...Williams-Sonoma Williams-Sonoma offers the upscale and wealthy market with a wide assortment of home furnishings. Consumers are reached by means of multiple sales platforms consisting of direct-to-customer channel, retail channel and e-commerce sites. Williams-Sonoma continues to increase its product lines yearly and enlarges its business operations by opening new retail stores to different states in the country. Having numerous brands help the company seize a huge potential customer percentage. If the Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives, it is not impossible that the company will become the industry leader in home furnishings. Michman & Mazze (2006) explained that "innovation was an important variable for Williams-Sonoma and it designs products and services to satisfy the needs of the niche segment; since the focus is on satisfying specific target markets, efficiency is maximized" (p. 132). In addition to this, the good supplier power of Williams-Sonoma allowed them to lower their expenses as they have varied manufacturers in European and Asian countries. Its excellent quality products permit them to gain the loyalty of its consumers. Due to its large distribution centers across the United States, there are no shortages of supply to the retail stores which do not cause dismay to the customers. Recommended Strategies Aside from creating an official website to Williams-Sonoma, loyalty programs would help capture more customers. If the customers...
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...Abstract Williams-Sonoma is synonymous with high-end retail for the home. Creating an innovative market mix of retail, catalog and e-commerce, Williams-Sonoma is strategically positioned to retain market share of the diverse mix of house and kitchen wares, furniture, linens and home furnishings segment. With strong leadership, committed to consumers, shareholders and employees, Williams-Sonoma is continuing to be profitable and provide quality unique niche products domestically and internationally. Company Overview In 1956, Chuck Williams founded Williams–Sonoma Inc. (WSM). Mr. Williams identified a need for a place to purchase unique and niche home and kitchen wares. His passion for cooking and entertaining ignited a revolution within the United States that is still present today. The high-end American specialty retail company, Williams-Sonoma sells a diverse mix of house and kitchen wares, furniture, linens and home furnishings domestically and internationally. Products are sold in retail stores, catalogs and worldwide via the internet. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Williams-Sonoma became incorporated in 1976. The brand portfolio encompasses Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Williams-Sonoma Home, West Elm, Rejuvenation, Pottery Barn Bed & Bath and PBteen. Williams-Sonoma Inc. operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and franchises throughout countries...
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...1. If the Williams-Sonoma continues with its present strategies and objectives, where will it be in five years? As said by Rouse (2005) author of the Williams-Sonoma case study, Williams-Sonoma uses the diversification growth strategy. According to the text with this strategy the company expands product lines by moving into other industries (Wheelen & Hunger p. 208 par. 4). Initially Williams-Sonoma “opened its first store in 1956, selling a small array of cookware imported from France. Since then, the brand has expanded to hundreds of products from around the world, more than 250 stores nationwide, a direct-mail business that distributes millions of catalogs a year, and a highly successful e-commerce site” (Williams-Sonoma par. 2). Williams-Sonoma current lines include: Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PB Teen, Hold Everything, West Elm, and William Sonoma Home. (Rouse p. 1 par. 1). If the company continues to grow and delve into other innovations and markets it will have large market shares within the next five years. Due to the nationwide economic decline the company may suffer or face some difficulties caused by its high prices that only target the wealthier. Consumers may began to be more conservative in their spending and looking towards cheaper home good alternatives such as the competitors listed in the case study: Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, Pier 1 Imports, and The Bombay. If the company continues to focus on its current stores it will...
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... November 23, 2010 In five years with the present strategies and objectives of marketing specialty home products William-Sonoma, I believe will continue to grow as it is betting on its online expansion venture of moderate price West-Elm chain to revive growth. The key I think is with diversification and understanding the different economic housing markets. In some states where housing market is high with Foreclosures and declining home purchases the process of exploring strategies targeting retails in remodeling is significant in future success. These strategies of old will support growth to an extent but needs to evolve over time. The company used the primary selling channels of retail and direct to customer channel. The retail consisted of four means to deliver products which were through Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Hold Everything. The Williams-Sonoma brand of providing home goods, decorative accessories, and more importantly children market is expected to grow because of the expectations in birthrates. The competition in this market will continue to grow and startup companies are flooding the retail market to get its share of the pie. Today’s market involve new technologies and companies are continuously seeking methods to get there products to the customer faster and at any time. With this understanding Williams-Sonoma should continue to seek and build upon its strategies in order to be ahead of their competitors and new business ventures...
