Inter national trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Inter national trade - Essay Example International trade is in principle not different from domestic trade as the motivation and the behavior of parties involved in a trade do not change fundamentally regardless of whether trade is across a border or not. The main difference is that international trade is typically more costly than domestic trade. (Cited from Wikipedia) The reason is that a border typically imposes additional costs such as tariffs, time costs due to border delays and costs associated with country differences such as language, the legal system or culture. Another difference between domestic and international trade is that factors of production such as capital and labor are typically more mobile within a country than across countries. Thus international trade is mostly restricted to trade in goods and services, and only to a lesser extent to trade in capital, labor or other factors of production. (Cited from Wikipedia)Then trade in goods and services can serve as a substitute for trade in factors of produ ction. Question 1 The table obtained from the World Trade Organization in 2010, showed International Trade Statistics-Growth in the volume of world merchandise exports and production 2000-2007. The percentage for world merchandise exports during 2005-2007 was fluctuative, with the highest growth recorded in 2006. Agricultural products started off steadily but suffered a decline in 2007. Fuels and Mining Products were consistent in its growth over that same period. Manufacturers showed its highest growth in 2006, whilst world merchandise production was consistent but showed a marginal increase in 2007. Agriculture was fluctuating similarly to Mining which suffered a nil growth in 2007. Manufacturing was consistent until its marginal increase in 2007. Lastly, the World GDP got a marginal increase over the last two years. Four factors which may have contributed in the growth in world exports include; Industrialization, advanced transportation, globalization and multinational corporatio ns . Industrialization may be defined as the process in which a society or a country transforms itself from a primarily agricultural society into one based on the manufacturing of goods and services. Individual manual labor is replaced by mechanized mass production and craftsmen are replaced by assembly lines. (Industrialization, Anon, 2011) Characteristics of industrialization include the use of technological innovation to maximize production efficiency in order to increase economic growth. The growth of the amount of freight being traded as well as a great variety of origins and destinations promotes the importance of international transportation as a fundamental element supporting the global economy. Economic development in Pacific Asia and in China in particular, has been the dominant factor behind the growth of international transportation in recent years. Since the trading distances involved are often considerable, this has resulted in increasing demands on the maritime shippi ng industry and on port activities. International transportation systems have been under increasing pressures to support additional demands in freights volume and the distance at which this freight is being carried. This could not have occurred without considerable technical improvements permitting to transport larger quantities of passengers and freight, and this

Company Background And Market Analysis Of Mcdonalds

Company Background And Market Analysis Of Mcdonalds McDonalds is the leading global foodservice retailer and the worlds largest chain of hamburgers fast food restaurant. It is founded in year 1955 by Ray Kroc. McDonalds serves more than  60 million people with more than 32,000 local restaurants in 117 countries each day. It employs more than 1.5 million people. More than 75% of McDonalds restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women. Source From the table above, since year 2004 until year 2008, even until now, McDonalds is still the number choice of customers when come to fast food follow by Burger King and Wendys. In year 2008, Subway took over Wendys place and ranked at number three. Besides that, The Star Online stated that McDonalds is ranked in the top 10 most valuable brands in 2010 and it is placed at number six. Top 10 most Valuable Brands in 2010 Rank Brand Value ($bn) 1 Coca-cola 70.45 2 IBM 64.73 3 Microsoft 60.90 4 Google 43.56 5 GE 42.81 6 McDonalds 33.58 7 Intel 32.02 8 Nokia 29.5 9 Disney 28.73 10 HP 26.87 Source: Company Situation Mission Statement: McDonalds vision is to be the worlds best quick service restaurant experience.   Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile. Values: We place the customer experience at the core of all we do. We are committed to our people. We believe in the McDonalds system. We operate out business ethically. We give back to our communities. We grow our business profitably. We strive continually to improve. Management Overview McDonalds management is very successful as it exports its brands throughout the globe. The company operates McDonalds restaurants as well as franchises. There are 32,478 restaurants in 117 countries at year-end 2009, and there are 26,216 were operated by franchisees and 6,262 were operated by the Company. Under franchise arrangement, a portion of the capital have to be provided by franchisees to invest in their restaurant businesses for the equipment, signs, seating and decorations, reinvesting in the business is needed from time to time. Financial Situation Revenues by geographic Segment: McDonalds largest geographical market is Europe, accounted for 41% of the total revenues in the year 2009 which is mainly driven by France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Revenues are generated through other geographic segments: United States (US),  Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) and other countries and corporate are 35%, 19% and 5% respectively. From McDonalds 2009 annual report, we can see that its total revenues from the US reached $7,944 millions in year 2009, a decrease of 1.7% over year 2008. Revenues from Europe were $9,274 million in year 2009, a decrease of 6.5% compared to year 2008. While revenues from APMEA reached $4,337 million in year 2008, an increase of 2.4% compared with year 2008. Revenues from other countries and corporate reached $1,190 millions in year 2009, a decrease of 7.8% over year 2008. The total operating income and assets in US shows favourable results where the figures keep increasing since year 2007 to year 2009. Total capital expenses in US show improvement as well where the expenditure is lesser in year 2009 compared to year 2008. Market Share: According to Jim Muehlhausen, McDonalds had occupied 19% of the total market share in the fast food industry. While its closest competitors: Burger King and Wendys accounted 2% individually. Pie Chart below shows the market share of the major players in the fast food industry. Source: Market Situation Sector Trends The land size of United Statess is at 3.79 million square miles, according to U.S. Bureau of Census, with the total population of 307,006,500 in July 2009, it is the third largest both by land area and population. The table on the left shows the population in United States in July 2009 according to states. Segmentation The market is segmented by demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural. Targeting McDonalds target market is people who love fast food. The demand of fast food is increasing nowadays as everyone is practicing faster paced lifestyles. Macdonalds target market is: children, students, working adults and families who are from five to seventy years old. Students tend to spend their time to socialize with their friends in fast food restaurants compare to other restaurants as it offers affordable prices and trendy ambiences. Besides that, due to the hectic schedule, fast food restaurant is always the number one choice for working adults to have their meals as it offers quick services. Kids simply love fast food, hence, the parents will bring their children to fast food restaurants to have family meals. Positioning McDonalds outlets are located mostly in high population states such as: Florida, New York, Texas, Illinois and Ohio. They were built near office buildings, schools, in shopping malls, etc., which are high visibility, traffic volume and ease of access areas. State July 2009 population Alabama 4,708,708 Alaska 698,473 Arizona 6,595,778 Arkansas 2,889,450 California 36,961,664 Colorado 5,024,748 Connecticut 3,518,288 Delaware 885,122 DC 599,657 Florida 18,537,969 Georgia 9,829,211 Hawaii 1,295,178 Idaho 1,545,801 Illinois 12,910,409 Indiana 6,423,113 Iowa 3,007,856 Kansas 2,818,747 Kentucky 4,314,113 Louisiana 4,492,076 Maine 1,318,301 Maryland 5,699,478 Massachusetts 6,593,587 Michigan 9,969,727 Minnesota 5,266,214 Mississippi 2,951,996 Missouri 5,987,580 Montana 974,989 Nebraska 1,796,619 Nevada 2,643,085 New Hampshire 1,324,575 New Jersey 8,707,739 New Mexico 2,009,671 New York 19,541,453 North Carolina 9,380,884 North Dakota 646,844 Ohio 11,542,645 Oklahoma 3,687,050 Oregon 3,825,657 Pennsylvania 12,604,767 Rhode Island 1,053,209 South Carolina 4,561,242 South Dakota 812,383 Tennessee 6,296,254 Texas 24,782,302 Utah 2,784,572 Vermont 621,760 Virginia 7,882,590 Washington 6,664,195 West Virginia 1,819,777 Wisconsin 5,654,774 Wyoming 544,270 Total 307,006,550 McDonalds target market and its market segmentation: Children Youth Adults Elderly Demographic Age 5 to 12 13 to 25 26-54 55-70 Occupation Students Students/Part-timers Part-timer/Full-timer/Self-employed Retired Income 1000 to 2500 >2500 Pensions and savings Geographic Within United States Psychographic Interests Entertainment Entertainment, leisure Entertainment, leisure Enjoyment Lifestyle Dependent Aggressive Aggressive Slow and steady Behavioural Occasions Birthday party Birthday party, gathering Gathering, anniversary Anniversary McDonalds SWOT analysis Strengths Strong global presence with its nearest domestic competitor being only half of its size. The market leader in both domestic and international markets. Strong brand recognition Ranked number one in Fortune Magazines 2008 list of most admired food service companies Having more than 32,000 