McDonald's Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

McDonald's - Case Study Example This is in line with its strategy of product re-imaging. McDonald’s know that at some point in time, products have a life cycle. In terms of pricing, McDonald’s is careful on setting the price for its product, as they consider the customer’s perception of value. Their philosophy behind this is that when their food is priced too low, customers may think that low price is indicative of low quality. Promotions play an important role in the marketing strategy of McDonalds. Most commonly used are TV, billboards, and a mix of marketing tools to get people’s attention, be interested, desire for the food and finally to act and buy. As to place, McDonald’s can be found in almost all areas around the world, which are 32,748 as of 2009. Location is part of re-imaging policy of the company. The bonus compensation plan of McDonald’s is the share-based compensation plan that grants executives various equity-based incentives that includes stock options and restricted stock units (McDonald’s Annual Report 2009) One of the problems of stock options is the upside and downward risk of price of stocks. Stock options have vesting time so that when stock option vests, the executive exercises option whether to buy the stock or not.

Automobile and Business Model Essay Example for Free

Automobile and Business Model Essay ?Introduction In 2000, Inspired by car-sharing concept in Europe, Chase and Danielson started Zipcar to pursue the opportunity of car sharing in U. S. market. By mid-October of 2000, Zipcar had enlisted nearly 250 members with 19 vehicles located throughout Boston. I will evaluate this potential venture and its progress based on the framework of â€Å"OUTSIDE1†, including opportunity, uncertainty, team, strategy, investment requirement, deal and exit. Opportunity Market – The market size of this industry is estimated at 26,400 members, which is 0. 04%2 of general population3 lived in Top 20 U. S. Markets. Usage of this industry grows rapidly at 30% annually. There are two competitors in U. S. market, but they focused on the environmental impact rather than convenience and cost effectiveness. Customer – Target segment are college-educated costumers who drive less than 6,000 miles per year and live in urban area. Acceptance of this business is very high referring to Major players in Europe market, whose marketing investment in this industry is low but the growth rate is continuously high (30% annually). Uncertainties Competition – Two current competitors in U. S. market and potential competitors from car manufactures Acceptance – Customer acceptance is to be proved in Boston before the business model could be replicated to other cities Management team – Co-funder’s commitment is not very convincing and the structure of the management is poorly organized Financing – Overhead continues to grow against limited financial resources Team. There are missing pieces in its team as founders are lack of experience in operation and relationship with car manufactures As a co-founder, Danielson commits not enough as she still have full time job and focus more on family Strategy Chase keeps pushing to start business operation maintain their promise to investors although the company is not ready. This Strategy would have negative impacts in the future. Using technology platform to improve cost effectiveness and adopting word-of-mouth are consistent with its current situation. Investment Requirement. Zipcar’s cash flow requirement is very high. It spent $375,000 in first year, and need additional 1. 3 million to complete technology platform, prove the business model and better understand demand. Overhead excess the projection and continues to grow, which will further increase the requirement of cash. Deal The current investors holds plenty of convertible loan, which would have negative impacts on future share holders. Exit The options for exit are available as this industry grows rapidly. The founders are not in a very strong position to potential exit. Business Model Car sharing business provides a hassle-free â€Å"ownership† for urbanite who don’t need to own a car but need the convenience to run occasional errands4. In the model before December 1999, it’s revenue comes from $25 application fee and $300 annual subscription fee, plus $1. 5 hourly driving charge and $0. 4 driving charge per mile. However, Chase decided to change the pricing model with a lower membership fee and a tiered pricing structure, increasing hourly charge to between $4. 5 and $7 and adding a maximum daily rate. The data from actual operations in September gives me a concern as seen in Exhibit 1, that the net contribution from actual operation in September is negative because of the very low revenue, though cost is only a little bit over the estimation. Conclusion The next step for Zipcar is to adjust its pricing model to increase its revenue. Chase need to pitch investors in Springboard forum by focusing on this: Though its cash flow is negative now, Zipcar is a unique business model with cutting-edge technology and well-established customer base. Zipcar will provide a great chance for investors to be rewarded a new market with 30% annual growth. Citation: 1 This framework is developed by Professor Steven Kaplan from University of Chicago 2‘At The Wheel, Volkswagen Pioneers Car Sharing Programs,† Fastlane, October 1997 3U. S. Census, http://census. gov/population/censusdata/90den_ma. txt, December 9, 2002 4According to the case Exhibit 1 Financial Plan in May 2000 September Operation Data Total Revenue 29,616 14,645 Number of Cars 12 19 Revenue per car 2,468 771 Lease per car 367 400 Access Equip 42 42 Fuel 90 99 Insurance 142 142 Maintenance 33 33 Parking 50 63 Cost per car 723 778 Net Income per car 1,745 (7) Source: Company Data.

