...Cumberland Metals: Case Study Analysis Tim Hayes © 2000-5 Timothy A. Hayes All Rights Reserved 602/315-8696 Saturday, January 22, 2005 DISCLAIMER: I have, to the best of my abilities, researched, analyzed, organized, and presented findings for this case study. However, it must be noted that irreconcilable discrepancies within the available data made some of the calculations both a daunting and imprecise task. This is especially true in regards to revenue and cost figures. Please be aware of the influence of unreliable cost and revenue data in regards to the pricing, production, and marketing recommendations presented in this study. However, it must also be noted that many of the discrepancies are legitimate differences in data collection methods and tests used in the case. Introduction Cumberland Metals faced a both a pricing and channel marketing decision for metal pile cushions utilized during pile driving. Cumberland’s approach to pile cushions had significant efficiency advantages over other asbestos methods that were currently available in the 1979 market. However, Cumberland faced several barriers to entry into the pile cushion market. The primary barrier was that most companies viewed role of cushions as a necessary accessory or tangent item instead of viewing cushions as a potentially value adding or cost reducing part of pile driving. In order to penetrate the market, Cumberland would have to alter...
Words: 2791 - Pages: 12
...CASE: Cumberland Metal Industries: England Products Division, 1980 Cumberland metals must realize that the potential market development for the new coiled metal pad is huge. First order of business should be to patent the innovation to establish differentiation from the generic and unbranded pads formally available in a variety of materials. The second main concern is not how quickly the different market segments will catch on and increase demand for the innovation, but rather how quickly Cumberland can surpass their current manufacturing limitations. During the first year of the new product line, Cumberland must be strategic; they must develop brand recognition, establish premium pricing, increase demand for the innovative product and be careful not to promise more product than they can initially produce. Two of the most critical segments are the pile hammer manufacturers and architectural and consulting engineers. The pile hammer manufacturers have great industry power by controlling standard quality and safety usage of their equipment. CMI’s metal coil pads contribute to increased performance and safety – two key points the manufacturers can use to boost brand image. The architectural and consulting engineers advise builders on the most efficient industry processes. CMI’s new product has the potential to increase productivity, reduce pile-driving time, decrease safety issues involving extreme temperatures and remove the long term health concerns of working with asbestos...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
...Executive Summary Cumberland Metal Industries (CMI), a company specialized in making of curled metal products, has develop a new product, metal cushion pad with health safety and long durability, to help contractors drive piles faster. Based on the successful tests, CMI now wants to launch this new product to the market. The main challenge CMI is facing is to price its new pads. Since the pad is totally new in the market, CMI should use perceived value pricing method and apply marketing mix programs comprised of advertising, education, and distribution channels to launch this product as well as develop it to get full market share in the future. Perceived Value Pricing – strategy for future success CMI should set the objective of this new business to be the monopoly and to maximize profits. However, the prerequisite for this objective is to get a patent to prevent this product from being copied and imitated. As long as CMI did not get patent for this product, CMI should not sell it as it would invite the entry of competitors because this cushion pad is not a high technology product and easy to be copied. Thus the following pricing strategy will be based on the scenario of getting patent protection. To price the new product, CMI should apply perceived value pricing method to deliver its value to customers and CMI must make them perceive this value. CMI also needs to apply several marketing-mix programs such as advertising and roles of influencers to communicate and enhance...
Words: 1058 - Pages: 5
...“Marketing…is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must, therefore, permeate all areas of the enterprise.” - Peter F. Drucker, People and Performance, 1977 Required Textbook • Managing Marketing in the 21st Century: Developing and Implementing the Market Strategy, 3rd ed., by Noel Capon (www.axcesscapon.com, 2012). Available through www.axcesscapon.com (as a PDF file or in paperback), as well as Amazon.com or BN.com in either paperback or electronic format and in paperback through the University Bookstore. Required Cases • Harvard Business School Cases: listed in course outline. Cases are available for purchase online through Harvard Business School Press (Coursepack Link for purchasing cases listed below with list of cases). Introduction and Overview In their never-ending search for the ultimate secret to business success, many businesses continue to overlook the most fundamental premise of all business. While their search for the ultimate “secret to success” has provided some interesting and useful concepts and theories, the ultimate secret to business success is not as secret or complex as some would have us believe. Success in business comes from creating satisfied customers. This is, or should be, the essence of all marketing activities. Yet each day, we personally encounter—or the press brings news of—CEOs...
