...CHILDREN: MATTEL’S TOY RECALLS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT We apologize to everyone affected by this recall, especially those who bought the toys in question. We realize that parents trust us with what is most precious to them—their children. And we also recognize that trust is earned. —Robert Eckert, CEO of Mattel, Inc.1 On August 2, 2007, Mattel announced a voluntary worldwide recall of 83 products in its Fisher- Price toy lines, including characters such as Dora the Explorer, and the Big Bird and Elmo characters from Sesame Street. The recall, which applied to approximately 1.5 million toys sold worldwide after May 1, 2007, was due to the use of excessive lead paint.2 Over the next month, Mattel announced six more recalls that covered toys with lead paint, as well as small magnets that could become loose and be ingested by children. In October, Mattel made yet another recall for lead paint contamination.3 All of the toys recalled had been manufactured in China. Two weeks after the August 2nd recall, the owner of the Chinese factory that had used the lead paint committed suicide. This series of recalls attracted widespread publicity, as well as political and consumer concerns that sometimes bordered on hysteria. Newspapers and television networks jumped on the story, interviewing concerned shoppers and showing toys being removed from shelves and parents bringing toys to stores for lead testing. Mattel‟s brand image took a serious beating. The toy recalls reinforced...
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...character-branded goods in Japan and other parts of the world. Sanrio initially used the character to adorn petty merchandise like coin purses and pencil boxes targeted at small girls. However, after Hello Kitty became hugely popular, Sanrio extended the brand to a variety of other products. Sanrio Company, Ltd., based in Tokyo and with distribution throughout Japan and Southeast Asia, the Americas and Europe. In the Americas today, over 4,000 stores to sell Sanrio character merchandise. This includes Sanrio boutique stores Sanrio merchandise has many different kinds of categories including stationery, school supplies, bags, accessories, room décor, candy, and plush characters. The global toys and games market grew by 2.7% in 2008 to reach a value of $60.8 billion. In 2013, the global toys and games market is forecast to have a value of $69.1 billion, an increase of 13.7% since 2008. Sanrio’s marketing strategy is to raise the sale revenues in the increasing market condition as well as to maintain our loyal customers and attract more male customers; Sanrio will create different kinds of images of products to fit into different range of age, and repackage the old neutral characters such as Badtz-Maru (a male penguin), Keroppi(a frog), Shinkansen (a bullet train) to increase the male market on the seasonal promotion. There are so many competitors in the industry. Therefore, Sanrio’s products must be fresh and various thereby increase the competitiveness. Sanrio’s price strategy...
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...CONTENTS Media, messages and styles used by Indian marketing communicators of Films 1. Overview of Indian Film Industry and Market 2. 4Ps concept applied on the movie industry as a whole 3. Overview of the film making business 4. Classification of movies from a producer’s or distributor’s point of view 5. Classification of movies as products 6. Publicity of movies 7. How different media is used for publicity of movies? 8. Alterative marketing methods 9. Music as a promotion tool 10. Hollywood marketing strategies in India 11. Messages and styles used for promotion of films 12. Bibliography Objective: To find out the Media, messages and styles used by Indian marketing communicators of Films. Methodology The project is based on secondary data information, as a source of secondary data various websites, movie magazines and marketing journals are used. Abstract: Bollywood, which contributes 27% of entertainment revenues, is changing from a fragmented industry to a few stalwart organisations who occupy all parts of the value chain starting from production to distribution. The article explores the new emerging trends in innovative movie promotions in the industry. The changing paradigm of its viewer ship and the increased role of NRI clusters is leading to a structural change in the way business is done in ‘Bollywood’. Overview of Indian Film Industry and Market India is the world's...
