Culinarian Coookware Case Essay Example for Free

Culinarian Coookware Case Essay I.Consumer Behavior Culinarian cookware is sold through retailers and directly to consumers. Culinarian has carefully cultivated relationships with its limited retail network, comprised of three upscale kitchen specialty chains, two department store chains, and 75 local specialty stores. Direct-to-consumer sales are made through Culinarian’s website or its catalogs. Because Culinarian relies on a variety of intermediaries to sell its products through retail channels (see Exhibit A for details), it must be careful how any planned promotions will change incentives for those intermediaries. For example, price discounts offered by Culinarian may not be passed on to end users. Thus, although end users ultimately drive sales of Culinarian products, Culinarian must take care to protect the interests of retailers and their salespeople in order to remain successful. The Orion Market Research Study reveals a great deal of useful information regarding Culinarian’s target demographic. Despite the many options to purchase remotely (via online vendors or mail order catalogues), purchases from retail locations account for 85% of total sales. See Exhibit B for details. This is strong evidence that consumers want to evaluate the quality and style of the cookware at the time of purchase. 75% of consumers in the study already own more than 5 pieces of cookware. See Exhibit C for more details. The majority of households in the Orion study had either given or received cookware as a gift, which aligns with evidence suggesting that cookware sales are seasonal – purchasing peaks occur in May and June (wedding season) and November and December (the holiday season). Because cookware is a durable good (i.e. it is not consumed and carries forward from one period into the next) it may be especially sensitive to sales discount cycles. Details on pre-sale losses and post-sale losses due to cannibalization are shown in Exhibit E. See Exhibit F for details on variation in cookware purchases by month. If consumers are purchasing in anticipation of annual events, they may be especially sensitive to promotional offers. This means that any analysis of cannibalization due to promotions or price discounts must be sure to analyze the full impact of pre and post-sale cannibalization. II.Culinarian success factors Culinarian has built a premium brand by producing innovative, high-quality cookware and developing strong relationships with retailers. Culinarian’s products are trusted by consumers who consider cooking to be their number one hobby (60% of Culinarian customers), and by professional chefs. The company meets the needs of these different segments by offering four product lines, each varying in terms of the level of technology and features involved, but all high quality. Culinarian has also been a leader in terms of metallurgic improvements in the cookware industry. Most important to Culinarian’s success, however, is its relationship with retailers. The company’s focused retail strategy allows the Culinarian sales team to visit retailers more often than their competitors, keeping retailers abreast of new products and training sales clerks as necessary. In addition, Culinarian products are more profitable for retailers than competitors’ products, creating addi tional warmth for their cookware among retailers. III.Evaluation of 2004 promotion Culinarian’s senior sales manager, Victoria Brown, maintains that the 2004 promotion was profitable, while a team of consultants believes it lost Culinarian money. The tables in Exhibit G depict each viewpoint on the effectiveness of the promotion, in addition to our own midrange analysis. Differences in the estimation of projected vs. actual sales largely accounts for the difference in profitability estimates. The consultants included cannibalization estimates in their model, while Brown argued that different â€Å"normal† estimates should be used when calculating sales. However, we find Brown’s belief that â€Å"there is no reliable way to calculate cannibalization costs† (case p.6) to be unconvincing; while the consultants’ numbers may not be perfect, they approximate the results of customers and retailers being able to plan purchasing around the price promotion due to the January notification. We included cannibalization in our midrange estimate for this reason. Brown and the consultants also disagree on the calculation of variable costs. Brown states that only direct labor and raw materials should be included, while the consultants include a much more comprehensive bundle of SGA expenses and overhead. Either could be considered correct, but as a check we calculated a midway point in addition to the consultants’ perspective and Brown’s perspective. Brown’s numbers show strong profitability of $2.4 million due to the 2004 sales promotion, while the consultants’ numbers show a loss of $409,697 due to the promotion. Our intermediate scenario, incorporating cannibalization costs but splitting the difference between the consultants and Brown on both sales figures and variable costs, shows a weak profitability of $106,594 from the promotion. This weak profitability must be held against the negative side effects of price promotions in general, and part icularly with regard to premium products. IV.2007 promotion recommendations We do not recommend that Culinarian continue offering price promotions. The fluctuations in demand for Culinarian products around the promotional period in 2004 indicates the likelihood that cannibalization occurred; we found that much of the growth in demand as well as the corresponding decline in demand before and after a promotional period had little to do with the typical monthly demand in the market. It seems very likely that the decreased demand we see before and after the promotional periods can be attributed to the cannibalization of full price sales by the discounted units sold during promotions. Another strong reason why we recommend against price promotions is that no other premium cookware manufacturer engages in these promotions. Part of cultivating a high-end brand image is making sure that products are priced accordingly, and making sure that consumers are able to distinguish between lower-end and premium products. Price can be an important indicator of quality, desirability, and status in this regard. Culinarian is extremely careful about maintaining its premium brand image, and offering regular price promotions along with lower-end producers such as Star Chef and Kitchen Select would likely erode the brand positioning that Culinarian had developed. However, we have developed two alternative recommendations to price promotions that may help strengthen Culinarian’s distribution network and increase sales. First, we recommend that Culinarian strengthen the point system currently in place to reward retail salespeople with Culinarian cookware. Emphasizing this alternative incentive would help maintain good retailer relationships, and would increase the motivation of salespeople to sell Culinarian. Second, we recommend that Culinarian continue its free gift promotion in slightly altered form. Qualifying customers should be provided with a coupon that directs them to Culinarian’s website, where they can enter their information and have the gift shipped to them. By running the promotion through its website, Culinarian will remove the burden of free gift inventory costs for retailers and, more importantly, drive traffic to Culinarian’s underutilized website (currently less than 5% of sales are made through the website). Additional web traffic could increase the proportion of direct purchases (with the attendant higher margins), as well as keeping customers more connected to the company and more likely to purchase Culinarian products in the future.

