ASDA Company Analysis

ASDA Company Analysis Asda was formed by a group of farmers from Yorkshire (North of Britain) in 1965. It expanded south in the seventies and eighties, in the process of expansion bought rival chain of superstores Gateways superstores in 1989 for  £705m. This move unexpectedly went against the company because it was very hard for the company to sell too many different products. It was almost at the brink of disaster and to cop it up had to raise money from shareholders in the years 1991 and 1993. In the year 1991, Asda recruited Archie Norman from Kingfisher as the new chief executive, and that addition returned to its roots as a food retailer, and the strategy to be cheaper highlighted it than its three large rivals. For achieving this Asda concentrated on keeping the price low rather than involving in loyalty schemes (described in detail in Asda Approach). The Road to Wal-Mart  I have long been an admirer and I went on a pilgrimage to Wal-Marts headquarters in 1994, I came away thinking they had something we have got to have. In many ways I think this is coming home.  Archie Norman, former CEO Asda. That was what the new chief executive, Archie Norman observed form Wal-Mart and applied to outstand, first of all Asda had the advantage that it had larger stores than its rivals. Next to that, Everyday low price strategy was copied, by focusing on keeping the prices low rather than putting more money on expensive advertising and promotions. This was achieved by the Roll-back campaign, this idea was also taken from Wal-Mart. Take over by Wal-Mart Wal-Mart bought Asda or in other words (as the company focus on) became part of the Wal-Mart family on 26 July 1999 for $10.8 billion. Since then, A gain of one million new customers was claimed by Asda. Even after buying Asda, it was decided the name Asda would stay. Wal-Mart is a giant U.S. retailer and has a large form of superstore, named as Wal-Marts Supercentre, which is also applied here as ASDA-Wal-Mart banner. In July, 2000, Wal-Mart name first appeared, when the Asda-Wal-Mart super centre opened in Bristol. Two more Asda-Wal-Mart super centres opened in 2000. As the Asda applied approaches from Wal-Mart, it was already following and copying Wal-Mart practice to get rid of its crisis through most of the nineties. So it was not a very big transformation for Asda, and thats why the planning to make hypermarkets and Wal-Mart style supercentres was started but it was not very easy in the UK. The reason was the barriers from the government and law [2] Introduction Asda is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK with a 16.8% of the grocery market. Which is also offering food, drink, clothing and general merchandise. It also provides a range of financial services, sold both in the supermarkets and online all over the UK.   Asda is an abbreviation of  ASquith and  DAiries The company is famous for providing the most economical products as compare to others and is known for its two famous marketing campaigns; the first one is Asda price campaign and the other is smiley face rollback campaign. [1] Asda Approach: Asda, as it made its strategy emphasis on low prices and highlighted its popular no-frills Smart Price range. As a result, Asda was crowned Lowest Price Supermarket by The Grocer magazine for the past 11 years. [1] It you go through the current strategy of Asda, which is also described on their official website in a section your Asda, How we do business, very clearly defines the Asda culture: At Asda saving money and keeping costs low is part of our culture. Saving you money every day  isnt a marketing slogan; its the single-minded focus of everyone at Asda. When were asked what it is that we do differently from other retailers what it is that gives us the ability to keep costs low and pass that on to customers in lower prices we dont point to a handful of major initiatives. We talk about everything we do all of the little things that when added together make a big difference. [3] Market share As mentioned earlier, Asda the second largest supermarket chain in the UK. Lead by Tesco and followed by Sainsbury and Morrisons Current Situation Fueling recessionary concern  Asda  yesterday reported through Wal-mart a second quarterly drop in like-for-like sales, 0.4% lower in the three months to end May 2010 as figures show that Asdas market share amonst supermarket rivals Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons, has slipped below 17%. New store openings limited growth this year as also Asda indicated that promotions and lower prices for main food products did not have expected effect on turnover and profits as customers reigned in spending. Asda acquired Netto UK stores last year, with the addition of Danish discount supermarkets operators existing UK oulets taking its number of Asda to 377 stores. Asda itself was acquired by Wal-Mart in 1999, although it was