Costco Wholesale in 2012 Essay

Analysis and Evaluation Since the inception of Costco in 1983, one of its drawbacks is, they have 4,000 selections of merchandise compared to their competitors. In addition, customers can only purchase merchandises in bulk. Consumers who shop at Costco do not have the choice to pick up one single item, for instance a can of soup. Although Costco prices are low and the consumers get more for their money, more consumers are wasting food because they no longer have the big families. Costco needs to look at the demographics and re-evaluate their business model, as this could be detrimental to the company. In today’s society, more families are getting divorce and are becoming single parents. The big families are almost none existent; therefore, most consumers do not need to purchase in bulk. Many consumers want to have choices when it comes to the amount of food they purchase. One may say there are other shopping establishments a consumer may visit to get exactly what they want; however, that is beside the point. Giving consumers the choice to purchase individual merchandise will not only bring in more business but also an increase in cash flow, which will also increase profits for Costco. On the other hand, Costco competitors such as Wal-Mart stocked up 40,000 to 150, 000 items for shoppers to choose from and Sam’s Club have over 16,000 items. Sam’s Club have the treasure-hunt items but tend to be less upscale and carry lower price tags than those of Costco. Both Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club give shoppers more choices than Costco even though Costco offers a cheaper price on their merchandise. Costco spends very little in advertisements and they totally rely on their name and word of mouth by their customers. Compared to Sam’s Club they spent about $50 million annually advertising and direct mail promotions. Furthermore, Costco does not have a Public Relation department, which is not good business practice, even though they have been around for years and they are doing well financially. However, there are many opportunities for one of its competitor to come in take away their market share. Costco does not attract people who are below the poverty line; they cater to the business consumer and urbanites that have an annual income of $100,000; therefore, people who are impoverish cannot afford the membership fees and bulk purchase. In addition, Costco membership fee is more expensive compared to Sam’s Club. Recommendation Costco needs to improve the variety of choices by giving the consumer more than 4,000 items to choose from while their competitors are actually giving customers what they want. Costco needs to take into consideration the economy; people have lost their jobs and the recession, as customers are looking for cheaper prices and ways to saving money. Furthermore, if Costco does not come up with new and innovative strategies to entice low income and single household family to their establishment they are giving their competitors the upper hand. Costco should also focus on the advertisement because number of its rivals is already doing intense advertisement. In today’s global and technological world, many businesses are being aggressive and are taking advantage of investing heavily on the marketing. Costco cannot continue to use the concept of sitting back and waiting for their customers to spread the word by mouth. Costco needs to move in the direction of the 21st century by being more proactive by utilizing technology and a PR department for marketing purposes. It is true that company like Costco are doing good in economic downturn but competitors like Sam’s club is outperforming Costco in pricing which could be biggest threats to the Costco even though Costco keeps relatively branded and qualitative product than that of Sam’s Club The Five Forces Model of Competition Substitutes Strong threat Good substitutes everywhere Price not significantly higher Comparable product features More variety of features Low switching cost Potential new entrants Low threat Small pool entry candidates High barriers to entry Expanding market Attractive profits Buyers Weak bargaining power Some switching cost Large membership base Costco has the best value Suppliers Weak bargaining power Many suppliers Low switching cost Many substitutes exist Large quantities are needed Competing sellers Fierce Competition Costco is on top Quality is slightly better Buyer demand is growing Buyers switching cost is low SWOT Strength| Weakness| Low product and services†¢ Strong brand†¢ Excellent merchandise†¢ Exceptional employees†¢ 54 million members†¢ Economics of scale†¢ Efficiency| James Sinegal is 79†¢ Maintain high wages†¢ 42% higher than Sam’s Club†¢ Comparatively less attractive store layout for luxury items†¢Ã‚  Declining or inconsistent profit margins†¢ Primary focus on business customers rather than individual customers| Opportunities| Threat| Recession- Easier to find bargain luxury-items- Increased popularity of Costco†¢ Expanding foreign markets- Europe- China – India †¢ Positive image in terms of employees pay and social responsibility†¢ Increasing brand awareness| Fierce competition†¢Costco cannot attract people who are below poverty line due to its membership fees and bulk purchase†¢High competition from Sam’s Club and BJ†¢Political problems in other countries| References Thomspson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland III, A. (2012). Crafting & Executing Strategy (19th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irvin.