local restaurants in 117 countries. First to come out with nutrition facts information on its products. Weaknesses Lack of product innovation. High cost for employee training due to high employee turnover. Opportunities Its outlets are located in high visibility, traffic volume and ease of access areas. International market Advances in technology Threats Saturated food industries. Price competition between competitors. More health conscious customers and fast food is categorized as unhealthy food. PESTLE implications Political According McDonalds 2009 annual report, foreign currency translation had a negative impact on McDonalds consolidated operating results in year 2009 which is driven by the Euro, Russian Ruble, British Pound, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar. While in year 2008 and 2007, the foreign translation had positive impact on its consolidated operating results. The table below shows how the foreign currency translation affect McDonalds consolidated operating results. Economical With its franchises in US, McDonalds provide a lot of job opportunities to the US people to reduce the unemployment level in that country. McDonalds is hiring up to 600 part-timers to work in its outlets throughout the Las Vegas area which is with 14.2% of unemployment level. Social Fast foods lead to obesity problems in America as they are high in fats, calories, sugar and salt. Rates of obesity in America are keep increasing obesity will leads to other diseases like heart diseases, diabetes, etc. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) said that a person will gain an average weight of 10 pounds if he or she ate fast food two or more times in a week. Pew Research Centre reported that almost 20% of Americans eat fast food at least twice a week after the survey is conducted. As the health concern is increased among the Americans, they tend not take less fast food as it have been seen as unhealthy food. To conquer the problems, McDonalds comes out with nutrition facts charts on selected packaging and menu information for customers to have guidelines for the food intake and meet their nutrition desires. Sample nutrition facts are shown in the pictures below. Technology With the technology, McDonalds serves burgers and fries to the customers in minutes time, McDonalds was the first to have touch-screen computers at the front counter and drive-thru to serve customers faster and easier when they ordering food. There are also touch screen self-ordering kiosks for customers to order food by themselves. Besides that, McDonalds uses Wayport for high speed connectivity to the internet. Legal McDonalds has been involved in legal cases which most of them are trademark disputes where many food businesses are using Mc or Mac because of McDonalds strong brand recognition. Environmental To reduce the impacts on environment, McDonalds uses 3Rs approaches: reduce, reuse and recycle. There is 82% of McDonald packaging are made from renewable materials at the moment. Besides that, cooking oil is recycled to be reused in variety products such as environmentally friendly biodiesel. Competitors situation and SWOT McDonalds closest competitors are Burger King Corporation and Wendys International Incorporation. Burger King Burger King is founded in year 1954 by McLamore and Edgerton. It has more than 12,200 outlets in 73 countries, however, 66% of its outlets are located in United States and 90% of them are privately owned and operated. It is having more than 38,800 employees serving about 11.4 million customers in daily basis. Strengths Second largest fast food hamburger restaurant Strong brand equity Weaknesses Heavily concentrated in US market Relies heavily on its franchises Opportunities International market Advances in technology Threats Changing consumer habits towards healthier food choices Intense competition with the competitors Increasing labour costs Wendys Wendys is founded in year 1969 by Dave Thomas. It is an international fast food chain restaurant which ranked as the worlds third largest hamburger fast food chain. In year 2009, there are 6,541 restaurants worldwide where 1,391 are company restaurant and 5,150 are franchise restaurants, majority of them 77 are located at North America. Wendys employs 46,000 people worldwide. Strengths Third largest hamburger fast food chain restaurant Global brand Strong supply chain Weaknesses Concentrated in North America market Having management problems Relies on franchises Opportunities International market Advances in technology Threats Strong competitors Increase in beef prices Fast food have been seen as unhealthy food Objectives and Assumptions Assumptions During the preparation of a marketing plan, there are few assumptions being made upon it where there will be no large fluctuation particularly on Foreign Exchange variance. Besides that, it is crucial to take variances such as economy crisis, natural disasters that will have impacts on McDonalds business into consideration during the preparation of a marketing plan. Objectives These marketing objectives are what McDonalds is trying to achieve on the three following years of its operations by using