Introduction to Management Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Management Essay Panera bread Ronald Shaich, CEO and chair man of Panera bread made a phenomenal growth in revenue of the company from $350.8 million to $ 977.1 million in just 3 years from year 2000 to 2003. However the growth has continued slowing down from that year on so a strategy is being strategized to help Panera Bread survive. The objective is to make Panera a nationally dominating brand by following a corporate strategy of growth by the combination of company and franchise efforts. With a clear objective it would help the company and its staff to know their goal and what they are achieving for. The concept is to deliver against the key consumer trends; to present a fast casual dining experience but also providing varieties of new and healthier menus to cater for the market segments. Improvements are done not only the product but also improving the overall operating systems, design and real estates. For the company’s image participating in the local community charity for corporate social responsibility. See more: introduction paragraph example The policies are all franchisees are to follow the same standards for product quality, menu, site selection, and bakery cafà © construction as the company’s. The company believed that the employee was a critical part of successful product and a unique company so by entrusting the employees to the fresh dough and support center operations with skilled associates and invested in training programs to ensure the quality and its operations. Recommended strategy Panera is to adopt Growth strategy through horizontal integration and using franchising as its key component to Panera’s growth strategy. The reason for continuing the horizontal integration is because does not have the capabilities to employ full backward/ forward integration. Thus vertical integration is not suitable in this case. The horizontal integration matches with the Panera’s concept bakery-cafes and it is the way for Panera to be able to grow more rapidly. Competitive strategy used is Differentiation, employing the Differentiation strategy; Panera will be able to charge higher prices to cover the increasing fixed costs. However with higher quality products than of fast food chains’, tailored menus, upscale dà ©cor and Panera’s commitment to customer it is very possible to charge higher price. Improvements should be made in the Human Resource department in compensation benefits system. Salaried staffs get product discount, bonuses, incentive programs, training, and employee stock ownership plans however salaried worker should be rewarded too through recognition award system or giving out vouchers to the non salaried workers. Management team The management team would be lead by all the executives and presidents in the company who has and extensive experience in managing and executing the Panera business. Mainly to manage all the important sectors like the Concept, Development, Joint Venture, Franchise, Supply Chain, Operating, Financial and the Administrative. II. COMPANY BACKGROUND Panera bread has been around from 1976. Ronald Shaich, CEO and chairman of Panera bread was the person who created the company together with the master baker called Shaich who combined ingredients. The duo made the phenomenal growth of the company with the guidance of Shaich, the revenue of Panera bread rose from franchise of 419 shops, the average annualized unit volumes (AUVs) increased from 9.1% to 12% a well but in the consecutive year the increase slow down from 0.2% to 0.5%. Before it became a very successful company, there was Au Bon Pain which was purchased by Louis Kane in 1978. The bakery faced a $3 million in debt while struggling with 13 stores but 10 was shut down. Ronald Shaich came into the picture when Kane was about to declare bankrupt. Shaich who owned a bakery: Cookie Jar merged together with Au Bon Pain in 1981 these was to help the sell in the morning. The two expanded the business and decreased the debt between 1981 and 1984. In 1985 Au Bon Pain became a place for urban folk who were tired of fast food. By 1991 Kane and Shaich took the company public and had 200 stores and $183 million in sales. The duo continued expanding by buying over St. Louis Bread Company from Ken Rosenthal, which had 19-store bakery cafà © in St. Louis area. While Au Bon Pain was focusing on making St. Louis bread a national brand the expansion of the urban outlet had operational problems and had a debt of $65 million. Lacking of capital they sold Au Bon Pain and concentrated on Panera, which the name that was change to in May 16, 1999, being debt free the cash allowed expansion of the bakery cafe stores. III. CURRENT SITUATION III.A. CURRENT PERFORMANCE Panera has been experiencing rapid growth under the leadership of Ronald Shaich. Under his guidance, Panera ‘s total system wide revenue rose from $350.8 million to $ 977.1 million in just 3 years from year 2000 to 2003 respectively. This rapid growth is caused by the new unit expansion of 419 bakery-cafes from 1999 to 2003. However as the year passed by, the company’s system wide sales average annualized unit volumes began to decline. The growth rate has slows down for Panera. To continue growing, Panera will need to develop new strategies, initiatives and new unit growth. There are 2 classes of Common Stock ownership in the company: (1). Class A Stock with 28,345,754 shares outstanding and 1 vote per share. (2) Class B Stock with 1,761,521 shares outstanding and 3 votes per share. The company’s revenues were derived from company-owned bakery-cafà © sales, fresh dough sales to franchisees, and franchise royalties fees. The total company revenues rose 28.1% to $355.9million in 2003 compared to $ 277.8 million in 2002. The increase in revenue was due to the opening of 131 new bakery-cafes in 2003. From 2002 to 2003 the bakery-cafà © sales has increased by 25.1% from $212.6 million to $265.9 million. This is due to a full year’s operation of 23 company-owned bakery-cafes created in 2002, the opening of 29 company-owned bakery-cafes in 2003, and the 1.7% increase in comparable bakery-cafà © sales for 2003. III.B. STRATEGIC POSTURE †¢ Mission statement 1. To extend its franchise relationship beyond its current franchises. 2. To doing the best bread In America 3. Panera’s concept was designed around meeting the needs and desires of consumers, specially the need for efficient, time saving service and the desire for a high quality dining experience. †¢ Objectives 1. To make Panera a nationally dominant brand. †¢ Strategy 1. The concept is to deliver against the key consumer trends, to present a fast casual dining experience. 2. Following a corporate strategy of growth by the combination of company and franchise efforts. 3. Providing varieties of new and healthier menus to cater for the market segments. 4. Testing prototypes for product development. 5. Improving the overall operating systems, design and real estate. 6. Participating in the local community charity.

