BA 3103 Critical Analysis Paper Pier 1

A genogram is a tool that is used in counseling to plot a client’s family of origin. Not only plotting like one would a family tree but also experiences that occurred within the family. According to Corey and Corey (2014) a genogram can start simple and then can become complex picture of a family and issues and struggles within a family.

Analyze Blockbuster's current position (based on its brick-and-mortar business model) using Porter's 5-forces model. What are the conclusions of your analysis?

Pier 1 Imports is a decorative home furnishings and gift retailer with its headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas. They have over 1,000 stores located most in the United States and additional in Canada (MadDash, 2012). In the same video, Pier 1 recognizes itself as the “original global importer of imported decorative home furnishings and gifts”. The company has 22,200 employees as of the end of its 2014 fiscal year and a revenue of $1,771.7 million making it one of the largest corporations in the DFW Texas area (Pier 1 Imports, Inc, 2014). Though sales associates have a positive relationship with Pier 1, the company 's weaknesses and threats have proven to impact corporate executives and company profits.

Retailing building supply stores have become a popular retail industry sector due to increased public awareness and the need of many homeowners for the home improvement products. Back in the 1970s, long before warehouse stores ruled home improvement land, do-it-yourselfers shopped at “home centers.” These 30,000 square foot stores offered cheaper prices and wider selection of products, about 25,000 more than local hardware stores and eliminated the extra trip to the lumberyard. The dependence of many of these retailers upon the homebuilding industry for much of their business has also been reduced and the warehouse superstores, such as Home Depot, have become more important. The smaller companies in the

Chapter 25 discusses the United States and the Second World War from 1939-1945. The United States wanted to stay out of international affairs but the newly elected Roosevelt advocated for an active role in it. Though he wanted a role in this, his priority was to attack the domestic causes of the depression which appealed to many poor Americans who were suffering from the Great Depression and had just lost everything. During this time, fascist governments threatened military aggression and the rise of Hitler created a controversial and war-like atmosphere. Hitler had a goal to avenge the defeat of WW1 which lead to the accusations of Jews, and the eventual full-blown Holocaust. Neutrality acts were put into place during this time to prohibit the exchange of arms to nations during the war.

Net sales of Pier 1 Imports declined by 8.63% in FY 2007, and the company attributed the decrease in sales to weak product merchandising and marketing mix. In additions, this has failed to attract consumers to stores. Kirkland’s has opened new

Due to the increase in racial and ethnic diversity in the United Sates there is a great need to provide counseling interventions that cater for social issues that are attributed to the racial and ethnic diversity. Presently, efforts are being made to implement social justice advocacy strategies and interventions into counseling practices. Thus, counselors are encouraged to be agents and advocates for social justice, oppression, and discrimination (Ratts & Hutchins, 2009). At the forefront of social justice counseling approaches, is the need to empower the oppressed or marginalized individual by confronting injustices and inequalities that affect the individual at the systemic level (Pedersen, Lonner, Draguns, Trimble, & Rio, 2015).

To assess the industry structure and profitability, a Five Forces analysis will be conducted on the department store-retail industry.

1) Complete summary of the case study that identifies the key problems and issues, provides background information, relevant facts, the solution employed, and the results achieved.

Porters five forces will help us in analyse the industry amazon.com is in. Five Forces which will be analysed will be

The intensity of rivalry and the threat of substitutes are strong components for J.C. Penney to consider as they continue to strive for increased revenue and market share. Their two primary competitors are Macy’s and Kohl’s, both of whom have fiercely competitive strategies to be strong retail operations. For instance, while Macy’s offers a multitude of promotional deals and is working hard to choose products based upon demographics and geographic segmentation, Kohl’s is attempting to reduce their inventory levels and improve their marketing strategies in order to become a stronger competitor in the department store segment of the retail industry. In order to compete with their competitors, J.C. Penney aims to focus on their previously successful promotions and home department segmentations by bringing in new reputable designers in order to attract a larger customer base. Due to the fact that the intensity of rivalry and threat of substitutes are both moderately strong in the retail department store industry, J.C. Penney ought to be diligent in their implementation of strategies in order to achieve success in the retail business.

1. Williams-Sonoma has experienced strong growth in the past year, but this is on the back of a strong economy and in particular a strong new home market. The furniture business is strongly correlated with the strength of the real estate market. In this respect, the company's strategy is largely irrelevant, because within the next five years the real estate bubble will burst and Williams-Sonoma will suffer a major downturn in its own results as a consequence. However, this reality shows that the company perhaps lacks sufficient differentiation, and can only be expected to perform roughly in line with the housing market. It is neither outperforming competitors nor is it underperforming. W-S has sufficient differentiation within the furnishings and home products segment, and has a fairly strong brand name in the segment. The company's status as a mass-market premium company allows it to grow strongly in strong economic times, but also makes it particularly vulnerable to economic downturn, because not only do consumers redecorate at greater intervals, but they will trade down to more affordable stores when they do.

The retail industry is highly competitive, with few barriers to entry. Each Company competes with many other local, regional and national retailers for customers, associates, locations, merchandise, services and other important aspects of the Company’s business. Those competitors include other department stores, discounters, home furnishing stores, specialty retailers, wholesale clubs, direct-to-consumer businesses and other forms of retail commerce. Some competitors are larger than JCPenney, have greater financial resources available to them, and, as a result, may be able to devote greater resources to sourcing, promoting and selling their products.” There are many factors that characterize competition, including advertising, service,

“…Are the factors that need to be overcome by new entrants if they are to compete in an industry…” Home retail in the UK is very big, developed and competitive industry. It has well-known companies that are recognized for style, price, and costumer services. A new competitor can get easily to the market competing with better services, design products and price. But economic and legal aspects may be a reason for potential entrants to refrain to enter into the UK market as it represents a fairly large investment. Potential entrants need to penetrate into the market with a new kind of service or product. Example: Argos use catalogues to make sales through the market. IKEA, is known for selling ready-to-ensemble products.

currently ranks as the number one industry leader as they have extended their market outside of