Scenario Sauber, Inc. is a German consumer electronics company that manufactures large appliances for the home including washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, ovens, and stoves. It currently serves the European market with its sleekly designed, high-efficiency appliances. Sauber is currently exploring opportunities for an expansion to the United States. You have been hired as the Marketing Manager responsible for the U. S. market expansion. Your boss, the VP of Marketing, informs you that the product Sauber will first introduce to the U. S. market is its All-in-One washer-dryer combination appliance, which is its top seller in the European market. Currently, Sauber has 47% of the European washer-dryer market, which is 12% more than its closest competitor.

Requried:
a. List and discuss the major bases for segmenting consumer and business markets.
b. Explain how companies identify attractive market segments and choose a market-targeting strategy.
c. Discuss how companies differentiate and position their products for maximum competitive advantage.

The wall street journal reported that walmart stores inc. is planning to lay off 2,300 employees at its sam's club warehouse unit. approximately half of the layoffs will be hourly employees (the wall street journal, january 25-26, 2014). suppose the following data represent the percentage of hourly employees laid off for 15 sam's club stores. 55 56 44 43 44 56 60 62 57 45 36 38 50 69 65 (a) compute the mean and median percentage of hourly employees being laid off at these stores. (b) compute the first and third quartiles. (c) compute the range and interquartile range. (d) compute the variance and standard deviation. (e) do the data contain any outliers? (f) based on the sample data, does it appear that walmart is meeting its goal for reducing the number of hourly employees?

Which of the following would not generally be a motive for a firm to hold inventories? a. to decouple or separate parts of the production process b. to provide a stock of goods that will provide a selection for customers c. to take advantage of quantity discounts d. to minimize holding costs e. all of the above are functions of inventory.

When paul o’neill joined alcoa as ceo, he set a , that there would be zero workplace accidents. a lot of people in the organization thought this was impossible given how dangerous some aluminum-manufacturing jobs are, but alcoa’s safety record improved tremendously. as the board of governors of the american red cross considers planning, one option is to make strategic plans and then direct managers to align tactical and operational plans accordingly. another option is to have planning specialists managers across the organization make their own plans. why might this organization’s executives opt for the latter approach? check all that apply. (a) the environment is a dynamic one, and department and frontline managers can come up with more responsive plans than can central leadership. (b)resources will be better coordinated across the organization in support of the overall strategy.(c) senior leadership will have more control over the organization’s direction. (d)when managers come up with their own plans, they are likely to be more committed to following through on them.