The Healing Power of Poetry Essay -- Writing Essays

"The Healing Power of Poetry" The devastations and repercussions of war are inimitable, and can sometimes be left unhealed. However, men and women have had to find cures to lick their wounds and resettle the turbulence existing within their minds. In Pat Barker's emotionally powerful war novel Regeneration, we are introduced to a war journal, called the Hydra, on page 84, which served as healing tool for WWI soldiers. This journal contained articles, cartoons, poetry, letters, and all kinds of other different types of writing. Barker uses the Hydra in her novel to mark the healing power of writing in the lives of these men. Poetry therapy has a long history, being recognized as far back as the first songs chanted around the camp-fires of primitive people. To these people, the chant is what heals the heart and soul. In the English language, the word "therapy" comes from the Greek word "therapeia," which means to nurse or cure through expressive arts such as dance, song, poem and drama. The Greeks have also informed us that Asclepius, the god of healing, was the son of Apollo, the god of poetry, medicine and the historical arts (Longo). In addition, mythological beliefs say that Oceanus told Promethus that "words are the physician of the mind diseased." The use of poetry therapy has therefore been discovered by numerous cultures since the beginning of language (Longo). Once recognized for its healing power, this therapy quickly moved to the North American continent. Within the American colonies, the first American hospital to care for the mentally ill was founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin, called the Pennsylvania Hospital. This hospital is known to have included reading, writing, and then also the actual publishing of... ...f writing to these men. Not only does it convey the effects of writing, it may also project the idea that reading poetry may also be just as therapeutic. Poetry therapy is not a theme that people would generally relate to the cure of barbaric men at war, which is indeed what makes this novel so brilliant. Soldiers too have a sensitive side, and Barker has proven to acknowledge and praise it. Works Cited Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York: Plume, 1993. Lee, Stuart. "The Hydra." HTML JTAP Virtual Seminars Project. April 1998. 8 April 2004. <http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/hydra> Longo, Perie J. "Poetry as Therapy." Sanctuary House of Santa Barbara, Inc., 1996-2003. 13 April 2004. <http://www.spcsb.org/advoc/poetrytx.html> Rusche, Harry. "Lost Poets of the Great War." Emory University, 1997. 3 May 2004. <http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/>

