Bob's Discount Furniture Business Analysis

1. Political: “issues affecting our international vendors could materially adversely affect our business and financial performance.”(Page 8.)

Bimbo Bakeries USA, headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania is the United States affiliate of Grupo Industrial Bimbo, founded in Mexico City, Mexico. Though Grupo Bimbo is now a multinational corporation, it began as a single family-owned bakery in Mexico City called “El Molino”. Lorenzo Servitje Sendra worked with his father in the family bakery throughout his childhood, but when his father died in 1936 he had to take over. Lorenzo was educated and ambitious, and together with three of his family members devised a plan to increase the scope of their business. They bought five delivery vans to deliver their breads, wrapped in plastic to preserve freshness, to various small stores daily. Customers loved their product and within a few years they had increased production and were expanding outside of Mexico City.

Klein, in “The Discarded Factory,” provides many examples to show that corporations are much less concerned about production and much more about their brand name. The statement he uses to help explain the reason behind why they are doing this is, "The difference between products and brands is fundamental. A product is something that is made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by a customer,” (Peter Schweitzer). Many companies believe that while their products and factories are temporary and require upkeep, respectively, their brand will live on for much longer. Because of this, they shift towards outsourcing their production to keep costs as low as possible. The companies then use this extra money to help build their brand using sponsorships and marketing campaigns. In addition to sponsorships and marketing campaigns, companies will also improve their packaging, distribution, and retail channels, and they will expand. A quote once said by Nike’s

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a multinational company in the United States and it deals, with consumer electronics, and accounts 19% of the business. The company also operates in Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, and Canada. Some of the subsidiaries of the company include CinemaNow, Geek Squad, Pacific Sales, and Magnolia Audio Video and operates in both Future Shop label, and Best Buy in Canada. Best Buy Co. Inc and its subsidiaries operate more than 1,150 stores internationally and domestically. The company also operates more than 100 “ZoomShops” or Buy Express Automated retail Stores, operated by the Zoom Systems, in both malls and airports in the entire country of the U.S. The company is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, U.S (Scott,

they must pay interest payments or risk bankrupting of the firm. It also helps reduce

stand up for what he believes in would be considered a respectable trait to many.

Bob’s Discount Furniture can be defined in one word, “innovative”. In almost every aspect of their business, Bob’s is setting the standard for the furniture industry. Founded in 1991 in Newington, Connecticut, Bob Kaufman had a dream to build a successful company. This dream stemmed from his own experiences. In 1976, Bob was involved in a motorcycle accident that left one of his legs partially paralyzed. He was sent to bed to recuperate from his injuries, where he then found the benefits of the waterbed in his recovery. This experience inspired Bob to become a waterbed salesman. He sold waterbeds in 24 stores across New England.

Mr. Smith has decided to use one of the oldest marketing concepts, production. The Production Era is said to have taken place primarily during 1870 to 1930, therefore this concept seems to be very dated. (Fullerton, 1988) This concept believes that consumers are more interested in obtaining a product that is readily available at a good price rather than a quality product with quality features. Mr.

Best Buy is electronic retailer that has brand names under 11 brand names in the United States. The company also has services in Canada, China, Europe and Mexico. It specializes in selling technology and entertainment products and services. The company became successful by using a low cost strategy and high cost customer service practices. The company has a lead market position because of its differentiation strategy, its brand names that are reputable and the many series of acquisitions.

Home Depot, Lowe's and Wolseley are all major building equipment retailers, Wolseley having a more global presence as a UK-based firm that started in Australia. Home Depot is a North American operator and Lowe's is generally in the US only. This paper is going to analyze the balance sheets of these different firms to determine how each has performed over the course of recent years.

Businesses have to adapt to the ever-changing economy. It is not much of a choice for business leaders to change elements of their organization to stay in competition with their peers. The hardest part, most of the time, is changing the people in the organization to develop the necessary outcome or goal. As a business leader getting rid of people or changing their job specifics is one of the many responsibilities they have to be comfortable performing. Organizations have to take into consideration their competitors, customers, shareholders, employees, and the community to make decisions. Change is an aspect that many people are afraid of. In the new millennium, organizational leaders have to embrace

BatesManor has to decide how their money will be spent on promotional activities. It is possible to spend more promotional money on communicating to retailers or for consumer advertising. Also, another option is to spend all of the money towards one promotional strategy.

Butler Lumber Company, a growing profitable business has exhausted its credit limit and the key issues facing it are: 1. Need for additional funds to continue the growth 2. Need to consolidate debt 3. Need to improve cash flexibility.

In PEST analysis, we will look into what will be affect by the business environment. It includes political environment, economical environment, social environment and technological environment.

Production Orientation: A businesses idea to focus on production and make sure that the product is of high enough quality or original enough that the product will find customers. The main focus of the managers is the manufacturing of the product.