Individualism :: essays research papers fc

Individualism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many characteristics may create one’s individualism. Personality, appearance, environment, and heredity are the characteristics that make up one’s individuality. One can control the individual he may become with the help of individualism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Personality is a characteristic that plays a major role in one’s individuality. â€Å"One has many parts that make up his personality† (Kramer 27). One may show these parts in different ways. There are a variety of personalities that one can have. If one wants others to see him as fun, he must have a fun and joyful personality. If one has an outgoing personality, one may have many friends and have a very social life. Many times a person can be judged by his personality. One’s personality may vary from day to day. One should always try to express the most unique personality possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One’s appearance can clearly define one’s individuality. One’s appearance can be controlled to a certain extent. A person can truly express his individualism through his appearance. The color of one’s hair, skin, and eyes can be changed to one’s liking. The way a person looks can determine many things throughout his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The environment in which one lives may greatly affect one’s individuality. â€Å"The people and things around one affect how one may feel about oneself† (Kramer 12-13). His environment also affects the way a person behaves. The people and things that are around one could affect how one feels and thinks about oneself. A person’s environment can be controlled. If one is not happy in his environment, he can find a more suitable place to live. In several ways, one’s environment can determine who one will become in the future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Heredity is a characteristic that helps determine one’s individualism. Heredity controls features like the color of one’s hair, eyes, and skin. The way one is seen as a person could be determined because of one’s heredity. One may not be accepted or he may even be stereotyped by his heredity. Heredity is a characteristic that cannot be changed or altered.

Mindray

Midday Is a small player In the global market, ranked at the ninth position globally with a world market share slightly above 1%. The market Is dominated by the â€Å"Big Three† (GE, Philips and Siemens) counting on over 75% of global market share. During the last decade Midday has been able to reach the leadership in the Chinese domestic market even though Ensures still has the highest revenues.The most powerful competitive advantage Midday can exploit it is a low cost educated labor force coming from the best Chinese universities and hired at one fifth of the salary marred to Its Western counterparts. The Idea Mainland has been developing since it was founded In 1991 was to become an International player and every single move has been made in that direction. First of all, Midday built all its products on proprietary intellectual property, Just to avoid of being dependent from other companies.Secondly, the fact of being a Chinese company allows Mainland to benefit from gover nment provisions and financial help In many research projects. Moreover the low cost of labor allows the company to increase the percentage of revenues invested in R&D. Finally, Mandarins ales model consisting in a distributor-based system has been working well for the last decade in China and fits perfectly with the global markets especially after the big companies abandoned the main distributors because they were too expensive.Midday has wisely focused its sales on second and third level hospitals, township health centers In rich regions, secondary hospitals and large private hospitals In less affluent areas In order to avoid direct competition with first and second tier companies. In order to be prepared to compete with the international large firms, Midday has titled an advanced R&D center in Seattle where it develops more advanced medical device technologies.In the meantime Midday leads the Chinese medical R&D research with several centers around the country In which low cost e xpertise, labor, raw materials and faceless are available. Because of all the facts mentioned above Mandarins products are Just a little bit less technologically advanced but much more competitive in terms of pricing than main competitors' products. In 2007 Mandarins sales were concentrated more on international markets than on Chinese market.The company was able to distribute its products all over the world through Its distribution network and direct sales network. Despite of this, Mandarins performance In the US market was still not sufficient and even worse considering the leadership of USA in healthcare expenditures (42% of world total). The opportunity to acquire Teaspoon at a decent price could be a great deal for Midday to strengthen its international presence with a particular focus on the US market.Teaspoon and Midday have collaborated for 2 year from 2004 to 2006, without encountering any sort of problem and creating a great value on both sides. O benefit from the synergie s created by combining Midday's strong China-based engineering and production platforms with Teaspoon's established brands, long standing reputation for high-quality products and service, its large and established direct sales and service team in the US and EX. and both companies' leading R&D capabilities.Given these advantages, it's worth to consider the price for both the acquisition and a stand-alone market entry by creating a successful brand and an effective distribution network. In 2006-2007 the EVE/EBITDA multiple for acquisition in deiced healthcare industry was between 5,xx and 9,xx and this suggests an acquisition price included between $275 millions and $475 millions. Midday could reinvest the money it raised due to the successful listing at NYSE.The other option looks much more expensive not only in terms of money invested but also considering how many years it will take to implement such a strategy. In my opinion, after the acquisition Midday should continue targeting s econd and third level hospitals even in the USA in order to keep its big competitors quiet. Taking the position of GEE I would suggest to do not react at this acquisition for the allowing reasons: GEE has revenues of more than 20 times larger than Midday.GEE has already established a large part of its manufacturing in China where it leads the top tier company market share. GEE has better R, brand image and knowledge than Midday. GEE, Philips and Siemens are global leaders of a global oligopoly, which means that the smaller players must serve market niches if they want to survive, benefiting of lower profits and lower R % of revenues. In conclusion I would say that Midday has really good chances to reach the right size or Jumping into the top firms level competition but nowadays hasn't any chance to compete against the global giants.Over the last years it has demonstrated to possess technical, technological and managerial skills to become a relevant player in the medical healthcare i ndustry also possessing most of the Men's competitive advantages. Nevertheless, leading such a competitive market requires the skills to develop extreme high quality products and Midday doesn't possess those skills and reasonably it will never be able to develop them being a Chinese R&D-based company.

