...Part 1 After watching the “Rogue Trader”, we can say that the main reason for the collapse of Baring Banks is the lack and inadequate internal controls under COSO combine with Nick’s fraudulent activities. The biggest deviation arises from the control activities, particularly the segregation of duties. When Nick Leeson got the job opportunity in Singapore, he was hired as the general manager of the trading floor and also was the person responsible for the settlement which means that he was making the trading transactions and at the same time recording and reporting them into the accounting system. It is a big problem because the positions assumed by Nick are related to generating revenue and doing the record keeping which are 2 areas that can create a conflict of interest, in retrospect those functions should have been held by two different persons and the communications process between them should be monitor to reduce the possibility of collusion or fraud. Another lack in control activities was the total absence of an authorization system. As we saw in the movie, when BeauMarchais asked him to buy 4000 contracts, even though the market average trade was 20000, he did not need any authorization nor anybody review the transaction to be sure that it was in accordance with the company objective. In another instance, he was able to transfer 7.8 billion yen between accounts. To avoid questionable situations and be able to make people accountable for their actions, they could...
Words: 844 - Pages: 4
...Job Satisfaction Trader Joe Kimberly Love Dr. Thomas Schaefer Business 520 Leadership and Organizational July 20, 2014 Trader Joe’s founder had a perception for his stores after vacationing in the Caribbean. He perceived that the customers would try new things while on vacationing. Also realized that less is better. Many time customers buy more when there is less to choose from in that store. Their attention is only selective when there is not a big variety of supplies. Trader Joe case describes the business practices and how they reinvented themselves. Trader Joe’s set themselves apart from the 7- Eleven style store they had and they became top competitors to Whole Foods and Dean and Deluca giants. The case gives a description on the history of the retail chain and various aspects of its unique business practices. The retail store offered a selection of exclusive, which were mostly private-labeled products, and replaced poorly performing products with new ones. Trader Joe’s is a small supermarket chain which offers a limited selection of unique food products at reasonable prices. It sales most of its products under the private label 'Trader Joe's' and its variants. T.J. targets its stores at highly educated and travelled, but not necessarily wealthy, segments of the population. Trader Joe has a team of experienced buyers, who does extensive traveling and research before bringing new products into the stores (Palmeri, 2008). Trader Joe also avoids the...
Words: 1245 - Pages: 5
...In what ways does Trader Joe's demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling? Trader Joe’s is a company that many fellow corporations aspire to be because of their ultimate success. But how did Trader Joe’s get so successful? Trader Joe’s success built from their understanding that a good team can only succeed if that have a good leader, as in leader I mean manager (which is one of the duties managers are suppose to be on top of). Managers are taught to comply with the four functions that make up the principles of management. These four functions are planning, organizing, leading and controlling. One could say that if a manager does not follow this guideline or a similar personal version of their own, they will not succeed in the management field. So how did Trader Joe’s understand the importance of these functions? First, Founder Joe Coulombe realized there was a gap in the market for grocery stores that offer quality products at low prices. At the time, all competitors either focused on one of the two. One example would be, Whole foods, which focuses on the quality of their food rather than the cost, giving them the nickname of “Whole Paycheck”. Another example, which focuses on minimizing the costs of the food would be Wal-Mart, which promises “guaranteed lowest prices” rather than top quality products. After realizing the need for an improved market, he started the planning to take his little...
Words: 666 - Pages: 3
...сразу скажется на торговле. 2) Воспринимайте трейдинг не как увлекательное дело, а как самую обычную работу. Возможно, это звучит спорно, но… Нашим словам есть очень легкое объяснение. Во время торговли ваша голова должна быть чиста – никаких эмоций. А если у вас эйфория – вы уже не адекватно воспринимаете происходящее и можете потерять деньги 3) Обязательно заведите хобби, которое будет расслаблять вас и придавать энергию. Торговля на фондовых рынках – энергоемкий процесс, и вам нужно научиться быстро восстанавливаться. 4) Не спорьте с базовыми принципами. Постоянно держите их в голове, они сэкономят вам кучу времени – быстрее начнете понимать суть. 5) Ни в коем случае не боритесь с рынком. Вспомните фильм rogue trader – и посмотрите, чем закончилась борьба с рынком. Плывите по течению, и у вас все будет хорошо. 6) Отпускайте упущенные акции, не концентрируйтесь на убытках. Их, конечно, надо осмысливать, но если будете слишком много думать о них – завязнете в депрессухе. 7) Общайтесь с другими трейдерами и инвесторами. Когда вы будете видеть, что через похожие проблемы проходят все биржевики – не будете думать, что вы один такой, и будет легче со всем справиться. 8) Если у вас убыточная серия – лучше на пару дней перейти на бумагу – так вы сможете реабилитироваться и при этом не потерять деньги. Как только увидите, что все опять окей – вернетесь на реал. 9) Не пытайтесь отбиться. Иначе потеряете адекватную оценку и наделаете...