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...Harvard Business School 9-386-019 Rev. November 15, 1987 R&R During the summer of 1983, Bob Reiss observed with interest the success in the Canadian market of a new board game called “Trivial Pursuit.” His years of experience selling games in the U.S. had taught him a rough rule of thumb: the sales of a game in the U.S. tended to be approximately ten times those of sales in Canada. Since “Trivial Pursuit” had sold 100,000 copies north of the border, Reiss thought that trivia games might soon boom in the U.S., and that this might represent a profitable opportunity for him. Reiss’ Background After his graduation from Harvard Business School in 1956, Reiss began working for a company that made stationery products. His main responsibility was to build a personalized pencil division, and he suggested that he be paid a low salary and a high sales commission. He was able to gain an excellent understanding of that market, and by 1959 could start on his own as an independent manufacturer’s representative in the same industry. His direct contact with stores that sold stationery products revealed that many of them were beginning to sell adult games. He decided to specialize in those products. In 1973, Reiss sold his representative business to a small American Stock Exchange company in the needlecraft business in exchange for shares. He then set up a game manufacturing division and ran it for that company, building sales to $12,000,000 in three years. Reiss decided to go into...
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...Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Istanbul, Turkey, July 3 – 6, 2012 Car Recalls: A Problem Unique to Toyota or For All Car Makers? Kamrul Ahsan School of Management and Information Systems, Faculty of Business and Law Victoria University Australia Abstract Often automobile recalls are drawing media and public attention. Influenced by Toyota’s recent automobile recalls 2009-2010 this research conducts an empirical study on historical car recalls. The research uses secondary data from recall websites maintained by public and private organizations. For different car model year and manufacturer the study looks at frequency of recalls, recorded customer complaints, and yearly sales data. Analysis shows recalls are a common event with the majority of recalls initiated by only a few car makers. Though car makers use many eye catching and popular quality and customer care slogans and programs, many popular car makers still face valid customer complaints and consequently face many unwanted recalls. This study identifies that most recalls occur during the first five years of the car model year. This preliminary study of automobile recalls can be further extended at a later stage to identify key causes of recall. Keywords Product recalls, Reverse logistics, car recalls, product returns, closed loop supply chain 1. Introduction Though manufacturers use state-of-the-art operations philosophies, tools and techniques...
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...into desired goods and services and implement a company’s business strategy. The first topic I would like to talk about is forecasting. Forecasting is the process by which companies and organizations analyze data and graphs to determine how to proceed with business decisions in the future. To link this up to best buy mobile. I would like to talk about the iPhone (4) launch for verizon.IT was February of 2011. The company was forecasting a big day. Some business decisions BestBuy had to make was how many iPhones to order. Don’t want to order too little and lose business. With apple products I have learned you can’t over stock your inventory. APPLE sells itself! Remember it like it was yesterday. We opened the store 2 hours early thinking the place was going to be rocking. We had three Verizon reps and 5 best buy mobile employees. Long story short it was not busy at all and we ended up losing money as a company due to the fact of opening store 2 hours earlier and staffing all of those people. I have learned that business decisions in the future are a big key to success. Before making the schedule for the week ahead my manager looks at previous data and graphs to guide him. He...
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...C H A P T E R The External Environment 4 The Environmental Domain Task Environment • General Environment • International Context Environmental Uncertainty Simple-Complex Dimension • Stable-Unstable Dimension • Framework Adapting to Environmental Uncertainty Positions and Departments • Buffering and Boundary Spanning • Differentiation and Integration • Organic Versus Mechanistic Management Processes • Planning and Forecasting Resource Dependence Controlling Environmental Resources Establishing Interorganizational Linkages • Controlling the Environmental Domain • Organization-Environment Integrative Framework Chapter Four The External Environment 53 M any companies are surprised by changes in the external environment. Perhaps the greatest tumult for today’s organizations has been created by the rapid expansion of e-commerce. For example, Amazon.com was ringing up on-line book sales for more than a year before managers at Barnes & Noble even began thinking about a Web site. Barnes & Noble was highly successful with its book superstore concept, but its early efforts in e-commerce were marked by costly mistakes and missed opportunities. Even though the company burned through $100 million in an effort to “crush Amazon,” Barnesandnoble.com was still selling only 15 percent of books bought online compared to Amazon’s 75 percent.1 Firms in every industry, from auto manufacturing to telecommlunications, face similar uncertainty. Many factors in the external environment...
