A Case Study on the Performance of Timbuk2

Economies of scale: Timken has started consolidating operations into global business units to reduce costs. They have expected annual savings of $80 million by the end of 2007 after Torrington’s acquisition.(case) As large size is usually expected to yield production economies if manufacturing operations can be amalgamated, marketing economies if similar distribution channels can be utilised, and financial economies if size confers access of capital markets on more favourable terms.(book).Moreover, by reducing the combined sales forces, Timken expected to realize significant purchasing synergies by giving much large volume to a reduced list of suppliers in exchange for price reductions. One analyst estimated that those

Some costs are expensive: freight cost from China, inventory (lead-time increase because of shipping), and quality control (testing shipped products from China in the US require some cost; time and money)

All segments are critical for the implementation of our company’s strategy because we chose to be broad cost leaders. Cost leaders maintain a presence in all market segments by focusing on low production costs and competitive pricing. With that in mind, one segment is considered to be slightly more important than the others: the low end segment. We will compete in every market segment, but this is one of the most important due to the fact that price is the main consideration of the buying criteria at 53% importance. Our costs will be much lower than our competitors which translates into a lower market price for this product, which is ideal for our customers.

Skilled labor refers to labor that requires workers who have specialized training or a learned skill-set to perform the work. These workers can be either blue-collar or white-collar workers, with varied levels of training or education. Very highly skilled workers may fall under the category of professionals, rather than skilled labor, such as doctors and lawyers. Examples of skilled labor occupations are: electricians, law enforcement officers, computer operators, financial technicians, and administrative assistants. Some skilled labor jobs have become so specialized that there are worker shortages.

17. The marked increase in product offerings, which allows for more customer choice, creates logistical challenges in terms of identification, storage and tracking. Another interface involves the amount of particular SKUs to hold. Marketers often prefer to carry higher quantities of particular items because this reduces the likelihood of stockouts. Product design is often the purview of marketers and can also have important implications for logistical effectiveness and efficiency.

The pro’s involved with the China handling the product lines offered by Somerset Furniture were firstly the labor incurred during the process of making the furniture. In the United States, labor cost ranging from the rate of $9 to $20 per hour and but in China the average labor rate for furniture manufacturers are $2 per day. Now that is a very large gap to fill in. Secondly, the China manufactures were very good at copying the Somerset ornate furniture designs by hand

I will first talk about the purpose of having operations done in another country. American companies can decide to move their companies overseas for a few reasons. One reason is that they can hire workers at low wages, for example, in China they can pay as little as 30 cents and hour whereas here they would have to pay employees minimum wage.1 Another reason is because the company would not have to pay employee benefits, such as vacation time sick days, and health insurance.1 A third reason would be that they would not have to follow safety and environmental regulations.1 The last reason would be that they would not have to pay foreign taxes

As a global leader in the PC market, Lenovo’s success rests on its ability to deliver consumer centric innovations in products that deliver a blend of mobility, performance and price. Design is an infrastructural element that helps define every aspect of a company, including Web site, stores, customer support, packaging, and messaging as well as its products. Lenovo has a well-earned industry reputation for delivering superior quality products. Quality is a fundamental component and commitment to customer satisfaction by delivering products that are of superior quality to comparable offerings from their competitors is the key to Lenovo’s success. In recent years, Lenovo relies heavily on local manufacturing strategies to shorten

With this acquisition, Timken is increasing the size of company by almost 50 percent. And, Timken will continue to concentrate on what it do best by buying a company in an industry, where it has a leadership position built on decades of expertise. Timken expects to expand its worldwide business base with new products and services as both companies have only 5 percent overlap in their product

As we all known, Sony and Matsushita are two of the largest consumer electronic makers in Japan or even in the world. And in this reading, it points out the different strategies Sony and Matsushita use when they were facing the fierce competition in China ----- Matushita was accelerating its pace on stretching the supply chain in China while Sony unexpectedly decided to shift some of its manufacturing business in China back to Japan. In this article, I will discuss the reasons that lead them to make different decision as well as analysize the advantages and the disadvantages of their decision.

  1. The Nicholson will be able to reduce the Cost of Goods Sold from 69% to 65% of Total Net Sales as efficiency in manufacturing and inventory can be achieved.

Apple’s renowned for their brilliant abiltity to cope with changes in market demand. They strictly control every aspect of the supply chain to ensure that both the distribution and supply-and-demand relationship are near perfect. They use a Make-To-Stock method of Supply Chain Management that allows customers to walk into any Apple Store and make a purchase the same day, which is coupled with an extremely low inventory level that means the system has nearly Make-To-Order characteristics. Apple uses SAP (Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing), a German Enterprise Resource Planning software, to power the global supply chain and implement a strategy to “purchase raw material and reserve manufacturing capacity ahead of time “ [1] in order to make this possible.

Another challenge is that despite the ability to manufacture products cheaper in China, there is a flip side to this situation and that is that sometimes, that “made in America” sign on the back of a product could mean more than the few dollars more it costs to buy that product. Some Americans, in their spirit of patriotism, care more about supporting the American economy than saving a little bit here and there buying products that were manufactured outside of the United States. Balancing the stigma sometimes associated with making a product in a foreign country with the lower costs that usually comes along with that is important in doing business in China as well.

It is quicker to start a new business in China than in India. If India’s labor laws are better than China’s, it’s only because we’re doing thing in socialism lite.

Lenovo Group Ltd. (Lenovo) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation that founded in Beijing in 1984. Specifically, Lenovo is one of the top enterprises that produces and sells consumer electronics and computer hardware, with a focus on producing personal computer (PC). Currently, the headquarter of Lenovo is in Beijing, China, with a second headquarter that located in Morrisville, North Carolina, United States. As a multinational enterprise, Lenovo currently have operations in more than sixty countries and has its products sold almost all over the world.1 Becoming a multinational enterprise especially making it to the top of the industry is not an easy thing for any company due to numerous predictable and unforeseen challenges. However, Lenovo has successfully expanded its business and reached to the top. Therefore, the present paper aims to analyze Lenovo’s operational/managerial strategies and provide a better sense of what has Lenovo done for reaching to the current position in the global market.