Business Analysis of Peak Garage Doors Inc Essay example -- Business

Business Analysis of Peak Garage Doors Inc INTRODUCTION Peak Garage Door Inc. has set a goal to increase their sales for 2004. Garage door industry is expecting a growth of 2.4% while the management of Peak is looking to increase company’s sales 26.4%. The company currently has 50 exclusive dealers and 300 non-exclusive dealers. Management has three proposals in front of them. The first suggestion is to increase the number dealers in their existing markets. The second recommendation is to develop an exclusive franchise agreement with existing non-exclusive dealers. The third recommendation is to decrease the number of dealers and focus company’s resources on increasing support for the existing dealers. Of course there is an option for them to leave everything as it is. My suggestion is to go with the second recommendation due to the fact that exclusive dealers produced 70% of company’s sales and non-exclusive dealers contributed only 30%. In order for Peak Garage Doors Inc. to reach their sales goal for ‘04 th ey will have to gain more exclusive dealers since they contribute much more profit to the company. THE INDUSTRY The residential garage door industry sales for 2003 were $2 billion; 90% ($1.8 billion) of these sales were steel doors, the type of door the Peak specializes in. Projected industry sales for ’04 were $2.05 billion, representing 2... ... Net Sales $8,452,518.40 Cost of Goods Sold $6,900,000.00 Gross Profit $1,552,518.40 Selling, General and Admin Expense $1,600,000.00 Net Profits Before Taxes -$47,481.60 Choosing option 3 would lead to a loss. Option four is to do nothing. This would mean that everything would stay the same, and Peak could expect a 2.4% increase in sales. INCOME STATEMENT 2004 Net Sales $9,420,800.00 Cost of Goods Sold $6,900,000.00 Gross Profit $2,520,800.00 Selling, General and Admin Expense $1,840,000.00 Net Profits Before Taxes $680,800.00 CONCLUSION According to the calculations, it will be impossible for the company to reach the sales goal of 12.5 million regardless of which option they choose. However the best outcome is with the option number two which is to develop an exclusive franchise agreement with existing non-exclusive dealers.

Hamlet’s First Soliloquy

Hamlet’s soliloquy in Act I Scene 2 is the first time that the reader fully understands Hamlet’s character, his inner thoughts and opinions. The general tone of this soliloquy is very personal and emotional revealing Hamlet’s despair over the current situation and his depressing state of mind. It sets the stage for the rest of the story, being Hamlet’s hatred of Claudius and resentment of his mother. Previous to this soliloquy we learn that King Hamlet’s brother, Claudius, has become the new king of Denmark by entering into an incestuous marriage with Queen Gertrude, the late king’s wife. Claudius has made a grandiose, eloquent speech presenting him and his wife to the court, manipulating and distracting his audience from the abnormality of the situation. Hamlet, naturally still mourning his father’s death, is shocked by how quickly everyone has forgotten and refuses to play along with Claudius’ show. Hamlet interrupts the speech with snide, witty comments like, â€Å"a little more than kin and less than kind,† addressing the unnatural relationship that him and Claudius now have. The King and Queen turn to Hamlet and encourage him to get over father’s death and to stay in Denmark under the pretense of loving him. When Hamlet again interrupts with spiteful words against both his mother and Claudius, Claudius publicly humiliates Hamlet by making a speech, highlighting the reasons why Hamlet cannot be king. Instead of refuting Claudius, Hamlet becomes compliant to his mother’s wishes and agrees to stay in Denmark. Shakespeare utilizes situational irony at this point in the story where once Hamlet is left alone we expect him to explode into anger, but instead he falls into a passive state of self-pitying. â€Å"O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew. In this line Hamlet expresses his desire to commit suicide which alerts the reader to his depressive state. The way in which he describes the act as â€Å"melting† also alerts us to his sedentary disposition, in that even the taking of one’s own life is inactive. In the next line Hamlet informs us that he cannot commit suicide because of his religious views. â€Å"Or that the Everlas ting had not fixed his canon ’gainst self-slaughter! † Hamlets inability to commit a sin shows us that he has a high moral standing and an air of innocence. In this soliloquy Hamlet is deeply conflicted and unable to resolve to commit himself to a course of action as is seen through his cyclical thought process. Hamlet employs many allusions within this soliloquy to make a comparison between Hamlet Sr. and Claudius. Hamlet uses mythological characters to compare his father to Claudius saying that â€Å"So excellent a king that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother that he might not beteem the winds of heaven visit her face to roughly. Hamlet believes that comparing his father to Claudius is like comparing Hyperion, the Titan God of Light to a half-man, half goat. Through this analogy we realize that Hamlet has a very idealized view of not only his father but also Hamlet Sr. and Gertrude’s marriage. This builds in him a resentment of Gertrude for so easily moving on and an even greater hatred of Claudius for corrupting his mother. Hamlet then goes on to contrast his father and Claudius by comparing himself to Her cules, unintentionally associating himself with Claudius. My father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules. † This line further shows the deterioration of Hamlet’s self-image. Hamlet’s first soliloquy helps the reader to understand the source of Hamlet’s action throughout the rest of the play. It introduces his self-destructive ways and tendency to refrain from acting. It also introduces a later recurrence of Hamlet’s deep disturbance of his mother and Claudius’ relationship.