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...pull it off? For one thing, Xiaomi claims to price its phones just above their costs. But company officials also point to its iconoclastic business model, which eschews the financial burden of using traditional marketing and distribution practices, and relies on the Internet to fuel sales. It's made Xiaomi into a company that doesn't operate like a typical smartphone vendor, but still successful enough to become one of China's hottest tech firms. Disrupting the market When Xiaomi unveiled its first flagship Mi 1 phone in August 2011, attention was fixated on the device's price. Consumers could buy what was then a cutting-edge smartphone for 1,999 yuan (US$324). This was a major bargain compared to other high-end phones including the iPhone 4, which started at 4,999 yuan. Xiaomi maintained the initial 1,999 yuan price for the flagship phone. But the company also released its Hongmi line of products, which are lower-spec phones, at even lower prices, starting at 699 yuan. The Hongmi phones are doing so well, they've helped Xiaomi become China's third largest smartphone vendor in this year's first quarter, according to research firm Canalys. What do they cost to make? Xiaomi's latest...
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...organization had worked feverishly behind the scenes, ensuring that the company’s information systems could handle the surge in orders for pajamas, custom teddy bears, flowers and other gifts, placed via telephone, mail-order, and the Web. There were a few tense moments when the system - comprising a mix of homegrown and packaged applications from a variety of vendors, and knit together with middleware - occasionally ‘paused’ when its capacity was strained. Fortunately, his team - veterans of past Valentine’s Day ‘peak experiences’ - helped patch things together and ensured that nearly all orders were processed and delivered on time. Recognizing that customer retention was an important goal, Stetzel was relieved that most customers were happy with the service they received during the Valentine’s rush. Stetzel had been hired in November 2009 - just in time for a Christmas rush which included several tense moments as the systems struggled to handle a surge in orders. He hoped that before winter 2011 rolled around, his team could tame the complicated middleware and make progress toward an efficient, well-organized enterprise IT architecture that could serve as a robust platform for the company’s changing business requirements and support their...
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...described his entrepreneurial career in a video interview from his office in Boca Raton, Florida, in February 2001. Interviewer: Amy Blitz, HBS Director of Media Development for Entrepreneurial Management. The Early Years I grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Both my parents worked. They taught me a strong work ethic and a strong sense of morality. They also taught me to never, ever complain about anything in life. I had a brother who was three years younger than me. We grew up in a very competitive environment. We weren’t aware that it was competitive since that was just the way things were. Sports were everything in our world. We had millions of street games in front of the house. Basketball was the big sport, because in Brooklyn we didn’t have the big playing fields, so everybody played in the schoolyards. Three-man basketball was the game all weekend long. In the winter you’d shovel the snow away and play. The deal was that you played three-man ball and if you lost you got off the court. Winners stayed on. If you lost, you might wait two hours to get back on the court. The games were very competitive. We also learned how to pick our partners. To have a winning team in three-man ball, you need a good shooter, a good rebounder, and a good arguer. I was the...
