Sample Case Study on Amazon

Case Study on Amazon.com

Recommendations:
Books, music and DVD/Video accounted for 48% of 2002 revenues for Amazon.com. As a result, we suggest that Amazon concentrate its business on this segment alone. It has the most expertise in this particular field(s) and thus is the most profitable for them. But we also suggest that Amazon drastically reduce its inventory of “physical” inventory in order to cut warehouse costs and the number of employees needed in the warehouse. A way to do this is to start selling e-books, books that can be downloaded onto your computer, charge a flat per song fee to download songs, and also charge a fee to download movies to your computer. By doing so, Amazon will stay within its market niche while inventory for these items will be almost non-existent.

Amazon should also move into a customer-to-customer auction forum, much like Ebay. By do this they can be more competitive with Ebay and still not have much inventory on hand, thus reducing costs.

We believe that their (Amazon) strategic alliances should continue to grow as the Business-to-Customer market increases, as will the Business-to-Business market. With all three of these suggestions, Amazons cost of changeover is minimal compared to keeping their traditional warehouse inventory method.

Alternatives:
Possible alternatives for Amazon include recruiting a new management team, one that focuses on making a profit rather than enlarging its market share. Capturing market share is indeed vital for any business to flourish, but if the business does not generate a profit it could end up bankrupt.

Example Case Study on Dell Computer Corporation

Case Study on Dell

Dell Computer Corporation is the world’s leading computer systems company and a premier provider of computing products and services The Company was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers, the Company could best understand customer needs and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. The Company is a Delaware corporation that was incorporated in October 1987, succeeding to the business of a predecessor Texas Corporation that was originally incorporated in May 1984. . At this time, in fiscal year 2002 the Company’s revenue was $31.2 billion.

Dell Computer reversed its loss of a year ago in the second quarter as the top computer maker continued to take market share in a flat market. For the three months ended August 2, Dell earned $US501 million on $US8.46 billion in revenue. That compared with a loss of $US101 million, in the year-ago quarter on revenue of $US7.61 billion which incredibly successful while the computer demand is rapidly decreasing.

Competitors is one of the biggest problems that Dell is facing, we can understand it exceedingly by analysis the new product line that Dell is going to introduce to the world; “white-box”, PCs, printers, and handheld devices. Dell recently is making rapid inroads into the enterprise storage market, which is almost as large as the PC market while all the Dell is continuing with its drive into the mid-range server market, where its Windows/Intel offerings compete with Unix-based machines made by traditional vendors IBM, HP and Sun.

Free Case Study on Nike

Case Study on Nike

Nike. Just do it. Ask anyone of age ten and above whether they ever hear of this brand and its slogan, they will give you a definite yes! Nike is one of the top sneaker competitors out there. Today people who buy Nike not just walk in them but also wear them. Its blooming business is so successful that even some companies try to imitate them. They use the all so famous slogans on their products in hope of people will mistaken it for the real products and boast the sale. Why is Nike so popular? Why is Nike such a common household name? Is Nike a trend? What is behind their success? Is it because of its advertising techniques? Or is it because of its packaging?

In this project, we are determined to find out the success behind Nike. We also hope to present an overall view of the public response towards Nike in terms of the quality, price, advertisements techniques and durability. We would also like to draw the public’s attention towards its advertisement techniques so that we can follow those techniques to help boast our local brands’ sale local and worldwide.

First and foremost, we would like to start off with a brief introduction of the history of Nike.
(Taken from http://www.Nike.com)

From our research, Nike is founded way back in 1958 by a man called Phil Knight. Initially, Nike only started off making sneakers for track runners. In 1968, Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman discussed about making better quality running shoes and were manufactured by Itsuka Tiger. They then named their company to Nike after the Greek goddess of victory invoked by the legendary marathon runner.

In 1972, Nike broke with its Japanese manufacturer because of disputes over distribution rights. In 1975, Bill Bowerman came up with a good idea. Looking at his wife’s shoes, he came up with putting some rubber in the compound, made rubber waffles, cut them and put them together to the bottom of the shoes. He then lent them to some of his athletes and they were very satisfied. These creative shoes in the 1970s made Nike the leading big sport company.

Nike and Reebok were competing on the same level until Michael Jordan came along. Nike came up with a pair of shoes called the ‘Air Jordan’, which were worn by Jordan in the NBA court. However, they were illegal because of its colors, red and black which were not allowed. Michael paid a fee of a thousand per game, but kept on wearing Air Jordan. Due to all those attention, Nike’s sales rose from $870 million to a more then $4 billion per year.

