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As it makes the clothes itself, it can react quickly to changing market trends. While others, including rivals Gap and H&M, take up to nine months to get new lines into their shops, Zara takes just two to three weeks. The company’s success lies in it having total control of every part of the business. It designs, produces and distributes itself. By controlling the entire process from factory to shop floor, Zara can react quickly to changing fashion trends and customers’ tastes, providing a “newness” that has taken Europe by storm. With its range of clothes constantly being updated, one or two unpopular items are unlikely to hurt its profits and customers are more likely to visit its shops regularly to see new stock. Customers also have direct input into what the shops sell as their feedback is sent back to the designers. It has achieved this without any advertising or promotion and without outsourcing its manufacturing to countries where labour is cheap. As a result it is more useful to pay attention to the customer, see what items the customer buys, and fill the shops with that style.

Article taken from: “Zara: Taking the Lead in Fast-Fashion – BusinessWeek.”BusinessWeek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2006/gb20060404_167078.htm>.

Outsourcing is still more of an art than science. But it is now part of the corporate toolkit, and it is very important to use it correctly. Despite the lure of lower costs and the promise of big gain in efficiency and innovation, the company may seem to be better off without outsourcing. Take Bank of America Corporation for example, it attracted media attention when it laid off hundreds of information technology workers after forcing some of them to train their Indian replacements. It was said to cause the company to make a greater commitment to retraining program and explaining the context of changes in the marketplace. Outsourcing the work to other countries will lead to great depression, the purpose of outsourcing is to reduce the cost but the real purpose behind it is often time greed.  It is unethical as this action has creates enormous amount of unemployment.

Article taken from: Apple, te of the. “The Future Of Outsourcing.” BusinessWeek – Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969401.htm>.

Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA. Is privately held international home product company that does both designs and sells of the furniture. It is now known to be the world’s largest furniture retailer. The company operates under Drucker’sentrepreneurial conception of innovative opportunities,  which are: the unexpected-there was no absolute answer whether IKEA would success or fail; the incongruous-the retailing store should attract all society classes from different countries; process needed-the company needs to be sure to meet the demand of the market; industry and market structure; demographics-the product should be made under the consideration of all age group of the population; change in perception-consumer behavior changes from status and designer labels to simplicity and economic functionality; and new knowledge-the IKEA succeeded in many countries despite of different cultures and fashion differing. Some characteristics of IKEA that bring them to their success, the company’s funds were carefully planed and not wasted. The number of staff was reduced, so customers could enjoy freedom in choosing items and participate more in options, by reducing staff it allows the company to reduce costs. The entrepreneurial nature of IKEA displays in unconventional way of organizing production factors, effective marketing and efficient managing. The success of IKEA is bases on well designed furniture, which have been adapted to customers’ taste and average income.

Articles/Informations taken from: ” Profile: Ingvar Kamprad: Ikea always was a disaster to assemble -Times Online .” The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article513864.ece>

“Ingvar Kamprad – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.”Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingvar_Kamprad>.

For many centuries Starbucks have been recognized as one of the best workplaces that many employers have ever experienced. However everything went into it’s downturn since the Great Depression hits in year 2007, which leads to cost cutting for the employees, conditions of the work and benefits such as health insurance deteriorates, and the increase of the competition have also put  pressures on the Starbucks’ company. Along the line, Starbucks have tried to become more innovative (instant Starbucks coffee) as well as looking forward on expansion to China. These long term strategies will allow Starbucks to generate more profit in the long-run, but in times after the Depression consumers becomes less likely to spend their income on the expensive Starbucks coffee as there are many cheaper alternative coffee, therefore it may become risky for Starbucks to make such a decision. On the other hand, is by having employees working extra hours for less pay, in order to increased it’s product sales to help the company return to it’s record profitability ethical? Well, I could be argue as both depending on who’s perspective you are in looking at the issue.

Article taken from: “Starbucks employees say work has lost its buzz – Business – Consumer news – Food Inc. – msnbc.com.”Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40014616/ns/business-consumer_news/>.

Amazon.com is looking for ways to increase it’s revenue, the company have decided to spent approximately $500 millions buying Diapers.com and Soap.com in order to expand their online retailing business and this happens after napping Zappos last year. Doesn’t it seem to be little risky investing such amount of money into a business that seems to be having a flat demand (Diapers.com) which only target children age below 5 year-olds? Well, no completely true, in fact Diapers.com are becoming more successful the past many years due to the reason that they contains better selection of the product, better stock levels at the price which are lower than their competition regardless of the fact that they only focus on only one marketing group, they are able to meet the needs of these consumers. By allowing Diapers.com and Soap.com to operate individually after the acquisition, this will enable the company to focus on particular marketing research on certain consumers on categories such as the brand, price, the quality of the product etc. which will allow the company to generate an even higher revenue in the long run if they meet the consumers’ expectations.

