...Struggling to Make the Best Buy Struggling to Make the Best Buy • Describe Ashley’s dilemma in this case. Ashley’s dilemma is to make the right decision out of the set of alternatives lying in front of her. Since her boyfriend lost his MP3 player a month before his birthday the choice for the perfect gift for his birthday was clear.i.e.MP3 player. But the choice of buying the right MP3 player for her boyfriend is not a recurring decision. She has never bought a MP3 player for her boyfriend so she has no experience whatsoever. She is not tech savvy and doesn’t understand the features and the functions of a MP3 player. Hence, she decides to get some help from Kade’s best friend who she figured would have an idea of his taste and preferences. She also tried to seek the advice from the store salesman who had knowledge about the players leaving her with the option of opting for either of the two. • What steps are required Ashley, leading up to her final decision? How does Ashley prioritize which information is more important and relevant to her purchase? What are her alternatives? The steps that’ll lead her to the final purchase decision begins with the information search for a small mp3 player in the price range of $40 to $60. Since the source of information available to her is external and not her own knowledge or experience with the product, she needs to evaluate the two alternatives suitably. The two alternatives are:- 1. Creative Zen Stone Plus which costs $59.99 and...
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...serious. Hiring Carly Fiorina was a mistake because she was a broad visionary which says she looked at the company with a “wide view”. She knew she wanted to guide the company in a digital,virtual,mobile and personal way but lacked the means of communicating this vision to the rest of the company; her vision was not explained well to upper management so when lower management and their subordinates heard of this vision but with no plans of attaining it the employees moral dropped creating a struggling dysfunctional corporation, hiring a visionary for the company is a good ideal but you have to make sure the broad visionary remembers to include everyone and communicates with everyone on the plans in which to obtain those visions. Acquiring a company for 19 million dollars and then putting in another 10 million dollars to integrate the system was not a smart ideal since the company was already financially struggling; why would you buy a company that costs 10 million dollars to integrate? Why not buy a company that already has the same capability as yours? This decision only helped moral dropped lower than what it was and creates distrust. Board Members with no ethics leak pertinent information to the press and causes the new CEO to testify before congress, another huge mistake this shows that the board members and the CEO has no trust between them this “no trust” shows to upper management and upper management relays this to lower management and their subordinates. Employees must have...
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...Consumer Behaviour – MKT 510 Consumer Behaviour – MKT 510 Vishal Saraiya - 11509973 Assessment 1: - Case: Struggling to make the best buy. Lecturer: Deborah D’Cruz Date: - 9th December, 2013 Vishal Saraiya - 11509973 Assessment 1: - Case: Struggling to make the best buy. Lecturer: Deborah D’Cruz Date: - 9th December, 2013 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Definition of Situational Influences 3 2.a Physical Surroundings 4 2.B Social Surroundings 4 3. Identification of Situational Influences 5 3.A Social Surroundings 5 3.B Temporal Surroundings 5 3.C Task Definition 6 4. Application of Situational Influence 7 5. Conclusion 8 6. References 9 1. Introduction This report is going to discuss and evaluate the importance of the situational influence and focus on the case provided towards a Kate’s struggling to best buy, where her boyfriend’s birthday was fast approaching and what all factors affected in making the decision. This report will firstly research and discuss in detail about the situational influences which affects consumer decision to purchase a product or service. Under which it will focus on two key influences and substantiate on these concepts. Secondly, it will identify and briefly describe three particular situational influences as evident from the given case study affecting Kate’s purchase decision. Thirdly, it will discuss how a marketer might be able to utilise “situation” to market a specific...