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...com/articles/SB1047243854826319840 ĿĚǺĐĚŘ (Ų.Ș.) ňįẄ ǿŤ ťųǾ ťİ ěķųĐ ģňįěǿB đňǻ șųbřįǺ ŀǻěĐ ǻįřěbİ ěvįťǻřčųĿ Bỳ ĐǺŇİĚĿ MİČĦǺĚĿȘ Șțǻff Řěpǿřțěř ǿf Țħě Ẅǻŀŀ Șțřěěț Jǿųřňǻŀ Ųpđǻțěđ Mǻřčħ 10, 2003 12:01 ǻ.m. ĚȚ MǺĐŘİĐ -- Ǿňě đǻỳ ŀǻșț Ǻpřįŀ, țẅǿ mǿđěŀ ǻįřpŀǻňěș ŀǻňđěđ įň țħě ǿffįčěș ǿf İběřįǻ Ǻįřŀįňěș. Țħěỳ ẅěřěň'ț țǿỳș. Țħě Șpǻňįșħ čǻřřįěř ẅǻș șħǿppįňģ fǿř ňěẅ jěțŀįňěřș, ǻňđ țħě mǿđěŀș ẅěřě čǻŀŀįňģ čǻřđș fřǿm Bǿěįňģ Čǿ. ǻňđ Ǻįřbųș, țħě ẅǿřŀđ'ș ǿňŀỳ țẅǿ přǿđųčěřș ǿf bįģ čǿmměřčįǻŀ ǻįřčřǻfț. İț ẅǻș țħě fįřșț ěňčǿųňțěř įň ẅħǻț ẅǿųŀđ běčǿmě ǻ mǿňțħș-ŀǿňģ đǿģfįģħț běțẅěěň țħě țẅǿ ǻvįǻțįǿň țįțǻňș -- ǻňđ İběřįǻ ẅǻș pŀǻňňįňģ țǿ čŀěǻň ųp. Ǻįřbųș ǻňđ Bǿěįňģ mǻỳ ǿẅň țħě jěțŀįňěř mǻřķěț, ẅįțħ įțș přǿjěčțěđ șǻŀěș ǿf mǿřě țħǻň $1 țřįŀŀįǿň įň țħě ňěxț 20 ỳěǻřș, bųț řįģħț ňǿẅ țħěỳ đǿň'ț čǿňțřǿŀ įț. Țħě čřįșįș įň țħě ǻįřțřǻvěŀ įňđųșțřỳ mǻķěș țħě țẅǿ mǻňųfǻčțųřěřș đěșpěřǻțě țǿ ňǻįŀ đǿẅň ǿřđěřș. Șǿ țħěỳ ħǻvě ģřǿẅň įňčřěǻșįňģŀỳ đěpěňđěňț ǿň ǻįřŀįňěș, ěňģįňě șųppŀįěřș ǻňđ ǻįřčřǻfț fįňǻňčįěřș fǿř čǿňvǿŀųțěđ đěǻŀș. Ǿňčě țħě ųňđěřđǿģ, Ǻįřbųș ħǻș čŀǿșěđ țħě ģǻp fřǿm jųșț fǿųř ỳěǻřș ǻģǿ -- ẅħěň Bǿěįňģ bųįŀț 620 pŀǻňěș țǿ Ǻįřbųș'ș 294 -- ǻňđ țħįș ỳěǻř țħě Ěųřǿpěǻň pŀǻňě mǻķěř ěxpěčțș țǿ ǿvěřțǻķě įțș Ų.Ș. řįvǻŀ. Fǿř Bǿěįňģ, İběřįǻ ẅǻș ǻ čħǻňčě țǿ șțěm țħě țįđě. Fǿř Ǻįřbųș, İběřįǻ ẅǻș čřųčįǻŀ țųřf țǿ đěfěňđ. İběřįǻ ǻňđ ǻ fěẅ ǿțħěř ǻįřŀįňěș ǻřě fįňǻňčįǻŀŀỳ ħěǻŀțħỳ ěňǿųģħ țǿ bě ǻbŀě țǿ ǿřđěř ňěẅ pŀǻňěș țħěșě đǻỳș, ǻňđ țħěỳ ǻřě ǻŀŀ đřįvįňģ ħǻřđ bǻřģǻįňș. Ěňřįqųě Đųpųỳ đě Ŀǿmě, İběřįǻ'ș čħįěf...