Customer Empowerment Essay -- Economics

Customer Empowerment The Choice is Yours The Internet has permanently changed the relationship between consumers and the retail industry. Electronic commerce has provided consumers with more options, more alternatives and more opportunities than ever before. Consumers are no longer limited to physically visiting "main street" or "big-box" retailers. Instead, they are able to choose from products and services from companies large and small, located all over the world, without leaving their homes. Tangible points of comparison between retailers, which now can be automatically aggregated by software buying agents in seconds, include more than selection and price. Shipping costs, return policies, privacy practices and personalization of products are examples of tangible points of comparison. Equally as important are intangible points of comparison, specifically the customer experience. Everything from the look and feel of the home page to the shopping and buying process defines this experience. It encompasses everything the customer sees, clicks, reads, or otherwise interacts with. The customer experience is the key to dotcom survival. Consider the options available at the Land's End Web site. Consumers can browse the catalog online or shop with a friend, speak with a customer representative on the phone or online, create a model to try on clothes virtually, ask questions about specific products, place an order and track past orders. Concern over the customer experience has clearly driven the design of the Land's End business model, creating numerous options unavailable in the physical world. Of course, this overlooks the most powerful and fundamental option to consumers on the Internet: the ability to leave one store and enter another within seconds. And if a satisfactory purchase cannot be made, online auctions provide alternative shopping venues that directly compete with many traditional retailers. Central to the creation of a positive, unique and personalized shopping experience are technologies employed to remember customer preferences. Tracked preferences help expedite, and sometimes fully automate, the shopping process while offering targeted marketing and discounts. Online chat, bulletin boards, user reviews, auction sites, consumer feedback, online help and other customer-oriented features are als... ...e the price was just too high (because of the pricing error). I asked him if he could change it and he said no. He also knew that they would be throwing out the oranges soon if they didn’t sell. His frustration in not being able to correct such an obvious problem in his own department was evident. The Lesson. I tell these two contrasting stories because they relate directly to customer satisfaction and profitability as a function of employee empowerment. Two good grocery chains with two very different approaches to management. At Fresh Fields, every employee is aware of his or her impact on profit and is empowered to take independent action to maximize it. The decision to give two expensive cookies to a customer is not an insignificant decision. It is a business decision that may influence the relationship between a store and its customer. Unfortunately, it is a decision that most employees in traditionally managed organizations have no authority to make. My hope is that these two examples will clearly show how customers and profits can be won or lost when employees are enabled to take ownership of day-to-day problems. Once again, it just makes sense.

