Zameter Case Summary

"The Customer Comes Second" is an account of the management and leadership style of Hal Rosenbluth, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rosenbluth International, a global travel management firm that was founded in 1892 by Marcus Rosenbluth, Hal’s great-grandfather. The premise of Hal Rosenbluth’s management style is just as the title of the book suggests; concentrate on your employees first and your customers second. I found the management practices outlined by Mr. Rosenbluth to be innovative and applicable to all types of business, not just the travel industry. I was also very intrigued by some of the creative employment practices used by Rosenbluth International as well as their fight to stay alive in the travel

7. Based on the data in case Exhibits 1, 5, and 6, is Costco’s financial performance superior to that at Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale?

Bowcombe might also fear the exposure of their know-how so that the suppliers might produce their own products and could be Scotts’ competitors. It seems Bowcombe believes that the “in-mold labeling” is Scotts’ strong competitive advantage in the market, which their competitors don’t have, but I strongly this agree with this. Considering the very simple structure of the spreader and the process of in-mold labeling (it is just molding), it is not hard to imitate. Their competitors might not have this technology, but this kind of processes exist anywhere in other industries. It is very much imitatable, which infringes one of the VRIN of the Resource-Based View theory. Thus, their “in-mold labeling” would not be their competitive advantage. Scotts should not afraid provide their know-how to the contract suppliers, and it is not so difficult to teach them. Sooner or later their competitors would imitate this kind of resource only if the value of the in-mold label is significant to their customers.

product and starting a price war with competitors that would damage margins. In addition, a low priced

product/ service bundles to meet customer needs. How can they do this and how can

Orange Kingdom is a clothing retail store owned by Between, Inc. It is differentiated from its family brands such as Between and Old Marine, as it gives an upscale image compared to the other two brands, and targets young professional population aged mid twenties to mid thirties both men and women. It provides mid-scale work-to-play casual and business apparel, accessories, and shoes through about 500 stores including factory stores in the United States. It is also gaining market share in Asia, South America, and Europe as well. In this marketing proposal, I would like to discuss three service options to retain and acquire customers.

| | |the golf club must be sent back through a golf professional with a |

3. What is Corning’s technology strategy at the time the case was written? What is your evaluation of this strategy? BE decisive happy face or sad face. Defend your definitive position

break or goes to lunch. All customer service issues are handled by Rosemary and she

Other companies also address the online environment. The great potential and the numerous advantages of doing business on the Internet have appealed many companies. The online environment allows these companies to reach a larger number

So with business going so well for Solectron, how did everything go wrong for the company starting in 2001? Revenue fell from $6.5 billion in 3rd quarter 2000 to $2.2 billion in the same quarter of 2001. The company laid-off 20,000 employees; its stock plummeted; it was faced with plant closures, excess inventory and reduction of floor space. Was it a case of poor planning and management or just the company a victim of an economic downturn? This case analysis will explore what Solectron did wrong and what they could have done and offer some suggestions. It is also interesting to note the Solectron foresaw a pending boom in the Asia (China & India) markets and that if it was able to weather the prevailing storm, Solectron stood a chance of rising up again and succeed.

After analyzing the results from the previous quarter, it was determined that the prices set for each segment were not sufficient. Product sales priority were also not properly adjusted. With the R&D investments, sales priorities needed to be changed for the main focus to become the most profitable market segments. Prices were not competitive which in turned decreased revenue, market share, and profitability. To become more competitive we altered the prices in each market segment. The Workhorse product was the first to change, the price was lowered to $2500 in an attempt to increase sales; at this price Team 4 was still making a profit on this product, as well as making the price much more competitive. The Workhorse sales priority was also lowered to 3rd in Americas and 4th in APAC and EMEA. This product was not selling as well as we had hoped, and was no longer as profitable as it once was which led to this decision. Next, the Innovator product’s price was adjusted; this involved a price increase to $4100. This price was adjusted to include the new

Q.3 Why Superior Improved Profitability during the period January 1 to June 30, 2005? How useful was the data in Exhibit 4 for the purpose of this analysis?

Xemovation Corporation has to this point in time, only produced their products domestically with two plants, one in California and the other in Texas. Due to competitive pressures to reduce product costs, senior management has determined that an offshore production facility is now a necessity. However, due to the lack of the global

Acer's dominance as a global manufacturer of IT hardware products can be attributed to the company's extensive electronics component expertise, depth of experience managing global electronics component supply chains, and well-planned acquisitions. Through a series of successful acquisitions, the company has four successful brands including Acer, eMachines, Gateway and Packard-Bell (DiDominico, Kartika, Sibeck, 1996). Of these three strategic areas that Acer excels in, their logistics and supply chain expertise across each of the geographies they compete in continue to deliver the greatest time-to-market and cost gains (Honi, Taring, Po-Young, 2000). Acer is organized into two segments, the device business group and consolidated products and services or other business group. This second group continues to be instrumental in the success of the "divide and conquer" strategies that Acer is successfully using relative to Lenovo. It is also a critical success factors in their success with global markets and local market competitive strategy. The combination of their depth of expertise with electronic components and supply chain prowess in the high technology industry also give the company a formidable competitive advantage against Dell and the troubled PC marker Hewlett-Packard (Honi, Taring, Po-Young, 2000). Despite all these strengths however, Acer continues to struggle with the areas of consumer branding and consumer awareness