Words: 373 - Pages: 2
...Case Study 1 Trader Joe’s Keeping a Cool Edge The average Trader Joe’s stocks only a small percentage of the products of local supermarkets in a space little larger than a corner store. How did this neighborhood market grow to earnings of $9 billion, garner superior ratings, and become a model of management? Take a walk down the aisles of Trader Joe’s and learn how sharp attention to the fundamentals of retail management made this chain more than the average Joe. Ruaridh Stewart/Zuma Press From Corner Store to Foodie Mecca In more than 365 stores across the United States, hundreds of thousands of customers are treasure hunting.1 Driven by gourmet tastes but hungering for deals, they are led by cheerful guides in Hawaiian shirts who point them to culinary discoveries such as ahi jerky, ginger granola, and baked jalapeño cheese crunchies. It’s just an average day at Trader Joe’s, the gourmet, specialty, and natural-foods store that offers staples such as milk and eggs along with curious, one-of-a-kind foods at below average prices in thirty-odd states.2 With their plethora of kosher, vegan, and gluten-free fare, Trader Joe’s has products to suit every dietary need.3 Foodies, hipsters, and recessionistas alike are attracted to the chain’s charming blend of low prices, tasty treats, and laid-back but enthusiastic customer service. Shopping at Trader Joe’s is less a chore than it is immersion into another culture. In keeping with its whimsical faux-nautical theme, crew...
Words: 1947 - Pages: 8
...[pic] TRADER JOE’S Description: Trader Joe’s has become a multi-billion dollar national chain partly through its ability to find cheap real estate, skip name brands and smartly manage its supply chain. It’s also due to its workforce management practices. Below, excerpts from a book Trader Joe’s Adventure, review the company’s management compensation, encouragement of multitasking, screening and wages, careful use of money, fun culture, sense that its people are its brand, and communication style. Learning Objective: Our focus with this case is on immersing students in the fundamentals of organizational culture. Organizational culture is defined as a complex set of shared beliefs, guiding values, behavioral norms, and basic assumptions acquired over time that shape our thinking and behavior; they are part of the social fabric of the organization—its genetic code. As such, culture drives the organization and guides the behavior of everyone in that organization—how they think, feel, and act. In other words, the culture forms a behavior template. Davis and Landa succinctly captured the essence of culture when they say, The factors which define culture are in part internal, deriving from the unique character of the organization and, in part external, determined by the background and experiences managers and employees bring to the enterprise. Culture is a major determinant of productivity; it shapes organizational responses to external pressures; and suppresses or enhances...
Words: 5558 - Pages: 23
...1. Examine the approach Trader Joe’s uses to promote a positive work environment for its employees. Determine at least three (3) ways in which Trader Joe’s is able to increase job satisfaction and performance. By making employees a priority and showing appreciation for them, Trader Joe’s has managed to retain loyal employees. Many retailers claim that their employees are top priority, but unfortunately do not treat them as such and do not provide an environment conducive to their growth and development. In an effort to increase job satisfaction and performance, Trader Joe’s has designed jobs that focus not only on actual work/retail experience, but they seek employees who possess “soft skills” such as, ethical, ambitious and overall happy/pleasant personality (Hunt, Osborn, Schermerhorn, Uhl-Bien pg.w-100). In addition to acquiring quality employees, Trader Joe’s encourages their staff and has created a work environment in which employees are trained to be extremely knowledge about the store and its products, thus employees are then able to engage customers creating a positive experience for them. It is the goal of Trader Joe’s to nurture their employees through training; as a result, they have a higher job performance rate. In a huge effort to show how much Trader Joe’s values their employees, those who work for them are considerably compensated much more than other retailers. They provide starting benefits, to include medical, dental insurance, company paid retirement and...
