The Body Shop Study Case

In 1982 Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia Miller, Vera Bradley’s co-CEOs, saw an opportunity for vibrant and trendy luggage, and started Vera Bradley. The company grew quickly in the 2000s as their products were viewed as unique and allowed consumers to express their style. In order to be competitive in the market as the number of rivals in the industry grew; Vera Bradley had to turn its attention to its key success factors (Appendix E). The company also had to see which factors would create a sustainable competitive advantage (Appendix G). These factors, including multi-channel distribution, brand image, and product variety, contributed to the overall worth of the company, which in turn boosted its reputation. Vera Bradley had been having troubles in the recent years. Its current strategy was proving to be ineffective (Appendix J). Its growth had come to a halt, and revenues slipped by 15%. The compound annual growth rate for Vera Bradley between 2013-2014 was negative, which showed that the company was having some strategic issues (Appendix F). Compared to its competition, Vera Bradley was ranked lower than all rivals in the market (Appendix H). As the industry grew larger and more rivals emerged, Vera Bradley had to make changes to their strategy. The

Bath & Body Works (BBW) enjoyed a successful decade after its inception in 1990. However, over time their limited offering of products was sending their customer base to other retail chains - either trading up to better brands or trading down to cheaper prices. As demand for their product seemed to dwindle, they needed a way to increase their customer base. An increase in

Bolland’s Strategic Rethink – An article by Rosie Baker appeared in Marketing Week, UK (News Section, Page 19 under the section of Retail. October 18-24, 2010).

Together the two heads of JCPenney (JCP) originated from successful corporations and are currently fuelling such achievements into JCPenney. JCP’s restructurment occurred in February 2012 and has changed the assessing arrangement inside the store. The store has been imparted a new style with changes in marketing, rating, store location and administration. All of these variations have been developed to improve the company’s performance.

A profit and loss account is supposed to show a businesses’ income and expenditures and calculate the company’s net profit or loss based on the difference between those numbers. It is really useful in determining past performance and to try to predict future

* Our company’s sales forecast has been based on performance from previous years along with market circumstances. We are looking at the future of the business objectively which we then can evaluate past to

The Fit Stop is a new firm that will be opening in the near future. The founder of the business is Susan Superfit. The company’s business objective is to sell all types of training, fitness, conditioning, and exercise equipment to the general public. The Fit Stop plans to specialize in this equipment and provide customers with personalized advice geared to customer needs. The owner, Susan suffered an injury while engaging in sports activities. She came up with the idea for this business during her recovery. She found that while there were plenty of business that sold fitness and conditioning equipment, they lacked in knowledge. They often gave poor advice on how to use the equipment and what was best to purchase

Using the assumptions given in the case, all elements of income statement and balance sheet can be projected for next three years 2010, 2011 and 2012. Sales cycle of the products of the company is such that sales of a particular product increases initially for few years and then starts to decline as the new

The most important thing is that, according to our estimation, the next five-year we will get additional funds needed increasingly with no surplus funds; which means, our assets increase faster than our liabilities. Therefore, our company goes well in the short term future based on this model. In conclusion,

‘We aim to return the UK High Street Retail business to its role as Britain's most popular stationer, bookseller and newsagent … Our plans encompass improved efficiency through cost savings and margin enhancement, while rebuilding the competitiveness and depth of our product ranges.' (Ms Swann BBC, July 2005)

Analyzing the company’s performance compared to its historical figures is always useful; nevertheless, these historical figures can be also a very useful tool to forecast future ProForma figures. We usually start by forecasting future sales (based on an average increase in sales figure) and other balance sheet and income statement items are forecasted as percentage of sales, this percent is normally consistent from historically figures. A close look should be given to the company’s operations and plan for the coming year while making our assumptions and forecasted figures. Normally we should follow

Overall, L'Oreal failed to realize and correct certain aspects of its line that were not in line with consumers tastes in the US. Some of the main points are stated below:

At the time of the case the brand was healthy but it was at a vulnerable point. There had been economic downfall, so the industry as a whole was suffering but Eileen Fisher was stronger than its competitors. Economic factors forced customers to go to discount brands and shy away from department stores, therefore not only was Eileen Fisher losing customers its competitors were as well. Compared

This report presents an analysis of The Body Shop PLC’s pro forma financials from 2002-2004 and insights into financial requirements for the company as it moves forward with their new strategies for achieving operational efficiencies and reclaim its brand image as a top manufacturer-retailer in the beauty and personal care industry.

This makes the company look good and they can afford to do this from good financial skills. Decisions like this make a good profit in the long run and all in all this is why it is so important to have a good management team.