SMART criteria which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely: Marketing: Specific To increase market share. To increase new product awareness. Measurable To increase the market share by 5%. To have an increase of 18% on new product awareness. Achievable Advertisements on the new product to grab customers attention. More franchisees to open new franchises. Realistic Fast-paced lifestyle leads to higher demand as more customers prefer fast food nowadays. Timely To increase market share by 5% yearly start from 2010. To have an increase in product awareness by 18% start from 2010. Financial: Specific To increase overall sales revenue. To reduce cost of sales. Measurable Increase sales revenue by 8%. Reduce the cost of sales by 5%. Achievable Higher demand for fast food. Realistic McDonalds order raw materials in bulk to get cheaper prices and reduce cost. Advertising stimulate customers appetite and increase sales. Timely Sales revenue increases by 8% annually start from year 2010. Cost of sales reduces by 5% yearly start from 2010. Societal: Specific Provide healthier fast food. To make product more environmental friendly. Reduce electric and water consumption and wastage. Measurable RD at 8% of sales on healthier food recipe in year 2010. Reduce energy consumption and wastage by 3%. Achievable Reduce in fats, calories, sugar and salt in the products. Electric and water consumption is reduced by using them wisely Realistic 82% of McDonald packaging are made from renewable materials Timely Electric and water consumption and wastage is to be reduced by 3% monthly start from January 2010. Strategy Marketing Mix Marketing mix is all about putting the right product in the right place, at the right price and at the right time to boost sales and hence generate higher profit. Product McDonalds primarily sells hamburgers, chicken products, cheeseburgers, breakfast items, lunch items, french fries, soft drinks, shakes and also desserts. McDonalds should innovates its products continuously as people tend to change their preference and tastes from time to time. Without product innovations, customer will get bored to eat the same food over and over again. With its strong brand recognition, McDonalds serves its customers within minutes from ordering until they get their food with world class food quality by using fresh ingredients and excellent product features. Its staffs are trained to provide fast and excellent services to the customers. McDonalds product packaging is environmental friendly and 100% recyclable to reduce the negative impacts on the environment. Questionnaires have to be prepared from time to time to get feedbacks from the customers so that McDonalds have an idea to improve on its products and environments by following customers preferences. As people starts to practice healthy lifestyles, McDonalds includes salads, wraps and fruit into its menu. Besides that, McDonalds comes out with nutrition facts table and charts for people to have guidelines for their food intake and to meet their nutrition desires. The sample nutrition facts table for McDonalds USA is shown below. Source: Price McDonalds uses value-based pricing and psychological pricing on its products. One example for psychological pricing is $3.59 instead of $3.60 and $4.99 instead of $5. In customers perception of saving, they look at the items with prices ending with  £0.95 or  £0.99 more favourable as compare to  £1.00 as example although there are only  £0.05 and  £0.01 difference. The prices are set where they are reasonable and affordable by the customers. It uses value pricing strategies  on some of its products where they are cheaper to buy in a set compared to ala carte such as: happy meal, combo meal,  family meal, breakfast and lunch sets to increase overall sales volumes. Discounts coupons should be given out from time to time to attract new customers and to boost sales in those particular periods. Place McDonalds outlets are located in high visibility, traffic volume and ease of access areas. Most of its outlets consist of the distribution channels. It is important so that the product is available to the customer all the time. In United States, there are nearly 50% of McDonalds outlets can be reached by driving within three minutes. McDonalds gives certain level of satisfaction, fun as well as happiness each time they dine at McDonalds as it offers better ambience, hygienic environment and also great services. Free Wi-Fi with high speed connectivity to internet is provided to customers for them to access to internet to do business and entertainment when they are dining. Besides that, children will not easily get bored when they just sit and eat as they can have fun at the playgrounds in the restaurants while their parents have some time to spend together. Every McDonalds outlets have Drive-Thru to make customers who want to take away more convenient and fast. Besides that, quick del ivery to households is provided with a little charge. Promotion McDonalds uses various promotion channels to effectively communicate the product information to the customers as it has clear understanding of the customer value that helps to