...RadioShack’s Woes Jonea Brown American Public University System Abstract This paper explores the recent difficulties RadioShack Corp. (RadioShack) has experienced pertaining to organizational culture, job design, job satisfaction, and employee policies. RadioShack’s difficulties were gathered from current and former company employees that were questioned about their experiences. In addition to discussing the trials that RadioShack has experienced, the paper will suggest a solution to get the company’s culture back in line with their mission statement as well as the corporate vision. Topics including employee motivation, supervisory leadership training, and workplace enhancement will be examined. The conclusion will analyze the steps that RadioShack needs to make improvements and ultimately how successful they could be. The analysis will be based on financial reports and independent employee interviews performed by the author on location at several local RadioShack locations. The opinions of the employees varied on many of the different topics but the overall opinion of the company’s culture and practices was very poor. RadioShack’s Woes RadioShack is a familiar name in the American electronics retailing industry. They operate nearly 5000 stores across the country and deal in the highly competitive consumer electronics segment. The brick and mortar based retailer has experienced limited success in battling their “big box” competitors like Best Buy, H.H. Gregg...
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...Chapter 1 Accounting in Business QUESTIONS 1. The purpose of accounting is to provide decision makers with relevant and reliable information to help them make better decisions. Examples include information for people making investments, loans, and business plans. 2. Technology reduces the time, effort, and cost of recordkeeping. There is still a demand for people who can design accounting systems, supervise their operation, analyze complex transactions, and interpret reports. Demand also exists for people who can effectively use computers to prepare and analyze accounting reports. Technology will never substitute for qualified people with abilities to prepare, use, analyze, and interpret accounting information. 3. External users and their uses of accounting information include: (a) lenders, to measure the risk and return of loans; (b) shareholders, to assess whether to buy, sell, or hold their shares; (c) directors, to oversee their interests in the organization; (d) employees and labor unions, to judge the fairness of wages and assess future employment opportunities; and (e) regulators, to determine whether the organization is complying with regulations. Other users are voters, legislators, government officials, contributors to nonprofits, suppliers and customers. 4. Business owners and managers use accounting information to help answer questions such as: What resources does an organization own? What debts are owed? How much income is earned? Are expenses reasonable...
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...PART I IT in the Organization 1. Information Technology in the Digital Economy 2. Information Technologies: Concepts and Management 3. Strategic Information Systems for Competitive Advantage CHAPTER Strategic Information Systems for Competitive Advantage Rosenbluth International: Competing in the Digital Economy 3.1 Strategic Advantage and Information Technology 3.2 Porter’s Competitive Forces Model and Strategies 3.3 Porter’s Value Chain Model 3.4 Interorganizational Strategic Information Systems 3.5 A Framework for Global Competition 3.6 Strategic Information Systems: Examples and Analysis 3.7 Implementing and Sustaining SIS Minicases: (1) Cisco Systems/ (2) Aeronautica Civil 89 LEARNING OBJECTIVES 3 After studying this chapter, you will be able to: Describe strategic information systems (SISs) and explain their advantages. Describe Porter’s competitive forces model and how information technology helps companies improve their competitive positions. Describe 12 strategies companies can use to achieve competitive advantage in their industry. Describe Porter’s value chain model and its relationship to information technology. Describe how linking information systems across organizations helps companies achieve competitive advantage. Describe global competition and global business drivers. Describe representative SISs and the advantage they provide to organizations. Discuss the challenges associated with sustaining competitive advantage. ROSENBLUTH INTERNATIONAL: COMPETING...
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...that will be profitable and will help the company to continue expanding in its market shares (University of Phoenix). UWB has been impacted by the vast changes in the economy and in technology. UWB will continue to expand their market shares by creating a well-develop strategic plan for new products. The plan must identify important variables related to the project, and specify how they are to be measured. UMB must ensure that the products respond to the needs of all of their customers. UWB leadership must be strong and knowledgeable to analyze available statistical data. UWB must identify the present issues, opportunities; assess the risk, and alternatives. Describe the Situation Issue and Opportunity Identification In order for UWB to secure a large portion of the market share, the company must continuously compete in the industry by developing new products and marketing them. Brian Allen has had some winning products on the market, but not recently (University Of Phoenix, 2006). UWB should analysis data by using descriptive statistics. A new credit card with rewards could move people to switch from their current banks to UWB. Small business owners like to have the opportunity to purchase capital items at their request. UWB could face losing at lease 40% of their customers. This problem statement gives opportunities to UWB to do a research and collect data on how other banks operate. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas Stakeholders are employees, customers...
