Cheesy Wheezy Essay Example for Free

Cheesy Wheezy Essay Starting as a small retail store in New Glarus, Wisconsin, the Cheezy Wheezy firm had slowly grown into a chain of nine retail shops located in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. In recent years, nearly all its competitors had begun issuing catalogs, widely distributed in late October, advertising gift packages of cheeses, jams, jellies, and other fancy food items. Henry Wilson, son of the firm’s founder, had convinced his father that Cheezy Wheezy should also issue a catalog. It was then March, and the last snows were melting. Henry Wilson had called his third staff meeting in as many weeks to discuss the catalog project. Present were Henry (whose title was vice president); Susan Moore, the sales manager; Jeff Bell, the inventory manager; and Robert Walker, the traffic manager. Also present was Robert Caldwell, from a Milwaukee-based ad agency that was handling many aspects of the catalog project. Moore and Caldwell had just finished describing the catalog’s tentative design and the allocation of catalog pages to various product lines. Caldwell then said, â€Å"We are to the point where we must design the order form, which will be stapled inside the center pages. It will be a single 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet. The customer will remove it from the catalog, complete it, fold it into the envelope shape, lick the gummed lines, and mail it in. The order form will be on one side of the sheet. On the other will be the instructions for folding and Cheezy Wheezy’s mailing address in New Glarus; the remainder of the space will be ads for some impulse items. Right now we’re thinking of a Santa Claus–shaped figure molded out of cheese. â€Å"Enough of that,† said Wilson, â€Å"this group isn’t here to discuss Santa dolls. We’re here to design the order form. We may also have to talk a little about selling terms. Susan? † Responding to her cue, Moore said, â€Å"Our biggest problem is how to handle the transportation and shipping costs. We’ve studied all our competitors’ catalogs. Some absorb the costs into the product’s price, some charge by weight of the order, some charge by money value of order, and some ship COD. † â€Å"How important are shipping costs, Susan? † asked Bell. â€Å"Plenty,† was her response. They run $2 to $3 for a 1- or 2-pound package. If you take a pound of cheese that we sell in our retail stores for $2, here are our costs if it goes by catalog: cost of goods, $1; order management, 50 cents; overhead, including inventory carrying costs, 50 cents; packaging for shipment, 50 cents; and transportation costs to any point in the United States ranging between $1. 75 and $3. 20. If, however, we’re dealing with bigger shipments, the relative costs vary. †  "I’m not following you,† said Wilson. â€Å"It’s like this,† responded Moore. The wholesale cost of cheese to us is the same per pound, no matter how much is sold. Order-processing costs are approximately the same for each order we’ll be receiving by mail. Overhead and inventory carrying costs are always present but may be allocated in a variety of ways. Packaging costs are also about the same per order. They go up only a few cents as we move to larger cartons. Transportation costs are hard to describe because of their tapers. Right now our whole catalog project is bogged down with the problem of transportation cost tapers. † â€Å"Tapers? † said Wilson, turning to Walker. You’ve never told me about tapers before. It sounds like some kind of animal. † â€Å"That’s tapir, t-a-p-i-r,† said Walker. â€Å"We’re talking about tapers, t-a-p-e-r-s. † â€Å"Oh,† said Wilson. â€Å"What are they? † â€Å"When one ships small packages of cheese,† said Walker, â€Å"rates are based on two factors, the weight being shipped and the distance. As weight or distance increases or both—the rates go up but not as quickly. This is called the tapering principle. To ship 2 pounds of cheese from New Glarus to St. Louis costs $2. 40; 3 pounds cost $3. 30; 5 pounds cost $4. 60; and so on. One hundred pounds—no, 50 pounds is a better example because some of the parcel services we’ll be using won’t take 100 pounds—50 pounds would cost $21. There’s also a distance taper. The 2-pound shipment that costs $2. 40 to St. Louis is $3. 40 to Denver and $4. 15 to Los Angeles. † â€Å"Can’t we use the average transportation costs? † asked Bell. â€Å"That’s what we do with inventory carrying costs. † â€Å"Won’t work,† said Caldwell. â€Å"You’ll be overpriced for small, short-distance shipments and will lose sales. For heavy long shipments, you’ll be underpriced and will make so many sales that you might soon go belly up. Wilson shuddered and inquired, â€Å"Does that mean we charge by weight and by distance? † Moore answered, â€Å"It’s not that easy. In the cheese business, people buy by the pound, but shipping weights—which include packaging—are actua lly more. A customer who orders 3 pounds of cheese is in fact receiving 3 pounds of cheese plus 6 ounces of packaging materials. I wish we could sell a pound of cheese that consisted of 14 ounces of cheese and 2 ounces of packing material, but that would be illegal at worst, and of questionable ethics, at best. † â€Å"We have the same problems with distance,† added Walker. We’re trying to sell in 50 states, but who knows how far they are from New Glarus? We could have tables and maps in the catalog, but they take up valuable selling space. Also, if it looks too complex, we may just turn off some potential customers before they complete their orders. † â€Å"Some of our clients have another problem,† added Caldwell, â€Å"and that is split orders. The customer will want 10 pounds of cheese, but it will be five 2-pound packages sent to five different locations. That has an impact on both packaging and transportation costs. † â€Å"So, what do we do? â₠¬  asked Wilson.

