Next PLC

Country Road was blinded with success in the domestic market. Reduction in tariff barriers lead rise to a more competitive market locally and hence Country Road sought alternatives. One such strategy was an aggressive expansionary strategy into the US market – opening 100 stores in the US market. Country Road positioned itself high in the US market facing competitors

Case Study of Boots Plc Boots Plc have various kinds of stakeholders in their business who do various kinds of jobs suitable for which group there are in. Like any other Plc their stakeholders at least have a say in the business depending their role. E.g. shareholders have a bigger say than the employees who have very little say in the business. Boots Plc have the following external stakeholders in their businesses that play different roles between them are: - Ø Pressure Groups

NEXT PLC is a retailing company that primarily operates in the UK, and has been trading for almost 150 years; however, the brand itself was first created in 1982 (Next plc, 2010a). The company offers a range of clothing, accessories, home ware and footwear. The company’s headquarters is located in Leicester, UK and is currently run by Chief Executive Simon Wolfson. NEXT distributes through three main channels: NEXT Retail, operating in more than 500 stores around the UK and Ireland, NEXT Directory, a website and catalogue list for over 2 million active users. And NEXT International, with chains of over 180 stores worldwide including an international website. However, NEXT also

Through the dozens of merchandise sections within these departments, the company is able to offer customers one-stop shopping convenience in addition to the company operating a dairy, bakery, kitchen, and photo plan. These functional approaches incorporate the fundamental concept of integration with combining and coordinating products and services to offer the consumers one-stop shopping (Smith &Albaum, 2005). This type of marketing and operational strategiesprovides the company an advantage in multiple areas of business while contributing to the organization’s direction and mission. Fred Meyer’s organizational structures are effective in the company’s strategy of seeking competitiveness by enabling each department and each product division in response to the local competition with marketing and operational strategies. The position of the company is measuredby concepts of awareness, use, share, and competitive evaluation in determining the appropriate organizational structure to achieve the goals of the organization. This position of the company impacts the organizational functions in accordance to the organizational design and organizational structure. The operational and marketing functions performed by Fred Meyer reflect qualities of the organization geared toward the appropriate organizational design to achieve the direction of the company.

Subsequently, in 1999 Kroger merged with Fred Meyer in a 13 billion dollar buyout. Fred Meyer itself was currently operating under many banners: Ralph's, Fry's, King's, QFC, and Smiths. Fred Meyer came with warehouses, its own food processing plants, dairy, bakery and ice creams pants and the largest trucking fleet, second largest jewelry store in the nation not to mention its absolute domination in the Northwest, with its 165,000 square feet store format. Fred Meyer shared the Kroger philosophy with one stop shopping on an even larger scale with its multi-department stores (The Kroger Co., 2012).

American retailer Kohl’s has become a prevalent fixture for the purchase of discounted clothing and home goods in the mid-west for over twenty-five years. The history of the company however has roots much more modest than present day market dominance would suggest. Dating back to a Wisconsin supermarket in 1946, founder Max Kohl grew his small business to the most successful chain of supermarkets in the Milwaukee area (12). By 1962 Kohl opened his first department store in Brookfield, Wisconsin where an eclectic selection of merchandise, from sporting goods, motor oil and candy, was sold (11). In 1972, the Kohl’s Company which by then consisted of 50 grocery stores, six department stores, three drug

By 1979 the company had seen rapid expansion and had a total of 26 stores. Further expansion ensued through a combination of mergers and acquisitions. In 1980 B&Q bought

The retail fashion sector is an enormous industry in the UK and there are many branded fashion retailers having

There were also proprietary brands that were held by both Kmart and Sears, and with the merger it would be easier to get those brands out to the target demographics. Making each

The Kroger brand was born in 1883, Bernard 'Barney ' Kroger took his life savings of $372 to open his first store in downtown Cincinnati. This location is by I-71 that passes the Great American Ballpark. Barney Kroger, the son of a merchant, had a simple "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." This was the credo that would serve The Kroger Co. well over the next 130 years as the supermarket business evolved into a variety of formats aimed towards satisfying the needs of their shoppers in as many aspects as possible. With nearly 3,619 stores in 34 states under 24 different names, such as Kroger, Dillons, Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Ralphs, Tom Thumb Food Stores, QuikStop, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Littman Jewelers with an annual revenue of more than $70 billion. Kroger today ranks as one of the nation’s largest retailers.

NEXT is a British brand, the main products of which include clothing, shoes, accessories and homewares. NEXT distributes its products through various channels. NEXT has more than 500 retail stores in its main market of Britain and Ireland meanwhile it also runs another 200 franchised stores in more than 40 countries overseas. In addition, NEXT operates online shopping website and home shopping catalogue with over 4 million active customers.

The largest retail entertainment chain in Britain is HMV of its kind. What that mean is HMV is the leader in retail entertainment in Britain with over 150 retail stores within the country and more than 600 stores worldwide. Employing more than 13000 people it makes nearly 2 billion of revenue each year. HMV mainly specialises on music CDs and DVDs, books, games, gadgets, video games, movies, technology, fashion, magazine etc. Presently HMV is one of the largest retailers of music within UK and this achievement of theirs only seems to grow larger. Being awarded the best entertainment retailer of the year 2009 the business only

Because of the acquisition Macy’s Inc. had racked up a good deal of debt and wanted to lower it to make their stock a better option. To do this they decided to sell the Lord and Taylor brand as well as the David’s Bridal stores (they came with the May Company) and its credit card business. With all of this done Macy’s Inc. went from 250 stores to 800, lowered their debt, and became a national brand.

The case deals with two major transformational organisational changes that take place within a span of 5 years in Marconi PLC. The first change process was under the leadership of Lord Simpson who took over this large diversified conglomerate in 1996 when the company was in a mature phase, already in decline. The company was under performing, had a rigid structure, lacked a clear vision and the employees had become change averse and complacent. To recharge the company Lord Simpson lead a change process with a clear vision with a growth oriented strategy, acquisition and a cultural change process for the employees. To motivate the employers to embrace the cultural change he introduced an attractive stock option plan.

According to Will S, Ray H, & Eric E.N. (2009), management accounting is a branch of accounting that is concerned with providing information to managers who direct and control the firm’s operations. Management directing function seeks to effectively use both the human and raw material wealth of a firm to achieve organizational set objectives on routine basis. Controlling function is the art of tele-guarding the activities of the organization to consistently fall in line with set objectives. Management accounting achieves this function through effective budgeting.