A Day in the Life of Alex Sander Essay

I had to plunge in and make a lot of snap decisions in these areas. Looking back, I can see one poor strategy decision, but on the whole my judgment has been right on target. And if being pushy and commanding is the only way to get the job done—to get two new products out in one year—then it’s worth it to me. Even if I have to steamroll over someone’s feelings, or ignore the way a colleague would like to handle a project. Sander: Well, I get ticked off pretty easily. For example, I can’t stand explaining something more than a couple of times. But what really bothers me is lack of commitment—for example, if a long-time employee isn’t willing to put in extra hours to meet an important deadline. But you know what? After I really become angry, there are people at Landon whose output will jump for at least a couple of weeks afterwards. My temper is actually an effective management tool. 9:00 A. M. Leong nodded apologetically to Garrison as she left and said, â€Å"The interviewer from your alumni magazine is here. † The magazine was interviewing Sander for an article on â€Å"high-potential† product managers as part of a career development issue. He did not want to further embarrass Garrison, a 20-year veteran of the company, by interrupting; still, he needed to talk to Sander. op yo Neighbor: I remember you mentioning some sparks with your assistant when you first started at Landon. rP os t A Day in the Life of Alex Sander: Driving in the Fast Lane at Landon Care Products | 2177 and so on. But you’re never in charge of your own creation. That’s the main reason I accepted a job at Landon. Landon is a pretty small shop, and I’ve been involved in every detail of my product launches. I’ve really enjoyed the strategy piece—gathering data about market share, figuring out the most profitable positioning for my brands. As a product manager, you have to talk to R&D, then work with market research to see whether you have a feasible idea that will attract consumers. Then you work with advertising. You partner with all the departments to synchronize the program’s details. A product manager must ensure a targeted, quality product, whose distinctive features will be clear to the target consumer. Then you have to make the product right and get it to market. At that moment, Sander’s BlackBerry buzzed and, with a quick apology, Alex picked up the call. â€Å"I need to get a piece of data from this market researcher before my team meeting this afternoon,† Sander explained. While waiting for Sander to finish, the interviewer glanced around Alex’s office. It was large for so new a product manager, and the interviewer noted the award plaques on the credenza behind Sander’s desk. Sander finished the brief phone call, and the two continued talking. For the last question, the interviewer asked, â€Å"Alex, in your opinion, which type of person is best suited to being a product manager?