Building a Successful Corporation

A preliminary, albeit cursory review of literature on the topic of corporate success indicates that it is a vital element in the process of bringing about a vibrant economy and improved standard of living (Kay, 1995). With this understanding in mind, the researcher arrived at the conclusion that the topic of building a successful corporation merits further research from several different points of view; therefore, this proposal is presented in the interest of additional research.THE PROBLEM The researcher will conduct this study and write the subsequent thesis in order to adequately define and understand the process of building a successful corporation. Indeed, successful corporations are the backbone of the international economy, and add endless value to the human experience; therefore, it is both timely and valuable to better understand how and why successful corporations are created.THE METHOD The researcher will utilize an extensive variety of written works on the subject of outs ourcing as research material, in addition to Internet research and interviews with individuals knowledgeable in the subject matter. Information derived from these sources will be interpreted and presented along with relevant charts, tables and graphs to employ a thorough research method. THE FINDINGSThe researcher will present findings in a sufficiently technical, yet easily interpreted format, designed to allow the thesis to be utilized as a strategic planning tool for other firms. The findings will be presented with thorough documentation and explanation within the text of the thesis. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of the study is to define what constitutes a successful corporation, examine the case studies of successful corporations within that definition, and provide an overall stronger understanding of this topic.IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY This research is relevant and important because successful corporations are valuable not only to the United States, but to every nation that prides itself on offering people the opportunity to earn a fair wage for their labors; a wage that allows for a comfortable standard of living and the chance to obtain comfortable housing, quality medical care, and all of the other trappings that allow for prosperity and well-being.Undoubtedly, the business community needs to fully understand what success will mean for a corporation, as well as some of the best practices that other firms have used to gain success. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY The study will center on a balanced analysis of the issue of corporate success to determine if it provides an immediate contribution to the economic, social, and moral prosperity of the United States, or perhaps it is just a step in the evolution of the American economy that will lead to economic growth and prosperity in the long term.The analysis of this phenomenon, by its very nature, will lead the researcher to analyze from a myriad of viewpoints; undoubtedly, there is a political element to the to pic, as well as a â€Å"trickle-down† effect that manifests itself in the buying decisions of individual consumers, businesses and industries. By viewing the topic one of human as well as business interest, a unique perspective will be achieved, adding to the breadth and validity of the research. Bibliography Kay, J. A. (1995). Foundations of Corporate Success: How Business Strategies Add Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press.