...Case Study #2: Non-tariff Barriers to International Trade ------------------------------------------------- Bear on the move Located in Guangdong, China’s richest province, Xianda Co. is a toy company that has been manufacturing toys since the onset of Guangdong’s economic boom in the early 1990s. While Xianda Co. is now a major manufacturer for a number of multinational toy companies, it began by designing and manufacturing its own line of dolls, teddy bears, puppets and building blocks based on its trademark character “Xia the Panda Bear”. Xia’s popularity was initially limited mostly to China’s mainland until late 2002; a year after China joined the WTO. In 2002, Xianda Co. saw a surge in demands for Xia products start in France, spread throughout Europe and North America, and move into South America. Today, Brazil is Xianda Co.’s biggest export market for Xia goods, and Xia’s popularity in Brazil alone accounts for 19 percent of worldwide Xia sales and 2 percent of Xianda Co.’s manufacturing output. Since 2003, Xia the Panda Bear has become the most popular toy in Brazilian history. A bear market A media frenzy of confirmed cases and unconfirmed speculation pertaining to China’s use of hazardous materials (for example, lead paint and potentially carcinogenic plastic and rubbers) to manufacture toys cheaply, sparked consumer panic around the globe. In response, the Brazilian government ordered all Xia goods pulled from store shelves and banned further toy imports...
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...create simple four and eight stud building blocks. Today, LEGO has turned into one of the most famous toy brands in the world. The aim of this case study essay is to asses the macro and micro environment in which LEGO is performing today. Micro Marketing Environment The micro marketing environment is defined as “the forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers – the company, market channel, firms, customer markets, competitors and publics, which combine to make the firm’s value delivery system” (Kotler, Wong, Saunders and Armstrong, 2005) One of the most notable things concerning the micro environment of LEGO is that it is viewed as a strong brand. It been part of the toy market for so long, that grandparents and parents can remember playing with the toy as a child, and so often feel they have a relationship or bond with the product. The brand has also infiltrated many markets world-wide, and its fame is instrumental in its continued success. The case study states, it’s the only European company to enter the worlds Top Ten toy manufacturers. The product also has a unique selling point. The toy of LEGO is aiming to capture a creative imagination and also enable it to stand out in the market of dolls, cars, computer games etc. It is promoted as a “system of play”, which can be a strong selling point when trying to compete with educational toys. Another positive aspect of the micro environment of LEGO is the broad of products it sells and...
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...CIS1101 REVIEW QUESTIONS AND CASE STUDY QUESTIONS Click below link for Answer http://workbank247.com/q/cis1101-review-questions-and-case-study-cis-1101-r/23695 http://workbank247.com/q/cis1101-review-questions-and-case-study-cis-1101-r/23695 MODULE 1 CHAPTER 1 REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Briefly describe the technologies that led businesses into the second wave of electronic commerce. 3. Briefly describe the specific activities that a computer assembly operation might include in B2B electronic commerce for its supply management or procurement operations. 5. Many business analysts have discussed the concept of the first-mover advantage. What are some of the disadvantages of being a first mover? CASE STUDY C1 CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS 1. Toys“R”Us sales exceeded $300 million by 2004 on the Amazon.com site. Explain how Amazon, Toys“R”Us, and other toy sellers who participated in Amazon’s Marketplace retailer program benefitted from the network effect as a result of the relationship between Amazon and Toys“R”Us. 2. In 2004, Toys“R”Us sued Amazon.com for violating terms of the agreement between the companies; specifically, Toys“R”Us objected to Amazon.com’s permitting Amazon Market-place retailers to sell toys. (Note: When the lawsuit was filed, Amazon Marketplace was called “zShops.”) Amazon.com responded by filing a countersuit. After more than two years of litigation, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that the agreement had been violated...
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...Steve A. Levy @02026280 January 17, 2011 Chapter 1 – Case # 1 Productions and Operations Management 1. Visit the websites for the professional organizations listed in the chapter. Who are their target audiences? Are some more focused on purchasing professionals or logistics professionals? Which of the careers listed in these websites are mentioned in the chapter? Which ones sound appealing to you? The Association for Operations Management’s (APICS) claim is to be “the global leader and premier source of the body of knowledge in operations management, including production, inventory, supply chain, materials management, purchasing, and logistics”. The target audience seems to be geared toward supply chain professionals. AIPICS is a supply chain focused organization that offers some guidance to students and professionals interested in a career in supply chain. There is also a focus on specific access such as logistics and purchasing. The Institute for Supply Management™ (ISM) is the largest supply management association in the world. Their mission is to lead the supply management profession through its standards of excellence, research, promotional activities, and education. The membership base includes more than 40,000 supply management professionals with a network of domestic and international affiliated associations.” The institute focuses more on promoting current professionals involved in purchasing or logistics. Another organization...