Enron-The Smartest Guys in the Room paper Essay

Answer the following questions based on the film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005). 1. (a) Describe the ownership structure at Enron. (b) How did the ownership structure contribute to the Enron scandal? (15 points) When Enron became a publicly traded company, the employees and executives had more incentive to manipulate earnings and financials. With the shift in structure, there were more external stakeholders to satisfy, which caused the company to focus on short-term results, rather than long-term interests. The company went as far as to trade all sorts of things, including weather and broadband, in order to gain support from investors. Enron got a lot of that support. Investment banks put about $25 million each into the company. With high stakes and image on the line, Enron manipulated earnings to drive stock prices up through mark-to-market accounting to please its stakeholders. 2.(a) Describe the following three leaders: Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow. (b) How did EACH leader contribute to the scandal? (20 points) Ken Lay was a very ambitious man. He was the son of a poor Baptist preacher. Because of Lay’s humble roots, Lay worked several jobs as a kid. He always dreamed about being a businessman one day and making huge wealth for himself. Lay believed he could have a better life with more wealth. He also believed in government deregulation. Lay had a PhD in economics. He aggressively pushed for deregulation of energy markets in Washington. His goal was to liberate businessmen from government’s hold. He took advantage of government letting energy prices float with the market, and started Enron Corporation through a few mergers. Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron, was said to be â€Å"incandescently brilliant† by many at Enron. In reality, he was a risky, danger-seeking gambler. Skilling had a Darwinian view and strongly beli eved in the idea of â€Å"survival of the fittest†. He implemented a group called the Performance Review Committee. The committee was involved in the â€Å"rank and yank† system, in which the bottom 15 percent of the company got fired each year. This ultimately led to numerous unethical actions and turning a blind eye to fraud because of employees’ determination for job  security. Skilling was a former nerd, and went on to change himself. He was very admired at Enron. When he got Lasik surgery, everyone else did too. Skilling was responsible for making energy into a tradable entity and for his advocacy of mark-to-market accounting, which was the main tool for Enron’s earnings manipulation. Fastow was a very greedy man. He served as CFO of Enron. He was responsible for running numerous companies that partnered with Enron. He mainly worked to cover up the financial fantasy land that Lay and Skilling had created. He was hired before age 30 by Skilling to join Enron. He always idolized Skilling and wanted to please him. He ended up hiding about $30 billion in debt through his companies. In addition, he skimmed off many of the deals he made, using Enron stocks as collateral. Fastow did not have a strong moral compass, and would play to the greed of the investment banks. He would offer investment banks accounts for their silence. One analyst, John Olsen, star ted to question the firm, and weeks later, was fired by the investment bank because Fastow paid off the bank with big Enron accounts. 3.(a) Describe the organizational culture at Enron. (b) How did the organizational culture contribute to the Enron scandal? (15 points) The culture at Enron was very cut-throat and filled with greed. Money drove the company and its employees. In fact, even the elevators had displays of the stock prices. The company was overtaken by hubris as well. Everyone was on the bandwagon—the accounting firm, investors, executives, and employees. The entire company thought it was changing the world. Everyone was blinded by arrogance, greed, and money. Enron was always portrayed as a super power in the market. It was said that is someone wanted to be part of the market, they had to go through Enron. In addition, many employees, including Skilling, were former nerds and had something to prove. There was a very macho culture at Enron. Skilling would organize dangerous, macho trips for employees and big clients. The stories from these adventures became legend. One man almost died from a flipp ed Jeep. Stories like that were legendary in the office. The culture ultimately led Enron to scandal because of the ideas it had put into people’s heads—that money drove everything and cash was king. 4.(a) Describe the performance management/reward system at Enron. (b) How did the performance   management/reward system contribute to the Enron scandal? (20 points) The reward systems were big. The executives and employees were all fans of the â€Å"pump and dump† system in which the employees drove the stock prices up, and would them sell the stocks off. The company was consumed by stock prices, as stocks were a large part of the compensation structure at Enron. Even the elevators had stock prices posted, so people could be reminded daily that there was more money to be made. The cash bonuses were extravagant too. In fact, a 25-year-old made a $5 million bonus. Executives were given multi million dollar bonuses. In addition, to prevent anyone from raising any flags, Enron played on the greed of the outside accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, as well as law firms. In fact, in 2001, Arthur Anderson got $1 million a week to keep things quiet and go along with everything. The la w firm was paid off handsomely as well. Analysts at investment banks would never really look into things because of greed as well. Because of all the bonuses, outsiders turned a blind eye, as did employees, which ultimately gave way to the scandal that ensued. 5.(a) Describe the regulatory/oversight weaknesses for Enron. (b) How did the regulatory/oversight weaknesses contribute to the Enron scandal? (15 points) Enron sought to take advantage of the low level of government regulation and the hyper capitalism created by the reigning consumer culture of the time. The company was run by a group of intelligent individuals who recognized they could take advantage of the government failure of low regulation. Early on while working for Enron, Lay founded many friends within Congress, including the friendship of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. The government helped in pork barrel legislation for the company, granting it even more power. In addition, Bush senior helped secure millions of subsidies for Enron and helped promote Ken Lay as ambassador of deregulation at large. In addition, even energy-specific regulators turned a blind eye. Pat Wood, chair of FERC, was recommended by Lay as chair, and would work with Enron in lack of government in tervention. Even the power plants in California were working with Enron at one point. Enron could call someone at a power plant and cause rolling blackouts in parts of California,  driving energy prices up. With support from the government and very low regulation and intervention, Enron had a clean path to scandal. 6.Describe three (3) specific ways, which are directly related to the above factors, that Enron-like scandals could be prevented in the future. (15 points) 1. Publically-traded companies should have a strong board of directors that oversees the company and does not have investment in the company. Greed drove Enron to do what it did, but a board of directors who has no stake in the company would be more objective and ethical in decision-making for the company. 2. There should be less compensation tied to stock performance, as that was a large incentive for fraud at Enron. People’s earnings were tied too closely to stock. 3. Analysts should be help more responsible for their actions. The investment banks they worked for got sued, but who’s to say the analysts who turned a blind eye ever got punished? They made the banks lots of money, so they probably kept their jobs and got a slap on the wrist. More consequence in the public eye would deter these actions in the future.