Our group feels that the history of Nike has very much played a huge role to their success. Nike has come a long way since 1958. Almost 50 years later, kids all over the world know Nike’s slogan and stories.

Despite all the huge profits, Nike has to take a closer look at its factories which brought up many problems. The following is an extract from an issue of the Campaign for Labor Rights newsletter.

Sample Case Study on BMW

Case Study on BMW

Quality in a consumer and manufacturing world has many dimensions. The dimensions of quality can be defined in David Garvin article, “Competing On the Eight Dimensions of Quality,” where eight separate dimensions of quality are used to increase consumer satisfaction and stay competitive within a service and product market. Quality is used as power in the automobile industry market, specifically when a consumer purchases a new vehicle. A competitive automobile firm that bases their image off quality and customer satisfaction is BMW. Within BMW’s firm, the 5-series of automobiles exemplifies the eight dimensions of quality that the manufacture produces and the consumer wants.

When buying a BMW automobile, performance is the first dimension a consumer looks for because this dimension illustrates how well a automobile will operate, handle, accelerate, and its level of comfort. BMW is ranked high for performance because of how the automobile is constructed and made for a consumer. In the 5-series, characteristics such as 50/50 weight distribution helps for speed and acceleration of an automobile that most other automobile firms do not offer. The comfort of leather and a low noise level in a 5-series can also be looked at within the performance dimension. Performance as an overall dimension is used as an objective standard for consumers. A second aspect of performance that is looked at when purchasing an automobile is features. A consumer can request specific features or extra components to satisfy their needs by paying more for a product. In the BMW 5-series, features can be added such as a sunroof, seat warmers, or picking between a six and eight-cylinder car. BMW is known for its flexible manufacturing technology to suit any consumer’s needs and preferences, which makes features one of their most important dimensions.

Other dimensions that consumers look for when purchasing a car, are reliability, conformance and durability. In the BMW 5-series, reliability can be a problem at one time or another because of the failures and malfunctions parts in a BMW automobile has within a specific time period. An example of a part in a BMW that fails after 50,000 miles is a radiator. The radiators in BMW automobiles are made with plastic, which lowers the quality of the vehicle and has a smaller time frame of lasting. Another dimension that is closely related to reliability is conformance, which is how a product’s operating characteristics meets the standards of a consumer. The BMW 5-series has very few delays, processing errors and mistakes in quality, but some problems can occur. Problems such as electrical glitches in a electrical remote to open and close a car will not work properly after a certain amount of times used. Most mistakes and malfunctions are caught and prevented at BMW automobile factories before it is sold to a consumer, which makes the conformance dimension not a problem compared to other automobile companies.

Example Case Study on Costco

Case Study on Costco

I. PEOPLE SHOP AT COSTCO BECAUSE COSTCO DELIVERS STRONG VALUE TO ITS SHOPPERS
Costco products have one of the highest values for the dollar spent. As long as Costco can deliver a very strong value to its shoppers, people will continue to shop at Costco. Creating an association with quality is why Costco has been so successful. For example, consumers associate Costco with quality, which has in turn made Costco an established brand.

Costco’s customers have a wide array of demographics with the common denominator being that people are looking for value. However, saving people money over the course of a year isn’t the entire part of a value equation, as value is the intersection between product satisfaction, which includes the service components at Costco, product utility, and price. Costco’s customers have confidence that they will find high quality at a good value.

Costco has several advantages over its competitors. First, Costco has very large sales volumes that allow the company to make higher volume purchases than most. Considering the size of Costco’s stores, it’s interesting to note that they only stock a very limited number of products. That’s very few compared to the large variety of products Costco presents because Costco only focuses on a few products in each category. Overhead is minimal with no advertising, and limited service, as Costco’s number one goal is keeping cost low. Indeed, Costco is able to deliver a low cost yet high value to its customers. This allows Costco to achieve very high product turnover, i.e., 14 times per year.

