Question Description

Your response should build upon the response of others. Some of the questions are designed to solicit your personal viewpoint and others are modeled to develop critical thinking. Use this as an opportunity to assert your stance on how you would personally approach the issue at hand and, although this is a graded component, have fun with it. If you disagree with someone's response, feel free to say that but make sure you substantiate your reasons why. Consequently, if you agree with someone's response, you also need to identify reasons why.  

No resources needed

100 words needed for each respond  

post 1: List 5 ways that business research can contribute to effective business decision making.

I believe there are many ways in which business research can help make effective business decisions. For one business research could be used to better understand an organizations competitor in their respective market. Business research could also help better decide whether or not a company should reduce waste and plastic materials. How the pros would outweigh the cons in that situation. Business research can also help design business strategies for a company such as what prices to sell and the research needed to make those decisions. It can also be used to decide who may get promoted or who to hire when a new job is open. Lastly business research can greatly increase the success of a company. Without researching the facts and figures before the decision-making process. A business will not be as successful in each decision.

Post 2  We introduced the scientific method in Chapter 3. Do the stages in the research process discussed here seem to follow the scientific method?

I would say the business researching process is very similar to the scientific method. They may not be the same in some aspects but are similar in the outcomes they can produce. Such as brainstorming the situation at hand, using resources and research to come to a conclusion on whether or not the objective was complete. If the objective was not complete, then the process will start over with a new idea. Which is very similar to the way the scientific method works. They are different in how the scientific method is used to come up with theories or situations that would occur more than once. While the business research method is used to find a specific solution to a problem. The scientific method wants to find patterns in business or economics. The business research method wants to solve a problem.

post 3: Neiman Marcus (a chain of high-service department stores) and Walmart target different customer segments. Which retailer would you expect to have a higher gross margin? Higher expense- to- sales ratio? Higher net profit margin percentage? Higher inventory turnover? Higher asset turnover? Why?

I would expect Walmart to have a higher gross margin. Walmart has a much larger consumer base, largely due to the fact that it has grown to be much larger geographically. It can also purchase a large number of products at a much lower price than Neiman Marcus, allowing it to lower the cost of goods sold, thereby increasing its gross margin. Neiman Marcus should have a higher expense-to-sales ratio than Walmart because its products are more expensive, meaning it cannot carry a significant inventory. Neiman Marcus’ inventory costs more initially and so the company ends up selling fewer products. I would expect Walmart to have a higher net profit margin percentage. Neiman Marcus could potentially have a high net profit margin percentage as well, but I think that Walmart would perform better. I would expect Walmart to have a higher inventory turnover and a lower asset turnover than Neiman Marcus. Walmart sells household items and groceries to customers every day, so the company sells more units overall. Neiman Marcus stocks new products every season, while Walmart sells products consistently, meaning Walmart’s asset turnover is lower than Neiman Marcus’.

post 4: Neiman Marcus (a chain of high-service department stores) and Walmart target different customer segments. Which retailer would you expect to have a higher gross margin? Higher expense- to- sales ratio? Higher net profit margin percentage? Higher inventory turnover? Higher asset turnover? Why?

With a high service retailer like Neiman Marcus i'd expect the higher gross margin to fall in the hands of the particular store and how much business they're getting. Since higher service deserves higher cost, it evens out in a perfect competition. The higher service store would be paying more for cost of goods but also selling the good for more equaling out the cost of goods to net sale for each department. I also believe the expense to sale ratio would look very similar. Though this time my answer is that Marcus department store would have a lower ratio. Since returns and refunds would play a big part in the net sales higher service quality should benefit the store in stocking product in old to new format while also allowing them to market the product off the shelf faster without it spoiling. Similar the gross margin i think net profit percent would be able to balance itself out between these two retailers. Tying into the expense to sales ratio claims I think turnover at a higher service department would be mandatory to consider it higher service than the next store. As far as asset turnover I believe Neiman marcus would be higher since getting things off their shelf would probably be more important than display. This is not always a bad thing though because a low sale is usually better than a spoiled or out of date product.

post 5: A friend of yours is considering buying some stock in retail companies. Your friend knows that you are taking a course in retailing and ask for your opinion about Costco. Your friend is concerned that Costco is not a good firm to invest in because it has such a low net operating profit. What advice would you give your friend? Why?

I would advise my friend not to invest in Costco. Its declining net profit would put my friend at risk of losing their investment. Investing in Costco, a company with low net operating profit, would not allow for an increase in the value of my friend’s investment. This is because the company’s profit is below the average profit of companies in its industry, meaning that it does not have a fair chance against its competitors. Overall, an investment in this company would be unwise, and I would advise my friend to invest their money in another company with a higher net operating profit.

post 6: A friend of yours is considering buying some stock in retail companies. Your friend knows that you are taking a course in retailing and ask for your opinion about Costco. Your friend is concerned that Costco is not a good firm to invest in because it has such a low net operating profit. What advice would you give your friend? Why?.

First I would start off with the benefit so this man could be prepared for my opinion with retail mngmt college credit. This would consist of the pros following with the idea of low net operating profit suggest that gross margin is probably low but insist net sales is also low. The low gross margin cost would identify a low tax payment on its products and goods. After operating profit has been calculated then taxes should sum to a low number. This means shareholders should be splitting most of the money before taxes are even mentioned. Going forward, as a good friend i'd also claim that once this money is distributed the company will probably mission to earn a higher net operating profit which would demand new or improved products and would boost the taxes along with operating profit. In all this wouldn't be a bad idea and this man should be firm in the investment.

Do you have a similar assignment and would want someone to complete it for you? Click on the ORDER NOW option to get instant services at essayloop.com