlers occupied Sonoma Plaza and proclaimed a Republic of California and raised the bear flag in rebellion. Known as the Bear Flag Revolt, this insurrection represented one of the first aggressive actions that divided California from Mexico. In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill and dramatically altered the course of California's history as miners rushed into the area. On September 9, 1850, California became a state. The Gold Rush brought thousands of immigrants, both foreign and domestic, to California. This and later mass migrations, combined with the state's natural riches, assured Calfornia's success as it developed its diversified agriculture and industry, fisheries, forestry, and mining industries, aircraft plants and shipyards, tourism and recreation, the film industry, and the technological sector epitomized by Silicon Valley (highlighted in another National Register itinerary: Santa Clara County: California's Historic Silicon Valley). More than 90,000 people made their way to California in the two years following the first discovery and more than 300,000 by 1854 — or one of about every 90 people then living in the United...
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...The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) operates the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program. The GFOA utilizes a criteria guide in order to award the participants from any type of government. This policy memorandum compares two local government budgets of Sonoma County and San Bernardino County using the criteria guide. The fiscal year 2016 budgets for both of these local governments are ranked on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 = never mentioned in the budget document, 2 = rarely included in the budget document, 3= sometimes included in the budget document, and 4 = often mentioned in the budget document), in which has a total score of 24 points. Based on this ranking procedure, Sonoma County scored a total of 98.3 % and San Bernardino County scored a total of 99.1%. Introduction and Overview...
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...Assignment MBA 5101 1. In this case study; the firm Williams-Sonoma has exhibited great models of developing of his organization in a short period of time using a wide variety of strategies. That can provide benchmarks for firm to follow. They outlined the organization’s objective strategies that aligned with the business’s mission and helped the firm reach it objectives. This was the foundation that proved to successfully grow William-Sonoma. This business started by providing high-end culinary and serving equipment. Over time they started diversifying into other business areas. The modern William-Sonoma offers specialty products such as decoration and furnishing for the home. Over the next five year, Williams-Sonoma has the opportunity to capture a variety of markets, by providing superior products to increase shares in the industry. The company would be able to satisfy the needs of every consumer and potential consumer in all segments of decoration and home furnishings home. The company would be able to dominate the market and would achieve its target in both channels, retail and direct to customers. It would bolster Williams-Sonoma brand image and will achieve and maintain the competitive advantage in the home decoration market by his applying a distinctive strategies ties in the company’s mission with the organization’s goals and results in growth. 2. In the case, proves that Williams-Sonoma is constantly increasing its organization’s growth with its distinctive...
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...Williams-Sonoma successfully market goods through all three major channels __ retail stores, catalogs, and the Internet. We take into account the people, customer focus and operational excellence. In order to provide excellent service at a minimal cost, Williams-Sonoma needs to comply with the service level agreements. Business continuity is like any other service that a supplier provides to a consumer. The main components include: • a clear understanding of the supplier’s capacity to provide a service • a clear understanding of the consumer’s expectations of this service • a clear understanding of the limitation of each • a clear agreement that addresses all of these • ongoing management of the relationship based on that agreement (Smith, 1995) Williams-Sonoma needs to solve the service level agreement problem otherwise the organization will lose customers due to failure of accomplishing the promised delivery date. There are several resolutions that will help solve this problem. Tracking the service level daily, weekly, and quarterly will track the timeliness of delivery. In addition, by involving its employees and let them understand the importance of their job. This process can be done by incorporating and employing associate opinions survey, quarterly state of the site meetings, as well as other factors such as employee recognition. Williams-Sonoma would like to address the problem and set realistic goals that are attainable. Once the problem is completely evaluated...
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...We will be staying at Raford Inn, a charming 1800 Victorian bed and breakfast, in the heart of Sonoma County, in their “Lavender” Room for a total of $196. With a little bit of California traffic, we pull up to the beautiful house around 2:00. We snack a little on the cheese, croissants, fruit and hummus provided in the entryway and then crash into our queen size bed. After a much needed two hour nap for me, and four hour nap for Elijah, we freshen up and head out for our first Sonoma experience for dinnertime. Completely starving and still a little tired, we drive roughly thirty minutes to Rustic restaurant inside the Francis Coppola Winery. We order huge plates of pasta’s and salads, along with their “first flight tastings” for $25, which...
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...Torrontes, Don Rodolfo 'Vina Cornejo Costas' Cafayate Valley, Argentina | 9 | 2012 | | Sauvignon Blanc, Patient Cottat 'Le Grand Caillou' Loire Valley, France | 10 | 2012 | | Pinot Blanc, Albert Seltz Alsace, France | 12 | 2013 | | Garganega, Pieropan Soave, Italy | 11 | 2012 | | Gruner Veltliner, Schloss Gobelsberg 'Gobelsberger' Kamptal, Austria | 12 | 2012 | | Chardonnay, Landmark 'Overlook' Sonoma, California | 13 | | | ROSÉ | | | | | | 2013 | | Zweigelt, Mittelbach Niederösterreich, Austria | 12 | | | RED | | | | | | 2012 | | Pinot Noir, Luli Santa Lucia Highlands, California | 15 | 2012 | | Nebbiolo, Renato Ratti 'Ochetti' Langhe, Italy | 13 | 2010 | | Sangiovese, Fèlsina 'Berardenga' Chianti Classico, Italy | 12 | 2007 | | Tempranillo, La Rioja Alta 'Viña Alberdi' Reserva Rioja, Spain | 10 | 2005 | | Grenache/Syrah, Château Redortier Gigondas, France | 14 | 2010 | | Merlot, Tangley Oaks 'Lot #11' Napa Valley, California | 12 | 2011 | | Malbec, Colomé Salta, Argentina | 12 | 2011 | | Zinfandel/Petite Sirah, Ridge 'Three Valleys' Sonoma, California | 15 | 2011 | | Cabernet Sauvignon, Seven Falls Waluke Slope, Washington | 10 | 2010 | | Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc Robert Sinskey 'POV' Napa Valley, California | 22...
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...Environmental Analysis Hospitality – Food Service Local Communities II. Impact Analysis The actions taken by companies in the food service industry have helped their relationship with the community, and corporate citizenship is a clear example of it. Corporate citizenship is concerned with “how companies manage their social, economic and environmental practices in a way that maximizes positive impact and minimizes negative impact in society” (Framework for the Future, p. 2). For corporations that practice corporate citizenship helping the community and the environment is important because they see it as a way of strengthening their relationship with one of their stakeholders. An example of corporate citizenship could be found in food service companies that get together to get money for the hungry. An example of this is the program that the rock star John Bon Jovi started through a restaurant. The restaurant is called “Soul Kitchen” and it is an initiative where the community participates. You can go there, eat and pay what you can. Even if you don’t have money you can still eat what you want, but you have to help out either in the kitchen or in the back yard helping to pick out the vegetables for the food that will be prepared to the customers, which is the local community (Soul Kitchen, John Bon Jovi’s charity restaurant, opens in New Jersey, Wayne Parry, The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/soul-kitchen-jon-bon-jovi_n_1021600.html). Fast...
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