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...and website. They have fewer brick and mortar stores than Williams Sonoma. They offer high style but at a lower price point than Williams Sonoma. Crate and Barrel focuses on furniture rather than kitchen products. The Company is in the process of changing its combination of online and brick and mortar stores, repositioning some of its stores in their current markets (Sweeny, 2014). Restoration hardware sells pricey vintage style furniture. They compete with William Sonoma in the direct to customer market. Restoration Hardware targets the wealthiest 10 %, Williams Sonoma targets wealthiest 20%. A former senior manager left Pottery Barn to work or restoration hardware (Rouse, 2010). This inside knowledge helps with Restorations’ positioning. Its strategy is to target fast growth. Pier one stores offer similar offerings to Williams Sonoma. Pier 1 aims to get the competitive advantage by offering a variety of products to fit various market. They offer an array of household, kitchen and specialty items. Bombay Company offers classic, traditional accessories and large furniture. The company also has outlet stores that targets those they desire high style at a lower price point. While targeting a group of consumers that have less disposable income, this strategy may isolate the consumer that is looking for trendy high end items. Door Store and Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium are regional competitors to William Sonoma. They each have a few retail stores, catalogs, and a web presence...
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...Williams-Sonoma is a nationwide specialty retailer that sells high quality, upscale products for the home through its 478 retail stores and various direct-to-customer channels. Its retail concepts are comprised of Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Teen, Chambers, West Elm and Hold Everything. Williams-Sonoma, a San Francisco based company, generated $2,361 million in revenue dollars. The company employs approximately 6,000 people nationwide. The organization rates a 10 in job satisfaction because it pays well and offers excellent health benefits; however, opportunities for advancement are limited locally due to employee loyalty and long tenures. It rates a 12 on the functioning of small groups due to its commitment to customer service and its ability to maintain a 98% service level of a two day product delivery within its direct-to-customer channels. Company culture rates an 11 because of high employee loyalty. Its employees are highly committed and loyal to the company in partly due to its "Friends and Family" referral program, in which employees are allowed to refer friends and family for work during peak shipping seasons. The average tenure in the distribution center is between 6-10 years. Finally, Williams-Sonoma rates a 12 in organizational performance because of its high product delivery rate, high customer service level and high customer. Analyze key elements of training and development geared toward improving the performance of the specific...
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...1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain and "Alta California" became a Mexican province rather than a Spanish colony. A new era began in California as ranch life flourished and American trappers began to enter the territory. The Mexican government secularized the missions in 1834 and they were eventually abandoned. In June 1846 a party of settlers occupied Sonoma Plaza and proclaimed a Republic of California and raised the bear flag in rebellion. Known as the Bear Flag Revolt, this insurrection represented one of the first aggressive actions that divided California from Mexico. In 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill and dramatically altered the course of California's history as miners rushed into the area. On September 9, 1850, California became a state. The Gold Rush brought thousands of immigrants, both foreign and domestic, to California. This and later mass migrations, combined with the state's natural riches, assured Calfornia's success as it developed its diversified agriculture and industry, fisheries, forestry, and mining industries, aircraft plants and shipyards, tourism and recreation, the film industry, and the technological sector epitomized by Silicon Valley (highlighted in another National Register itinerary: Santa Clara County: California's Historic Silicon Valley). More than 90,000 people made their way to California in the two years following the first discovery and more than 300,000 by 1854 — or one of about every 90 people then living in the United...