Aztec and Inca Civilizations

I think the Aztecs were more impressive, in one of the captions I read that one of their squares was twice as large as the city of Salamanca surrounded by porticoes daily sixty thousand people are buying and selling all kinds of merchandise that the world has to offer embracing the necessaries things of life. In the same square there are some people who constantly go around watching sells and the measures used for sales these people have been known to go around and stop unfair deals or break the measures completely. The men and women who agree to be sacrificed are thrown to their backs, so they can be sacrificed to their gods and without uttering a word and remaining perfectly still while a priest comes over with a stone knife to cut their heart out. This is one of the things as to why I think the Aztecs were more impressive because of the discipline they had, even when they are having their heart cut out while they are still alive. The boys and girls were brought up differently with a few similarities. The differences for boys were they were expected to have more responsibilities such as growing to become fierce some brave and warriors, fishermen, farmers and craftsmen, like their fathers. The daughters were expected to follow their mothers and work indoors managing the house and raise the children. Something similar both boys and girls had in common was they were taught their responsibilities from a very young age, they were also expected to go to school for at least a little time between the ages ten and twenty, the school the rich or the gifted were able to attend was called calmecac, there was another school that most of the population attended who were not rich or considered gifted, which was called tepochcalli. Their (was little difference) in (Aztec religion and civil society. The tlacatecuhtli or â€Å"chief of men† controlled all the religious ceremonies) who (was also the military leader under the tlacatecuhtli were several religious and other offices which included military generals. Priests and priestesses were very important in society they acted as) scientists (and) doctors, and (taught science, art, music, dance, history, and counting. They also knew astronomy and astrology. They had to perform) very (difficult ceremonies). (Religion played an important part in Aztecs lives and was very complicated because they adopted many of the) aspects of the (people they conquered. They had three dominate gods: Huitzilopochtli, (â€Å"Hummingbird wizard† the native and) the (chief god of the tenochca, Huitzilopochtli was the war and sun god), Tezcatlipoca (â€Å"smoking mirror† chief god of the Aztecs in general) and Quetzalcoatl (â€Å"sovereign plumed serpent† widely worshipped throughout Mesoamerica and the god of civilization, priesthood and learning). Below these three gods were four creating gods who kept themselves from the human world. Under these were a large number of other gods, the most important) was (tlaloc, the rain god); chalihuitlicue, (the god of growth and Xipe, the â€Å"flayed one† a god connected with spring. The Aztecs worshipped about) one thousand (gods, but the sun god was the most important. Religious ceremonies were held in a temple called a teocalli. The temples had pools for ceremonial cleansing, gardens, living quarters for a priest, and racks to hold the skulls of victims. The most prominent part of Aztec religious life was the role of human sacrifice. It was practiced in all of Mesoamerica but the) tenochca (used sacrifice on a grand scale. We don’t know a great deal about the details, but we can successfully reconstruct its character and justification with a high level of accuracy).

