Macro-environment is also known as external environment which affects business decision in various ways and which can impinge not only on the transformation of the firm, but also on the process of resources acquisition and on the creation and consumption of output (Worthington and Britton, 2009). These forces can shape and moderate the behaviour of all stakeholders in the market including competitors, suppliers, customers and employees. The macro forces are often organised into political/legal, economic, ecological/physical, social/cultural and technology (Kotler et al., 2010, p.154). In order to clarify its influence effectively, the economists arrange them into few models such as PESTEL, DEEPLIST. This paper will apply the PEST model to consider:…
Target Corporation has two reportable segments: First one is the Retail, and the second one is the Credit Card. The Retail Segment includes all of the merchandising operations. Under this are all of the discount stores in the United States of America and the online business. On the other hand, the Credit Card Segment includes the Target Visa and Target Card (also known as REDcards). These credit cards offer credit to qualified guests. Because of this, it helps to strengthen the bonds with the guests, increases sales, and gives better results of…
According to Metcalf & Lafranco (2013), inbound logistics, which emphasizes on raw material, is fundamental in the company’s operations. It acquires her main bulk of chemical materials from Lanxess, a German company that provides standardized ingredients without any bottleneck…
This article discusses the organizational growth, obstacles and changes of toy maker, Mattel. Over their 50 years of experience, Mattel has grown from a garage run shop to an international super star. The case mainly addresses CEO, Bob Eckert’s organizational changes that catapulted Mattel to industry leadership. In a 2008 interview, Mr. Eckert says “if you can consistently try to do the right thing, life is so much easier. If you live by your basic values, a) you'll get through it, and b) you'll feel satisfied that you did the best you could” (Yang, 2008). By examining Mattel’s admirable reactions to adversity, the article demonstrates how the CEO really lives by these words. Through effective change and excellent communication both internally and externally, Mattel has become an industry leader and a positive example of doing the right thing. It finishes by analyzing Mattel’s efforts to correct its errors by enforcing stricter oversight on its manufacturers, in future efforts to avert future mistakes.…
The short-term expenditure to get the sustainable product underway would be greeted with long-term benefits including greater innovation, quality improvement, energy savings, and revenue growth. Developing new manufacturing practices and product design synergizes the eco-efficiency efforts that can result in lower production costs and greater operational efficiencies, as well as reduced shipping and transportation costs. A sustainable product should have the five key elements: Social, Governance, Financial, Health and Safety, and Environment. In which the proposal for Lego Group does have those five key elements, the proposal gears towards all five in developing a plan that removes toxins from their plastics, a sustainable product that lowers the consumption of energy, a product that is safe for the…
One cause of such precarious conditions is the new business model that has emerged under globalisation. Global brand companies have positioned…
The marketing tool “Macro-environment (PEST) normally is utilized by senior marketers in order to get better understanding and evaluate how the external environment factors affect the organizations. This essay provided an analysis and evaluations of Alibaba Company via political force, economical force, socialcultural force and the technical force. Results of the findings shows that the Chinese government’s new strategies and regulations about its local business companies that have provided more business opportunities for Alibaba’s online marketplace (Taobao.com); The growth of China’s economy and the increasing trend of the ‘middle class’ in China also have become the main target for Alibaba group, and the dramatic growth of the E-commerce and M-commerce industries environment that have pushed Alibaba to gain a wide range of consumers. The essay also finds Alibaba’s current strategies is not suitable for the western country, but only specifically suits the Chinese cultural market. However, since Alibaba had listed in IPO in New York, it should has different objectives and strategies to gain western consumers’ attention.…
Expectations: a. Saving cost by outsourcing to low-cost countries: Prior to outsourcing, LEGO owned and operated production plants mainly in relatively high labor-cost countries, such as the United States, Switzerland and the South Korea. The main reason for this is that LEGO built plants close to its main markets to save transportation cost. But LEGO finally realized that the reduced labor cost in some labor-intensive countries outweighed the reduced transportation cost. Then they decided to outsource to Flextronics who has production capacity in low-cost regions; b. Subcontracting to Flextronics allowed LEGO to reach the economy of scale as well as reduce production complexity by combining its production with that of other Flextronics’ clients; c. Contracting production to Flextronics can help LEGO eliminate the risk of production price fluctuations.…