Words: 1132 - Pages: 5
...Started in 1967 by Joe Coulombe, Trader Joe’s began as a convenience store but quickly migrated to a more novel design for adventurous food and beverage shoppers. Initially, Trader Joe’s was comprised of 17 stores in the southern California area. By the early 1980s additional food products were introduced as the number of stores grew to 26. In 1988 they expanded to northern California. The combination of innovative products along with a service-oriented culture has created a loyal customer base that continues to grow nationally. Today, TJ has over 270 stores in 22 states with revenues exceeding $5 billion. Coulombe sold the business in 1978 to the Albrecht family, owners of a multi-billion dollar retail chain in the EU. However, the company remains private. The Albrechts are passive investors—operating control was left in Joe’s hands who continued as CEO until he retired in 1988. John Shields, whose background includes retail and merchandising, and who provided the operational know-how to expand the business, became CEO, a position he held until 2001. Dan Bane is the current CEO. Trader Joe’s offers an array of products that are distinct from those sold in traditional supermarkets. They do not carry national brands, but rather a host of food and beverage products along with a number of healthcare selections. Products include cheese, wine, ready-to-prepare foods, frozen items, produce, and ethnic choices, of which 75 percent carry the Trader Joe’s label. Most products are offered...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...Rogue Trader How many times can you go double or nothing before you wind up a billion pounds in debt? In “Rogue Trader”, a film based on the life on Nick Leeson, we get a glimpse into this real world dilemma. The drama begins with Leeson’s promotion to general manager of Barings Futures Singapore. As general manager, he faces a personal quandary and must decide whether to cover for a friend and coworker who made an honest mistake (one that resulted in the loss of a substantial amount of money) or to turn the same person in to face termination. Leeson chooses loyalty to his friend over loyalty to the bank, and covers up the losses by creating an error account. This account served to hide said losses while Leeson tried to make back the money that was lost. After experiencing additional losses, Leeson hit a lucky streak and was able to make up the money due to market growth. However, the profound effects of making so much money in the market quickly got to his head. Riding on the coattails of this success, coupled with other catalytic factors that created another loss, he was once again put in the same position to make up lost dollars in the market. From this point on, we see Leeson gamble on the market, doubling down and hiding his losses from everyone around him until his debt becomes insurmountable. Based on Leeson’s actions, the two COSO components most violated are risk assessment and control activities, of which many examples can be seen throughout the movie. Risk Assessment...
Words: 888 - Pages: 4
...the essay should identify and justify your selection of 2 components of the COSO framework that were most violated in the rogue trader movie In Rogue Trader movie Nick Leeson makes unauthorized trades and covers up losses which are sufficient to bankrupt Barings bank. While management thinks that Nick brings large profits to the bank, Nick hides losses under fake error account which people think belongs to a customer. Leeson is able to cover up his losses because bank's management allows him to run both the trading floor and the back office facilities. Nick is afraid of management finding out about his first loss and does things such as finding a new client, requesting funding and so on, to hide his losses and show profits. However, Leeson incurred even more losses, which he is not able to hide in the end. It's not Nick Leeson who collapsed Barings, it's Barings' internal controls and standards that were not present or violated and allowed one employee to bankrupt long standing bank. One of the most violated component of the COSO framework is the internal control environment of Barings. When Nick's unethical behavior at the bar got him to jail, management didn't care about his unethical behavior, all they cared about is to get him out of jail because he brings in a lot of profit. No one even sat down and talked to Nick in regards to his actions afterwards. Nick was given a freedom and power to act the way he wanted. Management didn't check or control him. When management...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...Naomi Piché Professor John Burtt BUS 114 Management May 21, 2013 Case Study 1 : Trader Joe’s 1. In what ways does Trader Joe’s demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process-planning, organizing, leading, and controlling? -Trader Joe’s demonstrates planning by intending to carry unique products at a low cost within a fun, relaxing environment. Their organizing skills were apparent due to their approach to find unusual foods from around the world, contract directly with manufacturers, label their products with catchy phrases and by maintaining a small stock of each product. Their leadership was exemplified by hiring employees with job skills such as being “ambitious and adventurous” and providing a laid-back atmosphere both for their workers and customers. Their employees had higher pay rates than those that worked for their competitors and had great benefits. Because managers were hired from within, they had an ultimate knowledge-base of how the system works. Also, the employees were encouraged to taste and learn about the products to be able to share with their customers, creating a more involved employee to customer relationship. Regarding Trader Joe’s control, they were able to control real estate costs by buying smaller stores and staying away from “prime” locations. Their “one in, one out” policy to get rid of poorly selling products or have rising costs replaced by new products helped to control costs and also showed their customers...