Article taken from: “Amazon to buy Diapers.com parent for $500M – Business – U.S. business – msnbc.com.”Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40057568/ns/business-us_business/>

The class mentioned about social media and social media revolution and their impact to the world we are in. How could social networking really have such a major affect to the world we are in today? People in today’s world are reading less and less newspaper and instead they open their search engine and search through news that they are interested in. Therefore these companies and organizations are going beyond simply being online, these organizations consider factors in which to keep their reader and to make constant profit in order to support themselves. In order organization such as online news media to become successful they are required to understand how the readers and the audiences consume the news and their opinion about the news business itself. Therefore is social media a FAD? It is really fascinating to see how rapid the social media is moving, in my opinion I personally do not think social media is a FAD but it is simply a fundamental shift in the way people communicate with each other today. An interesting statistic that I have encountered, 78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers. Social media is only going to be spread wildly over time; it will be great opportunities for people to feel as if they were a part of the brand and this will be the factor in determining the success or failure of any business.

Video taken from PeopleStreme. ” YouTube – Socialnomics: Social Media Revolution (Short 2:30 version 9-27-2009) .” YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2010. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhPgUcjGQAw&feature=player_embedded#!>.

Fast food, fast food, fast food! We see them just about everywhere we go the menu goes from something as big as ‘Double Cheese BIG MAC’ or simply something that sounds healthier ‘the McDonald’s Salad’, what most of us don’t seems to know was even with what seems to be the healthiest choice there is actually packed with unnecessarily calories, carbohydrates, sugars and fats. So why are we still waiting to order at McDonald? Well they are ‘fast’, and they are ‘cheaper’ than most other restaurants, as for children, they come with the freebies when order a ‘Happy Meal’.

This can be related to the marketing, targeting as well as some ethical issues that have been discussed in class. McDonald’s reason for giving out free toys in the meals is to target the young consumers, also by having variety of choices in the toy selections McDonald can easily convince the young consumers to come for more. But is it ethical for the law to ban the toys? Well apparently most parents and children are unaware of the affect (e.g. Obesity) of eating fast food everyday, perhaps we would all think again next time when we all are waiting in line at McDonald.

Article taken from “San Francisco moves closer to Happy Meal ban – Business – Consumer news – Food Inc. – msnbc.com.” Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39510045/ns/business-consumer_news/>.

I’m sure most of you have seen the movie James Bonds whether it’s the old version or the new version of the movie there will always be James Bonds driving all kinds of fancy cars. One particular car from the movie “Casino Royale”, Aston Martin, which was rated the most desirable product among the British people. Why is this particular car have been said to be one the most Britain’s secretly wished to own product? This can be easily related to the class discussion on marketing strategies; needs and wants; and brand advertisements.

Aston Martin attracts the consumers around the world through its three key elements (power, beauty and soul), with the help of the advertisements through the movie and James Bonds, it have successfully dominated the list of nation’s coolest brands as well as top ten most expensive car brands in the world. Consumers continue to purchase these cars that cost them millions, why? The sense of want is over the sense of need as well as to display their wealth, but the question is, is it necessary? Think of all the opportunity costs!

Article taken from “Is Aston Martin really the coolest brand? – Telegraph.” Telegraph.co.uk – Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph – Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2010. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8032468/Is-Aston-Martin-really-the-coolest-brand.html>.

A&F is a brand that is well known to most consumers in the world today but has not been doing so well in the market recently. A&F are well known not through their fashionable designs but through their famous magazine-catalog of nude and semi nude photos of models pages that are unrelated to their actually products. These catalogs were restricted to adult but were easily accessible to children and teenagers. Various ethical issues have also arise from within the brand and the company itself such as the company were only offering job positions to white male, and the featuring prints on the shirt were said to be racial discrimination and stereotypical.

Despite all the ethical issues mentioned, A&F still manages to remain as one of the top fashion brands through their spectacular marketing and targeting strategies by expanding their brands and focusing on different types of consumers and what each type of consumers’ expectations and wants through their products.

Article taken from “Bringing back rebellious marketing | Abercrombie & Fitch.” Sydney Morning Herald – Business & World News Australia | smh.com.au. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2010. <http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/smallbiz-marketing/bringing-back-rebellious-marketing-20100630-zkg3.html>.

Consumers today enjoy having the variety of choices in the markets, and stores. Many goods and productions are imported from foreign countries, and the reasons for that is due to the cheaper prices as well as able to bring in goods that are different from their own. Goods that are imported from foreign countries are now able to be produce within the country for consumer to purchase at a cheaper price with equal in quality. However, consumers are still purchasing goods that are made from outside the country which related to the wants within consumers.

In my opinion I believe it is unethical for consumers to purchase unnecessary imported goods when similar goods can be produced domestically at a lower price with the same quality. If the consumers spend less on the unnecessarily foreign brand name goods/productions instead of buying foreign productions, in the long run problem such as National Government indebtedness (which related to government spending such as pension given to the firms) could be improve and there will be less competition for the domestic firm within the country therefore job opportunities increases since the firms will be producing more products.

Article: “Substitution of Home Made Products for Foreign Goods. – Article – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2010. <http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F1EFD3F5A1B7493CAA9178ED85F408684F9>.