Visual Aspects of Nike - 908 Words

Visual Aspects of Nike Prior to the 2012 London Olympics, Nike launched the Find your Greatness campaign, which supports a new generation of young athletes who overcome social conflicts like: race, disabilities, and dilemmas to immerse themselves as athletes. In a series of ads, Nike presents us with their spiel, greatness is not given to prodigies, we are all capable of it, which relies on the premise that everyone is capable of construing greatness to fit their own capabilities(Nike). By exemplifying Nikes uplifting confidence in those who overcome societal conflicts, the viewers are exposed to ideological strategies such as: appealing to specific viewers through the utilization of social conflicts(disabilities, race, class) and presenting solutions(hard-work) to propitiate the conflict. The campaign consists of several strategically thought-out ads that capture inspiration and motivation, through visual appeal. Appealing to the public through images encompasses the idea of follo wing the publics ideology- by alluding society through size, disabilities, and societal beliefs. Take for example, the Find your Greatness baseball advertisement. This image utilizes an abysmal societal belief: physically handicap individuals should be refrained from participating in sports to prevent further harm. Moreover, Nike urges aspiring athletes, by subtly stating, in the world of sports there are no constraints (Nike). The Baseball ad contains various features that areShow MoreRelatedMy Thanks to Professor Payte835 Words   |  4 Pagesthis course, I learned that these aspects are priorities in developing a robust essay. During progression two, which was extremely difficult, I collaborated with a group of classmates to produce a video presentation on visual rhetoric and how visualization, society, social culture, and economic status are used to attract viewers/buyers. Without a doubt, I was absolutely clueless on the topic of visual rhetoric. Despite my confusion, I found a way to understand visual rhetoric by relying on my groupRead MoreNike s Quest For Success1525 Words   |  7 Pagesfor doing so. Nike launched their â€Å"Find Your Greatness† ad campaign during the 2012 Olympics in London; however, they chose not to focus on the Olympic athletes. They share stories of everyday athletes to show that greatness is not just for the top athletes and superstars, but also everyday people. The campaign grew to a new level once #findgreatness started trending on Twitter. Athletes all around the world were sharing their stories about finding greatness using this hashtag. Nike uses TV and webRead MoreCreating A Good And Memorable Logo1299 Words   |  6 Pagesof meetings, with panels of people, with all different preferences and hopeful intentions—who knew all these different aspects went into creating a logo? The final product of these steps, however, is a logo that is made up of an enduring, memorable, and meaningful design, an intentional and stimulating arrangement, and possibly a psychological reasoning for choosing these aspects. Creating a good and memorable logo must first start with a new and interesting idea for a logo. Preferably the logo shouldRead MoreLogo Designs: Faulty When Ugly Essay1112 Words   |  5 PagesMajority of businesses today find it reasonable to represent themselves with a logo, that in which speaks for their company or foundation as a whole in its entirety. Its use has gained importance within social media, substantially. The most important aspect of a company’s platform should be the concern within the creation of the logo design because it is the standing point of a first impression, symbolizes identity, as well contributes to the appeal factor a business has amongst the masses. If attentionRead MoreEffects of Sports Stars in Advertising1250 Words   |  5 Pagesongoing of Mr. Jordans marketing efforts is Nikes Jordan Brand, created two years ago. Last year, the separate Nike division grew to $300 million, and Mr. Jordan says he wants to increase revenue to $1 billion soon † (Friedman). Time passing, Jordan is not the only one who dominate such kind of market. Following him, LeBron James, who have established an advertising company deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, Bubblicious, Upper Deck trading cards, and Microsoft, is planning to turn Mr. James into a globalRead MoreEuropean Advertising vs. American Advertising Essays872 Words   |  4 Pages------------------------------------------------- European Advertising vs. American Advertising ------------------------------------------------- Research Paper ARS 230 The main aspect of advertising is to ‘get more bang for the buck’, to make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye and gain the viewer’s attention. Throughout the years, advertising has varied in many ways from catchy slogans to iconic logos. Some may say there is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, but what if oneRead More Media Affects on the Self- image of Women Essay916 Words   |  4 Pagesglance at this article, you might say to yourself â€Å"I know what women in the media is about, its stereotypes and sexism.† What you probably don’t know is that however subtle, these visual cues are affecting women individually and collectively, in how they view themselves and other women. Relationships are a fundamental aspect of women’s behaviorism and advertising exploits this. It turns people into objects and offers products as a replacement for human contact, producing serious affects on the self-Read MoreEssay On Graphic Design1133 Words   |  5 PagesGraphic design, also known as communication design, is the practice of planning and displaying ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. Graphic design can be physical in nature, like designing posters, flyers, billboards, postage stamps, or any other physical visual form of design. Graphic design can also be digital like creating a virtual design for blogs, websites, online advertisements, and so on. Digital design also has a multitude of purposes such as commercial, professional, educationRead MoreBusiness Consultants With Experience Helping 3rd World Banks Become Successful1236 Words   |  5 Pagesspecific skill set. The main communication objective is to get qualified consultants to contact the Bank of Industry (BOI) at the provided address so the bank can interview them and fill the position. However, the message strategy is muddled, as many aspects of this ad are. Their competitive frame of reference is relatively unestablished. There may be an obscure point of difference since the BOI has received a line of credit from The African Development Bank, but there is no clear effort to differentiateRead MoreAncient Greece : The Greatest Civilization Of The Ancient World Essay1231 Words   |  5 Pagesperpetual visual evidence of their military spiritual superiority.† Although the Greek temples were for public function, entering the buildings was reserved for selected individuals and priests. Also, the Acropolis was the central point of the Panathenaia festival occurred every four years on Athena’s birthday, pilgrims gathered outside the Dipylon gate and form a procession that moved along the street called Dromos, through out the agora and up onto the Acropolis. Another characteristic aspect of this