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...Question 3 Choose a brand where its core product is primarily for kids e.g. The Wiggles, Thomas and Friends, Hello Kitty etc. Write a paper on how it has diffused throughout the product categories and how it has extended to other categories as well. Do a case study of its success (or failure) and how it has changed the landscape of product innovations. For example, Thomas and friends has clothes, stationery, household products, jewellery etc. *** She is a successful independent woman, who lives in a world of pink, where she owns a dream house in Malibu. Every day, she wears high-heels to work, and even runs a fashion chain under her name. For many, she was the influential icon of American culture in the late 20th century. Until now, I dare say that her image is still very potent worldwide. Who is she? Never before has she ever starred in a Hollywood movie or performed at a famous fashion show. Surprisingly, she never exists in real life and she is literally a toy. Yes, it can hardly be any other toy but Barbie. Nowadays, girls can be seen wearing Barbie clothing, using Barbie perfume, carrying Barbie backpacks, and sleeping in Barbie pajamas, not to mention cosmetics, sneakers etc. (Morgenson 1991, 66). Mattel, Inc., the mother company of Barbie, should feel proud of her. Because on average, an American girl has ten Barbie dolls, a British or Italian girl may own seven, while five is the number of Barbie that a German or French girl has. It was Mattel’s purpose and will...
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...Principle & Practice of Marketing Name and Matriculation Number Choi Pang Fung Oscar (40190237) Submission date 14 July 2015 (3,048 words) Content i. Study Objective P.3 ii. Bandai’s Company Background and Mission P.3 iii. Combination of Orientation in Bandai’s Marketing Philosophies P.4 iv. Strategic Marketing Models and Marketing Strategy of Bandai P.6 1. Ansoff Matrix P.6 2. BCG Matrix P.8 v. Possible Growth Opportunities within Macro Environment / Recommendation P.11 vi. Conclusion P.13 Reference P.14 Bibliography P.15 i. Study Objective This paper examines how Bandai Co., Ltd. implements a combination of Marketing and Product Orientation in its marketing philosophy. Then the formulation of their strategic marketing approaches will be assessed using Ansoff Matrix and BCG Matrix. The last section will evaluate potential opportunities for Bandai’s business growth within macro environment. ii. Bandai’s Company Background and Mission Founded in 1950 by Mr Naoharu Yamashina, Bandai Co., Ltd. (Bandai) is a leading Japanese toy manufacturer company and is headquartered in Tokyo. It is the forth largest producers of toys in the world (After Mattel, Lego and Hasbro)[1] with revenues...
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...Specialty Toys, Inc. WEATHER TEDDY Case study: Specialty Toys, Inc. aims to identify the best order quantity of its new product “Weather Teddy” to meet with the demand of the market for this kind of products. The Management department sort out different propositions of quantities to order from the Taiwanese manufacturer. The aim of this case study is to perform statistical studies on the propositions of the Management department in order to perform a recommendation for the best quantity to order associated with the best profit projections. PROCEDURE: FIRST: As indicated in the memo of the Management department, we need to use the sales forecaster’s prediction de approximate the demand distribution. We assume “X” to be the demand of the new toy. X follows a normal distribution with a mean “µ=20,000” and a standard deviation “σ” (unknown). As stated before, Specialty’s senior sales forecaster predicted an expected demand of 20,000 unites with a 95% probability percentage that demand would be between 10,000 and 30,000 units: P(10,000≤X≤30,000) = 0.95 We know that the Z-score formula is: z=(X-μ)/σ so the probability can be written as follows: P((10000-μ)/σ ≤ (X-μ)/σ ≤ (30000-μ)/σ ) = 0.95 P((10000-20000)/σ ≤ Z ≤ (30000-20000)/σ) = 0.95 From tables of areas under the standard normal curve with a 95% prediction score: (30000-20000)/σ = 1.96 σ = (30000-20000)/1.96 =10000/1.96 = 5102 So the demand “X” follows a ND with a mean “µ=20,000” and a standard...
