Harris Corp.: Competitive Analysis

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

The competitive advantage that Tyson Foods Inc. holds is the large size of the company and its brand equity. As was mentioned before, the amount of market share that Tyson has been able to maintain gives the company an edge over the competition. The fact that Tyson supplied meat products to large franchises such as McDonalds and KFC gives the meat processor stable profits. Brand equity has also strengthened Tyson’s ability to compete in the foods industry. Advertising and promotion expenses for fiscal 2013, 2012 and 2011 were $555 million, $496 million and $552 million, respectively. The Tyson brand is well known in the United States and this helps keep the demand for its products high.

The transportation systems division began to experience decline in sales, due largely to the collapse of the consumer credit markets that were funding new vehicle purchases. The Performance Materials and Technologies division was also expecting some sales declines but the two largest divisions- Aerospace and Automation control systems- were still holding up.

15. How has the company’s stock been performing in the last 5 years? Steadily rising since 1/2009. Declining from 2007 – 2009 as expected due to the recession and the change in demand for construction.

Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops are similar stores that are involved with the same industry. Because of this they have a similar vision for their stores. Both stores started out very small. Cabela’s was founded by a man named Dick Cabela in 1961. The starting point of the company was Dick Cabela’s kitchen table at his home in Chappell, Nebraska. Dick started with an ad in a newspaper advertising flies for fly fishing. From that day forward, the company grew, survived and prospered until it has now become, according the Cabela’s website, the largest mail-order, retail and Internet outdoor outfitter in the world.

Although it is the most established because of its long history and early start, competitors such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, AutoZone Inc., eBay Inc., Rakutenchi Inc., Netflix Inc., Jet.Com, Wal-Mart and Time Warner Cable among others exist (Yahoo Finance, 2015). Notably, apart from Jet.com, Amazon’s competitors are segmented according to products and services offered; for instance, Wal-Mart stores Inc. offers competition in general merchandise and electronics segment while eBay, Time Warner Cable and Apple offers competition in the media segment. Among the competitors, Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have the highest market capitalization; however, the Amazon’s dwarfs all other competitors. Amazon has a high market capitalization at $254.82 billion (Nassauer, 2015). The table below shows Amazon’s major competitors based on their market capitalization and 52-week share price range

The report provides the analysis of the Harrison Company. The company financial conditions reveal that the company profitability has declined in the last three years making the company to face challenges in settling its short-term obligation. For example, Harrison Company has not been able to settle suppliers' payment on time as being stipulated in the contract agreement. The company deteriorating financial conditions has also made the company todecline the costs of marketing campaign in the last three years. With the implementation of various strategies to improve the company financial conditions, the report forecasts that the company will generate sales totaled $295 Million in the next five years compared to the company sales of $48 Million in the last year.

Although 2012 has seen some increase in the industry revenue, IBISWorld predicted continuous decline until 2014 (Outlaw, 2012). David Jones announced in its ASX Release 40% decline in profit-after-tax in 2012 is expected, partly associated with costs involved in its new strategic initiatives (David Jones, 2012). Myer, David Jones’ closest competitors, experienced decreased total sales of 3.8% and stated in

Aeropostale Incorporated is a “mall-based” retail store chain that caters to 14 to 17 year old young women and men who are interested in “casual apparel and accessories (Aeropostale Inc. Corporate, n.d.). According to Aeropostale website, a Privacy Policy with Canada, states that Aeropostale Inc. has a subsidiary called “P.S. from Aeropostale” that caters to the 7-12 year olds (Aeropostale Inc., 2012, April). Mergent Online disclosed that Aeropostale Inc. “sells a range of apparel, including

The recent decline in share price reflects that the market recognizes the declining profitability of the industry.

Target Corporation is a well-known American discount retailing company, founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S. (Walmart being the largest) (Target, 2014). Target’s analysis will provide an insight into the corporation and its working. It look at and evaluate it in terms of terms of its effectiveness in each of these areas, such as: the structure, goals, agendas, boundaries, control, culture, politics, and decision-making processes. Based on the evaluation, this paper will help to provide suggestions for improvements within the different areas, if the need arises.

Home Depot competitors are primarily in the home improvement and hardware retail industry, but also compete in the building materials retail and distribution, consumer electronics and appliances retail, and convenience stores and truck stops sectors. Some of Home Depot’s main competitors include: Lowe’s, True Value, and Ace Hardware. Now, these competitors are the main competition of Home Depot and all three stores carry about 75% if not more of what Home Depot sells. Keep in mind, that there are also smaller companies, often family-owned lumberyards or hardware stores that compete with Home Depot and the other large chain stores. However, Home Depot’s biggest competition is Lowe’s. “Home Depot and Lowe’s are home

Shell is the largest oil, gas, and energy company compared to Total, Exxon, Chevron, and BP. Shell is very competitive and innovative because they out-think their competition & always change their strategy to be the best. Shell changed their name from Shell Oil & Gas to Shell Energy to set them aside from the competition which was a brilliant move. Peter Voser, the Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell stated, “We are delivering a strategy that others can’t easily repeat, with unique skills in technology and integration and a worldwide set of opportunities for new investment”. Shell recently invested and merged with BG Group and changed the entire portfolio which could possibly make them billions in the

1. What is Cooper’s corporate strategy? How is Cooper Industries adding corporate value to its portfolio of businesses? Would you recommend any changes in corporate strategy?