decide whether the promotion cost is worth spending or not. McDonalds three main advertising objectives are to make people aware of its product, having position perception about it and remember it. It does its advertising promotions through televisions, radios, hoardings and also bus shelters. Printed ads in newspapers and magazines and television programmes are one of its important marketing medium too to stimulate customers appetite. Besides that, McDonalds is doing sales promotion too. Customers can enjoy McDonalds breakfast and lunch sets in cheaper price in a certain period of the day. Besides that, discount coupons will be given to customers from time to time for them to enjoy McDonalds foods in cheaper prices. Kids simply love to celebrate their birthday parties in McDonalds. Hence, McDonalds can give special discounts and gifts to the birthday kids so that they will come back next year and tell it to their friends. Forecast and implications McDonalds three years forecasts and budgets (Dollars in millions) 2009 2010 2011 2012 Objective comment Sales 7944 8580 9266 10007 Improve by 8% yearly Cost 659 626 595 565 Reduce by 5% annually Profit 7285 7954 8671 9442 Increases by around 8% yearly It is forecasted that McDonalds in United States will meet its financial objective where its sales increase steadily by 8% yearly start from year 2010 while its cost reduces by 5% annually. Hence, the profit will be increasing by around 8% yearly start from 2010. Metrics McDonalds is using metric strategy in order to measure whether it can achieve its objectives or not. Marketing metric: Objectives Metrics To increase market share Measure by number of new franchises opening yearly Increase product awareness among target audiences Calculated by the sales of the particular product after advertising promotion is done Financial metric: Objectives Metrics Increase sales revenue Product sales is measured by dollars annually Reduce cost of sales Cost of sales is measured by dollars yearly Societal metric: Objectives Metrics Provide healthier fast food Measure by the percentage of fats, calories, sugar and salt in the products Reduce electrical and water consumption and wastage Calculate by the electric and water bills monthly More environmental friendly Measure by the percentage of its packaging that using recyclable materials Conclusion As the conclusion, although McDonalds is number one in fast food industry, it should keep improving its business in term of marketing, financial and social to be better in the future. McDonalds can get feedback from the customers to know what they prefer, how they want McDonalds to change so that McDonalds know what action it should takes to improve itself. With new product innovations and healthier fast food, McDonalds will be more successful. Word Count: 2275 words

Stoker And Rices Books About Vampires :: essays research papers

Stoker and Rice's Books About Vampires Bram Stoker's Dracula and Anne Rice's series The Vampire Chronicles are books about vampires. The way the two authors write about the vampires' powers, the way they live and how they are created and destroyed prove that two books about the same subject can be different in many ways. It also shows how the vampire legend has evolved over a long period of time. Special powers are used in both of the authors writings. A few of the powers are the same, or very close to it, in each account. enhaced or super- human strenth is one of these abilites. On page 7 in Anne Rice's book The Vampire Lestat, her main chacter Lestast says â€Å"As for my strength, well it was three times what it had once been. I could bend a copper penny double.† After becoming a vampire he notices his super human strength. Not much is written about Stoker's use of super-strength for Count DraculaTherefore, One tends to believe that Dracula in fact did not have enhanced strength. Stoker did use the power of morphing into animals in his novel. In Dracula , the Count can morph into a bat and he can turn into a greyish-green mist. He uses these powers so humans dont detect his presence. As a gas he can pass by humans without them even noticing and as a bat he can cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. Rice's novels mention nothing of being able to morph into a bat, mist or anything else for that matter. The ability to fly is used in each novel but they are used very differently. In Dracula the count can fly but, in order to do this he must turn into a bat and fly as a bat would fly. More powerful vampires in The Vampire Chronicles can fly as , for example, super man would fly. In order for a vampire to fly it requires lots of energy and a great force of will Lestat says â€Å" It was as if a current of air had caught me. I went up hundereds of feet in one instant, and then the clouds were below me-a white light that I could scarcely see. I decided to drift.† (Rice, Queen of the damned 286) Mental powers are used extensivly in both of the authors' creations. Mind reading is common in The Vampire Chronicles. Vampires in the Chronicles can not read the minds of vampires they themselves have created or minds that are skillfully cloaked against them.