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...Management report on supply chain management and quality management ---based on a case of Mattel recall scandal 1. Introduction Experiencing a steady growth, global toy industry has attracted many research in studying this field, in which one of the largest toy manufacturers Mattel Inc. suffered from a recall scandal in 2007. This essay directs at exploring reasons that lead to Mattel’s operation failure in this scandal regarding two key frameworks in global operation management, namely, supply chain management and quality management. Providing potential recommendations to prevent or react to supply chain failure as well. 1.1. U.S. toy industry According to Statista (2016), the U.S. toy industry amounted to $43.1 billion in 2015. It was projected to reach $45.02 billion by 2016. By means of global supply chains, U.S. enormous demand for toys is satisfied. For example, most toys sold in the U.S. are designed in the U.S., but approximately eighty percent of those sold in the U.S. are manufactured in China (Boyle, 2015). The main characteristics of toy industry are ‘volatility’ and ‘seasonality’ (Wong & Johansen, 2005). Roughly seventy percent of toy sales occur in the final three months of the year, in which families conduct bulk purchase as gifts to children for Christmas. Therefore, during early months of a year when demand for toys are considerably lower, toy manufacturers face problems with much of the unutilized capacity. They also need to appropriately...
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...Case Studies Lego The Danish company Lego is one of the most famous brands in the world when it comes to children’s toys and has grown since it was founded in 1932 into a global business. Its origins lie with Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund (where the firm is still based) who bought a woodworking business in 1916 and made furniture for local farmers. For various reasons he shifted his production range in the 1930s to make children’s toys and in 1934 named the company ‘Lego’ from the Danish words leg and godt, meaning ‘play well’. His early products - wooden pull toys, piggy banks, cars and trucks – were reasonably successful but a key turning point for the business came in the 1940s when they began making plastic toys including a truck which could be taken apart and re-assembled. In 1949 Lego began producing a set of interlocking bricks (based on an original patent by the UK Kiddicraft company for which they bought the rights) made from cellulose acetate and using an early version of a hollow design with holes and studs. The now familiar Lego bricks appeared on the market in 1953 but were not initially very successful, partly due to poor perceptions amongst consumers and retailers of plastic toys. The key was probably the emergence of the idea of a building system based on interlocking bricks – an idea which took some time to develop and is closely linked to the son of the founder, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. His discussions with buyers, especially in the USA...
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...director DATE: 10/4/13 SUBJECT: Constructive discharge complaint A. Constructive Discharge The Zippeedoo Toy Company has been experiencing huge growth over the past year, leading to a change in scheduling for production personnel. Where all personnel once worked eight (8) hours per day, five (5) days per week, it became necessary to shift production personnel to a rotating schedule of twelve (12) hours per day, four (4) days on, 4 days off throughout the month. This led to personnel being scheduled over the weekend, as well as during the week. Employees were required to work from one to three Sundays per month, depending on rotation. When the new schedule was announced, Mr. Tibbet resigned his position in the production group. He has filed a claim of constructive discharge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which alleges that Zippeedoo Toy Company required practices which conflicted with his religious beliefs, forcing him to leave the company. Constructive discharge is an illegal and discriminatory practice that forces an employee to resign employment due to intolerable working conditions. In order to meet the criteria of a constructive discharge, Mr. Tibbet must prove that his resignation occurred a) due to conditions that any reasonable person would have found unbearable, and b) that the Zippeedoo Toy Company was aware that the schedule change would have a serious impact on Mr. Tibbet, but did nothing to remedy the situation...
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...Case Study Creative Thinkers Presentation 01/361 November 28, 2011 Case Study Creative Thinkers Presentation Steve Jobs made a name for himself in the business world as an inventor, he became a household name and recognized as a charismatic pioneer in the revolution of personal computers today. He was born February 24, 1955 and died October 5, 2011. He dedicated his life to Apple Inc. Steve Jobs co-founded, chairman, and chief executive officer of the company. Jobs also used his creative thinking in animation. As he served as a chief executive for Pixar, he was also on the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company. Steve’s Job major impact of Apple was designing the personal computer. In the 1980’s Steve Steve Jobs was one of the first to recognize the potential of Xerox PARC’s mouse driven graphic user interface. In 1986 Jobs designed the computer graphics division in Lucas Film Ltd. that led to Pixar animation as he was able to take the credit for Toy Story in 1995 as the executive producer. In 1996 there was a buyout of NeXT and jobs were brought back to Apple. He then created iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and his last creation was the iPad. Steve Jobs made a great impact on many lives, he gave others opportunity and a positive way of thinking. He did this by creating more jobs, and entertaining those with what was used through imagination in the animated world as well as giving us the convenience of listening to music on demand with iTunes...