II. COSTCO IS ABLE TO DELIVER LOW COST YET HIGH QUALITY TO ITS CUSTOMERS
Costco utilizes a high volume, low margin, high value product approach. This approach appears to give Costco an advantage over the lowest cost retail competition. By stocking only a few branded goods in each product category, Costco is in essence doing the customer’s comparison shopping and demanding the best terms from the vendor. Even when it comes to the company’s private mark, Kirkland Signature, the company is very serious about the brand equity it is building. For instance, its private label products, Kirkland Signature, compare themselves to the best and Costco is particularly careful not to abuse its customers’ trust by using the signature label on something second-rate.

To achieve its most important goal of keeping cost down – – so that Costco adheres to its iron-clad rule that margins would stay between 1% and 14% – – Costco works in a simple building usually in a warehouse location. Costco’s average store has about 4,000 SKUs, in contrast to 30,000 in a typical supermarket, 40,000 to 60,000 in a discounter like Kmart, and 200,000 in a supercenter, in a 129,000 square foot store warehouse. Fewer SKU’s means less duplication and less variety, more efficient use of shelf space, faster turns, and lower carrying costs for inventory.

Reducing choice has made life simple for everyone. Large packages, even at a low per-serving cost, have allowed Costco to leverage its expense for labor and overhead across a higher average transaction value. Other ways in which Costco creates value is by having a great inventory control system, which basically tracks all inventories when products either enter or leave the building all of which facilitates cross-docking. “Cross-docketing occurs when a distribution center does not store the merchandise but immediately re-ships it to the stores.”

In all, the more Costco sells, and creates efficiencies, the stronger Costco grows its bargaining position with its suppliers. This process creates value, which is passed on to Costco’s customers.

III. COSTCO MAKES MONEY BY SELLING LOW-COST BULK ITEMS AND PASSING SAVINGS ON TO ITS CUSTOMERS
As noted generally above, Costco is a wholesale provider of products and services to a group of clientele who purchase an annual membership to be part of the wholesale club. The underlying objective of Costco is to save its members money on purchases by negotiating with retailers to procure bulk items at the lowest possible price. Costco, in turn, passes the savings to its members. Typically Costco can get bottom line prices by focusing not on many products that many supermarkets do, but by focusing on individual products.

A. Costco’s Profit Formula is Profit=Price (No greater than 14% * Cost of Goods) – Cost of Goods
Costco’s profit formula is very simplistic. Its profit is derived by the price that it obtains the product, plus a markup on that product of no more than fourteen percent. In other words, Profit=Price (No greater than 14% * Cost of Goods) – Cost of Goods. This formula has enabled Costco to keep its member base, offer them the best savings, and keep a high inventory turnover rate.

Free Case Study on CVA

Case Study on CVA

1. Patient Diagnosis
   A cerebrovascular accident (CVA), which is more commonly known as a stroke, occurs when there is an interruption of blood flow to the brain. The brain requires 20% of the body’s total circulation of blood.. The blood enters the brain from two carotid arteries in the neck, which branch off into multiple arteries that supply each specific area of the brain with oxygen. If the blood flow in any of these arteries is interrupted for longer than a few seconds, brain cells die and cause permanent damage. The results depend on the area of the brain affected, the extent of the damage and the cause of the stroke.
2. Signs and Symptoms
   The first mentioned sign of the onset of a CVA that affected Mr. M is dysphasia, which is the inability to speak. It is also sometimes termed expressive aphasia. The headaches that he had been experiencing also could have suggested to Mr. M. that a CVA was imminent, but a headache could be caused my many other things. On the day after admission Mr. M. shows that most common sign of CVA which is hemiplagia or hemiparalysis. He now has no motor coordination or sensation on his right side. This is caused by the blockage of blood to the left side of his brain which controls the right side of his body. His drowsiness can also be associated with this because of the brain’s deprivation of oxygen.
3. Other Signs and Symptoms
   Some other symptoms that can be seen in a CVA patients are changes in vision. They can have a decrease in visual acuity, experience diplopia, or go blind all together. Another change that can be seen is a change in reception. This is called receptive aphasia. This can be the alteration of the ability to follow verbal direction, or written direction. Weakness or change in level of consciousness can be seen because of the lack of oxygen in certain parts of the brain.
4. Common Tests to Diagnosis
   An easy non invasive test that will assess the signs and symptoms of a stroke is a physical examination and a full neurological assessment. Most common test ordered to confirm a stroke is a head CT. This will show a clot or other blockage in the flow of blood. A doppler study can be ordered to see if the cause of the symptoms is stenosis of the carotid arteries. Another test that could be seen is an ECG. This is usually ordered if a cardiac embolus is suspected.