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...interact with their followers and potential followers. Unfortunately, this leader-follower relationship cannot be created according to some simple formula. Without inspiration, involvement, and encouragement from both contestants, the relationship suffers. Leaders, in particular, must given extra effort to reach out to followers in order to start and develop this cooperation that is so critical to the achievement of goals. . By discovering global viewpoints, human diversity, and principles, young leaders can take yet another step forward in their development and preparation for twenty-first century leadership. As a result of the changes that are swiftly occurring in the world, three characteristics-globalization, human diversity, and ethical issues are becoming an important influence on leadership, both on a global level and in our own neighborhoods. Furthermore, leadership is frequently stated as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the achievement of a common task confirming the effectiveness of an organization. Besides that, leadership remains one of the most related aspects of the organizational context. The capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting point to...
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...Marketing Plan Reda Bouizar Devry University Mktg522 Marketing Plan 1.0 Executive summary The purpose of this marketing plan is to introduce Apple into a new market that has the potential to make the company leading further in the high-tech industry. The proposed product is the iWatch, a smart watch that features Apple’s latest technology. This product will allow the company to penetrate the market of wearable technologies, which will weight 1.4 billion dollars by the year 2018. In fact the market demand is increasing steadily in regard of this new type of technologies. Companies such as Samsung and Google had introduced wearable devices such as the Galaxy Gear or the Google Glass in order to create a new way for consumers to interact with technology. The iWatch will satisfy a new demand that is estimate to five million shipments in the next year. (Ranck, 2012, p. 1). Using the Apple strengths such as advanced patents, strong brand equity and extensive distribution channels; the iWatch can be, like the iPod, a strong vector of development for the company. In fact, the marketing objective proposed by this plan is to become a leader on the wearable technologies market and ultimately sale three million units by the end of next year as a financial objective. This document will present the marketing mix that will allow Apple to reach those objectives. Elements like fashionable design, high quality and new technologies will permit the iWatch to...
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...ingredient to the overall success of any organization. Call centers are an increasingly important part of today’s business world, employing millions of agents across the globe and serving as a primary customer-facing channel for firms in many different industries. Call centers have been a prolific area for operations management in several domains, including forecasting, capacity planning, and personnel scheduling. In addition, as telecommunications and information technology have advanced over the past several years, the operational challenges faced by call center managers have become more complicated. Issues associated with human resources management, sales, and marketing have also become increasingly relevant to call center operations. In this proposal I am going to discuss the issues that are prevalent due to lack of infrastructure and networking within the Boost Mobile Corporation. The issues that will be address are Agent absenteeism, Staff attrition, Agent...
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...12 BEST BUY CO. INC.: SUSTAINABLE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY MODEL? 12 BEST BUY CO. INC.: SUSTAINABLE CUSTOMER CENTRICITY MODEL? CASE # 3 Best Buy Co. Inc.: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model? MGT403 Strategic Management Prepared for Tanvir H DeWan Coordinator of College of Business IUBAT Prepared by Serial Number | Name | ID | 01 | Shahriar Rawshon (Group Leader) | 09102095 | 02 | Md. Zakiruzzaman | 09102151 | 03 | Suchona Akter Swarna | 09102163 | 04 | Shahara Akter Eva | 09102156 | 05 | Kanij Fatama | 09102165 | 06 | Ruksana Aktar | 09102130 | 07 | Md. Al Amin | 09302012 | Section: B International University of Business Agriculture and Technology Date of Submission: 29th May, 2012 Current Situation: Best Buy was a specialty retailer of consumer electronics. It operated over 1,100 stores in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. With approximately 155,000 employees, it also operated over 2,800 stores in Canada, Mexico, China, and Turkey. The company’s subsidiaries included Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. In Canada, Best Buy operated under both the Best Buy and Future Shop labels. From a strategic standpoint, Best Buy moved from being a discount retailer (a low price strategy) to a service-oriented firm that relied on a differentiation strategy. In 1989, Best Buy changed the compensation structure for sales associates from commission-based to non- commissioned-based, which resulted in consumers...