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...Introduction The issue of gender stereotyping is a prevalent global concern. When people apply gender assumptions to others, regardless of evidence to the contrary, they are perpetuating gender stereotyping. Many people recognize the dangers of gender stereotyping; yet continue to make these types of generalizations. Traditionally, the female stereotypic role is to marry and have children. She is to put her family's welfare before her own; be loving, compassionate, nurturing, and sympathetic; and find time to be sexy and feel beautiful. The male stereotypic role is to be the financial provider. He is also to be assertive, competitive, independent, career‐focused, and always initiate sex. These sorts of stereotypes can prove to be harmful; they can suppress individual expression and creativity, as well as hinder personal and professional growth. Children learn gender stereotypes from socialization. Gender socialization is the process where children learn to develop behaviours regarding what constitutes being a male or female. Beginning at a young age, parents, school, peers and the media highly influence the gender behaviours children replicate and ultimately internalize. My compilation of media entries focuses on the progression and adaptation of gender stereotypes in the media. Over time, perceptions of gender roles have changed, causing the media to modify traditional marketing tactics to conform to them. I chose to organize my entries into three sections....
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...Case study Toys “R” Us JAPAN Case study Toys “R” Us JAPAN TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 3. Japan Background and facts: 4. Background: 4 Facts: 5 Toys “R” Us Background 7. The Beginning: 7 Market Expansion 8 More ways to shop Toys “R” Us 8 Evolving business 9 Toys “R” Us in Japan 9 Case analysis: 10 Attractive factors of Japan toy market: 10 Barriers to Entry: 10 Success Factors for Toy's "R" Us-Japan 11 TRU Strategy 13 Our opinion: 14 Recommendations: 15 Conclusion: 16 References:: 16 Introduction: Toys R Us is the large distributor in the US and it is one of the more successful foreign retailers in Japan after overcome hard barriers. This successful is a result of right decision-making and strategy in overseas expansion by global retailer’s and gradual changes after entry into foreign markets. Also the strategy in respect of standardization adaption before and after entry has great effect in this successful. Coming lines, shows some factors that attract TRU to join venture in Japan. Then, we will discuss group of barriers that TRU had overcome, and how it’s overcome these barriers. In the end, we will evaluate Toys “R” Us in Japan market. Japan Background and facts: Background: Government: Parliamentary with constitutional monarchy Prime Minister: Shinzō Abe (elected Dec 2012) Capital: Tokyo Population: 127,368,088 Population Growth Rate: -0.077% (2012 est.), World Rank: 198th Birth Rate: 8.39 births/1,000 population...
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...31 STEVE JOBS AND APPLE, INC. Todd A. Finkle, Gonzaga University Michael L. Mallin, The University of Toledo CASE DESCRIPTION The primary issues in this case involve business startup and management, and are appropriate for entrepreneurship and management courses. A secondary issue demonstrates how personal drive and motivation are critical components of successfully managing and growing a business, thereby making this case appropriate for discussion on the topic of strategic management. The case chronicles the life and passion of entrepreneur, Steve Jobs – illustrating the rise, fall, and current state of the Apple Computer Company. The case has a difficulty level 2 and is designed to be covered within one (75 minute) class period. The required preparation time is about 2 hours. It is appropriate for small business, entrepreneurship, or management classes. The purpose of this case is to illustrate to students how individual passion, determination, and innovation is a critical element in business start up success and also to stimulate critical thinking in terms of future direction for a company in a struggling economy. CASE SYNOPSIS The Apple Computer Company is arguably one of the most innovative technology companies to emerge in the last three decades. Apple, Inc. is responsible for bringing to market such products as the Macintosh computer and laptop, iPod and iTunes, and most recently, the iPhone. The success of the company can be traced primarily to a...
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...Technology Brokering and Innovation in a Product Development Firm Author(s): Andrew Hargadon and Robert I. Sutton Reviewed work(s): Source: Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Dec., 1997), pp. 716-749 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2393655 . Accessed: 29/01/2013 01:51 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Sage Publications, Inc. and Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Administrative Science Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:51:00 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Technology Brokering and Innovationin a ProductDevelopment Firm Andrew Hargadon StanfordUniversity Robert 1. Sutton Universityof California, Berkeley We blend network and organizational memory perspectives in a model of technology brokering that explains...
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