Words: 3188 - Pages: 13
...MARKETING COURSE Articles Books & Chapters Cases Course Modules Online Courses Simulations 2012 MATERIALS Harvard Business Publishing serves the finest learning institutions worldwide with a comprehensive catalog of case studies, journal articles, books, and eLearning programs, including online courses and simulations. In addition to material from Harvard Business School and Harvard Business Review, we also offer course material from these renowned institutions and publications: Babson College Business Enterprise Trust Business Expert Press Business Horizons Magazine California Management Review Darden School of Business Design Management Institute HEC Montréal Centre for Case Studies Ivey School of Business International Institute for Management Development (IMD) IESE Business School INSEAD John F. Kennedy School of Government Kellogg School of Management Perseus Books Princeton University Press Rotman Magazine Stanford Graduate School of Business Sloan Management Review Social Enterprise Knowledge Network Thunderbird School of Global Management Tsinghua University University of Hong Kong Customer service is available 8 am to 6 pm ET, Monday through Friday. Phone: 1-800-545-7685 (1-617-783-7600 outside the U.S. and Canada) Tech support is available 8 am to 8 pm ET, Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 7 pm ET Friday. Phone: 1-800-810-8858 (1-617-783-7700 outside the U.S...
Words: 5522 - Pages: 23
...For example, diamond is highly transparent, while graphite is opaque and black. Diamond is among the hardest materials known, while graphite is soft enough to form a streak on paper (hence its name, from the Greek word "to write"). Diamond has a very low electrical conductivity, while graphite is a very good conductor. Under normal conditions, diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of all known materials. All carbon allotropes are solids under normal conditions with graphite being the most thermodynamically stable form. They are chemically resistant and require high temperature to react even with oxygen. The most common oxidation state of carbon in inorganic compounds is +4, while +2 is found in carbon monoxide and other transition metal carbonyl complexes. The largest sources of inorganic carbon are limestones, dolomites and carbon dioxide, but significant quantities occur in organic deposits of coal, peat, oil and methane clathrates. Carbon forms more compounds than any other element, with almost ten million pure organic compounds described to date, which in turn are a tiny fraction of such compounds that are theoretically possible under...
Words: 8042 - Pages: 33
...ue [pic] Final paper Lars Isaksaetre, Henrik Oiseth, and Jason Casey BUSA 499, Section One Professor Pham May 13, 2009 Table of contents Executive summary……………………………………………………………… page 2 Company profile…………………………………………………………………… page 3 Overview of the jewelry industry………………………………………………. page 4 External environment………………………………………………………… page 5 Industry analysis……………………………………………………………… page 10 Jewelry supply chain…………………………………………………………. page 16 Industry value chain, Jewelry Retail………………………………………….. page 19 Company analysis……………………………………………………………… page 24 SWOT…………………………………………………………………………… page 46 Financial ratios…………………………………………………………………… page 50 Strategies………………………………………………………………………… page 53 Preferred strategy……………………………………………………………….. page 60 EVA……………………………………………………………………………… page 62 Blue Nile balance sheet…………………………………………………………… page 63 References…………………………………………………………………………. Page 64 Executive Summary Blue Nile is a publicly traded company. The company was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Seattle, WA and is one of leading online retailers of diamonds and fine jewelry. In addition to serving the U.S. market, Blue Nile offers products to selected countries through its Canadian and UK websites. 70% of their sales are from engagement rings and wedding bands and they are known for being a high-end jewelry retailer. The company offers its products on its websites without actually holding the...
Words: 25869 - Pages: 104
...Lazarus Frank G. Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA Ted McQuade PSC Metals, Cleveland, Ohio, USA Jaime Fitzgerald Fitzgerald Analytics, Inc., New York, New York, USA James Conner Bridgestone/America’s Tire Operations, Austin, Texas, USA Richard Miller Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA, and William Murphree Bison Investments, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA Abstract Purpose – During difficult economic times the media often highlight examples of failing or failed business organizations. In some cases the demise of corporations is examined in considerable detail often resulting in the following take-home messages: these are the sins that have brought about your failure; and if things had been done differently you might still be a viable company. This paper aims to point out success stories from creative leaders who successfully navigated through challenging environments. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on existing cases from the literature highlighting leaders who led their organizations to positive ends during turbulent times. Findings – There are opportunities for company success despite difficult business environments. Originality/value – It is rare to read about successful leadership practices during turbulent times. Yet, they do exist. The overwhelming number of examples and cases written about, however, are indeed in the negative direction, not the positive. Keywords Leadership, Organizational...
