SWOT analysis of the borders company

SWOT analysis of the borders company According to the article Borders Group, Inc.; Borders Raises $25 Million Through Equity Financing to Support Key Financial and Strategic Initiatives (2010), Borders Group sold $25 million equity finances to financier Bennett LeBow in May 2009 so it could solve a company liquidity problem. This new capital budget will strengthen Borders balance sheet which recorded liabilities as $1.3 billion and stockholders equities as $262 million (Borders group, Inc., 2010). Moreover, Borders could provide capital to help fund the transformation of the Borders brand. These include improving the store network to increase profitability and productivity and maximizing the digital opportunity, including growing Borders.com. Launched eBook store to digital approach To compete with other company, Borders launched its eBook store with more than 1.5 million titles, including thousands of free titles, available in a variety of formats, including ePub, mobile and PDF (Borders opens, 2010). In addition, a company launched the Kobo eReader and Aluratek Libre eReader on Borders.com. Both devices, which are value-priced at under $150, have surpassed sales expectations. Moreover, to provide additional value around its digital offerings, Borders also offers free books to customers download Borders application (Borders offers, 2010). From its variety digital approach, Borders can achieve customer satisfaction. Weakness: Net losses in Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores Borders had 468 Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores in 2008 summer (Milliot, 2009). However, in 2009, Borders Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores revenues decreased 8.5% (Borders Group Q4, 2010). It, moreover, is lesser consumers to go to shopping in shopping mall (Industry profile: Bookstores, 2010) so Borders has continually closed Waldenbooks stores since 2001 (Milliot, 2009). In addition, Borders closed 186 Waldenbooks Specialty Retail locations in the fourth quarter of 2009. The total 212 Waldenbooks stores were closed in 2009 fiscal year (Milliot, 2010). It seems that Waldenbooks stores are still a problem for Borders to burden net losses in several years. Missing multi-media approach Multi-media were the most significant impact in sales of the book industry because multi-media categories are low margin categories, such as music and video. Although Borders has already expanded their DVD movies section since 2006, Borders decided to decrease their multi-media section and more focused on book selling instead. As this result, in the second quarter of 2009, Borderss music sales were declined 51% and DVD sales were declined 48% (Borders Group, Inc. Q2, 2009). In fact, excluding multi-media, Borderss superstore comps declined by 13%. The sales of books are around 67% of the total sales in 2008 and 2009 (Milliot, 2010). Opportunities Strong growing in on-line retailing market The online retailing industry is increasing very fast because internet is becoming more and more popular. The data from Forester shows that the online retail sales reached $141 billion in 2008, which was an 11% increase. In the 2009, online retail sales reached $141 billion, which was a 13% increase, even faster increase than previous year (Reuters Research Inc., 2010). Borders internet service acquired a lot of experience in the past two years and the eBook is a new service which will be provided by borders in July 2, 2010. In this case, new strategies include online store and eBook which are using by Borders may help borders catch this opportunity. Increasing Book Industry The book market which Borders involves in is growing steadys because internet sales and many new assistant technologies like e-book are helping people to acquire and read books easily and conveniently. According to the report book industry trend (2009), book industrys net income would increase 4.4% to $37.3billion in 2008 from $35.7billion in 2009. Bensinger (2010) states that U.S. book sales will rise 5.8 percent from 2010 to 2015 and most of increasing are online book selling. This data clearly shows that book industry will become larger, especially the online book market, which is a great opportunity for borders to use digital strategies such as Borders.com and eBook to change the depression in the past 5 years. Threats The increasing minimum wages in US According to the article Tables calculators by subject (2010), the federal minimum wage rate increased $5.15 per hour in 1997 to reach $6.55 per hour in July, 2008 and it kept going to $8.55 per hour in 2009, and remains same in 2010. All of those increases were caused by a voter begins in 1998 relative with increased inflation rate and cost did not rise in that year (High paying, 2010). The increased minimum wages makes borders face a more serious environment. The higher cost of wages will increase burden of Borders since borders has approximately 25,000. The sharp decrease in revenue which caused by intense competition and increased cost of labors will further decrease the net income of Borders. The decrease of consumers in shopping malls of US The consumers gradually adapt to shop online and the traffic of shopping mall is gradually decreasing in US. Decreased mall consumers in US have made many retailers into trouble. Sales performance of malls in the U.S also becomes worse and excepted to remain in the same situation in the nearly future. Connolly (2009) states that Mall tenant sales declined to10.3% in Jan 2009, which is a slightly better performance than in November and December in 2008. In this case, Borders is a bookstore company which has physical stores and the companys Waldenbooks which is a brand based on mall. In this case, Borders consumer traffic also will be affected by the decrease of consumers in shopping malls and it is clearly that the profit of Borders also will be affected.