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...Constructive Speech What determines the outcome of someone’s life? Is it the choices they make or is it the situations they have been placed into? Good morning Mrs.Gittins, mediator, scores, my opponents, my colleague and audience. My partner and I agree on the fact that Willie is most definitely not to blame for the situation he has ended up in. In Willy’s case the outcome of his life is based on the situations he was placed into. We believe this is due to the fact that during his childhood years a father figure was not present. Also, Willy’s wife Linda Lowman clearly understood that her husband was mentally unstable but she decided to turn a blind eye and deny just like the rest of society and pretend as if everything were okay. In the play, Willie’s character is a tragic hero and an unconscious victim. He sees the world around him changing and his own inability to change with it seals his fate. The audience learns that Willie strongly believes that success is not what you know, but who you know and how well you are liked. At one point in time Willie was a very successful salesman, when Howard’s father ran the company. Many promises were made between Willie and Howard’s father across that desk in the office. Despite the fact that Willie worked hard his entire life, and was rewarded very little, the promises that he believed in for all his years of work and strived towards fell through. Now that he is old and not able to keep up at the pace he used to Howard thinks...
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...Imagery is very important in poetry. It is used to give the reader a visual or sense of what the author is talking about. Imagery triggers something in the brain that then gives us the ability to correlate a word with a sound, smell, feelings or even sight. Without any type of imagery, it would make it very difficult to relate with the author. Color imagery is used to trigger sight and make us visualize colors and associate it with the words either preceding or proceeding. In the two poems, “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost and “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams, color imagery plays a big role in describing the scene. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Browning is a poem about nature and how everything is so beautiful at first, but it then becomes subsides and isn’t as wonderful. “Nature’s first green is gold”, this could refer to the sunrise in the morning (499). This reminds me of all the gorgeous hues of a sunrise and how the sky and everything the sun hits seems golden. It could also be referring to seasonal changes. When spring is around, all the flowers and sunlight look amazing, but when the flowers start turning into leaves and falling off, it is a little upsetting to look at. “So dawn goes down to day”, this gives me the sense that Frost is talking about the early mornings (499). Watching dawn turn into day is disappointing, especially when you get to see all the natural colors coming from dawn and then it just turns into another plain day. The last line...
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...Running head: COLOR OF IMAGERY IN POEMS 1 COLOR IMAGERY IN POEMS 2 Color imagery; also known as color symbolism is a literary tool that refers to the meaning associated with a certain color. The color symbolizes a feeling or meaning. Author’s use color imagery to help the reader reference the feeling or meaning. In literature it is an object or reference used to provide meaning to the writing beyond what is essentially being described. It can be restrained or obvious, used cautiously or strong. An author may repeat the same object to communicate a deeper meaning or might use distinctions of the same object to produce a mood or feeling. Nothing Gold Can Stay, written by Robert frost in the year 1923, uses color imagery. The title of the poem is a metaphor where the gold represents value and wealth so when it says nothing gold can stay it means that nothing that is precious or of great value in the materialistic way can last forever. Gold symbolizes materialism it will not last for long and it gives an untrue happiness. Gold and other things such as, money can take years to accumulate but can be depleted in an instant. On the other hand, things having emotion and sentimental values cannot be bought with money and therefore will remain with us throughout our life. Frost says “nature’s first green is gold” he compares the color of nature “green’ with something that can be bought; gold. He is trying to portray that...
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...ENG340b Professor V. Levchev Final Paper Imagism and Symbolism: American Poets in Europe The key aspects discussed in this paper are American Imagists in Europe in the beginning and the middle of 20th century. However, everything has its roots and its beginnings. The same way imagism movement initially developed from symbolism, very popular literary movement of the end of 19th century, which influenced most of the imagist poets. Symbolism was an art movement originated in France, Belgium and Russia in the end of the 19th century, which remained prominent almost until the end of the World War II. This movement was a reaction to the predominating at that time standards and rules of realism. It appeared as a new manifestation of the romanticism and was concerned about preserving individualism in the modern world, absorbed by the mass culture.1 Usually being enclosed in free verse, symbolism was about expression of author’s personal emotions. It handled very composite feelings that appeared from the everyday life in the world and was rather about evoking than about describing. It used an object, person, colour or just a word in order to represent or describe something else. It was used when an author wanted to create some specific mood or any given emotion in his piece.2 Being tired of realism, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, introduced symbolism to the America. Nevertheless, Pound was looking for something else, for something new in his poetry and, along with some...