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...Case Studies – Week 10 Case 1: PHILANTHROPIC TEAM BUILDING The top dozen executives from Adolph Coors and Molson breweries wanted to accelerate their team development to kick off the post-‐merger integration of the two companies. But rather than doing the usual team building in the woods or at a friendly game of golf, the Molson Coors leaders spent a full day helping to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. “We quickly got past the idea of a ropes course or golf outing,” recalls Samuel D. Walker, Molson Coors' chief legal officer. “We really wanted something where we would give back to one of the communities where we do business.” According to Walker, the volunteering experience exceeded everyone's expectations. “We had to unload this truck full of cement roof tiles. We actually had to figure out how to have kind of a bucket line, handing these very heavy...
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...McDonald’s: Behind The Golden Arches “Since 1955, we’ve been proud to serve the world some of its favourite food. And along the way, we’ve managed not just to live history, but create it: from drive-thru restaurants to Chicken McNuggets to college credits from Hamburger U and much more. It’s been quite the journey, and we promise this is just the beginning-we’ve got our hearts set on making more history” (McDonald’s Corporation, 2011). Almost 60 years have passed since Raymond Kroc envisioned a nationwide fast food chain, which needless to say went on to revolutionise the American restaurant industry and become the world’s number #1 fast food restaurant. Today McDonald’s serves 52 million people a day from one of its 31,000 restaurants dotted around the world (Ritabrata Giiosii, R.G. 2009). The golden arches along with Ronald McDonald and the catch phrase “I’m lovin’ it” have assisted McDonald’s in becoming one of the most globally recognised brands, allowing them to become McDonald’s most valuable intangible assets, but how did they do it? Countless elements threaten McDonald’s reputation; health issues, legal and technological changes, social factors, environmentalists and obviously competitors especially those who offer similar services and products such as KFC. They too have become a national brand recognized all around the world however to understand how McDonalds have achieved such success we must first understand what they do differently and what objectives...
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...Luxury Car Retailing & Trends Executive Summary A luxury car is indeed a status symbol that is a reflection of one’s personality and power in society. There is a steady increase in luxury car customers globally as there is a rise in income, wealth and urbanization. It is more of a dream come true of the rising middle class to purchase and own a luxury car. After the global financial crisis (Reyneke et al., 2012) hit the luxury auto market, it was interesting to find that the younger generation maintained their spending habits and joined the baby boomers who were already major consumers of luxury cars. However, the concept of cars being a boy toy has certainly evolved with the emergence of female consumers . These women are driven by their need to showcase their power and independence. The finest example are the Chinese and Middle Eastern women who have come out of their cocoons and protested against a male dominated culture and purchasing luxury cars were a part of that change. As the younger generation have become more environmentally conscious, luxury car retailers have adopted the ‘go green’ concept by bringing out diesel run and electric cars. Another trend that is picking up is the customization of cars. Luxury car retailers have chosen to customize their car for their customers providing them exclusivity and satisfaction as the customers get what they exactly want. The sales for luxury cars from 2012 to 2014 have been forecasted to increase steadily but there are...
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...profit. In order to deal with daily change of price of the gasoline, the 34 percent of the costs that they distributed usually stay stable, so by then it will be more accurate to reflect the oil price fluctuation. Oil prices affected by supply and demand as any other businesses related to supply and demand, also the price of the oil is related to commodity exchange based on the future oil price. As we know, the higher the demand on certain period of time, the higher the cost or the price of the oil/gasoline. The United States of America uses 20 percent of the world’s oil and two third of these is believe to be for transportation purposes. For future oil price, it is also depend on supply and demand in order to determine the price. If traders think the demand will be high, of course this will raise the price of the oil. There are few factors that cause the gasoline price to quickly rise and fall in a short period of time, included supply, demand, and competition as well as federal, state and local regulations. These policy makers will be the one that evaluate and choose the right strategies that are more likely to succeed in addressing the high gasoline prices. Since mid 1990s, consumers of gasoline in the West Coast, especially in California, have observed that their gasoline prices are usually higher than anywhere else in the United States. Even today, I think California still has higher gasoline prices than anywhere else in the United States. Let’s see the...
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