Different Types of Costs

Profit is the ultimate aim of any business and the long-run prosperity of a firm depends upon its ability to earn sustained profits. Profits are the difference between selling price and cost of production. In general the selling price is not within the control of a firm but many costs are under its control. The firm should therefore aim at controlling and minimizing cost. Since every business decision involves cost consideration, it is necessary to understand the meaning of various concepts for clear business thinking and application of right kind of costs. A managerial economist must have a clear understanding of the different cost concepts for clear business thinking and proper application. The several alternative bases of classifying cost and Continue reading

Case Study of Starbucks: Creating a New Coffee Culture

Is it possible to convince ordinary Americans who routinely open 3-pound value cans of coffee, shovel the grounds into a paper filter, push a button, and go about their business to suddenly change their ways? Will they be willing to spend $2 or more per day on the same item? Will this eventually evolve into a $1400 per year habit of a latte and a scan each day? The answer to these questions, according to Starbucks, is “absolutely!” Starbucks began as a coffee importing firm. Howard Schultz, an employee in the organization, toured Italy in the early 1980s and watched as crowds of city dwellers began each morning with a stop at a coffee bar. Schultz tried to convince the Continue reading

Case Study of Papa John’s: Quality as a Core Business Strategy

Would you recognize a Papa John’s Pizza sign from a distance? Many people would, given the distinctive green and red emblem and logo, which is designed to attract attention and place the store in a flattering fight Papa John’s began as a small, one-store operation that evolved out of the need to rescue a failing tavern. Quick success meant expansion to 4 stores in two years and 23 stores in five years. Currently, Papa John’s plans to complete more than 2,000 units with over $1 billion in sales in a mature industry most felt was saturated with competitors. In order to survive in a highly competitive market place, Papa John’s needed to develop a distinctive voice. One clear message was Continue reading

Extrapolative Forecasting

In extrapolative forecasting we predict the future by extrapolating a historical trend. What has happened in the past determines what is forecast for the future [with other forecasting methods, such as exploratory forecasting, this need not be so. For example, with exploratory forecasting we can explore revolutionary, as well as evolutionary, scenarios]. In some circumstances it is right to use extrapolative forecasting. In other cases different approaches might be more suitable. It is not an appropriate approach to use in a new product/ new business situation, or in situations where circumstances have radically changed, and the past is no guide to the future. Any time series [a series of numbers recording past events] will have been produced by the interaction Continue reading

Factors That Affect Currency Values

To date, there is no exchange rate model that can predict future currency prices with 100% accuracy. In rapidly growing global foreign exchange markets, currency movements become harder to predict as more participants enter the market on a daily basis, bringing with them all their research opinions, emotions, and expectations about where currencies should be headed. Currency movements in the short term can be influenced by publicly available information like the release of the country’s gross domestic product data, the consumer price index, or employment data. The following publicly available information can have immediate impact on currency movements: Local economic data releases and the anticipation of those releases. Economic data releases in foreign countries, especially of major trading partners, and Continue reading

Case Study of Starbucks: An Amazing Business Success Story

American coffee consumption had been on the decline for more than a decade when Seattle entrepreneurs Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl opened the first Starbucks in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in 1971. By the 1970s, the country’s major coffee brands were engaged in a bitter price war that forced them to use cheaper beans in their blends to reduce costs, resulting in a dramatic decline in the quality of America’s most popular coffees. Accompanying this decline in quality was a decline in coffee consumption, which had peaked at 3.1 cups per day in 1961. As Americans gradually became disenchanted with the store brands, java enthusiasts–concentrated primarily on the West Coast–began experimenting with the finer coffees of Europe that Continue reading