Germany: Economic Powerhouse of the EU Essay -- Germany Economy

The country of Germany is one of the strongest economies in Europe as a whole. A brief history and overall status of this country is going to be explained giving examples and demographics. Along with my understanding of the information, I will try to help you understand the importance of this country’s overall macroeconomic stance that contributes to today’s wealth of the European Union. The barbaric Celts are believed to have been the first settlers of the Germanic lands before the tribes of the second century before Christ. The German barbaric attacks against the declining roman infrastructure added in the destruction of the Roman Empire in the 400’s and 500’s A.D. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, was crowned after he attained the supremacy of Western Europe in 800 A.D. Charlemagne derived from one of the tribes known as the Franks, native to present day Germany. For many of the years following the rule of Otto the Great many of the leaders of Germany had high positions of leadership in the Holy Roman Empire, this lasted for several centuries. (Education) The Holy Roman Empire was to loosely spread around the 14th Century. The long line of Hapsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire until its down fall in 1806. A dispute brought an internal war for Germany in 1618 and lasted for 30 years until 1648. This war left Germany torn apart, spread into hundreds of principalities that independently survived with out the Emperor. In a short time after, Prussia developed into impressive strength. Frederick the Great, organized the Prussian military and defeated the Austrians. The struggle for power between the Austrians and Prussians continued and ended in the defeat of Austria in 1866. (Education) Following the Defeat, Pru... ...and resilient one full of economic prosperity. The geography, demographics, and politics have shaped this country into what it is today. From a Macroeconomic stance, Germany has out done all of its neighbors. Many other countries should enact what polices Germany has in play. Germany also has some of the top business schools in the world that I believe is responsible for the majority of the outcomes of the GDP being where it is today. Works Cited Education, Pearson. Germany. 2005. 01 December 2013 http://www.infoplease.com/country/germany.html. Foundation, The Heritage. "Germany." 2013. 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. 01 December 2013 http://www.heritage.org/index/country/germany. Gurtler, Detlef. Wirtshcftstlas Deutschland. Berlin, 2010. X-Rates. 01 December 2013. 01 December 2013 http://www.x-rates.com/table/?from=USD&amount=1.00.

