...Impact of Environmental Factors on Marketing Decisions of Costco Wholesale Corporation Environmental factors consist of all the factors and activities which have a considerable impact on the running of the business. Environmental factors have a powerful impact on the normal functioning of the any business, especially in the marketing decisions (Pagell & Halperin, 2000). These factors pose challenges and threats to the success of any business. In order to deal with such environmental factors a firm should enhance its core competencies and make sound strategies (Staff, 2009). There are various factors which would have deep impact on these new services offered by the firm. The firm should make a strategy after considering these factors. David Jobber describes in his book that with the help of this analysis, the company becomes more competitive and effective to implement the various strategies (Jobber, 2001). Costco Wholesale Corporation is one of the biggest organizations in the retail industry, which operates at the global level. The company was founded by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman (Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2009). On the basis of the sales volume, the company is considered among the world's largest membership warehouses (Costco: About Company, 2009). The company has taken the position of the five largest companies in the United Sates in retail Industry. The Headquarter of the company is situated at Issaquah (Washington) in the United States (Costco Wholesale...
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...Instructor ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS Environmental Factors on Marketing Decisions of Costco Wholesale Corporation Environmental factors are made up of all the factors and activities that have a significant effect on managing a business. These factors have a strong influence on operating any business, particularly in marketing options (Pagell & Halperin, 2000). Environmental factors cause risks to the achievements of any business and to deal with these factors, a firm must improve its main skills and create good methods (Staff, 2009). There are different components that would have a great impact on these latest services provided by the firm. After acknowledging these components, the firm must create a strategy. In his book, David jobber explains that with the support of this observation, the business becomes more successful in applying the different methods (Jobber, 2001). One of the major organizations in the trade business is Costco Wholesale Corporation; this company was established by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman (Costco Wholesale Corporation, 2009). On the start of the sales volume, the business is regarded to be among the world's major membership warehouses (Costco: About Company, 2009). This corporation has the rank of one of the 5 biggest businesses in the U.S. in retail industry. Issaquah (Washington) is where the H.Q. of the corporation is located in the U.S. (Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports January Sales Results and Comments on Earnings Outlook...
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...INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMBA 5011 BOARD APPROVAL DOCUMENT FOR COMPANY EXPANSION IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET | | | | | | | Dated: AUGUST 11, 2013 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction4 2.0 Objectives5 3.0 Company Overview6 3.1 Targeted Company Overview…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 4.0 Market Situation8 4.1 Local Market Situation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 4.2 International Market Situation…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9 4.3Overview of Canada9 5.0 Market Assumptions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 6.0 SWOT Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11 7.0 Target Market Needs……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12 7.1 Selected Products…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12 7.2 Product feature……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 7.3 Product Packaging…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 7.4 Product Launch……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13 7.5 Legal Considerations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….…15 8.0Market Entry Strategy…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16 8.1 Types of Risks…………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………...18 8.2 Competitive Advantage………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
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...1. Introduction. Summarize the current situation facing the firm and other relevant issues. Wal-Mart is an organization which is subject to increasing levels of change and volatility in their business. While it is fact of business life, it also reflects that it drives a relentless increase in the proportion of an organization’s activity that is dedicated to change in meeting the new challenges. Wal-Mart has become one of America's most successful retail giants generating about ROI was 18.6% and 19.2% for fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively. (Wal-Mart Annual Report, 2012). It is well know as the leader in thinking outside the box, anticipating market opportunities and executing effective strategies to capitalize on them. It has over 10,800 stores worldwide. Businesses have to face the challenge of too many competitors, partly originated by the globalisation, all competing for same objective of making highest profit. So, increasingly companies are not merely asking themselves the management question of ‘Are we doing the right?’ but are having to regularly ask ‘Are we still doing it right?’ They have been seeking a more holistic means of doing this than traditional means of delivering products and services to the customers. In a volatile world, decision makers need options on the future and the ability to change direction as strategic opportunities. Although, business as usual (BAU) performance change is providing a short term success but they are typically faced with a less...
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... Whole Foods Market Economic environment The economic environment is describe as the totality of economic factors, such as employment, income, inflation, interest rates, productivity, and wealth, influencing the buying behavior of consumers and institutions. It has five main components; they are economic conditions, economic system, economic policies, international economic environment and economic legislations. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has pioneered a different approach for the operation of his company than most large retail businesses. John Mackey has the ideal that business and “crony” Capitalism is fundamentally based on greed, selfishness and the exploitation of consumers, workers, society, and the environment for the goal of maximizing profits.(Mackey 2013). However as his business has grown and become very successful he grew to believe that if ran correctly business and capitalism can be a vehicle to solve most of the economic problems of the world we live in. (Mackey 2013). The economic condition of the world affects the profitability of Whole Foods Company through several different factors. The standard of living in which the customers of Whole Foods Market are subject to dictates the amount of tangible goods they can purchase from the company. Organic offerings cost more to produce that other types of offerings making the price to consumers considerable higher than non-organic offerings. In our era, the global community is experiencing a shift...