Police Brutality Among Nigerian Males In Philadelphia Essay

Cultural prejudice is like a virus that is transmitted from human to human and like a parasite eats up a society and its reasoning. These prejudices are reflected in our day to day life. How often we see a white women shying away from young African American male on the street reflecting the basic stereotyped assumptions that we make about others every day. These inevitable behaviors of which most of us are victims remain unresolved because of the unconscious state it has entered. Likewise, people who have been victims of racism in the past develop an extreme judgmental attitude, often labeling a simple act as a racist, failing them to ever see well in others. Marilyn French, a feminist fiction writer, in her work on â€Å"Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals (1986),† interprets such bigot behavior as an outcome of a patriarchal world that is lured by power and control over women, children, property, and other men; and subsequently enticed with the idea of superiority using skin color, wealth, religion and ethnicity as its variable. She suggests that the masculine principle is governed by aggressiveness which prevails over the cultural values ascribed to the feminine principle. Quoting from her work, â€Å"World wide patriarchal values and perspectives are so pervasive; many people believe them to be inevitable. Such thinkers believe feminine principle oriented cultures became instinct because of the superiority of Western patriarchy†. She further emphasizes that since western people are oriented in a masculine thought; its end result is anything but cultural prejudice. Further, delving on this theory she suggests that we all are members of the â€Å"in- groups† that offers us a feeling of belongingness and comfort. And all others become members of the â€Å"out-groups†. It is taken as a fact that members of one group will always be antagonist to the members of the other group. Marilyn calls it a â€Å"self justifying dialogue that keeps us from self analysis mixing beliefs with attitudes and values, and morality with ethics† (French, 1985, p. 19). We obediently keep practicing what we have been taught in our lifetime, i. . â€Å"what to think† of those who are members of the opposite group instead of â€Å"how to think† and in turn delaying our judgment about others. Our faculty has stopped responding to a logical reasoning and it has simply turned into a mechanical thought process. Leading all of us to becoming racist, ageist, and ethnocentric in this patriarchal culture. An authoritarian personality clings on to the conventional values of their culture, and refuses at any time the need of self – introspection (Breslin, 1974, p. 51). While delving on this type, Mumia Abu-Jamal stands as a case in point. Mumia Abu – Jamal, a famous radio journalist in Philadelphia was also known as â€Å"the voice of the voiceless†. He used to report on issues concerning police brutality, misconduct and racism on the minority communities and especially, the African American community. In 1981, he became a victim himself of things he always fought against. On December night, 1981, while driving a cab to supplement his income earned through journalism, Abu Jamal drove pass his brother who was being beaten up by the police officer, Daniel Faulkner for traffic violation. Shortly, a gun fire broke out leaving both the police officer and Abu- Jamal injured. Unfortunately, the officer succumbed to his injuries while Abu –Jamal recovered through a surgery. He was trialed for the Officer Daniel Faulkner’s murder case and given a death sentence. However, at the insistence of Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham, Abu – Jamal is currently not facing the death penalty. This is a typical case of a social conflict between individuals and collectivities. Interpreting Abu – Jamal’s case through Lane Cormick’s work, this situation can be termed as a crisis. The media and many literary discussions have depicted this case as that of prejudice and racial discrimination. Race and ethnicity are hence, seen as the controlling dynamics in this case. Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter in his book on â€Å" Killing Time: An Investigation Into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu – Jamal†, stated that at the time of Abu – Jamal’s arrest, the Philadelphia Police Department was indeed the most corrupt enforcement operations in the nation. Hence, the decision made by the United States’ judicial system , awarding death sentence to Abu- Jamal, based on the evidences put forth by the Philadelphia police has been widely criticized and challenged. This decision has been labeled as an outcome of cultural prejudice in a society that stands as an epitome of liberty. The United States’ judicial system has been attributed for its racism and discrimination against defendants of color. Noam Chomsky while reflecting on this case called the U. S. prison system a class and a race war. He further emphasized that Abu – Jamal is just one illustration of what’s called â€Å"social cleansing† in US. Philadelphia police is known for its notoriety. The racist attitude that it thrives on is also not hidden from the public. The killing of a young black man, Bryan Jones on the morning of January 1, 2007 is just one in a million cases reflecting brutality dipped with prejudice and racism practiced by the Philadelphia police. According to the Welcoming Center for new Pennsylvanians, seven percent of Philadelphia’s immigrants come from Africa mainly comprising of Nigerians who form the largest African group in this region. Every now and then, there are cases heard against the Police Department of Philadelphia for ill – treating the Africans. Scholars suggest that off all prejudice, the most critical is the Attitudinal Prejudice reflected (in this case) in the Philadelphia police also explaining the reasons of brutality that’s practiced on these minority races. W. T. Jones in his work on â€Å"Perspectives on ethnicity. New direction for student services†, explains that â€Å"attitudinal prejudice refers to a negative attitude toward a person or group based upon a social comparison process in which the individual’s own group is taken as the positive point of reference. † (Jones, 1972, p. 6). Further, to combat the ‘isms’ requires new value assumptions and new social learning.

Taking a Look at the American Civil War - 896 Words

Many events during the mid-1700-1800s provoked the civil war because of the contradicting ideas between the northern states and the southern states. The conflict between the north and south that led to the civil war includes economic, social, and political events. At the meantime, slavery arose as a huge debate between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery faction. Fierce debates had sparked between the north and south states because of the southern states’ agrarian based economy. The geography in the northern states was based on industry, meaning they utilized machines and mass produced. In the social aspect, abolitionists wanted to eliminate slavery in the south which caused the civil war to bombard in Fort Sumter. Even though there were many contributing factors to the civil war between the Union and the Confederates, the geographical and social events mainly impacted the civil war. Major geographical events that built tension between the North and South included the Mexican-Ame rican War and the Industrial Revolution. Many geographical differences between the north and south became a problem, building up to slavery, thus leading to the civil war. Even though the Industrial Revolution happened early on before the civil war, it later led to the civil war because of the geography of the north and south. During the Industrial Revolution, the north experienced a period of rapid growth in manufacturing and where technology grew. In the south, they had few factories and had farmingShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Civil War: A Women’s Time to Shine1334 Words   |  6 PagesThe Civil War was a defining point for the United States. The people of America were forced to step back and reevaluate what defined the American Citizen: a person with the rights and privilege to cast a vote for what or who he believes in. The key word here is â€Å"he†. 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