Mathematical Education: A comparison between Japan and America Essay

Mathematical Education: A comparison between Japan and America The mathematical education provided in the United States has proved to be inferior compared to that of other countries. Specifically the Japanese and other Asian educational systems produce more educated mathematics students than the United States. American children tend to score lower on standardized testing than Asian students do. Many studies have been done by research groups such as the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement showing the differences in teaching methods between the United States and Japan. The teaching styles and the cultural differences can account for the gap in performance. One of the most famous studies of its kind is called Pursuing Excellence, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. This study was conducted in 1995. The Mathematical knowledge of half a million students from forty-one countries was tested. Of these countries, the test shows that American students performed below average in mathematics. During the same research project, classrooms in America, Germany and Japan were videotaped and analyzed. (1) When the curriculums in various countries were reviewed, researchers consistently found that American teachers spend a small amount of time on many topics where as other countries focus on fewer topics with more depth of topic and more repetition. Another variation is that American teachers, for the most part, have received more formal education than Japanese teachers, but have less classroom training and experience. Japan has a much higher focus on teaching quality than the United States. Most of t... ...needed to solve the problem at hand. Japanese teachers provide their students with the knowledge they need and the ability to think so that they can apply this knowledge in various situations. For this reason, Japanese students have been able to perform better in studies than American students can. Bibliography "Inside Scoop: a worthwhile international comparison." National Education Association of the United States. 1997. (website- address unknown) Ibid "Understanding and Improving Classroom Mathematics Instruction: an overview of the TIMSS video study." Phi Delta Kappa Inc. 1997. (website- address unknown) Ibid Steffe, Leslie, Nesher, Pearia, Cobb, Paul, Goldein, Gerald, Greer, Brian. Theories of Mathematical Learning. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1996. P. 6. Ibid, p. 6-7. Peer reviewed by Melissa Lenzi and Helen Hunt

