Business Analysis of Harvey Norman Essay

The collection of private, commercially oriented organizations, ranging in size from sole proprietorships to large corporations is referred to as

1.3 Physical Resources & Capabilities The ALDI brothers took over the family business of their parents in 1946. World wide expansion led to enormous growth. This comprises around 9800 stores (1000 to 1500 SQM each). The layout is simple with wide ails designed to refill shelves in the fastest, most convenient way {Brands, D. 2003}. They offer a small assortment of mainly fast-moving items (approximately 700 food – including a slim and organic line- and non food products). Small warehouses are located at the back of each store. Affiliates are equipped with limited technology such as intelligent cash systems high-end product concerning quality and price and bottle deposit machines. ALDI won the 2008 energy management award for great results in terms of cooling systems, illumination etc. Most stores have about 100 parking space and a shopping cart area near the entrance. ALDI has a long history which implies that they have gained great experience over the years. The location and layout of stores are designed to support fast and efficient supply and not especially aimed at customer needs. This is a weakness. Stores advantageously located as there are in convenient reach for consumers. Their product range is adapted to various consumer needs (organic, healthy living). The technological equipments are of high quality enabling fast operations at the checkout (ALDI’s staff are two times faster compared with other similar operations). This is

The internal analysis of the company paints a picture of a firm that is well endowed with resources, both human and capital. The company boasts of an asset base of $11.4 billion according to the financial reports for the year 2012. This is huge, and it shows that the company is well grounded and has the capacity to gain a competitive edge in the highly competitive retail market in which it operates (Britton & Jorissen, 2007).

The typical business man involved in corporate America works anywhere from six to ten hours per day. Phil, “the Company Man” worked six days a week sometimes until eight or nine at night, making himself a true workaholic. Using his life story before he died Goodman is able to convey her liking toward Phil but her dislike of what the business world has turned him into. Not only does Goodman use a number of rhetorical devices but she also uses Phil’s past as well as the people who were once in Phil’s life to get her message across to her reader. Ellen Goodman sarcastically creates the obituary of a man who dedicated his life to his job and the company he worked for. Goodman uses anaphora, satire, diction,

Morrison’s business strategy is very much customer orientated. Morrison’s tries to please their customers to ensure that they are happy with the products and services within Morrison’s. Morrison’s effective customer complaint procedure illustrates that their customers are their main priority as complaints get handled promptly.

M2(Unit 37) - Assess the social implications of business ethics facing a selected business in its different areas of activity

Harvey Norman’ Activity ratios are shown in Table __ and Fig __. The only year when Harvey Noman had its maximum inventory turnover was in the Financial year 2010. There was not much of a difference between the Financial Years 2010 and 2015 as the Average Collection Period, Accounts Receivable Ratio, Fixed Assets Turnover and Total Asset were fluctuating (it increased as well as decreased simultaneously). This increase in turnover is reflective of both a recent increase in consumer

The current degree of leverage at Harvey Norman marks a return to the leverage of 2008. The 2011 Annual Report reveals a number of different reasons for this increase in leverage. The first is that total liabilities borrowings increased by $150 million. This increase comes primarily from an increase in long-term interest-bearing loans and borrowings, which increased $200 million in the last fiscal year. Other changes in the net borrowings derived from bank overdraft, commercial bills, derivatives payable, lease liabilities, and non-trade amounts owing to directors, related parties and unrelated persons (2011 Annual Report, p.114).

Blackmores Limited is an industry leader in both natural health and research, basing its principle activity on the development and marketing of health products and natural supplements; and it has been an industry leader in Australia for more than 70 years. The Company had its beginnings in the 1930s. The company currently has over 150 products, catering for all areas in natural health and vitamins.

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In terms of the history development of Harvey Norman, appendix 1 illustrates the important evolvements. It has been one of the dominant leaders of Australian retail industry since 1970s. Based on the business performance of last few decades, Harvey Norman has shown a rapid growth compare to its competitors.

Based on analysis of the financials, HPL is an excellent business and shows maintainable and sustained growth. There has been growth in the areas of revenue, current assets, owner’s equity, sales and net working capital. As shown in Exhibit 4, sales across HPL retail

Argos is part of Home Retail Group and is one of the largest retailers in UK serving customers through hundreds of stores across the country. Argos major core competency for competitive advantage is a successful multi-channel retailing strategy with strong project management office. However, some of the major findings of the study

Its ability to have created a global brand these products is a valuable asset and a sustained competitive advantage

Proponents of the knowledge-based theory of the firm point out that this one sided concentration on incentive conflicts in the economics of organizational literature overlooks the production side of the firm. Langlois and Foss, for example, argue that the literature has unreflectively relied on a dichotomy between productive aspects and exchange aspects of the firm, that is, on a dichotomy between production costs and exchange costs. In analyzing exchange costs the literature recognizes that exchange itself is not costless, but involves transaction costs from imperfect knowledge and opportunism. But in analyzing production costs, there has been an embedded agreement that price theory tells us all we need to know about production. As Langlois and Foss point out, however, it is very likely that knowledge about how to produce is imperfect and that knowledge about how to link together one person’s (or organization’s) productive knowledge with that of another is imperfect. These twin issues of capabilities and coordination are discrete from the hazards of astringent that other traditional beliefs have focused on. Both knowledge resources and (imperfect) production costs can be said to vary depending on the attributes of a production process, in the same way that transaction costs differ depending on the asset attributes of investment projects. Thus, instead of holding technology constant across alternative modes of organization as a