A company operates within a larger framework of the external environment that shapes the opportunities and threat to an organization. The external environment for global and domestic marketing decisions is comprised of forces that are part of a company's marketing process but is external to the organization. Those forces include the organization's market, its producer's suppliers, and intermediaries. It would be necessary for companies to understand that the environmental conditions because the conditions interact with marketing strategy decisions. The external environmental has a huge impact on the determination of marketing decisions. Any successful company will scan the external environment that affects them so they would be able to respond profitably to the unmet needs and trends in targeted markets.…
Our proposal will increase Build-A-Bear’s revenue by x% and increase the Earnings per Share to $1.17 from a negative $3.02. SmartBear is a stuffed toy with a ME403C kid’s tablet attached to the animal’s belly. The SmartBear is synced to the bearville.com and the bearville app. Any changes you make to the bear can be applied to the customer’s bear online. In this proposal, we will address macro-environmental analysis in order to check for major changes that might happen in near future. We will also analyze the industry that Build-A-Bear competes in using the Porter’s 5 Forces model. This model will help you understand the key success factors that we figured using this model. We all know that the resources need to match the environment of the industry. So, we also have done an internal resource analysis of the company. The internal analysis is used to help the company improve in areas in which its competitors are thriving and strengthening its strengths over its competitors even more.…
3) The book notes: “opportunities and threats as external and can not always be anticipated”. Opportunities for the Toy giant could be too, design a line of electronic learning toys children of all countries. Making this line flexible, economic and easily adaptable to the fast pace industry would be key, in order for the line to stand out above, all the rest. Another added benefit would be charitable donations of this equipment to low-income families or area struck by disaster. In this worldwide declining economy the biggest threat to a large corporation is finances. Another threat is,…
Toys R Us is one of UK’s leading toy and game retailer. This report conducts an academic research focus on Toys R Us (UK) in toys and games retailing sector. In the first part of this report, we will discuss the toys and games industry background and the overview of Toys R Us. Then, the research will focus on Poster’s Five Force Model and Porter’s Generic Strategies. In the next parts, this report will concentrated on the potential strategies which Toys R Us might pursue in the future. Conclusion and recommendation will be mention in the final part of this report and the recommendation will be covered the best strategy for Toys R Us which can be used for the future competitiveness.…
By the end of 2003 Lego was already facing crisis owing to dipping profits and declining market pool for toys. Lego had planned to expand into markets beyond building toys and needed huge investment to be made in it. But it found difficult to compete when fad players and other toy manufacturers were giving them stiff competition in a market that already was supposed to be giving lesser returns every year. This was mostly due to factors out of the control of Lego and other toy companies because, firstly, a research suggested that the demand of children who were primary customers of these companies were changing rapidly to fashionable and electronic products. They had lesser attention span and looked for instant gratification, and were lesser inclined to play with toys involving physical activity. Also Lego found it difficult to be competitive when its manufacturing base was in European markets while toy companies were moving to Far East and Middle East where labor was comparatively cheaper.…
Location analysis is an important decision and should not be taken lightly. The physical location of business functions is an important part in the supply chain strategy of any company. Many companies such as Hard Rock, Universal Studios, Disneyland and Lego are expanding their business to Asian Countries such as Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. There are a few reasons why these businesses are investing outside of their home countries include: improved market access, reduced operating costs, sources of raw materials, consolidated operations, development of new product lines, improved productivity, develop new technologies, improved labor force access and reducing the risk. This report will discuss about the location decision of Legoland Parks in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.…
Case analysis 1) Current Market strategy (“4P” / “4C”) (1) (2) (3) (4) 2) Product → Commodity: innovative products / safe, durable and educational Price → Cost: moderate price / good value for money Place → Channel: Aggressive to increase the market reach and improve sales Promotion → Communication: focused strategies for advertisement and promotion of differentiated range and group of products SWOT analysis (1) Strengths (Internal) 1Internal operation 2 well-run established professional management expertise from diverse industries excellent sales history (continuous sales increase during the last 10 years) effective product testing and marketing programs facilitate internal toy design sound financial condition A leading toy manufacturer with a wide range of quality toys at moderate prices. has relatively good market for specialty toys, which has grown substantially over recent years 3Brand & Reputation (2) the best know brand for toys, has the largest market share (64.7%), and is brought most often (82.7%) Enjoys a reputation for…