Several companies use their brand as a competitive advantage

Several companies use their brand as a competitive advantage. Given your knowledge about the global economy, identify three brands you believe have the strongest likelihood of remaining a source of advantage in the 21st Century and explain why.

Apple: Apple offers a large assortment of computers and consumer electronics products, including smartphones, tablets, music players and television adaptors. They offer brand strength, innovation, supply chain management, and premium pricing strategies which are all factors that give them a competitive advantage. Apple offers sharing between different Apple products to encourage customer loyalty. Apple iPads are now making their entrance to the food and beverage industry which, I believe this transition will also help Apple keep up if not pass any of their competitors.

Chick-fil-a: Chick-fil-a offers a menu full of delicious meals. A part of their menu, they offer healthy alternatives for the health conscious customers. By keeping up with the change in customer’s needs and continuing to offer outstanding customer service, they are sure to last through the 21st century on top. People enjoy going to a fast food restaurant and getting treated like they matter. It’s not only food it’s and experience.

Disney: Disney is untouchable. There is no other company that can create the experience quite like Disney. Their driving force of the company is based on animated cartoons and motion pictures. The theme parks are just a bonus. For each new show or movie that is created by Walt Disney Pictures, they can create a new attraction or ride at the theme parks making it always new and always changing. The fact that Disney’s main goal is to make people happy should set a good example for other businesses.

Explain the affects you believe the Internet’s capabilities will have on the brands you identified in the previous discussion and what the owner of the brand should do in light of them.

I believe that the Internet will help the companies I have chosen. Apple will continue to grow, especially because of iTunes. They offer their products online in many different languages with access from 126 countries thus, expanding their revenues. Chick-fil-a is now using the Internet for ordering catering online. You can chose from many menu items and chose if you want it delivered or picked up. By Chick-fil-a offering online orders, this will hopefully increase overall sales. Disney uses the Internet to sell tickets to their theme parks, hotels and lodging, as well as games, videos, music, and movies. They have created an online experience for kids and a safe online choice for parents to feel comfortable. Each of these businesses should offer as many options online as they can, for people are more inclined to utilize the Internet for research and purchases than going into the store or restaurant. People are busy; the Internet allows them to be online 24 hours a day.

Company, T. Walt Disney (2015, January 20). The Walt Disney Company.Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage. Retrieved January 20, 2015, from http://thewaltdisneyco.blogspot.com/2011/09/chapter-2-strategic-planning-for_11.html

Linton, I. (2014, November 26). What Is Apple’s Competitive Advantage in Its Industry?. EHow. Retrieved January 20, 2015, from http://www.ehow.com/info_8734236_apples-competitive-advantage-industry.html

Seen and Heard – White Papers. Brand IS a Competitive Advantage. Retrieved January 20, 2015, from http://www.cbc-group.net/papers/brand.php

Hiring and promoting from within is often seen as a positive motivational tool. It can be argued that there is a negative side to this practice. Outline five potential negative aspects of promoting employees from within an organization. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

-Some external candidates will interview well, but perform poorly but hiring within gives management to opportunity to observe the employee before offering them the promotion.

-The hospitality industry tends to rely on growing new employees from college talent and students willing to start at the entry level. This method causes bright, more qualified college graduates and other advanced degree holders to look elsewhere for higher paying jobs. Thus, the industry could be missing out of some excellent applicants.

– If the company’s internal selection is not fully prepared when the promoting process begins, they may be forced to choose from a group of less qualified employees.

– By promoting from within, a company is limiting the ways they can promote since there is a smaller pool.

– By hiring internally, it limits the diversity or experience of the candidate population. All of their experience comes from the same society. Different demographics have different views, ideas, and opinions which could bring something new to the company. It is also important to know and learn about how other companies are handling certain problems in better ways.

– Not all good line-level employees make good supervisors. Nor do they feel comfortable being in control. Then you would have to reverse the promotion and look for another spot to place your employee again. Resulting in causing more harm for the employee and company than good.

Pretend you are interviewing candidates for a new front desk clerk in a luxury hotel. Determine the scope of responses that will convince you that the selected candidate is able to create a welcoming message for the luxury hotel instead of a motel chain.