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...Best Buy On the Brink Background Best Buy and Circuit City were the two major brick and mortar stores where consumers were able to purchase electronics. With the rising technology and E-commerce, Circuit City was not able to adapt to the changing environment and now Best Buy is on the same path as its former competitor. Best Buy had to close down fifty stores and fire over 400 employees due to its poor financial performance. Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn explained that there was no innovation by the company to adapt to the changing market on how consumers were purchasing electronics. Consumers are now price comparing with Best Buy’s products with online retailers. Online competitors of Best Buy are utilizing the new emerging technologies to help make purchasing of products convenient to the consumers. Problem Statement Best Buy is on a slow downward slope towards bankruptcy, if the company does not have any new innovation in the way it sells its products to consumers. Best Buy needs to understand how consumers are purchasing electronics and restructure how its employees are interacting with customers. Amazon is taking advantage of being an online retailer which means that Best Buy has to take advantage of their physical locations. Alternative Solutions One of the strategies Best Buy can implement is to offer a price match guarantee to the customers if they can find a lower price than Best Buy’s products then Best Buy will match the price. This strategy will attract more customers...
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...Definiton Apples customer market range from advanced power users to inexperienced users that are looking for an “easy to use” device. Their customers also range from single buyers to bulk purchases made by schools and businesses. Apple also competes in the market of just about all digital and print media. General Environment Economic – Because of tough financial times many are facing buyers in the United States and Europe may be hesitant to purchase Apple products because of their premium pricing. It could also work in Apples favor because in tough financial times, if a buyer is going to make a purchase they may decide it is worth purchasing a quality, dependable product and that is what Apple is known for. (Reuters, 2009) Demographic- Wages – With increasing expenses like gas prices and healthcare costs and wages remaining relatively the same, buyers have less disposable income to buy Apple products. (Masi, 2009) Technological – Some Apple products may become less important (ex. Computers) for user’s as newer innovated products come out. Multifunctional devices like cellphones could potential be all a user needs for daily use. Other Apple products benefit from this trend such as the iPod ,iTouch and iPhone. (Constine, 2012) Shortening product lifecycle- Apple is competing with many other companies to come out with innovated products, which can contribute to shorter product lifecycles if they are pressed to adjust their product entry times. This also leads to having older...
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...THE EMERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ITS ADVANTAGE TO BEST BUY COMPANY INC. Course project on; Managerial applications of information technology -IS535 Devry University, Keller graduate school of management. June 2013 Table of Contents Abstract Company Background Discussion of Business problem High Level Solution Approach Business and Technical Approach Benefits of Solving the Problem Conclusion and Recommendations References THE EMERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ITS ADVANTAGE TO BEST BUY COMPANY INC Abstract Many companies have been struggling recently due to the shift and the constant increase of online marketing and sales. The internet has created an entire new market. This has posed serious problems to Best Buy company Inc., as it profit and revenue seems to be on the down turn .In 2013 fiscal second quarter, Domestic comparable stores sales saw a 1.6 percent...
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...the company to provide the tools and resources for the managers to become successful. A recent team meeting was held to identify why some of the managers were struggling and what plan could be put into place to allow them to become successful. The plan will incorporate the use of the Tuckman Model and the understanding of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team for team building purposes. This paper will also detail the characteristics of a successful manager and will outline a plan to assist the struggling managers, primarily in the area of negotiation and resolution conflict skills. In order to create high-performing teams, you have to understand the managers that you have in place and provide them the necessary training and tools to be successful. This information is an asset in being able to identify the successful characteristics of establishing self-directed, high-performing teams. In addition, it will help you understand why some managers struggle, while other managers are able to consistently exceed expectations. The paper will detail information discussed in the manager’s meeting and provide recommendations for success. The meeting started off with a simple question, “Why are some of the managers struggling?” Through this open discussion we were able to discover many reasons why the managers were struggling: skill vs. will, lack of training, lack of experience, low communication and lack of conflict resolution skills to name a few. However, it was agreed that it...