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...Strategic Plan for Costco Wholesale Corporation Executive Summary The retail industry is an extremely competitive environment that poses many challenges for Costco Wholesale Corporation and its competitors. Since many of the stores offer the same products, it may sometimes be very hard for customers to differentiate between retail stores. Even though the economy is recovering from a recession, the retail business is still a mature industry and is improving very steadily. Costco and its competitors are affected by the same political, economic, social, and technological factors, such as taxes, presidential elections, SEC regulations, the economic state of the country, exchange rates, various social characteristics, such as customer age, income and family size, and the growth of e-commerce. All of these external factors have a great influence on how Costco conducts their operations. Costco is a premier leader in the retail industry thanks to their strategic pricing strategy, low cost operating system, and financial stability. Costco is still vulnerable to numerous threats, such as competition, exchange rates fluctuations, increasing labor and healthcare costs, and high exposure to low growth markets. If Costco is to maintain the market share in the retail industry, they should consider the options of offering more customer service in their warehouses, increase online retail sales, and acquire other retail stores for expansion and growth. Finally, if Costco wants to become...
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...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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
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...and it has accounted for more than 50% of Tesco’s £ 59.4 billion of sales. Further, Tesco does not limit its operation strictly to the United Kingdom. Currently, Tesco resides in 13 countries worldwide and operates 1,911 stores across Europe and Asia. The company has also expanded in the United States and has plans for an additional 320 stores in 2010 across the world. Australia’s economic and political stability and skilled labour force, provides a welcoming environment for foreign investors. With respect to the retail industry, consumer goods expenditure of 183 billion US $ in 2009 and an expected 212 billion US $ in 2010 presents significant opportunity to foreign retailers. However, risk exists as there is a limited presence of related and supporting industries for non-food products. As well, domestic rivalry remains strong in both grocery and non-food segments. The objective is to implement Tesco’s hypermarket store format in Australia while increasing the company’s global market share. Tesco’s main competitors include domestic retailers such as Woolworths and Wesfarmers Limited and as well, Costco from the United States. The entry strategy into Australia will be an International Joint Venture with Coles Supermarkets, owned by Wesfarmers. Many Coles supermarket stores will then be remodeled into Tesco branded hypermarkets. In addition, Tesco will further employ its differentiation strategy by offering different departments...
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...their customers trust that prices will not change under frequent promotional activity (Wal-mart 2010 financial review, 2010). Wal-Mart also encourages a culture that rewards and embraces mutual respect, integrity and diversity. The review of the current ratio, quick ratio, inventory turnover ratio, debt ratio, net profit margin ratio, ROI, ROE, and P/E ratio all indicate an upbeat future for the company. The current ratio, which is defined as current assets divided by current liabilities, is a measure of how much liabilities a company has compared to its assets (Ross, Westerfield, & Jordan, 2008). Wal-Mart in the year of 2009 had a current ratio of .90, and as of January 2010 it had a current ratio of .87 (Wal-mart 2010 financial review, 2010). The quick ratio, which is defined as current assets minus inventory divided by current liabilities, is a measure of a company's ability pay short term obligations (Ross, Westerfield, & Jordan, 2008). Wal-Mart in the year of 2009 had a quick ratio of .20, and as of January 2010 it had a ratio of .22 (Daily finance, 2010). Both the current ratio and quick ratio are a measure of liquidity (Ross, Westerfield, & Jordan, 2008). Wal-Mart is not as liquid as its competitors such as Costco or Family Dollar Stores Inc. I believe the reason why Wal-Mart is not too liquid is because they are heavily investing their...
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...Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 21, Number 3—Summer 2007—Pages 177–198 The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart’s Growth Emek Basker W al-Mart plays a large and ever-growing role in the U.S. economy. As of January 31, 2007, Wal-Mart operated more than 3,400 U.S. Wal-Mart stores along with more than 550 Sam’s Club locations. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the United States, with 1.3 million employees, and the largest retailer in the United States. In 2004, Wal-Mart handled 6.5 percent of U.S. retail sales (8.8 percent if automobile sales are excluded); this number has since increased. Wal-Mart is the top U.S. seller of apparel, groceries, and music, among other products, and is the top retailer in most states. Wal-Mart’s 2005 revenues exceeded those of the next five U.S. retailers combined; these are Home Depot, Kroger, Sears Holding Company (which includes Sears and Kmart), Costco, and Target (Schultz, 2006). Wal-Mart currently accounts for 28 percent of Playtex’s sales, 25 percent of Clorox’s, 21 percent of Revlon’s, 13 percent of KimberlyClark’s, and 17 percent of Kellogg’s (Weinswig and Tang, 2006). Wal-Mart also accounts for over 15 percent of U.S. imports of consumer goods from China. More than 120 million U.S. consumers shop at Wal-Mart every week, and 84 percent of Americans shopped at Wal-Mart at least once during 2005 (Pew Research Center, 2005).1 Wal-Mart is also the largest retailer in the world. From a global perspective, Wal-Mart’s sales...
