Group 3 Case Analysis: Elegant Furniture Company Using the Seven-Step Case Analysis Format

The Rose Company is building a new plant to reduce cost, improve the quality of products, and maintain competitive leadership by gaining a slight production advantage. The main obstacles to be overcome are the commissioning of a new plant, new methods and process, and administrative reporting issues. As the newly hired General Plant Manager, I plan to resolve these issues by insisting that all plant communications flow through me, instituting training for plant personnel and setting operational expectations.

In IKEA, the Unsolicited Proposal came from many directions. Firstly, in 1952 the boycott by Swedish retailers to IKEA, obliged to IKEA to seek new sources of furniture. Second, the Swedish furniture market demand fall by the early 1970s. Third, IKEA had identified as we said before two big markets to

This assignment had to be written for the class of Management and Organizations at Stenden University, course IBMS, first year. We had a group of 6 and had to work it out together. We were enjoying getting into the world of IKEA, the world’s most furniture store on the market.

As previously stated the buyers in the furniture manufacturing industry are furniture retailers. Therefore they will require furniture to continue business. There are no substitutes that provide the same use as furniture. In relation to the furniture industry as a whole, there are still very little substitutes to furniture aside from a higher use of closet space or unorthodox measures by consumers. An example of this would be one's choice to live without furniture, which in most cases is very unlikely. Furniture has become a household necessity and consumers have little or no desire to change their lifestyles by eliminating that need. Therefore the threat of substitutes to the furniture manufacturing industry is very low to the point where it is almost non-existent.

Despite being well-established, over the last three years, sales at Atherley Furniture Company have remained the same while profits have declined by almost 24%. Their chair division produces three different types of chairs, the Atherley, the Caledonia and the Parkdale. Each model has its own production plan and production costs. The increasing production costs, alongside the intense competition the company faces, have become a great cause of concern for John Atherley.

The household wood furniture industry is healthy and growing. Total industry sales in 2007 were estimated to be $31 billion at manufactures prices. Three categories of furniture divide the industry. First upholstered furniture which makes up 50% of sales, Secondly wood furniture at 40% of the industry market share which has grown 2.5% in 2007 and is projected another 4% in 2008, this second category includes dining room and bedroom furniture. Third and last is the other category at 10% this includes ready to assemble and casual furniture. Haverwood has established themselves as a medium to high priced furniture company through 1,000 carefully selected high

Today’s world is facing strong influence of globalization in each and every aspect of our lives. It is expressed through: free trade agreements, foreign direct investments, international trade, facilitated movement of labour, capital and resources, as well as a strong competition that eventually gives more power to customers. In addition, it resulted in the economic boom of the developing countries, with substantial dominance of China that mainly benefit from their massive labour force, its low cost and high comparative efficiency. This phenomenon has impacted all industries around the world. In particular, furniture production is going through a trend of moving to China that “in 2002

The purpose of this paper is to discuss Case #6 in the student text regarding The Grand General Store.

The services and products offered by IKEA provide value to its customers in various ways. For one, the products and services are very affordable. The products and services are not priced highly and therefore, the average customer can enjoy them. At the same time, the products are of high quality. From IKEA’s slogan “low prices but not at any price”, it is clear that the company prices its products lowly but that does not mean that the quality is compromised. IKEA satisfying its customer’s needs through providing them value for their money as they provide quality products that will last for a long time, and at affordable costs. The fact that the company has set the minimum acceptable standards for its wood, implies that it is also keen on quality and on the environmental impact of its action of making furniture ( Edvardsson, Enquist & Hay, 2006).

The profits have increased for the company with the custom line accounting for 60% of volume and 75% of dollar sales according to this case study. The standard line has seen a continued increase in sales as well. What comes with the increased profit due to the increased manufacturing is the need to put higher amounts of capital into storing the higher inventory. With the company being at capacity, the lead times may not be meeting consumer demands either. The expansion that is needed would initially cost Chad’s Creative Concepts greatly. Without some type of expansion (which would most likely require a new plant), soaring inventory costs will need to be attended to.

IKEA’s products like the PAX wardrobe, the BILLY bookshelf, the LACK table and the SULTAN bed, sold in IKEA store are to a large scale sourced from a global network of suppliers. To take the sliding doors of PAX wardrobe as an example, IKEA just sourced different parts of the door form different countries but within consideration of total cost. Table 1 shows an overview of 8 major component of the

Canada has a substantial high quality plantation softwood and native hardwood forest resource. It produces significant volumes of solid timber and also produces and exports significant volumes of wood based panels. Production of these products is expected to increase rapidly over the next decade. Much of this could be used as a basis for developing furniture manufacturing into a highly competitive, internationally focused industry, which can make a significant contribution to Canada’s balance of trade. With declining supplies of tropical hardwood in Malaysia and Indonesia, Canada along with some other countries is well positioned to replace imports and expand furniture exports;

The Guillermo Furniture Company has realized that their business strategy is no longer sustainable. The external environment has changed significantly and the company is facing pressure from oversees firms that have automated much of their furniture production and manufacturing. Despite the fact that Guillermo Furniture has access to relatively inexpensive Mexican labor, the company is still struggling to be competitive in the market due to foreign competition. Therefore, Guillermo has identified various alternative strategies that it wishes to consider in order to reinvent its business and become more competitive. It is recommended that Guillermo invest in new equipment that can modernize its manufacturing capabilities. An investment in a computerized lathe shows a worthwhile return on the company's investment and will also position them for future growth.

I decided to choose ABYAT Furniture Company for my Assignment . In this paper, I am going to talk about ABYAT's history, structure and what services that they provide. Moreover, I am going to talk about achieving the six strategic, In addition, I am going to know about the threats type in ABYAT Company, also I will mention how supporting these levels through information Systems, how managers can affect build and use information systems the success of their company and how achieve operational excellence in terms of customer relationship management.

The furniture manufacturing in Bulgaria is growing rapidly and a proof for this is the 30% increase since 2007. The rise in sales is also very noticeable. According to the Analysis on development, manufacturing and sales of furniture in Bulgaria done by the National Statistical Institute, the level of sales is twice higher in 2007 compared to the sales performed in 2006.