Jones Blair Case Analysis Essay

Owens & Minor is a distributor of surgical and medical supplies to hospitals and other health care facilities. Due to changing demand from customers, the company is facing increased operating costs, which has resulted in lower profit margins and even losses. In 1993, O&M recorded an $18 million profit, which was reduced to a loss of $11 million in 1995. The entire industry is experiencing similar difficulties. In an effort to resume profitability, O&M is evaluating alternatives to “cost-plus pricing”. Cost-plus pricing does not reflect the true cost of the services provided by O&M. Customers are demanding more of O&M while

| The problem facing Janmar Coatings, Inc. is deciding where and how to execute corporate marketing efforts in the southwestern United States. Janmar Coatings is currently marketing to 50 counties, their main focus area so far has been the 11 counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The main issue Ronald Burns, the president of Janmar Coatings, is having is trying to come up with a solution to market his company in the most cost effective way during 2005. After 2 long meetings with his executive team he still has no clear direction. He has gathered an approach from each of his team members, including: VP of Advertising, VP of Sales,

Should a person with an incurable condition that is suffering be allowed to cease treatment and let die? The majority of people would answer yes, because allowing someone to die by natural causes is not seen as morally wrong however administrating a lethal injection to end suffering is seen as a cruel action and is considered inhumane. Letting someone die by not furthering treatment is called passive euthanasia, active euthanasia in contrast is consciously killing someone. But according to philosopher James Rachels, in “Active and Passive Euthanasia,” argues by using some examples, that both passive and active euthanasia should be weighed the same.

When it comes to pricing we always strived to provide one of the lowest prices in the market. We decreased product prices by $0.50 on each product each year to appeal to consumers. Since providing a low cost product was one of our strategic goals we did not stray from decreasing prices. Looking back, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so loyal to our strategy when we were unable to turn a profit. While a strategy is important to stick to, being a profitable company is the ultimate goal.

What alternatives are available to Brent in regards to the audit of payables? What are the pros and cons of each alternative?

Low pricing eventually results in loss of customer loyalty as pricing to bottom is a risky business strategy.

Low brand awareness -, Advanced Materials Inc. needs a strong financial effort to make prospective customers familiar with the brand

All segments are critical for the implementation of our company’s strategy because we chose to be broad cost leaders. Cost leaders maintain a presence in all market segments by focusing on low production costs and competitive pricing. With that in mind, one segment is considered to be slightly more important than the others: the low end segment. We will compete in every market segment, but this is one of the most important due to the fact that price is the main consideration of the buying criteria at 53% importance. Our costs will be much lower than our competitors which translates into a lower market price for this product, which is ideal for our customers.

I would suggest the third option to increase their in store advertising ,merchandising and sales support because a 20% price cut would require an additional sales on 28 million to maintain the $4.2 million. This strategy would be rather difficult for the company as they spend a lot of money on research and fine quality of products.

Where and how should Jones Blair Company engages its corporate marketing efforts among the various architectural paint coatings market?

I believe the best option for Terry would be to use the specialty paint suppliers. He should sell his product to a paint manufacturer who would have more established distribution channels and more experience in this particular market. General Motors probably purchases their paint from paint suppliers and might be hesitant to use an untested product. AutoZone is already reluctant to carry his product and also stated that customers are brand and price sensitive. Although AutoZone might be persuaded to carry his product, he may not receive ideal product placement in the stores and might be limited to only a few markets.

This may include prices being cut to maintain the volume of sales or increased advertising.

Jones-Blair is a paint company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that sells architectural paint. Jones-Blair markets its paint to fifty counties in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and eleven county Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metropolitan areas. Jones-Blair has branded itself as having a high-end paint product. Increased R&D, material, and labor cost have allowed Jones-Blair to have the highest price among competitors in its service area and still obtain a great amount of business. Jones-Blair is focused on providing architectural paint to a market that is fifty percent segmented, which half consists of “do it yourself” consumers and the other fifty percent spilt among professional painters and government contracts. Jones-Blair has enjoyed dollar sales rising at an annual rate of four percent over the past five years. Even though Jones-Blair has enjoyed a successful rise in dollar sales, it has seen a decline in the gallon volumes in DFW areas due to a rise in competition. Jones-Blair is aware that it is approaching the threshold in its prices. Jones-Blair is afraid that once the threshold price is reached, then the decline in volume sales will lead to Jones-Blair unsuccessfully meeting its sales margins. Jones-Blair needs to determine how and where to adjust marketing efforts to raise sales volume amounts in the DFW and Non-DFW areas. Jones-Blair currently spends approximately three percent of net

In order to hold their place as the dominant seller in their favored industries, W. L. Gore & Associates must choose between advancing as a technological pioneer or cutting costs and becoming the lowest priced provider available. If they were to pursue the first route, it may be to their advantage to expand their research and development departments, as well as reorganize the way they market their products. On the other hand, if W. L. Gore & Associates felt that the more prudent course of action would be to become the most competitively priced provider, the company would need to seek out and reduce superfluous costs more efficiently.

| Reduction in retail price of Signature line of lamps for the particular wholesale customer can later make other wholesalers negotiate on price, which can lead to reduce gross margin from the entire wholesale business. This could be controlled by linking it to the volume of purchases, which could ultimately lead West Lake into a high volume – low margin company in the long run.