United Health Care

Despite the struggling economy across the nation, UnitedHealthcare businesses soared in growth and increased their year over year revenues by 8% in 2010. They widened their customer base by 1. 2 million individuals. The economy turmoil was a significant reason for the growth in Medicaid program participation rising almost 15% from year to year. Additionally, the aging â€Å"baby boomer† generation contributed in the spike of 16% in Medicare Advantage consumers in 2010. After suffering a 1. million membership loss in 2009; the commercial market experienced a dramatic turnaround that resulted in a net gain of 185,000 people served in 2010. â€Å"The improvements were driven by newer, more affordable products, better customer retention, better service, and lower employee attrition trends among our customers† (CEO, 2011). UnitedHealthcare is a division of the UnitedHealth Group. The organization is the largest health carrier in America; they are top contenders in leading th e industry in the insurance business, customer service, community involvement, and philanthropy contribution. The company originated in 1977and continues to grow, improve, and evolve the health industry standards among it competitors. The ability to stay ahead of the curve in the technological advances has become a leveraging tool attracting their services to the medical professionals.. The company offers individuals and families a choice between six types of offers. Co-pay- This is where the patient must pay a required fee for certain office visits and preventative care appointments and procedures. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) – A tax free account helping offset a high deductable and lower cost plan for some people. High Deductible – This allows a person peace of mind for ensuring protection for a major medical need. Usually, the preventative and well visits are self paid by the patient. Short Term Medical – this plan is offered to customers who need a temporary short term plan to smoothly transition to another employer or plan. Student Coverage- this plan is offered through the educational sector that is comparable to a employer group plan and benefits. Medicare and Medicaid – UnitedHealth plans have been chosen for many area Medicare and Medicaid governmental choice. Lower income may choose between a HMO and another type of plan offered. Dental Insurance Plans – This plan is specific to dental well care and repair of teeth within the dentistry industry. Their products are prices are moderate in the market; however, the company believes that the best medicine for any disease is prevention. United Healthcare believes in educating the public on prevention, care, and nutritious lifestyles. The more education American’s receive results in a possibility of preventive measures and teaching health will bring healthy citizens. This will result in fewer illnesses and lower costs overall. The promoted charitable attitude and encouragement are a highly admirable feature within the company and exhibits the genuine nature of caring for people. The support to disaster relief affected areas, youth involvement, and contributions to the less fortunate living in shelters or decreasing the feeding the hungry, or food drives bring a healthier tomorrow within our country. Community investment will yield high profit margins and/ or positive opportunity costs results are being demonstrated consistently by UnitedHealthcare by their actions, financial, and awards they have earned. †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"UnitedHealthcare named 2009 Best Health Plan Provider by readers of Business Insurance magazine† †¢UnitedHealthcare receives Patriot Award for Support of National Guard and Reserve †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"UnitedHealthcare is ranked One of 50 Best Companies for Latinas to Work For in the U. S. According to Latina Style Magazine† †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Affairs is named as, One of Black Enterprise's â€Å"100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America† †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"UnitedHealth Group Receives Hispanic Health Leadership Award† †¢Ã¢â‚¬Å"UnitedHealthcare President among FORTUNE Top 50 Most Powerful Women. (United HealthCare Services, 2011) Currently, they are providers to approximately seventy-five million ci tizens in the U. S. The network the company has built among health professionals includes, â€Å"654,000 physicians and health care professionals, 80,000 dentists, and 5,127 hospitals† (UnitedHealth Care, 2011). Additionally, a pharmaceutical plan assists thirteen million others acquire more affordable cost and access to drugs prescribed. The large network relationship the company has built is a large contributing factor for UnitedHealth care being recognized as a leader in the industry. The success of the business is derived by the strong mission statement and values the company strives to meet and exceed with their customers. Works Cited CEO, U. G. (2011, January 20). Seeking Alpha: Unitedhealth Group CEO Discusses Q4 2010 . Retrieved January 30, 2011, from http://seekingalpha.com/article/247820-unitedhealth-group-ceo-discusses-q4-2010-earnings-call-transcript United HealthCare Services. (2011, January). United HealthCare Products & Services. Retrieved January 30, 2011, from http://www.uhc.com/about_us.htm UnitedHealth Care. (2011). United Health Care – Helping People Live Healthier Lives. Retrieved 01 29, 2011, from http://www.uhc.com