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...What Money Can’t Buy. We need it to pay the bills, eat and sleep in our warm homes. Most importantly we need it to survive. Money plays a very important role in everyone’s life across the world. Money can be the most important thing in the world, but many forget that there are many other things that hold value, more than the dollars in your bank account. Still, very astonishing to me how one piece of paper can control the minds of billions of people. How we let it dictate a majority of our life and think that we need it to make us happy. Even though money can buy you all the lavish goods in the world, but it can never buy you happiness, knowledge, good health, love or time. In my personal experience with money, I’ve had the amount of an average American family. Meaning that I wasn’t filthy rich but I wasn’t poor either. The amount that I have is enough to make me happy because I’m not struggling with anything life food and other necessities. I don’t live comfortably, because my idea of comfortable is not having to work, but I still have to pay bills and maintain. But, looking at others who don’t have much money makes me appreciate my life more even if I am not wealthy. Being average isn’t so bad when you still have gratitude. Money can’t buy you happiness and I actually believe that in some ways money can actually negatively consume your life. What I mean by this is, say for instance someone is desperate for money, they will do anything to get their hands on it. That...
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...The Challenges of Youth Residential Group Homes: Struggling to Survive The Challenges of Youth Residential Group Homes: Struggling to Survive “By the time you finish reading this 15-20 children will have been abused, beaten or raped. In five minutes, 30 more. Within the next hour 360 more. And by tonight, close to 8000+ children will have suffered abuse, 5 of which will die.” (Potter, 2011) That is why residential group homes for at-risk adolescent youth are an important service to the children of our society. If this is true, why are they struggling to survive? Before group homes, children were placed in orphanages or government run institutions. They were also placed in state prisons up until the 1970’s. Thankfully, in 1976 Act No. 148 decisively reorganized the way services for Pennsylvania juveniles were subsidized, and in the process gave local communities both incentives and funds to help keep delinquent youth closer to their homes (Griffin, 2003). Hence, the beginning of community based group homes for at-risk adolescent youth. In our society, it is important for abused children to have a safe, nurturing place to live. Residential youth group homes face many challenging obstacles such state government interference, minimal funding for programs, lack of resources for staff training and the public misconception of the types of children served. A properly run, licensed residential youth group home gives children a sense of security in knowing they...
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...For hundreds of years, England was the best country in many ways. Economically, they were the head of trade, they had the best military, England also had some of the richest history in the last six hundred years. The only country that had them beat was Rome, and Rome had been destroyed hundreds of years before England grew large. Suddenly, America had split from England, causing a large scale war and a ton of debt in England. But, England still prevailed. Suddenly, in the mid 18th century, Americans start inventing new and crazy things to make work much more efficient. Immediately this caused issues with England’s economy, families and put England in a place of struggling with America. Now, one of the main issues back then with the new machines and an issue even today, is the...
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...The Business Enterprise Professor Yakoobian May 1, 2011 The Success of Amazon.com As the economy continues to grow and change so will consumers with how they shop and purchase their everyday needs. Having a successful business online takes time and effort to ensure that consumer needs are being met. This paper will discuss how Amazon has been able to stay so successful with new and upcoming competitors. In addition to discussing the success, the struggles will be evaluated as well as ways to improve the company. When visiting Amazon, you can get several of your products at one time; it is a one stop shop type of deal online. 1. Discuss the pros and cons of Amazon’s growth and diversification of business and specialization, and make recommendations about what Amazon could have done differently. Over the past year Amazon has seen growth along with struggles. Financially they have seen an increase in their business. Amazon has expanded their business pretty rapidly over the past fifteen years and they are still trying to expand further. In November of 2010 Amazon signed agreements to acquire Quisdi, Inc. and LOVEFiLM International Limited (amazon.com). They expect that these acquisitions will close in 2011, because of regulatory approvals and closing conditions (amazon.com). When acquiring other companies Amazon should be more careful, because the immediate effect of receiving the cash is good for the company but the long term effect of losing the acquisitions is more...