Words: 7365 - Pages: 30
...For the reasons which have determined the existence of Sussex as a county of England, and which have given it the exact boundaries that it now possesses, we must go back to the remote geological history of the secondary ages. Its limits and its very existence as a separate shire were predetermined for it by the shape and consistence of the mud or sand which gathered at the bottom of the great Wealden lake, or filled up the hollows of the old inland cretaceous sea. Paradoxical as it sounds to say so, the Celtic kingdom of the Regni, the South Saxon principality of AElle the Bretwalda, the modern English county of Sussex, have all had their destinies moulded by the geological conformation of the rock upon which they repose. Where human annals see only the handicraft and interaction of human beings--Euskarian and Aryan, Celt and Roman, Englishman and Norman--a closer scrutiny of history may perhaps see the working of still deeper elements--chalk and clay, volcanic upheaval and glacial denudation, barren upland and forest-clad plain. The value and importance of these underlying facts in the comprehension of history has, I believe, been very generally overlooked; and I propose accordingly here to take the single county of Sussex in detail, in order to show that when the geological and geographical factors of the problem are given, all the rest follows as a matter of course. By such detailed treatment alone can one hope to establish the truth of the general principle that human history...
Words: 9980 - Pages: 40
...Contents Preface Prologue: We have it Made Part I: The Mission Chapter 1: A Consumer Goes Global Chapter 2: Tattoo’s Tropical Paradise Chapter 3: Fake Blood, Sweat, and Tears Part II: My Underwear: Made in Bangladesh Chapter 4: Jingle these Chapter 5: Undercover in the Underwear Biz Chapter 6: Bangladesh Amusement Park Chapter 7: Inside My First Sweatshop Chapter 8: Child Labor in Action Chapter 9: Arifa, the Garment Worker Chapter 10: Hope Chapter 11: No Black and White, Only Green Update for Revised Edition: Hungry for Choices Part III: My Pants: Made in Cambodia Chapter 12: Labor Day Chapter 13: Year Zero Chapter 14: Those Who Wear Levi’s Chapter 15: Those Who Make Levi’s Chapter 16: Blue Jean Machine Chapter 17: Progress Chapter 18: Treasure and Trash Update for Revised Edition: The Faces of Crisis Part IV: My Flip-Flops: Made in China Chapter 19: PO’ed VP Chapter 20: Life at the Bottom Chapter 21: Growing Pains Chapter 22: The Real China Chapter 23: On a Budget Chapter 24: An All-American Chinese Walmart Chapter 25: The Chinese Fantasy Update for Revised Edition: Migration Part V: Made in America Chapter 26: For Richer, for Poorer Update for Revised Edition: Restarting, Again Chapter 27: Return to Fantasy Island Chapter 28: Amilcar’s Journey Chapter 29: An American Dream Chapter 30: Touron Goes Glocal Appendix A: Discussion Questions Appendix B: Note to Freshman Me Appendix C: Where Are You Teaching? Acknowledgments Copyright © 2012 by Kelsey Timmerman...
Words: 95921 - Pages: 384
...just-in-time (JIT) delivery/purchasing life-cycle costs lockout criteria operating lease organisational buying behaviour reference group relationship management reverse marketing strategic partners total quality management (TQM) value analysis 78 Sales environment 3.1 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONSUMER AND ORGANISATIONAL BUYING There are a number of important differences in emphasis between consumer and organisational buying that have important implications for the marketing of goods and services in general and the personal selling function in particular. Fewer organisational buyers Generally, a company marketing industrial products will have fewer potential buyers than one marketing in consumer markets. Often 80 per cent of output, in the former case, will be sold to perhaps 10–15 organisations, meaning that the importance of one customer to the business to business marketer is far in excess of that to the consumer marketing company. However, this situation is complicated in some consumer markets where the importance of trade intermediaries, for example, supermarkets, is so great that, although the products have an ultimate market of many millions of people, the companies’ immediate customers rank alongside those of important organisational buyers. Close, long-term relationships...