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...accounts for 9 cents of every US retail dollar and sells around 20 per cent of the nation’s groceries and pharmaceuticals.” (Times News Network). Wal-Mart’s sheer size gives it unrestrained economic power which allows it to drive down costs in the retail and manufacturing sectors and to enact its own standards with regards to its work force. Facts about Wal-Mart and China * It is important to understand that there is a huge difference between the Chinese model and the Indian growth model, the Indian model is essentially domestic demand driven unlike the Chinese one that is fuelled by export growth. * More than 70 per cent of the commodities sold in Wal-Mart are made in China. * Wal-Mart Stores Inc, says its inventory of stock produced in China is expected to hit US$18 billion this year, keeping the annual growth rate of over 20 per cent consistent over two years. * "If Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada," Xu Jun, Wal-Mart China's director of external affairs said. * Insiders point out that Wal-Mart's imports from China have largely influenced the US trade deficit in China, which is expected to reach US$150 billion this year. * According to Larry Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute about Wal-Mart's China policy, "A very conservative estimate could say that we (USA) have lost over a million jobs to China." How will Wal-Mart affect other Indian retailers...
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...Security Analysis: WMT Group 2 Report Date | S & P Value | Last Price | Intrinsic Value | Economic Moat | Recommendation | 11/29/2010 | 1,187.76 | $53.85 | 60.93 | Wide | Hold | I. The Theme Wal-Mart was built to save people money so they can live better. Hints to their slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.” Their mission has allowed the company to grow around the world. The culture and the values of their employees help strive for success of Wal-Mart while serving over 200 million customers and members each week(Wal-Mart Annual). We strongly believe that Wal-Mart is the best- positioned global retailer and that they will continue to progress. Cost leadership is the corner stone of how Wal-Mart goes to market. Doing our analysis of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., we gathered our information and different figures from the Hoover’s online through the Willis library’s website, Reuters.com, and Morningstar.com databases which gave us insight to several financial aspects of the firm, including its stock, cash flows, risk, dividends, sales, earnings, debt, and overall performance. II. Business Analysis Profile of the company “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton, summarized his vision back in 1962 for a new type of discount store that consumers would appreciate. As an owner of a much smaller discount store Walton...
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...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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...
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...stores had opened. Sam’s vision was to “save people money so they could live better”, his core value was that of respect, for customers, employees and suppliers (Ghazzawi, Palladini & Martinelli-Lee, 2014) and this continues to be the mission and values of Walmart today. Since the opening of the first store in 1962, Wal-Mart has grown to 11,500 stores, operating in all fifty states, as well as 28 countries, under 72 banners and e-commerce, and employees 2.2 million people and weekly services 260 million customers and members. The Wal-Mart, Incorporated consists of four operating divisions Wal-Mart U.S., Walmart International. Sam’s Club and Global e-Commerce (Wal-Mart, 2016). Analysis of Management Functions: Planning. Based on what you have learned through your research, how would you characterize conditions in the planning environment? What types of problems does the organization face (e.g., structured, unstructured), and to what extent should the organizations decisions be programmed or nonprogrammed? How would you characterize the level certainty, uncertainty, and risk the organization faces? Organizing. How is the organization organized? Would you characterize it as centralized or decentralized? Describe the organizational structure and evaluate how appropriate this structure is for the organization (the strengths and drawbacks of its structure). If you learned about the...
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...Positive Impact of Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility On an Organization Abstract Corporate social responsibility and business ethics have become the focus of an increasing amount of attention from the business sector and academicians following the scandal-ridden era of Enron and others during the 1990s. Although the findings from the research to date are mixed, there is a growing body of research in this area that has lent support to the notion that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility initiatives have a positive impact on companies in terms of profitability as well as other less quantifiable areas. This review of literature examines these issues systematically to identify current trends and to describe the positive impacts that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility programs can have for companies of all sizes and types. The Positive Impact of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility on an Organization To act in a socially responsible way requires organizational leaders to consider the effect of their decisions on the well-being of society; thus, managers must ask themselves what their actions do to society and what their actions do for society. – Ronald Sims, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall 2003, p. 66 Chapter Two: Review of Literature The epigraph above makes it clear that today, there is a growing recognition among the business community that they...
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