How advertising strategy for luxury brand changing to take account of Dissertation

How advertising strategy for luxury brand changing to take account of using internet for customers - Dissertation Example One of the reasons for the importance of online channel is the popularity of internet and its boundary less feature that has made the world a global village. Part of this has also been responsible due to the immense popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as sites like you tube that are extremely popular among the target market audience (Weening, 2011, p.4). The luxury goods industry is also expected to have a very deep relationship with e-commerce and internet marketing. A research report shows that most of the consumer segments for the luxury brand category are essentially net savvy and are influenced by internet marketing. The report also quotes the Chinese market that is considered to be one of the largest markets for luxury brands as an example to show the importance of internet marketing in case of luxury brands (The Levin Institute, 2011). A research report conducted by KPMG also shows that internet has been one of the factors that has been resp onsible for the growth of luxury brands especially in nations like India and China where the spirit of Westernisation and luxury brands have been propagated using the internet (Schwarz & Wong, 2006, p.31). These findings provide a sufficient reasoning behind analysing the topic of present study as internet marketing can help shape up the business prospects and fuel growth of the luxury brands in the market. Literature Review The advertising strategies for commodities pertaining to the luxury class would certainly differ from normal day to day use products. Anderson and Vincze (2006) state in this regard that advertising activities in relation to luxury products endeavour to focus more on making the product exclusive to the public eyes.... The paper tells that the advertising strategies for commodities pertaining to the luxury class would certainly differ from normal day to day use products. Anderson and Vincze state in this regard that advertising activities in relation to luxury products endeavour to focus more on making the product exclusive to the public eyes. Thus in order to reflect the exclusiveness of the product the marketing and advertising campaign in relation to such products proceeds to tie up the product image with other events like sports and also in relation to other popular luxury brands. In regards to an example it is found that how Ferrari the luxury car company in order to highlight its new models have increasingly tied up such with leading jewellery brands. Moreover in another advertising strategy using the help of billboards the company tends to reflect the new launches upon a shinning silver background. Such billboards are planted in highly popular places to attract large number of viewers. To en hance the exclusiveness of the luxury brand the marketers also tend to focus on selected target audiences rather than going over investing on mass market advertisements. This focus on selective markets helps in creating a niche market which would thereby help in enhancing the sales of the product. Luxury Brands like other common brands also was found to take resort to the use of print and visual media for the advertising of their products. Shay observes that the luxury brands in order to gain a more exclusive sphere in the consumer’s eyes carved out a more strategic approach while tending to advertise via the print media.