If I were interviewing for a luxury hotel position I would want to make sure I chose the person that fits the company the best. In doing so, I would ask numerous questions to help me decide which interviewee is the best fit. I would also be consistently looking for actions such as: eye contact, solid hand shake, confidence, sentence structure, and knowledge. I would also be paying attention to if the employee carried in a cell phone or anything else that could cause distraction while at work. You can learn a lot about a person in the first 30 seconds you meet them. People that work for a motel don’t necessarily have to have good manners or qualifications. Luxury hotels want the employees to be able to offer the guests a memorable experience. I would want the interviewee to tell me what they know about the company. If I am going to interview with a company, I do my research first to let the interviewer know that I am serious. This will weed out the people who are just trying to find a job rather than a career. I would also want to know what their plans are for the future. This will also tell me if they plan on sticking around or just for temporary.

Ford, R. C., Sturnman, M. C., & Heaton, C. P. (2012). Managing quality service in hospitality. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning.

Choose one figurative language from the list below. Define the meaning of the term and provide an example.

Metaphor: A metaphor is a figure of speech that classifies one thing as being the same as another unrelated other thing, hence implying the strong resemblances between the two.

-The typical teenage boy’s room is a train wreck. Obviously, a train didn’t have a wreck in the kid’s room but it most likely looks messy.

-Broken heart. The heart is not actually broken. The person just feels sad and or hurt.

Describe an appropriate circumstance for using the example for the term or a circumstance when using the term might lead to misunderstanding.

Metaphors can sometimes be confusing. Depending on the reader or listener, the work or sentence can be taken out of context.

-I’m going to put down the baby. If you put down an animal, you are euthanizing it.

This simple sentence could fool someone into thinking you are going to kill the baby. I use metaphors every day. Depending on who I am talking to (age of the person), I can alter the words to make it less or more difficult to understand.

“100 Metaphor Examples – For Kids and Adults.” Reading Worksheets. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. .

In your opinion, identify the major factor that differentiates high-performing from low-performing organizations and justify your position.

In my opinion there are many major factors that differentiate how low and high performing organizations function. Low-performing organizations tend to just go with the motions. They tend to have issues satisfying the customer with either the service or the product. Employees are mostly treated like an employee instead of part of a team. Training is not always offered which causes the lower performance. High-performing organizations typically are highly focused on their goals to achieve excellent business results. They tend to go above and beyond to verify the best experience for their guests. Employees are offer continuous education and training to ensure they are up to speed with the best information about the industry.

From the employees’ viewpoint, working for a high-performing organization is easier.  Agree or disagree with this statement and provide your rationale.

I agree and disagree that employees working for a high-performing organization is easier. High-performing organizations tend to require more work and responsibility from their employees. They tend to expect more which doesn’t allow employees to slack. If the employee does not perform at the standard of the company, then they could lose their job. But if they were with a low-performing organization they could potentially get away with slacking. Working for a low-performing organization can often be easier because there is not much to lose such as respect of customers. If you are already at the bottom of the barrel, how much worse could it get.

Analyze the purchasing activities discussed in Chapter 5 and determine which of the activities is the most difficult to do well. Explain your reasoning.

I believe that the activity that is the most difficult would be conducting negotiations. The person who has to negotiate the prices, delivery schedules, and other supplier service holds a lot of stress. I have been in this situation, and it was very difficult to make sure everything was set up correctly. It requires a good amount of time and effort to ensure that the buyer and the supplier are happy with the deal. Sometimes you only get one shot at making the deal which can cause a great amount of stress. It takes a certain kind of person to be the negotiator. They must be extremely knowledgeable about the particular product and price. They also need to be familiar with the competitive market to know what they are up against.

Review the problems of the buyer and make recommendation(s) for mitigating any two of them.

Buyers come across numerous problems while working to attain their objective. One problem they face is the availability of the product needed. If suppliers do not have the product in stock they are normally offer a substitute that may not be acceptable for the buyers business. If the buyer declines the substitute, the supplier will put the product orders on back stock causing the buyer issues with providing the customer with what they want. A way to avoid this problem is to order ahead of time. The buyer can order months in advance if they know they are going to be offering the same product. They could set up a certain delivery date for each month. This way the supplier knows to have their order ready by a certain time. Another issue that often happens affecting the buyer is late deliveries and or problems with the order when it arrives. This can cause many problems for the buyer. What if the delivery gets delayed a few days? The expiration dates can be compromised or the embarrassment of telling the customer they are out of the item. This used to happen to me all of the time when I worked in the food and beverage industry. Either we were out of the item because the shipment was late or the product we did get didn’t meet the buyers expectations. The best way to avoid this problem is to always have a backup. Let’s say that your order of fresh produce is coming from another state. Make sure you have a local supplier that you can count on. That way if you get a notice that the delivery is going to be late, then you can swing by and pick up the needed items to hold you over. I don’t know how many times that the owner of the restaurant I worked at went up to the Dollar General to buy chocolate syrup, bread, milk, and other simple items. Those brands did not fulfill our customer’s need but the owner was greedy to sell the menu items. So, the buyer needs to make sure they are comfortable with the local backup supplier. If not, there could be penalties such as a non-customer return.