“A” Is for “Absent” Essay

In a recently published article called â€Å"’A’ Is for â€Å"Absent’† by Chris Piper a proofreader for The University of Texas at Arlington who wrote about how enrolling in a course which he dreaded to do but decided to take the course anyway to complete now rather later. Piper initially received high grades on almost all projects. Being absent ultimately caused him to drop ten points and he ended with a final grade of a â€Å"C† due to his absences. Piper â€Å"admittedly feels like he earned the grade that was given to him at the time†. He also admits the syllabus clearly states what would occur if he missed more than the allotted â€Å"freebies.† He feels as though if he’s receiving great grades on test, quizzes etc†¦ he shouldn’t be penalized for his absences. Piper feels like as long as he’s paying for his education he should be able to do what he likes as long as he maintains high scores. Being absent ultimately causes you to miss the most essential parts of class. You miss class participation, peers, directions and test or quizzes that may be given on any given day of that class. Being absent is a way of saying that this class isn’t that important to me. As a peer in your class if I work hard just like you but you receive the same grade as I do but are never there, that doesn’t send a great message to me nor to the rest of our peers. Being a student requires you to attend class on a regular basis. When you feel like you’ve earned that grade that you’ve received you either feel as a student you worked hard or you haven’t. Paying for an education is a choice that you make coming to class is another. However, rules are rules and need to be followed. A paid education to me means you need to work double hard to maintain what great grades you achieve. Nothing in life is free, you get what you deserve. As long as I’m paying for their services it’s my choice to do what ever I like to do. Chris feels that â€Å"professors who implement attendance policies often argue, if this were a job, and you failed to show up, you would be fired.† However, there’s a difference between going to work and going to class. A job pays for your services and going to school I pay for there services. As long as I’m getting high marks when I do attend I shouldn’t be penalized and this is my choice. In conclusion, being absent, earning the grade and self paying for my education all seems fair but not to Chris Piper who feels like absences shouldn’t affect his grades especially if you’re paying for your education. He should be able to do what he likes as long as he maintains high scores. â€Å"A† Is for Absent Essay â€Å"A† is for Absent Some college professors follow the â€Å"not required, but explicit† attendance policy. Some professors make it very clear that students attend all classes, but it is not enforced through grade reduction. Broward College in Hollywood Florida suggests that each professor create an attendance policy with the syllabus, but does not insist on any penalties. The virtues of this includes treating students as consumers of education rather than kindergarten children by letting the student know that the professor holds classroom attendance in the students best interest, and will provide quality instruction to the students who attend. Excessive absenteeism can affect the outcome of the career path that the student has chosen. Why be mediocre when you have the ability to excel in any given class. Colleges need to find a way to treat students like adults while also ensuring enough of them show up for class to succeed. Your transcript is like a prison record, it will follow you where ever you go. â€Å"A† is for Absent The University of Maryland’s attendance policy states, â€Å"students are excused from attending classes in cases of emergency or religious holidays. The University of Maryland does not insist upon attendance nor do they asses penalties, moreover, Maryland does not require that any professor create his or her own attendance policy for the students enrolled in each professor’s class. Northern Illinois University’s policy on attendance is,†if a student misses more than four classes in a course that meets three times per week, the professor must lower that students grade by at least letter†. This type of policy gives advantages by not only ensuring classroom attendance, but by making it very clear to the students what will happen if they miss class excessively. A different version of this policy is found at South Seattle Community College, which recommends that the professor not decrease the students grade if they miss less than 20% of the semester. There is a clear and obvious link between class attendance and performance. Student who come to class regularly and are well prepared tend to do much better than the students who do not. The purpose of attendance policies is to ensure that students attend classes regularly, and to ensure that the student is successful upon graduating. â€Å"A† is for Absent http://www.ehow.com/list_646440_attendance-policies-marylandu-college-students.html http://www.south-seattle-cc-attendance-policy-college-students.html http://www.broward-community-attendance-policy_students.html http://images.search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0PDoKyrujhSjHAAkKejzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBtdXBkbHJyB

NOrdstorm Case Analysis Essay

â€Å"Our staff is genuinely interested in seeing that all your needs are meet. They are professionals-will help you with everything from gift suggestions to wardrobe planning. They will even accompany you from department to department until you find exactly what you’re looking for† , a quote from Nordstrom directory as a benchmark for service exceptions. How is Nordstrom able to claim this unexceptional goal within retail industry? The answer lies with the great achievement of motivation produced within Nordstrom culture. The case in question is prepared by Richard D. Freedman and Jill Vohr, Stern School of Business, New york University. This case analysis is based on the experiences and background of retail giant, Nordstrom. The store started its operations with humble beginning of providing excellent customer service to constituents. Nordstrom operates almost 100 stores in 10 states. It’s a growing company with great working culture. There are approximately 35000 employees working within Nordstrom family. The focus of Nordstrom’s management is to create an ambitious and motivated team that provides customer service like no one else offers, service above and beyond the call of duty. All employees are made to feel like members of a family sharing in â€Å"the Nordstrom way†. Company has been able to create an environment where promotions are only from within the company, where employees keep a journal of customers to send thank you letters and upcoming promotions. Employees perform all operations relevant to their jobs, even unpacking items, shelving and storage responsibilities. The astonishing thing is that all these tasks are performed on off the clock. Nordstrom has been able to create an environment where employees are pushing themselves to limits. Doing chores during their lunch time or after the clock has been a Nordstrom culture for a while. Even though this practice had created some controversy with few employees and unions are trying to pursue Nordstrom to abolish these motivational techniques to have employees work off the clock to achieve better status and money. There have been various lawsuits involving Nordstrom employees and management. This analysis can provide us some insight on how Nordstrom has been able to use motivational theories to purse employees to be part of this huge enterprise. Motivation is a force that come from within a person that can help create a willful direction towards achieving some specific goals, where achievement is not due solely to ability or to environmental factors. Performance of a certain individual can be accounted using: Performance = f (Ability x Motivation) Nordstrom had created a place of business where they pick the best sales people from the given population and provide them motivation in form of promotion, excellent sales commissions and social stature of working for a prestigious retailer like Nordstrom. Nordstrom has been able to use content theories of motivation to produce current company’s culture. Using content from Hierarchy of Needs Theory by Maslow’s, Nordstrom can motivate people according to their desire to satisfy specific needs. Using physiological needs like money, Nordstrom had created an excellent base pay structure along with the opportunity to create more opportunities for sales people in form of high commissions. Nordstrom’s pay structure is more rewarding than its competitors. Using physiological paradigm as a motivation force, Nordstrom is an industry leader for harvesting the best talent within sale force. Second level of Maslow’s theory is Safety needs. Nordstrom had created a culture that resembles to an individual family boutique operating within its own means and create its own identity. Nordstrom managers are free to hire and the only rule exist is to help the customer by any way possible as long as it’s legal. This attitude towards management had created a safety net at work place thus helping Nordstrom employees achieve better motivation. Maslow’s theory also promotes social and belongingness needs. Nordstrom has a culture of creating a family within a certain store thus helping with social and belongingness needs of employees. Self Esteem is also considered an important factor of motivation used by Nordstrom. Employees of Nordstrom gladly introduce themselves to others due to the fact that Nordstrom has a certain place in society and this approach helps create more motivation for employees to be more productive. Maslow’s theory also embraces self-actualization for creating employee motivation. Nordstrom is one of the few companies that can help employees design their own business cards and schedules. The