Mydin Business Profile

Mydin Business Profile Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd is one of the largest and well-established Malaysian-owned Companies involved in wholesaling and retailing. The company was founded in 1940 and was based on Subang Jaya, Malaysia. The company incorporated in 1957. Mydin currently operates 100 outlets nationwide inclusive of 10 hypermarkets, 18 emporiums, 3 bazaars, 54 mini markets (MyMydin), nine convenience stores (MyMart) and six franchise outlets (Mydin Mart). The company started the first operation in Kelantan and the company also known as the affordable and competitive prices offered among the budget-conscious consumers.Mydin Target Market and Product lines The company supplying several range of goods to the lower and middle income groups and also to the other wholesalers, retailers, small businesses, offices and schools. The main competitors of Mydin are Carefour, Qiant and Tesco. Mydin target more on Muslim market and their target market is as halal-wide as their range of produ cts. It offers food and beverage, apparel, accessories, household goods, fittings and furnishings, electronics, children’s toys and even exercises equipment, stationeries, daily and dairy products, toiletries and Muslim goods.There are a variety of accessories to put on for the scarves for the Malay girls and ladies to choose. Besides that, Mydin is the best place to buy Muslim clothes, prayers rugs and other attire to Islamic worship at affordable prices in Kuala Lumpur. Pricing Mydin is a market-oriented approach that reacts to what customers want. Mydin’s outlets are very popular with the residents in Malaysia due to the competitive pricing. Mydin is able to offer lower pricing that has value for money than the competitors because it bypasses distributors and sources for goods from the manufactures.The customers can also buy a lot of things with a little of money. Besides that, through their impressive appearances, Mydin has been able slowly change the perception th at their economical priced goods to low quality products. Mydin purchases in bulk to enjoy the lower prices. Mydin also use the customary pricing such everyday low price and the need for quality for the customer. Mydin relentlessly pursues bargains from suppliers to execute its everyday low price philosophy. Mydin target the lower and middle income groups. Mydin use the flexible pricing according to he festivals such as there is a Deepavali promotion in Mydin Bukit Jambul, Penang which is 1 panel RM39. 90 and 2 panels are RM49. 90 for the curtains. Besides that, the accessories with different designs are in RM29. 90 and the maggi mee is only RM3. 69 buy 5 free 1. Promotion There are four types of promotion mix in Mydin which are advertising, sales promotion, public relation and direct marketing. Advertising Mydin advertised in brochures in USJ Subang Jaya Mydin during 7th-20th March 2012. It was to let the customer enjoy the freshness of quality products.Besides that, Mydin also adv ertised their promotion offer products in the website. Mydin sets up corresponding billboards and by buying similar advertisement placement in the newspaper. Mydin provide quality products to customers and Mydin creates excitement on special period of low costs offer such as there are a lot of promotions in festive seasons. Mydin also promote it is the best place to shop round especially the Muslims. Mydin partly sponsored by the manufacturer and retailer such as Dutch Lady, Sunquick, Jacob, Tops, Premier. There is a slogan named ‘why pay more? Buy at wholesale prices’! n everywhere of the hypermarket. It is to attract the customers to buy their products at the low prices. Sales Promotion There are several kinds of sales promotion in Mydin such as Deepavali, Salam Aidiladha and Brand Fair, Holiday and Holiday and Travel Fair and Wedding Fair. Besides that, people get an automatic entry to win a Mount Bike and Cash Vouchers when a min of RM50 at Mydin with the customerâ €™s Mybankard Debit Card. It is a contest in April. The upcoming kids colouring contest is on 10th November 2012 starts at 4pm at the Mydin Wholesale Hypermarket Taman Saga, Alor Setar (Malaysia).There was a health, beauty and wellness campaign held on 26th April until 8th May 2012. It is let the customers to try out and maximize their talents and grab a chance to win great prizes. Public relations There was a CSR shopping programme at Mydin supermarket, Bukit Jambul on 2nd August 2012 involving the children from Permata Kasih Orphanage. Besides that, R. Apparavoo lead the management of Mydin hypermarket in Ayer Keroh prepared and distributed the free bubuk lambuk to the shoppers on Saturday 18th August 2012. The porridge which was packed in a container.Apparavoo’s staff had cooked the porridge in several big pots before distributing to the customers. These charity events are to demonstrate innovativeness and maintain and improve the company image. Direct marketing Mydin hypermarket has a twitter account to post latest updates and let the customers to get to know what’s new in Mydin hypermarket. Place Mydin’s headquarter is in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur . The locations of Mydin can be search in the website by category and by state. It may show the nearest locations. The customers may get to buy the groceries at the nearest outlets.Mydin in Penang such as Mydin Wholesale Hypermarket Bukit Jambul in Penang is near to the residential areas. It also has a bus stop outside the Bukit Jambul complex. It is so convenient for the customers to buy their stuff. The local manufacturer will send the products by trucks to the Mydin hypermarkets. Mydin will provide delivery services to the small retailers where the retail shops are located nearby the Mydin branches by the Mydin vans. Positioning Mydin’s position as the leading local hypermarket operator which sealed its position to operate the KR1M programme.The government gave a simple condition which was for the prices to be competitive so that it benefits the low-income earners in the KR1M project. They drafted a list of essential items such as rice, flour, milk, diapers and washing detergent which need to be affordable. The company leads wholesale and retail company to provide the best value, the wide assortment of goods and continuous excellence in the business formula and improve the work efficiency and set a competitive price to increase price purchasing power of Malaysian consumers. PeopleThe staff must have undergone the training before they starts working. There are a few levels that are specific staff staffs assigned for different tasks which are the management, stock, store, sales assistant, management and the cashier in every Mydin branch. Most of the staff will be trained as sales assistants and cashiers because they are required for doing the daily operation in the branch. The foreign workers will work as janitors in the Mydin hypermarket. Physical E vidence There are a lot of building and outlets of Mydin in Malaysia such as Mydin Mall in Taman Saga, Alor Setar was newly opened in March.Mydin leads the way for dynamic digital signage in the hypermarket retail industry in Malaysia by employing its own in store multimedia TV network; Mydin USJ, Selangor has recently launched Mydin TV. The shoppers, tenants and suppliers can know the up to date promotions and campaigns or activities throughout the stores by the Mydin TV channel. Layout of Mydin is grid pattern layout. The aisle must be long enough for the customers to look long enough at the merchandise as they pass the shelves display.The products put accordingly at the shelves display such as the food and beverages are put in the same area, the stationery and books are put in the same area. the color of the Mydin are blue and yellow. There are free wifi in Mydin Bukit Jambul, Penang. Process The computerization the warehouse system of Mydin has been increased the accuracy in ter ms of automation. It is much more effective than relying on a manual labour. Other than that, Mydin select Intermec because of the the rugged design and robustness of the CK61 which can withstand repeated drops from high ground.Besides that, Intermec’s security feature, iLaunch is to present to lock the operating system automatically. The staff cannot use or exploit the computer for personal use. The policies of the consumers who shop in Mydin hypermarket should get a written copy of guarantees and warranties and compare their features. Besides that, the consumers have to read and understand any contract you are asked to sign. The consumers have to make sure there are no blank spaces and the salesperson’s verbal promises are in the contract.