Evaluating Business Intelligence Systems W8 assign Essay

Evaluating Business Intelligence Systems W8 assign - Essay Example Additionally, the importance of such transitions for employees have also been explained in this study along with the mechanism through which the success of the BIS initiative can be evaluated. Thus, the study renders a significant insight regarding the organizational initiative of BIS in the modern day scenario. Introduction Business Intelligence System (BIS) is a kind of technology that provides noteworthy business value by improving effectiveness of managerial and technical decision making. It is a structural design and a collection of integrated operational as well as decision support applications and databases to assist business communities with an easy access to business data. In this respect, the continuous advancement in information technology can be identified as the potential driver for sustaining the business in the current highly competitive industrial environment (Srinivasan, 2011). This paper focuses on the issues that guarantee success of BIS and highlights significance of transition process of BIS in the most coherent manner. Issues That Help Guarantee Success of Business Intelligence System The issues that help to construct successful BIS are usually quite similar to the requirements of any other system that involves the use of the technology and seeks to change the organizational functions towards betterment. ... In addition, business management sponsor must be capable and potential enough to communicate the vision related with BIS and ascertain committed efforts from the entire management team. Also, the efficient business driver should be capable to motivate members of the organization to contribute their best towards its productivity. It is worth mentioning that primarily the top level and middle level managers from the different heads (such as regulatory, financial and operational) of the organization are engaged in accomplishing the tasks as a business driver. Similarly, feasibility acts as the other key success issue of BIS. Understanding various data and being capable to communicate these data with its actual meaning is an extremely crucial aspect with respect to BIS. It can be argued in this regard that tools and its applications only cannot guarantee success of information system within an organization. Correspondingly, focusing on the process and basic process control mechanism can form a solid foundation for assimilating the crucial and critical success factors required for the effective implementation of BIS. CSFs Framework for Implementation of BI Systems Source: (Yeoh & Koronios, 2010) With regards to the above mentioned model, critical success factors of the BIS can be divided into three different categories including organization, process and technology. Contextually, these three factors, when aligned carefully and efficiently, usually results in delivering best outcomes from the implementation of BIS. Importance of Transition to the Employees and Shareholders Transition is a very crucial component from the industry point of view.

Ford and Toyota Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ford and Toyota - Case Study Example B. Toyota management recognizes that employees must sense that effort will pay off in terms of performance, that it is highly correlated with performance and that higher effort will yield better performance. Toyota management changed job design and introduced new reward system for its production department (Toyota 2007). The stronger the perceived correlation, the stronger the motivation (Armstrong 2001). If the employee has adequate ability and the job is designed well, then performance is solely dependent on the level of motivation. In order to improve performance, Assuming ability and job design were in order, high motivation became a necessary and sufficient condition for high performance. Armstrong (2001) underlines that if employees know their ability is high and the design of their job is "top notch," then high performance is perceived as indeed possible and perceived to depend on their efforts. The aim of this change was to create an environment where employees perceive that they have and can easily acquire knowledge and new skills to perform. C. The strategies implemented by the management helped Toyota to reduce resistance to change and create skillful workforce able to cope with the new changes and deliver quality articles. It helped employees build their self-confidence and showed employees that their skills, abilities, and traits were compatible with job requirements. In order for employees to exert high effort, they saw a good reason for it and knew that there were benefits to it. The new policies allowed employees to sense that performance pays off and yielded a desired positive outcome (Toyota 2007) Ford A. Similar to Toyota, Ford is subjected to new environmental regulations and new standards. Ford also introduced hydrogen-powered car but the main problems faced by the company were skills shortage and lack of knowledge in this sphere. Ford management expected that much ability and skill improvement would come from self-initiated activities. Employees did not have to wait for formal training programs to be offered by the company (Ford 2007). According to Campbell (1997) if formal training is not offered, employees must be given ample time to engage in self-development activities. Employees who get into routines of continually engaging in activities designed to improve ability are more likely to sense that they are keeping pace with the ever-increasing demands made of workers in today's constantly changing technological and economic environments. They are likely to have more confidence that they are keeping current in their knowledge and skills. B. In order to solve this problem, Ford introduced on-job training programs for engineers and production workers. When workers were not engaged in actual production, they practiced their skills with simulations if such opportunities were made available. Good simulations were developed for almost any type of job, factory labor, office, managerial, and so forth. These strategies are important because well-designed practice which provides workers with rapid, accurate feedback on how they are doing and on what they need to do to correct deficiencies can lead to high levels of proficiency as exercises are repeated over and over again (Campbell 1997). Apprenticeships and understudy training programs allowed workers to observe the performance of an expert and "try out" the