Social Psy-Eating Disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social Psy-Eating Disorder - Essay Example Eating Disorders mainly affect teenage and adolescent females, nearly 5-7% of the females, at some stage of their lives, have been diagnosed with some form of Eating Disorder in the United States of America. (Milos, 2005) Adolescence is characterized by a number of biological changes, be it physical, hormonal, sexual or psychological. One of the major psychological changes is the sudden concern about one’s appearance. â€Å"Feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and ones experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale†(Siegel et al,1988). This concern might cross the normal limits and manifest into what are known as â€Å"Eating Disorders†. As the term suggests, Eating Disorders correspond to an abnormal swing in eating behavior. The swing might be towards either extreme i.e. eating in excess or eating close to nothing. These disorders affect both the physical and mental health. The disorders can be categorized into the following- Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. A third category is "eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS), is currently being investigated by medical professionals throughout the world. This category includes the Binge Eating Disorder. As the name suggests, it is a chronic disease wherein an individual consumes excessive amount of food during a short period of time. It can lead to serious health conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (American Psychiatric Association,2005). These three ailments together affect nearly 10 million teenagers, a major proportion of them being females. Only 10% of Anorexic patients are male. Most anorexics become so as adolescents, with 76% reporting onset of the disorder between the ages of 11 and 20(National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders, 2005).One of the most disturbing facts is that

Lecture Synthesis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lecture Synthesis - Coursework Example This understanding is the central focus of the lecture. Managers in the global environment have to understand the diversity that characterizes both domestic and international markets. The lecture provides relevant information that allows managers and employees in the global environment to understand why business settings vary from one country to another. At a personal level, the lecture is important is important because it brings together different concepts that aid in the understanding of global business operations. For example, the lecture presents cultural differences as a critical factor in business. Cultural variations may not seem that important, but a business enterprise that fails to acknowledge cultural diversity faces a key operational challenge across the globe. In addition, the lecture sheds important insights about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship and global economic progress are essentially intertwined, this highlights resonates with my personal drive, goal, and desire to own and operate a successful international enterprise. In this respect, this lecture focuses on central ideas and concepts that I find relevant and informative at a personal level. Additionally, the lecture outlines how the global business environment functions. From the operations of World Trade Organization to the actualization of agreements that promote free trade in America and beyond, such information shows just how complex yet successful global business has become. By understanding global business environment, I find it easy to comprehend the diversity and dynamism of the global political economy. As the lecture maintains, understanding the global environment is critical to the success of today’s management practices. Managing in a global environment is both interesting and challenging. For example, minimum wage continues to elicit mixed reactions in North America today. While some business enterprises in America support the move to increase minimum

Mathematics classes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mathematics classes - Essay Example Teachers, who study mathematics for the foreign speaking students, should be aware of the fact, that the knowledge they try to give, must be combined with clear explanation and patience. Various strategies exist for those who have to teach mathematics to the students in combination with the language problems. Thus, it would be interesting to observe the two different strategies, which two teachers have in this relation. The use of various strategies for teaching children mathematics is essential; it often appears at present that the knowledge and idea of mathematics are wrong between people, and thus the role of the teacher is to make the mathematical knowledge full, sufficient and clear. The strategies to use in teaching mathematics directly depend on the knowledge teachers have themselves, and the studies conducted in this connection, proved that the way the teachers were teaching their pupils mathematics, their structural and instructional decisions were directly dependent on the knowledge in mathematics they had themselves. In relation to foreign speaking students, it is even more important to have a closer look at the use of not only mathematics' teaching strategies, but also the use of LEP and ESOL. 'The current debate concerning what students should learn in mathematics seems to set proponents of teaching computational skills against the advocates of fostering conceptual understanding and re flects the wide range of beliefs about what aspects of mathematics are important to know'. (Liping, 1999) For example, Mrs L was teaching mathematics with a special accent on the multidigit multiplication. One of her strategies was to create the series of lectures (lessons), and the group which she taught was absolutely heterogeneous in relation to the level of skills and knowledge. She paid special attention to the children with exceptionalities, as there were two pupils who were able to perform this computation without any difficult and displayed exceptional abilities towards computation. These children, attending lessons together with the rest of the group, also acquired special tasks separately from the other pupils. The creation of this strategy has been caused by her deep knowledge of the structures in multidigit computation, as well as the wide range of combinations and the special approach towards problem-solving. She was able not only to teach students the necessary skills, but to teach them the general knowledge of problem-solving, giving them the basis for the further develop ment. Mrs B was able to create her own strategy of teaching children mathematics through the special accent on the negative numbers understanding. Making the foreign-speaking pupils understand negative numbers is a challenge, and she was successful in creating her own strategy. Her aim was not only to develop the knowledge of negative numbers, but to make her pupils successful mathematical thinkers. She was able to understand the ways of representing the key mathematical ideas to her pupils, through clear language and descriptive meanings. Her associations of negative numbers with magic peanuts and a frog on the number line, gave her own ideas for connecting negative numbers with the association of money and the similar building model. The choice of the models themselves was complex,