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...Apple's iPhone Launch: A Case Study in Effective Marketing Kyle Mickalowski, Augustana College Mark Mickelson, Augustana College Jaciel Keltgen, Augustana College ABSTRACT When CEO Steve Jobs announced in January 2007 that Apple would be releasing a revolutionary iPhone five months hence, consumers waited with bated breath for a phone that would deliver all the features of their iPods as well as a smart phone. Anticipation grew, just as Jobs knew it would, as June approached. The launch would become one of the most heralded technological product splashes Apple, known for its masterful media build-up, had ever planned. How the iPhone was developed, priced, promoted, and distributed is lesson for marketers around the world. Apple investors were pretty happy with the outcome as well. INTRODUCTION One year after Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs announced the company’s industry-changing iPhone on January 9, 2007, at the Macworld convention in San Francisco, the share price of Apple’s stock has more than doubled to a January 9, 2008, value of $179.40 (See Chart 1). This stock price incorporates all of Apple’s business, but a large part of the rise in value can be attributed to the launch of the cutting-edge iPhone, of which four million have already been sold through mid-January 2008 (Carew, 2008). Based on this simple observation of the stock price, the iPhone can so far be declared a success, at least from a shareholder standpoint. This paper will explore both the pre-...
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...read the road signs, limited my travel. Accounting is the language of business. One common business language guided by the rules established by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) known Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) gives financial investors the confidence needed to risk billions of dollars purchasing company stock. Accounting allows people from around the globe to understand the financial health of a given company. Without accounting as the language of business, capitalism and free markets in the United States could not thrive. Companies that list their stock on the stock exchange must prepare their financial statements according to generally accepted accounting principles. There are other authorities that issue guidelines such as Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Management is responsible for ensuring internal controls are in place to insurance the accuracy of the financial statements. Do you use accounting? If you deal with money, there is a chance that you use accounting in some form. Think about when you write a check and make an entry in your check register. Then, at the end of the month, you go through the check register and try to determine how...
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...BestBuy Case Study TROYFONTAINE MACON: M6marketing [2011] [Best Buy is considering reducing their current store sizes, and changing their operational infrastructure. This is a good idea, and a typical retrenchment strategy, but I believe there to be better alternatives. Executive Summary According to multiple media sources, Best Buy is considering reducing their current store sizes by 10%, and changing their operational infrastructure. This is a good idea, and a typical retrenchment strategy, but I believe there to be better alternatives. Implementing Subway restaurants inside of Best Buy‟s instead of reducing the size of Best Buy stores by 10% may have the same financial underlining but not the same market impact. Subway is a restaurant chain that has (1) Brand Recognition (2) Good Public Image “healthy”, “fresh”, “Inexpensive” (3) Strong Independent Advertising Campaigns (4) Profitability within a Growing Industry. Subway restaurants promote and advertise timely events such as movies, athletic events, months, holidays, etc. to go along with Subway‟s existing promotional deals such as the “$5 Footlong” sandwich deals. Subway creates daily incentives for customers and provides a multitude of product offerings that allow Subway not to get stagnant or predictable to consumers. “Take your pick; eat a sandwich on a budget and lay out $5 for a 12‟inch submarine, or eat a fresh, healthy one to train like Michael Phelps, lose tons of weight like Jared Fogle (Subway spokesman)...