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...example of a short story that includes such elements is William Carlos Williams’ “The Use of Force.” In this story, elements such as theme, background, symbolism, and image are utilized in a way to communicate the idea that there are two sides to every situation. In this short story, there appears to be an overall theme. William Carlos Williams seems to want to make the audience understand that there are usually two sides to every situation—in this case, for a little girl, a doctor’s visit is frightening and for a doctor, it is just another job. Williams demonstrated just how scared the little girl was throughout the story in many ways. In one instance, the mother reassured the little girl to not be afraid and that the doctor would not hurt her (Williams 80). In another instance, Williams writes, “As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too” (81). Williams uses the girl’s actions to further convey his message that she was frightened. It is easy to assume that a grown man having to deal with this would get frustrated. Williams chose to demonstrate the doctor’s irritation through his narration. “Look here, I said to the child, we’re going to look at your throat. You’re old enough to understand what I am saying. Will you open it now by yourself or shall we gave to open it for you” (Williams 81). William Carlos Williams used techniques such as the voice of a minor character...
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...William Carlos Williams’ poem The Red Wheelbarrow is a very meaningful poem. Since Williams only wrote it with 16 words, it is a poem that is looked passed for its size. The way that Williams arranges those 16 words though, is the reason why it is extremely powerful. The Red Wheelbarrow is filled with images and ideas that made it very easy to visualize. After reading the poem a couple of times, my first thought was to write about perfection. The second and third lines of the poem gave me the idea that the “the red wheelbarrow glazed with rain” signifies a large amount of water. With a large amount of water, there is no need to worry about dry crops on a farm. The “white chickens” in the fourth line also portray perfection because chickens are expected to lay perfect eggs. The first line of the poem took a while to decode the images. When the poem says, “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow” it struck me that a wheelbarrow is a very popular tool in farming. A wheelbarrow is used for transporting all sorts of things on the farm. The poem itself could also be a form of imagery. The structure of the poem and the stanzas, in my eyes, are shaped like wheelbarrows. Williams is a poet who doesn’t have to try very hard to paint a picture in somebody’s mind. My second thought about the meaning of the poem was that it was a metaphor for appreciating the little things in life. I feel as if Williams is trying to say that the little things matter in life just...
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...The Tragic and the Comic It has been said that tragedy is life viewed close at hand, while comedy is life viewed at a distance. It has also been said that life is comedy to the person who thinks and tragedy to the one who feels. The chief source of the comic is the incongruous, the unexpected. We expect one thing but find another. The Parable of the Blind by William Carlos Williams (based on a painting of the same name by Pieter Brueghel the Elder) This horrible but superb painting the parable of the blind without a red in the composition shows a group of beggars leading each other diagonally downward across the canvas from one side to stumble finally into a bog where the picture and the composition ends back of which no seeing man is represented the unshaven features of the destitute with their few pitiful possessions a basin to wash in a peasant cottage is seen and a church spire the faces are raised as toward the light there is no detail extraneous to the composition one follows the others stick in hand triumphant to disaster Fundamental Types of Comedy and Tragedy Comedy of Situation – “Low Comedy” – slapstick comedy and farce Tragedy of Situation – “Low Tragedy” – the essence of melodrama; events that are exciting Comedy of Character – “High Comedy” Tragedy of Character – “High Tragedy” In low comedy and low tragedy the characters are not individuals but types. In high comedy they...
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...William Carlos Williams and His Imagist Poetry Modernism and Imagism, two movements in literature ,which were developed in the 20th century .At the beginning of the decade ,modernism was a revolution of style .Crime, depression, and materialism filled this era. Musician, artists,and writers broke away from technique to create a new art.Also, imagism brought fragmental and chaotic life where nobody felt secure and happy.After that,modernism was related with decent and realistic art form.The modernist artists like Edwin Dickinson and a painter Arthur Dove looked for an object of inspiration ,individual vision and the value of immediate observation where they emphasized on surroundings around them in everyday life.Some modernists were supported by photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz who obtained the power to change the drift of American art. Moreover,art,drawing and painting were based on subjects describing actual world ideas.Also, modernism was a variety of ‘’-ism’’ such as Fauvism,Cubism,Dadaism and Futurism to break away the previous rules of orientations,color,and writing in order to their own visions. Some time after modernism,the imagist poets began to gain importance.They wrote short poems that their work would be rich and direct.They focused on individual...
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