Persuade Your Employer That You Deserve a Raise Essay

Persuade Your Employer That You Deserve a Raise - Essay Example I was indeed workaholic. Working for late hours even after the fixed office hours was a trend which was rarely seen in American companies. Admittedly, it was the sincerity and passion I had toward my work that kept me boosted always. The task of recruiting hardware engineers for the iPhone and iPad projects were the most challenging and voluminous task in the whole span of my professional life. In many of the days, I was the only one who remained after the office hours and managed the extensive documentation works of the human resource department. I travelled through technology institutes to find young, vibrant and innovative engineers, of design, hardware and software for the successful accomplishment of the projects. It is clear that my diplomacy was beneficial for the company to persuade engineers and designers from other IT giants like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo etc to work with Apple. And my expertise in computer programming was a surplus advantage for the company, for I got t he duty of supervising the iOS for iPhone and iPad. It must be noted that it was when many officers in the C level disagreed to supervise the immense task of supervising the development of iOS that I had to take up the responsibility. All this makes me upright to stately say that I played a substantial part in the successful completion of the iPhone project in 2007 as the HR manager as well as a software developer. I believe I have been loyal to my superiors in the company right from the day I joined Apple; and I have always been friendly with my colleagues too. I was always appreciated by my superiors in the HR department and my contributions and suggestions to the research and development wing was always well-considered. Our CEO Mr. Steve Jobs was always ready to listen to our opinions and suggestions. It is a unique feature in Apple that even though I am an employee in the HR department, my expertise in computer programming was also considered and exposure was given to me in the software development section. Such an easy and liberal working environment makes Apple a professional’s dream. The only thing that disappointed me in Apple is that there has been no change in my position and no additions to my salary apart from the usual annual increments. I have completed 10 years in Apple by now, and I am one of the well-qualified employees in the human resources wing. I graduated in business administration specializing in HR as well as computer science from the prestigious Harvard University. I was a topper in the university and that’s the reason for which Apple recruited me directly from the campus. It was my efforts that provided Apple a handsome amount of savings by taking up market analysis within the company instead of outsourcing it to external analyzers. This step was found exorbitantly helpful in maintaining a good position in the stock markets constantly throughout the financial years. Though I have such long stories of success to speak abo ut from the course of my work at Apple, I feel I never received a raise that I deserved while comparing with my track record at Apple. And I had to see many who were less academically qualified than I moving to higher positions in the firm. Apple had been always known as an employer who carefully listens to the concerns of its employees. Today Apple is the leading brand

Meso-system influences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Meso-system influences - Essay Example For example, a school that provides its students movies on various countries is providing the children great exposure to the outside world, thus enhancing mental development. Similarly, the role of family in the socialization of children has been acknowledged by social scientists. In fact, socialization of children starts in the family, and what schools provide is the continuation of this. Supporting this point, studies have shown that when schools and families work collectively, students perform much better in their studies and in future life. In addition, it has become evident from studies that the school achievement of a child is determined, to a great extent, by a family environment that encourages and values learning, and the involvement of family in the education. In addition, it has become evident that children from ethnic groups and low economic status fair poorly in studies and socialization. In other words, as Paquette and Ryan opine, the effectiveness of socialization at s chool is, to a great extent, dependent on the family background too. The connection between school and media cannot be neglected. For example, almost all schools utilize media either in their classrooms or outside classroom.