Harlequin Case Analysis Essay

Harlequin Enterprises has been able to capture 80% of the series romance market. Our great existing strategy (see exhibit 1) has allowed us to be the biggest player in the series romance market. Now we face the opportunity to capture a rapidly growing market of single-title women’s fiction novels. I recommend that Harlequin aggressively pursue the single-title market, using its extensive back list collection to reissue novels by best-selling authors. Even though the consistent, well defined product, combined with an optimized supply chain and distribution in the series market has provided valuable margins, the stagnant growth in the series market is insufficient to meet company growth objectives. Operating income is currently projected to grow at 3% for next 5 years (see exhibit 2). With the launch of MIRA, Harlequin can add an incremental $10MM in the next year, and $57MM in the next 5 years. This is 16%-19% incremental profit (see exhibit 3). We will have to focus on the women’s romance fiction segment of the market. At Harlequin, we have cost efficient printing resources, which allow us the flexibility to print single title. We will need to switch from same format printing, to match the need of each individual title. We also have great editor-author relationships. Using the backlist of best-selling authors will save the company $45MM in the next 5 years in author advances (see exhibit 3). Each unit is more profitable without an author advance. (exhibit 3). We will have to abandon our current process of front-list printing only. Coincidently, our editors will need to cultivate existing series authors into single-title authors, who ensure quality content to maintain our reader’s trust. Our editors will have to adapt the editing criteria to the strengths of each individual author. Harlequin will have to rely on single title solicitation, and no longer our standard order procedures. We will utilize our existing wide distribution network, but we will have to reduce our distribution to mass merchandisers while increasing our penetration in bookstores to significantly greater than 55% (exhibit 4). Offering greater distribution margins than our series novels will help us grow our volume, and our distribution partnerships, while still maintaining healthy margins. We will allocate and spend marketing funds to promote each individual book and author, rather than the just the Harlequin brand. We will use our existing large customer base, but promote with MIRA branded covers to build brand identity and loyalty, as we aim to become a strong player in the single-title romance novel market. We will create an order system for the direct to reader channel, and eventually, we will need to implement a system to be able to forecast demand to optimize supply and profitability. If within the first two years, Harlequin does not capture atleast 5% of the unit volume sales from the market using existing back-list collection, we will invest in current best-selling authors. Even after paying the large advances, we will be able to gain an incremental $12MM in profit in the next 5 years (see exhibit 6).