Case Analysis of Room & Board (Strategic Management))

Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives. It involves the systematic identification of the firm 's objectives, nurturing policies and strategies to achieve these objectives, and acquiring and making available these resources to implement the policies and strategies to achieve the firm 's objectives. Strategic management, therefore, integrates the activities of the various functional sectors of a business, such as marketing, sales and production to achieve organisational goals. It is the highest level of managerial activity, usually

Supplier Power. With a vast variety of products available to Lowe’s, the supplier power is low. Lowe’s can choose from different vendors the products mix that differ from their competition. In addition, entering contractual agreements with vendors helps in lowering this risk.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.

Supplier Power: This highlights that it is easy for suppliers to rise up their prices. This is determined by the number of suppliers, the uniqueness of their product, their control over the buyer, and the cost of changing from one buyer to another. The scarcer the supplier choices you might have, and the more you need the help and that

One of the main tasks of the enterprises of various forms of ownership and spheres of activity - the search for effective ways to manage labor to ensure the activation of the human factor and achieve the best production results. The company «Hyatt Hotels Corporation» is today one of the leading companies offering hotel services. The company, headed more than 500 hotels all over the world, is of great interest as an object of study of the corporate culture, because it includes a huge number of employees (more than 30 thousand people). Hyatt Hotels and Resorts are distinguished unsurpassed quality of services precisely because of its staff. At the heart of the corporate principles of the company have the task to give our employees

IKEA is considered to be a low cost, high quality producer in the furniture industry, therefore it is important to

Marriott International envisions itself to be the world’s lodging leader. Its mission is to provide the best possible lodging services experience to customers who vary in backgrounds, language, tradition, religion and cultures all around the world. Marriot is committed to environmental preservation through using environment-friendly technology and engages in social responsibility and community engagement.  We value our shareholder’s so we will only take steps that will ensure our growth. Most importantly, through our “spirit to serve”, we emphasize the importance of Marriott’s people and recognize the value they bring to the organization’s growth and success. It aims to increase revenues by 9% every year, to increase

Intensity of rivalry among competitive firms. In the past, Staples has been successful in fighting against its competitors with its low prices and brand loyalty, but recently against Amazon there are bigger obstacles to overcome. The rivalry with Amazon, Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs is intense as they have more resources to use against Staples, such as the range of its customers and a thriving business line. Therefore, seeing that the rivalry is intense, it presents a threat to their profitability (Hill et al., 2015, p. 51). From this perspective, the competitive rivalry will be considered as high for Staples.

The Marriott Corporation, an American firm, was founded in 1927 by J.Willard Marriot.The company began as a small beer stand and soon began to sell food and provided lodging that expanded rapidly. With the help of his wife Alice, the family owned business had 45 restaurants in nine states by 1940 and grew into one of the leading service companies. The Company has three major lines of business: lodging, contract service and restaurants.

A supplier group have even more power over an industry if it is dominated by a few companies, there are no substitute products, the industry is not an important consumer for the suppliers, their product is essential to the industry, the supplier differs costs, and forward integration potential of the supplier group exists. Labor supply can also influence the position of the suppliers. These factors are generally out of the control of the industry or company but strategy can alter the power of

Porter’s five forces are used to determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. These are close forces that affect a company’s ability to make a profit and serve customers. If any of these forces change, a company must reassess its marketplace. The five forces include: the threat of substitute products, the threat of the entry of new competitors, the intensity of competitive rivalry, the bargaining power of customers and the bargaining power of suppliers.

* With growing competitive retail markets in developing countries, mainstream retailers such as IKEA, have to deal with possible competition from low-cost economies

Ikea's success in the retail furniture industry can be attributed to its vast experience in the retail market and its ability to integrate both product differentiation and cost leadership strategies successfully.

The power of buyers is high because this company depends of the businesses and consumers’ demand. This is because they can decide where to buy

IKEA established itself as the largest furniture retailer in Sweden by the early 1970s by reinventing the wheel of furniture manufacturing at that time. Majority of furniture manufacturers in Sweden produced expensive products with designs that were basic or passed down generation to generation, additionally other manufacturers stores where located in downtown congested areas. IKEA’s strategies which consisted of low cost low priced furniture, brave intricate designs, self-assembly,