B2B to C2B Electronic Commerce

Electronic gives companies improved efficiency and reliability of business processes through transactions automation. The two major types of e-commerce these are Business to business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C). In B2C consumer purchase products and services from industry while B2B deals with business dealing with another business. Many businesses today utilize these types of model. Some of the businesses that utilize B2B model includes: operating inputs markets-These deal with unfinished goods such as office supplies, spare parts and airline tickets.There good are referred to as maintenance repair and operating goods. Another type of market that utilizes B2B is manufacturing input businesses; these are raw materials which go directly into the product or processes. In B2C model, it deals with business such as Auction stores which offers electronic implementation of bidding mechanism (Paul Timer1998) and the other example is online stores. B2C has advantages and also disadvan tages. Some of these advantages can be divided into two forms those that benefits the company and customers’ benefit.Those that benefit the company include; Increased demand, due to the convenient way of serving the customers like in online the demand increases which consequently raise the company’s income. Also low cost is encountered because they use online shops which ensure low cost in transportation of good is encountered. Customers can also view the type of goods they need from internet and this enables reduction in the cost of promotion and sales. Generally the company enjoys reduced cost since their advertisement and delivery of their goods are always at least expenditure as possible. Benefits that the customers enjoy in B2C include;Low prices since the company have encountered minimum cost in production and delivery of goods. These low prices encourage the customer to continue using this model. Also customers experience a wider choice of what they want to purc hase, since he/she can be able to view these products before ordering them which enables him or her or make better choice. Better information in regard to product can be obtained from online shopping by going through the information provided by the company. Its also convenient for buyers who are B2C model since the products are delivered by just ordering for them online.Customers also experience flexibility in ordering their products through internet auction. Some of disadvantages experienced in B2C models are things like inspection of goods. This is a great challenge to buyer since its not possible to physically inspect the goods you want to purchase. Bidders always have to rely on information provided or electronic images of goods or auction. Also there is potential for fraud since internet bidder has to actually trust that the buyer will send goods he/she has paid for. B2B model also has advantages and disadvantages which adversely affect purchasing company or company.Some of the advantages include: Hosting of critical supply chain which is available to buyer to help them choose on which chain to use in ordering for their supplies. It also provide market to close enterprise collaboration- This results in synchronized industry coordination which enables the company to synchronize activities like product design, procurement, planning and so on (Peter Dicken,2003. ) It also provides participate with flexible, open, reliable, highly available and scalable environment. Some of disadvantages of using B2B model are based on challenges that are faced by the business.For example, at time buyer, sell and channel partners feel that the market is working against them which eventually result to loss of those companies purchasing their products. Buyers can also result the procedures to be followed when purchasing the products which makes the company to incur extra cost for procedures desired by the other company. Insecurity by the company purchasing the product since the y just trust that the products will be sent to them, once they are paid for. Suppliers of major consumer’s product should consider a number of factors when they decide to shift from B2B to B2C.First they should determine whether supplier has customization by offering capacity to offer goods and services in real time and ability to customize goods to the needs is higher. This is because the suppliers have been dealing with company or businesses and now they want to deal with individual customers. Suppliers should be aware of organizational changes in changing from B2B to B2C this enables successful transformation to a B2C e-business company. There should be a radical organization al change. This is difficult to implement as a result of strong resistance by employees. Also supply should be aware of redesigning business processes.The B2B processes should be redesigned and streamlined in order to suit the new B2C form of business. The system is also integrated because the real po wer of e-business comes up when the systems are integrated. Products that can lead to change from B2B to B2C are finished products which are readily usable by customers. Therefore the company prefers to deal with individual customers for large sales than dealing with company. Also when the industry start manufacturing finished products it can shift its model from B2B to B2C since its selling then to consumers who needs already finished products.Finished products lead to change of marketing model from B2B to B2C since the consumer can not purchase an assembled product unlike other business/industries who can purchase them so that they can assemble them and sell as a finished product. Products that have lead to this change include electronic and local phones and also services such as long distance and wireless telephones, cable television, internet service provider and so on are some of products and services that can be sold directly to consumer instead of selling to industry or other business because consumer can enjoy the benefit of avoiding middle man in the distribution chain.(Gopal Screeraman ,2002. ) Consumer demand can have great effect on suppliers. For example, some things like prompt delivery of goods desired by consumer at time is not met by supplier and this makes supply to deliver products that are not well finished to avoid delay. Consumer demand also enables the supplier to find ways to gain competitive advantages in factors other than just price. Some factors can increase demand of certain products by consumers which the supplier has to meet in order to gain marketability. Consumer demands also leads to expansion of larger services.This is evidenced in demand supply curve whereby the higher the demand the lower the supply and therefore through expansion of services the demand can be met. It also helps to find cost effectiveness ways to increase customer base and generate higher revenues. Therefore these types of electronic commerce have different impacts and while ordering for products one should consider which model suits best. Reference. Paul Timer, (1998), Business model for Electronic market London. Peter Dicken, (2003), Political Science, United Nations. Gopal Screeraman, (2002), Commerce server 2000, New York.

The Financial Crisis Of 2007-2009 - 1490 Words

The financial crisis of 2007-2009 resulted from a variety of external factors and market incentives, in combination with the housing price bubble in the United States. When high levels of bank and consumer leverage appeared, rising consumption caused increasingly risky lending, shown in the laxity in the standard of securities screening and riskier mortgages. As a consequence, the high default rate of these risky subprime mortgages incurred the burst of the housing bubble and increased defaults. Finally, liquidity rapidly shrank in the United States, giving rise to the financial crisis which later spread worldwide (Thakor, 2015). However, in the beginning of the era in which this chain of events took place, deregulation was widely practiced, as the regulations and restrictions of the economic and business markets were regarded as barriers to further development (Orhangazi, 2014). Expanded deregulation primarily influenced the factors leading to the crisis. The aim of this paper is t o discuss whether or not deregulation was the main underlying reason for the 2007/08 financial crisis. I will argue that deregulation was the underlying cause due to the fact that the most important origins of the crisis — the explosion of financial innovation, leverage, securitisation, shadow banking and human greed — were based on deregulation. My argument is presented in three stages. The first section examines deregulation policies which resulted in the expansion of financial innovation andShow MoreRelatedThe Financial Crisis of 2007-2009526 Words   |  2 Pagesfar the worst financial crisis that it has ever encountered, which was called The Great Depression, but the second worst was not that long ago. During the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 the United States had a chain of banking failures and a tremendous growth of liability in the federal budget. 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