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...April 9, 2013 Live UP Marketing Campaign Client: Jawbone Product: UP Health Wristband Industry Background The Jawbone UP is a band and smartphone app that allows its’ users to be able to track their movements, sleep, and food consumption (Jawbone). The wristband makes it easier for users to live a healthier lifestyle in an organized manner. The Jawbone UP would be considered in the industry of fitness and wellness. Its competition includes companies like Basis Band, Fitbit, DirectLife, Adidas miCoach Pacer, Nike+, Valencell, and many other devices. The industry size for this product can be seen as large for that there are many competitors with the Jawbone UP and living healthier lifestyles is trending. Many companies such as Nike+ and Fitbit have been in the industry for quite some time creating most of the industry’s market share, but with many new companies creating tracking devices of their own as well as smartphone apps have made the industry larger and more competitive. Current trends involved in the fitness and wellness industry are being developed from individuals as well as corporations. Today, individuals are looking for new ways to lose weight, reduce the amount of stress in their lives, and live healthier lifestyle trends. Individuals will start to become more proactive in trying to keep up with these healthier lifestyles that will lead companies to involve themselves in this new market to combat the higher healthcare costs. Another major trend in the fitness...
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...History Samsung Group is currently a multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. In 1938 when Samsung was founded in Daegu (Korea), it was initially a trading company, selling dried Korean fish, vegetables, and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing. (Samsung) Just after a little more than a decade, it owned flour mills and confectionery machines and began its own manufacturing and sales operations. During the 1970s, Samsung (for the first time) began exporting electronic products, and in 1978, Samsung Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics became separate entities. Soon after in the 1980s, they increased their focus on technology and this had led to the creation of the company’s 2 research and development (R&D) institutes. However, after the death of their founder Lee Byung-chul, it was segmented into 4 independent business groups. By the 1990s, Samsung became more globalized and their best sources of revenue came from their mobile phones and semiconductors. Business Portfolio Samsung Corporation is a multinational conglomerate company with operations in almost every country. Often, they have products or services that are available in a huge number of countries and an example is the initial launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. It was initially sold in 110 countries and over time it expanded to total of 155 countries in cooperation with 327 partners (Yarow, 2013). It also serves organisations and almost every segment of consumers regardless...
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...Best Retail Brands Founded in 1974, Interbrand is one of the world’s largest branding consultancies. With nearly 40 offices in 26 countries, Interbrand’s combination of rigorous strategy, analytics and world-class design enables it to assist clients in creating and managing brand value effectively across all touchpoints in all market dynamics. Interbrand is widely recognized for its Best Global Brands report, the definitive guide to the world’s most valuable brands, as well as its Best Global Green Brands report which identifies the gap between customer perception and a brand’s performance relative to sustainability. It is also known for having created www.Brandchannel.com, an international online exchange and resource about brand marketing and branding. For more information on Interbrand, visit www.Interbrand.com. For more than 30 years we have been creating retail brand experiences for companies around the world. Interbrand Design Forum’s talent for game-changing innovation spurred us to create a business model that integrates analytics-based strategy into what began as a design and architecture group — the first and only company with such a comprehensive offering. Our broad range of services includes: retail design, brand strategy, shopper sciences, packaging, digital, documentation and rollout. This unique ability to address retail’s growing complexity has led many of the world’s top companies to our doorstep and propelled Interbrand Design Forum to the forefront of...
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...The media’s watching Vault! Here’s a sampling of our coverage. “For those hoping to climb the ladder of success, [Vault's] insights are priceless.” – Money magazine “The best place on the web to prepare for a job search.” – Fortune “[Vault guides] make for excellent starting points for job hunters and should be purchased by academic libraries for their career sections [and] university career centers.” – Library Journal “The granddaddy of worker sites.” – US News and World Report “A killer app.” – New York Times One of Forbes' 33 “Favorite Sites” – Forbes “To get the unvarnished scoop, check out Vault.” – Smart Money Magazine “Vault has a wealth of information about major employers and jobsearching strategies as well as comments from workers about their experiences at specific companies.” – The Washington Post “A key reference for those who want to know what it takes to get hired by a law firm and what to expect once they get there.” – New York Law Journal “Vault [provides] the skinny on working conditions at all kinds of companies from current and former employees.” – USA Today VAULT GUIDE TO RESUMES, COVER LETTERS & INTERVIEWS © 2003 Vault Inc. VAULT GUIDE TO RESUMES, COVER LETTERS & INTERVIEWS HOWARD LEIFMAN, PhD, MARCY LERNER AND THE STAFF OF VAULT © 2003 Vault Inc. Copyright © 2003 by Vault Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to the accuracy and reliability...
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