focus is to create entrepreneurial spirit among employees because Nordstrom want performance to come from ambition and motivation and not from corporate headquarters. ERG theory by Clayton Alderfed explains three categories, existence (E), relatedness needs (R) and growth needs (G). This theory can be considered one of the pillars within methodologies used by Nordstrom. Employees are motivated using growth, relatedness needs and existence needs. Using this theory as an approach for design business model, Nordstrom helped employees look for their basic goals and use Nordstrom as a vehicle to accomplish those goals. Theory of achievement, affiliation and power by David McCelland can explain the motivational force Nordstrom is using to achieve ambitious goals of sales and motivation. By creating goals to be achieve every month, quarter and year, Nordstrom can help employees create a schedule for themselves to achieve those goals. Nordstrom had created unofficial standard of excellence that can help set goals for employees. Need for affiliation is also used during the course of employment with Nordstrom. Managers acknowledge the best employees and considered as a pacemaker to others so others can follow their example of excellent customer services and sales. Need of power if another factor involved in creating motivated employees. Nordstrom use strict policy with promotions within the company, this process helps provide power to the ambitious and motivated employees in form of management and team leader positions. Even though traditional research had not supported claims by two-factor theory or dual-factor theory by Frederick Herzberg; Nordstrom has been able to use the concept of motivators like achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth and challenging work and hygiene factors like pay, working conditions , technical supervision, status , interpersonal relationship with peers and security. Nordstrom had implemented this idea to create a self-realization environment where employees create goals and motivation comes from within. Nordstrom’s focus on use of expectancy theory is another motivational factor for creating motivation. Expectancy is the subjective probability that a given amount of effort will lead to a particular level of performance. Using instrumentality and valence as an outcome, Nordstrom can increase motivational force. Another factor that Nordstrom is so successful in creating employee motivation is use of equity theory. Equity theory suggests that motivation is based on person’s assessment of the ratio of outcomes he/she receive (e.g., pay, status etc). Nordstrom had implemented these theories to create a model that help employees do things with motivation from within and increase productivity and motivation. Goal setting has been a key motivator for people working within Nordstrom. Even though, many controversial lawsuits and complaints by employees and union had surfaced in last few years, Nordstrom is still promoting its culture. Nordstrom had set aside more than $15 million for paying employee for times that has not been paid in past due to the fact it was not on clock. Nordstrom still embrace job enlargement and job enrichment policies. Job enlargement is a process of making a job more motivating by adding tasks that are similar in complexity relative to the current task. For example, Nordstrom employees work with a customer in any department to satisfy that customer’s needs. Job enrichment is a process of creating more job motivation by increasing responsibilities. For example, Nordstrom designate employees to take responsibility and act as a concierge and interact with customers using letters and photos and scrap book etc. Using these theories, Nordstrom, had increase employee motivation instead of creating a hostile work environment. I personally think that Nordstrom can alter few methods to treat with how employee time is compensated. Motivation theories applied at Nordstrom are brilliant and using those theories, Nordstrom had created a culture where employees are working hard to achieve success and reach the goals set by employees and not corporate headquarters. Some of the complaints mentioned in case seem legit but the role of motivation is a two way stream. Nordstrom should deal with these complaints in a manner where it can help employees gain more confidence and motivation. For example, Nordstrom should change the way feedback mechanism handled. Throughout the whole case, I saw a lack of feedback method that can help employees get better and increase motivation. Feedback plays and important role within company’s motivational efforts. Feedback process can clarify the goals and expectations of certain employees who seem to be abused by this culture. Nordstrom should also focus on including the time for extra circular activities to enhance sales on actual paid time. This would help employees use pay as a motivational factor to increase productivity as defined as Maslow’s, ERG and dual factor theories.