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...3. Identify the prominent features of the company’s current business and functional strategies, and consider attack strategy from competitor. What would be Best buy strategy to retaliate? In the traditional retail sector, Best Buy has previously largely squeezed other electronics warehouse-superstores out of the business (or left them as a shell of their former self), with the exception of some regional retailers such as HH Gregg, or Fry’s Electronics. In addition to competing with these smaller chains, Best Buy continues to compete in the consumer electronics retail sector with companies such as Staples and Office Depot, which offer a small selection (compared to Best Buy) of competitively priced electronics and accessories. Other competitors, particularly in the areas of laptop computers and televisions, include retailers such as Costco and Wal-Mart (Funding Universe). However, all brick and mortar retailers are facing increasing pressures from online retailers, which given their comparably lower operating costs, can accept much lower profit margins on each item that they sell. Amazon is by far the most formidable player in this market, given that it has assembled a massive global network of highly automated warehouses, acquired successful online retailers like Zappos and Woot!, has struck deals with parcel carriers to offer 2-day and overnight shipping at very low prices, and cultivated a reputation for offering products at low prices with particularly lenient and understanding...
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...opinion. The merger I choose to research was the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. The merger between Disney and Pixar was a very successful one. They worked together in the past and their contract was running out after the release of Cars. This was the perfect opportunity and sensible move for these two companies to merge. The merger would allow the companies to work together conveniently. This merger was very rewarding allowing the company to put out very successful movies such as WALL-E, Up, and Bolt. They both have high expectations including plans for twice-yearly films. This was not possible before the merger. Disney has been able to give Pixar a boost in the field of advertising, marketing plugs, and merchandising. Disney is the best in the business when it comes to marketing to children. Disney spent $ 7.4 billion to acquire Pixar from Apple’s head Steve Jobs (Monica, 2006). The strategy behind this merger is to continue creating innovative stories, characters, and films that pleases viewers worldwide (Monica, 2006). The acquisition improved Disney’s animation which helps stimulates its growth throughout its businesses. This was a very smart strategic deal that will benefit its theme parks, consumer products, and cable. Disney also obtained ownership of the world’s most famous computer animation studio and its resources. They also have a more personal relationship with Apple’s technology because of Steve Jobs owning Pixar. For the corporation that has not been...
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...Success or Happiness We always think that money can buy happiness and if we have money we are living the good life. Even Aristotle would agree that money can’t buy happiness. But what if you are poor and struggling and trying to reach success because you need to support your family. Can that success buy happiness? Because when you are struggling and trying to make ends meet it can be frustrating. We can definitely look at the movie Pursuit of Happyness and try to think what would Aristotle think of the story and would he agree on the main character, Chris’s, definition of happiness. In the movie Pursuit of Happyness there is a guy name Chris Gardner who is trying his best to support his family by selling portable bone density scanners. And for Chris to be able to pay rent and daycare fees, he has to at least sell 2 scanners each month. Throughout the movie he has a hard time selling them and it gets to the point where he can’t pay his bills. In result of him not being able to pay his bills, his wife ends up leaving and he also gets evicted from his home and the only person he has left is his son Christopher (Pursuit of Happyness). So his only option to not live on the streets and to give his son a good life is to find a good paying job. When I was watching the movie, one scene that stood out was the scene when Chris was walking through the Financial District in San Francisco after a long day of trying to sell his scanners. But as he is walking he sees a man in a suit and...
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...During the recession, many retail and consumer businesses had to deal with a hit in profit and financial gains. Typically, mass retail giants cut down locations as well as employees, making it difficult for workers to get bonuses or raises, and possibly take losses in corporate offices as well. However, some big retail companies, like Home Depot, Best Buy, and Bain & Company were able to turn some of these downturns into positives and give more to their employees and continue to grow their companies. The behavior and attitude of management can drastically affect a company’s outcome during a recession, so being proactive and seeking out the positive is always the most effective during times of need. According to Shalom Schwartz, who created the theory of personal values in the workplace, there are values managers hold that can influence behavior unknowingly at work (Kreitner and Kinicki, 152). Amongst the ten values, Bain & Company, Home Depot, and Best Buy all hold on to universalism. Universalism, the “understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection of the welfare of all people and of nature” in the workplace creates a positive work environment for everyone involved (153). Bain & Company’s CEO Steve Ellis took the proactive approach during the recession and added even more employees to his team. “This is an opportunity to grab very talented people,” Ellis stated, when talking about how many former consultants became stranded during the recession (176). He is giving...
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