Technology and Power :: Essays Papers

Technology and Power Effective communication can both create empires and destroy them. For the former, communication is a necessity in connecting the parts of an empire, so to keep the whole sizable. An empire must keep in contact with its armies, outposts, and inner areas so to maintain order to be able to adjust its defenses in response to an enemy attack. It must also, when still growing, be able to conquer new lands and people. For the latter, unless its defenses are in communication with back up forces and resources, the only victorious defense is one that results from a battle of attrition. This essay will exam two forms of one communication technology: encoding. It will be remembered that one class or race is without representation, and has not the advantages of the press or the telegraph to bring it into communication with the intelligence of the world, and is seldom heard except in the cry of alarm and conflict along the Western frontier. --Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, United States Army, March 1879* Though written specifically about the conflicts that the United States had with the Native Americans throughout the Nineteenth century, General Miles' statement is a fact applicable to every conquest ever made. The ability to communicate effectively with one's forces during a conquest is, except perhaps, in cases where the conquest consists mainly of battles of attrition, a key factor of victory. A commander must have accurate, updated intelligence reports informing him of his conquest's military abilities and locations, any skirmishes between forces, supply routes, etc. This communication ability, as well as every piece of weaponry or tool used by the conqueror, is a direct result of human ingenuity, specifically as it is applied to technological advancement. In the second half of the 19th century, as the Western world embraced the Industrial Revolution, our nation's political powers focused their eyes on the vast lands of the Western frontier. To better understand the needs for communication technology in this conquest, let's first get a little history lesson on what happened. During this conquest of the West, an Apache Chief known as Geronimo led the Chiricahua Apaches in a series of revolts against the American tyranny that had seized Apache lands, herded its people into a Reservation, then abolished the Reservation to reclaim the land for white Americans.

Management of Parkinson’s Disease

The disease that I will be discussing in this paper is â€Å"Parkinson's Disease†. It is a disease where the brain has a progressive disorder concerning body movements such as walking, talking, writing, and swallowing. The causes of Parkinson's Disease aren't really known but scientists think it results from the deficiency of the dopamine, a chemical that sends messages across the nervous system. That deficiency affects brain cells from performing their normal functions within the central nervous system. Most signs and symptoms are muscle rigidity, akinesia, and uncontrollable tremors, which usually begin in the fingers. Other symptoms are when the voice becomes weak and high pitched, an awkward walk, and a loss of facial expression. Management Some general measures to cope with it are to find ways to remain active and useful because the disease may cause social withdrawal. Also a person might want to try to comply with a treatment program such as diet, exercise, counseling (to help relieve depression) and medications. Another thing to do is accidentproof their home to prevent falls and injuries. Finally they should wear a bracelet or neck tag to indicate your medical problem. Prevention Unfortunately there is no real way to prevent Parkinson's Disease. Most dangers are that the muscle rigidity, akinesia, and involuntary tremors will progress for an average of 10 years at which that time pneumonia or some other infection may occur and then eventually death. Other complications that will occur are dementia, severe constipation, urine retention (caused by medication), and falls and fractures caused by the inability to walk straight. Help and Support First you may want to go to a doctor and see if you have the disease if you are seeing symptoms of it. Then if you have it he will put you on a medication. You then may want to go into physical therapy to help to work with the disease and also counseling for depression. You also may want to get onto a healthy diet program and exercise regularly just to keep active and useful. If the symptoms get worse you may want to check into the American Parkinson's Disease Association, Inc. or the National Parkinson Foundation.

Argumentative Essay On Gun Control - 1153 Words

In an editorial published in the Vidette Online titled â€Å"We Need Gun Control Now More Than Ever,† the editorial board takes on the topic of the need for stricter gun control. The editorial board reports that if gun control isn’t more strictly enforced it will only create more mass shootings. They make the point that if there was stricter gun control many people would still be living, but their lives have been cut short because of mass shootings. The editorial board is correct when they go on to say enough is enough and we need to figure out a way to stop these mass shootings (â€Å"Editorial: We†). However, the board is not correct when they make the statement that putting an end to mass shooting is going to be solved by banning firearms all†¦show more content†¦In the editorial the Vidette Online they make the point that lives are more important than steel. In this statement the Vidette Online is correct. However, gun control in America is one of th e most difficult things for many people to have an open perspective on. The Vidette Online says that it appears that caring about someone’s right to a gun is more important than caring about someone’s right to live. What many people don’t understand that is many gun control advocates say that if gun laws made it much more difficult to purchase firearms and if more firearms were banned people would be much safer (Haskins). For instance, many states with the lowest crime rates including homicide rates also have the fewest limits on gun ownership (Haskins). There is data to prove that even the states with higher gun ownership rates which include Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, West Virginia, and Wyoming (Haskins). If gun-control supporters are correct about the dangers of firearms these six states would have a significantly higher crime rate (Haskins). On the other hand, many cities with low legal gun ownership rates such as Chicago have extremely high gun relate d murder rates (Haskins). It is not about the gun laws that are going to put an end to mass shootings. Another, big topic of gun control is banning semi-automatic weapons. In the Vidette Online they make the point thatShow MoreRelatedArgumentative Essay Gun Control1410 Words   |  6 Pages English 101 Argumentative/Persuasive Essay 4/12/2013 Word Count 1,255 Readability 12.3 There are new proposed gun control laws in the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut that occurred on December 14th, 2012. 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