Words: 1438 - Pages: 6
...Trader Joe’s Trader Joe’s who’s grocery store chain has been known for its affordable prices, unique food and friendly staff continues to be ranked as one of the most ethical companies in the U.S. Due to recent changes in our governments healthcare system, there was a moment in 2013 that the company faced a dilemma that involved deciding whether or not to change their part-time employees health benefits. For years, Trader Joe’s has offered healthcare coverage to its part-time employees at reasonable prices while paying their part-time staff very generously compared to other grocery chains. On August 30th 2013, Trader Joe’s CEO, Dan Bane sent employees a confidential memo stating that the company would no longer be offering healthcare coverage for anyone working fewer than thirty hours a week. When the news was first announced, many thought Bane’s decision was heartless and many believed that there had to be a good reason for Bane’s decision; after all not too many companies in the U.S. offer health benefits to part-time employees. Immediately negative news hit article headlines, pointing out only one statement in the letter Bane wrote to all Trader Joe’s employees, “With low-wage workers eligible for tax subsidies to buy health insurance next year, the company has calculated that offering medical coverage to part-timers who work 18 hours or more is no longer worth the cost”. Of course Trader Joe’s part-time employees immediately became upset and started to question...
Words: 1880 - Pages: 8
...Case Study 1: Examining Emotions, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction Trader Joe’s Strayer University Examine the approach Trader Joe’s uses to promote a positive work environment for its employees. Determine at least three (3) ways in which Trader Joe’s is able to increase job satisfaction and performance. Whether or not Trader Joe’s knows it or not, they are in an environment that is experiencing emotion and mood contagion. This works both ways from the customer to management and vice versa. Customers go to the store in anticipation of a fun and friendly environment. This is exactly what they get. This is generated by a positive philosophy that starts from the top and works its way down. This is also driven by the concept of emotional labor; a situation where a person displays organizationally desired emotions in a job, (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, & Hunt, 2012). Trader Joe’s founder Joe Coulombe states that his store have “cheerful guides sporting Hawaiian shirts” (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien, & Hunt, 2012). The tones of his stores are friendly and upbeat and his hiring practices ensure he has people that meet those needs. Directly from Trader Joe’s website; “Where fun, food and opportunity align” and “A Career For The Adventurous” (Trader Joe's: Home>Careers, 2014) Trader Joe’s also hits on all five of the components of job satisfaction. The work itself; he hires people that have a passion for food and want to work for a company that has the same general...
Words: 1351 - Pages: 6
...Trader Joe’s is a growing chain of grocery stores with a difference. Whilst not a monstrous chain store, Trader Joe’s emphasises small stores which sell a selection of goods hard to find elsewhere at lower prices. The fact that quality goods come at such low prices is just one reason why the Trader Joe’s company has become so successful. From humble beginnings, the company has now grown into a multi-billion dollar giant. This may seem strange when the small and far less numerous stores of Trader Joe’s are compared to the number and size of stores associated with other grocery store giants. Even so, Trader Joe’s can now boast of two hundred and forty branches across nineteen states. Not bad for a company which started out as a number of convenience stores in Los Angeles in 1958. When competition from 7-Eleven stores threatened, the owner of the stores, which were then called Pronto Markets, decided to expand his business by starting to sell gourmet food at reduced prices. As such, the idea of high quality goods at low prices was started along with the new name, Trader Joe’s, in 1967, named after the owner, Joe Coulombe. A big part of the stores’ success immediately came from the fact that the majority of the produce sold is sold under the company’s private label. As such, Mr Coulombe immediately created a trusted product, which, as it was also cheap, drew in the customers, creating a loyal clientele. As the number of items on sale is accordingly low compared to huge...
Words: 413 - Pages: 2
...Trader Joe’s No average Joe Trader Joe’s is an American privately held chain of grocery stores founded by Joe Coulombe. Trader Joe’s have been successful business for long time with their unique innovative strategy of selling natural and organic food products with only one brand of an item for low price. Their unique culture of relaxed beach environment and helpful knowledgeable employees makes their customer to stay loyal to the brand. Eighty percent of Trader Joe’s has in-house products that differentiate them from competitors and hard to imitate. Trader Joe’s target young educated people who want to eat healthy for low prices. They can really expand their business by investing in marketing, social media, loyalty- card program and building parking garages and gain bigger broader market segment in food industry. This also will help them competitive advantage over their competitors as they will have solid brand image and be successful over the long term. SWOT Analysis The strengths of Trader Joe’s are selling organic & fresh grocery at low prices, introducing new products to their stores frequently and offering friendly customer service. Trader Joe’s sell natural and organic food at cheaper price than its competitors. They buy in bulk one item rather than buying lot of similar items, which gives them competitive advantage over other supermarkets. Trader Joe’s introduce 10-15 new products every week and had special season items and; thus customers liked trying new...
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