Words: 13845 - Pages: 56
...Annual Report 2012 2012 YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 THE COMPANY Costco Wholesale Corporation and its subsidiaries (Costco or the Company) began operations in 1983 in Seattle, Washington. In October 1993, Costco merged with The Price Company, which had pioneered the membership warehouse concept, to form Price/Costco, Inc., a Delaware corporation. In January 1997, after the spin-off of most of its non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, Inc., the Company changed its name to Costco Companies, Inc. On August 30, 1999, the Company reincorporated from Delaware to Washington and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation, which trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “COST”. As of December 2012, the Company operated a chain of 622 warehouses in 41 states and Puerto Rico (448 locations), nine Canadian provinces (85 locations), Mexico (32 locations), the United Kingdom (23 locations), Japan (13 locations), Korea (nine locations), Taiwan (nine locations, through a 55%-owned subsidiary) and Australia (three locations). The Company also operates Costco Online, electronic commerce web sites, at www.costco.com (U.S.), www.costco.ca (Canada), and www.costco.co.uk (United Kingdom). CONTENTS Financial Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter to Shareholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
Words: 38858 - Pages: 156
...stoAnnual Report 2010 2010 year ended august 29, 2010 THE COMPANY Costco Wholesale Corporation and its subsidiaries (“Costco” or the “Company”) began operations in 1983 in Seattle, Washington. In October 1993, Costco merged with The Price Company, which had pioneered the membership warehouse concept, to form Price/Costco, Inc., a Delaware corporation. In January 1997, after the spin-off of most of its non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, Inc., the Company changed its name to Costco Companies, Inc. On August 30, 1999, the Company reincorporated from Delaware to Washington and changed its name to Costco Wholesale Corporation, which trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol “COST.” As of December 2010, the Company operated a chain of 582 warehouses in 40 states and Puerto Rico (425 locations), nine Canadian provinces (80 locations), the United Kingdom (22 locations), Korea (seven locations), Taiwan (six locations, through a 55%-owned subsidiary), Japan (nine locations) and Australia (one location), as well as 32 warehouses in Mexico through a 50%-owned joint venture. CONTENTS Financial Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Letter to Shareholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Map of Warehouse Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
Words: 42703 - Pages: 171
...Outliers THE S T O R Y OF S U C C E S S MALCOLM G LAD W E L L # 1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink $27.99 $ 3 0 . 9 9 in C a n a d a Why d o s o m e p e o p l e succeed far more than others? T h e r e is a story that is usually told a b o u t extremely successful p e o p l e , a story that focuses o n intelligence a n d ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell a r g u e s that the true story o f s u c c e s s is very different, a n d that if we want to u n d e r s t a n d h o w s o m e p e o p l e thrive, we s h o u l d s p e n d m o r e time l o o k i n g around them — at s u c h things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth d a t e . T h e story o f s u c c e s s is m o r e c o m p l e x — a n d a lot m o r e interesting — than it initially a p p e a r s . Outliers e x p l a i n s w h a t the B e a t l e s a n d Bill G a t e s have in c o m m o n , the e x t r a o r d i n a r y s u c c e s s o f A s i a n s at m a t h , the h i d d e n a d v a n t a g e s o f star athletes, why all t o p N e w York lawyers have the s a m e r é s u m é , a n d the r e a s o n y o u ' v e never h e a r d o f the w o r l d ' s s m a r t e s t m a n — all in terms o f g e n eration, family, c u l t u r e , a n d c l a s s . It matters w h a t year y o u were b o r n if y o u want to b e a S i l i c o n Valley billionaire, G l a d w e l l a r g u e s , a n d it matters w h e r e y o u w e r e b o r n if y o u want to b e a s u c cessful p i l o t . T...
Words: 86962 - Pages: 348
...TOPIC 1: THE AMERINDIANS Week 1: THE ARAWAKS (Theme One) PAPER: CORE CONTENT----BAHAMIAN-WEST INDIAN HISTORY References: Bahamian History Bk.I by Bain, G. Macmillan,1983 2.Caribbean story Bk. I and II By Claypole, W Longman (new edition) 1987 3. Development to Decolonization by Greenwood R, Macmillan, 1987 4.Caribbean people Bk.I by Lennox Honeychurch. Nelson, 1979 The Migration of the Indians to the New World. It is believed that the people who Columbus saw when he came to the New World were nomadic hunters from central and East Asia who followed the buffalo and deer. When the herds moved, people moved after them because they were dependent on the animals for food. It is therefore suspected that the herds led the people out of Asia by the north-east, across the Bering Strait and into North America. They crossed the sea by an ice –bridge when it was frozen over during the last Ice-Age. They did not know that they were crossing water from one continent to another. Map 1 Amerindians migration from central Asia into North America. The Amerindians settled throughout North America and were the ancestors of the many Red Indian tribes we know today, as well as the Eskimos in the far north. In general, they were nomadic but some followed settled agricultural pursuits and developed civilizations of their own like the Mayas in South America (check internet reference for profile on this group, focus on...
Words: 69958 - Pages: 280