Analyze the methods used to plan and organize the purchasing operation, and make at least one recommendation for improvement.

After analyzing the methods used to plan and organize the purchasing operation I feel that there are two methods that stand out for needing improvement, directing and training. Proper training of management and employees in any business is extremely important. There is nothing more frustrating that going into a business where the employees have no clue what is going on. I think that companies should encourage their employees to be more knowledgeable in the industry. If I were the manager or owner of a company I would offer my employees to take job related courses and seminars in exchange for a reward such as: request day off, lunch, or even prizes. This would encourage my employees to be more knowledgeable and better themselves for a brighter future. This would also help me as a business owner, for my employees would be more aware of our competition. I also feel that directing is very important in the purchasing operation and could always use improvement. Every company should seek the best manager for their company, someone who they can trust to assure their business in running smoothly and successfully. Directing can be difficult especially if your employees don’t listen or follow directions well. I think the best way to improve directing is to get on the employees level. Have them work with you and not for you. People are more inclined to listen if they don’t feel overly intimidated. As long as you keep a fine line between who is still in charge. I have worked for both kinds of manager and I always found it better to work with the one who got to my level to help direct me in the right directions.

Compare and contrast the purchasing organizational patterns between small independent, medium independent and multiunit hospitality operations.

Small Independent: These are the mom-and-pop places. They tend to leave a huge majority of responsibility on the managers shoulders. Most small independent businesses do not have a payroll and require their hourly employees to have more work and tasks.

Medium Independent: These operations seldom employ full-time buyers. Instead, these businesses tend to elect user-buyers within the operation such as: head bartender, chefs, and dining room supervisor. The owner-managers oversee the user-buyers to ensure their activity is up to par as well as other important tasks such as: receiving, storing, and bill paying.

Multiunit: There are many levels of management found in multiunit businesses. They also have purchasing systems set up to help the business run smoothly. There is a big gap between the highest manager, Vice president of purchasing, and their actual product.

The major difference between the independents and the chain is the chains have an extra level of management. The independent managers tend to work alongside the employees more than the chains. There are also strict designated jobs for people in the multiunit rather than allowing random employees take part responsibilities.

From the e-Activity, analyze the internal environment of the company you researched to determine that company’s strengths and weaknesses.

The company that I have researched is Abercrombie & Fitch. They are an American retailer that focuses on casual clothing and accessories for kids and young adults. Along with the brand Abercrombie & Fitch they also operate Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. For over 100 years they have been creating and offering All-American preppy clothes for the coolest people.

Strengths: They currently have over 1,100 store locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the United Kingdom. They also offer online shopping at each store with shipping to these five countries. This allows A&F to offer their products internationally as well as build a larger customer base. They have an excellent way to advertise their brand. By using beautiful people in great shape to model and advertise their product. They are capturing the image people wish they could look like. They have a good reputation and high quality products.

Weaknesses: They are known to discriminate against their employees resulting in multiple lawsuits. There is a strong competition causing limited market share. They have a limited customer base.

Opportunities: They can expand into other countries. They could lower their cost to become more competitive. They can expand their product line to meet new fashion needs.

Threats: Competitors offer similar products at lower prices. Other companies are beginning to make fake products resembling Abercrombie’s products. Counterfeits are selling for less than half the price allowing customers to look the same on a budget. People do not want to pay high dollar for clothing and accessories in high school or college.

Based on the strengths and weaknesses you discovered, determine what steps the company could take to positively impact the company’s competitiveness. Explain your rationale.

Abercrombie and Fitch (AF) could lower their prices to make it more affordable for customers and to stay in the competition with American Eagle and Aeropostle. I prefer to shop at Abercrombie, but American Eagle always has better prices. They only time I buy something at Abercrombie; it has to be on clearance. I understand that their products are better quality, but it all comes down to cost. I rarely shop on Abercrombie.com because the shipping is just as expensive as the clothes. If AF offered discount shipping online, I feel more people be inclined to make purchases. They mention on their website how important diversity is in their culture. If they could stick to their commitment, then perhaps customers wouldn’t stray away because of their unethical behavior.

Abercrombie SWOT. MBA Skool. Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/lifestyle-and-retail/3186-abercrombie-and-fitch.html

Diversity & Inclusion. Abercrombie & Fitch. Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.anfcareers.com/Page/Diversity

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