Integrated Logistics Management

Integrated Logistics is defined as “ the process of anticipating customer needs and wants; acquiring the capital, materials, people, technologies and information necessary to meet those needs and wants; optimizing the goods-or-service-producing a network to fulfill customer requests; and utilizing the network to fulfill customer request in a timely way.” Integrated logistics is a service-oriented process. It incorporates actions that help move the product from the raw material source to the final customer. Integrated Logistics Management The movement of raw materials and components to a manufacturing company must be managed. So must the movement of finished goods from the manufacturing plant to further processing, to the retail, or to the final consumer. The management of this movement is called integrated logistics management. Variables affecting the Evaluation and Growth of Integrated Logistic Many variables affected the evaluation and growth of integrated logistic. The first was the growth of the consumer awareness Continue reading

Strategic Intent – Definition and Meaning

Strategic Intent refers to a “high level statement of the means by which an organisation achieves its VISION”. Today Managers in different organisations are working hard to match the competitive advantage of their global rivals but in order to do the same most of them end up only imitating what their competitors have already implemented. Imitation doesn’t really create the Strategic Intent as competitors have already mastered those techniques and have exploited the first mover advantage. Hence mere imitation doesn’t lead to competitive revitalization. Strategic Intent drives organisations, individuals and groups to meet the challenge of change in business today. Strategic Intent as a concept was born in Post-World war II Japan when it dramatically emerged as world leader in economy. Japanese Organizations had set goals for themselves that might have been considered by most of the Western Organizations of that time as highly unrealistic. But with very few resources Continue reading

Internal Sources of Recruitment

Internal sources of recruitment seeks applicants for positions from within the company.  In deciding requirement of employees, initial consideration should be given to a company’s current employees, which is concerned with internal recruitment. They include those who are already available on the pay roll of the company. This is important source of recruitment as it provides opportunities for better development and utilization of existing human resources in the organization. The various internal sources of recruitment include: Promotions and Transfers : Promotion is an effective means using job posting and personnel records. Job posting requires notifying vacant positions by posting notices, circulating publications or announcing at staff meetings and inviting employees to apply. Personnel records help discover employees who are doing jobs below their educational qualifications or skill levels. Promotions has many advantages like it is good public relations, builds morale, encourages competent individuals who are ambitious, improves the probability of Continue reading

Concept of Retail Store Displays

Displays are  the terminal part of the retail store’s interior. Advertising does attract the consumers to the store. However, visual displays have much more to play once the customer gets into the store. Retail store displays are non-personal, in-store presentations and exhibitions of merchandise together with related information. In actual practice, retail store displays are used to: Maximize  product exposure. To enhance product appearance. To stimulate product interest. To exhibit product information. To facilitate sales transactions. To ensure product security. To provide product storage. To remind customers of planned purchases. To generate additional sales of impulse items and To improve the image and prestige of a retailer. Merchandise displays are to gain the attention of consumers, provide proper balance, be structured in right proportion, be hard-hitting and convey their message quickly. The expert study conducted by display specialists reveal that on an average consumer spends only 11 seconds in observing Continue reading

Characteristics of a Good Advertisement Copy

The success of advertisement depends very much upon the copy of advertisement. The  main aim of the advertisement is to attract the customer and create an urge to possess  that product. If the advertisement does not fulfill this objective, the expensive  advertisements are useless. Hence, the advertisement copy should be drafted very  carefully. The person who drafts the advertisement copy must be thoroughly acquainted with the  mental process. He should be imaginative enough to think of words and patterns which would produce the desired effect on the prospective customer. An effective copy of  advertisement should posses the following characteristics, qualities or values: Attention Value: An Advertisement copy must attract the attention of the  potential consumers. If it fails in this mission, the money and efforts go waste, for everything else follows this. The copy should be drafted, planned and displayed  so ingeniously that it may compel even the most casual Continue reading

Case Study on Business Strategies: Failure Stories of Gateway and Alcatel

Gateway falls short of their strategies. Gateway has attempted to revive itself by becoming a producer of a wide variety of consumer electronics products branded with the group’s name. But PCs still make up the bulk of its sales Compare Dell’s and Apple’s highly disciplined innovation efforts to Gateway’s shoot-anything-that-moves approach. Gateway started as a process innovator, becoming, with Dell, a pioneer of direct distribution, but it also tried to be a product differentiator, maintaining relatively high-cost manufacturing plants, investing more than Dell in R&D, and launching expensive brand-advertising campaigns. It innovated aggressively on the retailing end as well, pioneering the exclusive stores that Apple would later (and more successfully) copy. It even tried to be a service innovator, pursuing a highly publicized “beyond the box” strategy involving the provision of various consulting services to small businesses. By trying to innovate everywhere, Gateway failed to build a strong competitive advantage. Continue reading