decided to stay with the Asda brand name in the UK and the figures released were are part of the second quarter results from the giant US retailer. Asda added that tax increases and cuts in government spending would make the next 18 months challenging for the company and it UK customers whilst Asda indicated that it expected that UK family disposable income would decline in the period. Tesco TSCO grocery market share fell to 30.8%, according the Kantar World Panel market share data. J Sainsbury SBRY remained in third spot with a market share of 16.1%, up from 15.9% a year earlier. Morrison MRW edged up to 11.6% from 11.4% previouly. Kantar monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K and also indicated that discount retailers Aldi, ex-Netto and Lidl held a combined market share to 6.1% compared with 6.0% a year earlier. [5] Grocery market growth slows Sainsburys and Morrisons outperform 2011/03/04 The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks ending 20 February 2011 show that the market is subdued as shoppers watch their pennies. Overall market growth slowed slightly this period to 3.9% compared to 4.2% last month. However, both Sainsburys at 5.2% and Morrisons at 4.5% outperformed, growing ahead of the market. Sainsburys market share moved up to 16.5%, compared to 16.3% a year ago, which continues their strong run, gaining share every month since March 2009. Morrisons maintains its 12.3% market share from the same period last year. Tesco and Asda performed slightly behind the market, with share now standing at 30.3% and 16.9% respectively. Fraser McKevitt, Retail Analyst at Kantar Worldpanel commented: Waitrose followed the market trend of slightly slower growth this period, but still posted increased sales of 6.6% compared to a year ago, taking its market share to 4.4%, the highest ever recorded by the retailer. [6] Asdas market share falls again Asda, the Wal-Mart-owned supermarket, saw its market share slip for the fifth consecutive month in March, as the low-priced retailer continued to suffer at the hands of rivals with more premium ranges. Comment The chain saw its market share fall from 16.9pc to 16.8pc over the 12 weeks to May 16. The monthly rolling data put Asdas year-on-year growth at 2.5pc, lagging the overall markets growth of 3.3pc. Earlier this month Asda appointed a new chief executive Andy Clarke to help turn around the chain. Asdas focus on value may be working against the company with the latest figures showing that consumers are continuing to shop at the premium end of the market, said Kantar Worldpanel, which publishes the monthly figures. While Asda suffered, upmarket rival Waitrose maintained its strong run with an increase in market share from 3.8pc to 4.1pc. It saw year-on-year growth of 12.5pc nearly four times the total grocery market growth of 3.3pc. Meanwhile, Kantar said that Tescos premium Finest Range continued to perform well. A spokesman for Asda said that the chain is addressing its under-performance: We know where we want to be, we know what we need to do, and were doing it. J Sainsbury saw its market share grow by 4.4pc, while Wm Morrison saw its share grow by 6pc. One analyst said that over the last four weeks there has been a convergence in the sales performances of the big four. [7]

Evaluation Of The New Deal Essay -- essays research papers

Franklin D. Roosevelt brought the new deal into American life in the early thirties. Its purpose was to overcome the depression. Following the depression there were many programs and acts to help the nation recover from the depression. The "forgotten Americans" were the citizens who needed the new deal to benefit their poverty-stricken way of life. These people were the blacks, women, immigrants, and the many people who suffered from the lack of monetary supplement. Unemployment was one of the biggest issues to strike the "forgotten Americans." The new deal provided helping programs such as the Social securities act, WPA, and the federal Emergency Relief Act to lower unemployment and to help those who couldn't work. Checks could be received by those who were poor because of the Social Securities Act. The WPA, led by Harry Hopkins, was built to help artists and musicians obtain a steady form of employment that would help lift the nations’ spirit. The federal Emergency Relief Act provided relief money for a limited time to those workers who had been laid off. For the black workers, the NAACP was created; it was one of the most important groups fighting for the rights of blacks and is still involved in the black community today. Minorities were still unchanged in the labors. Even under the new deal, blacks were treated unfair. Women were also treated very poorly when it came to the labor situation. They were given the so-called women's jobs, such as teac...

Russian Minority and Border Issue in Baltic States

1. Historical background * Before the 18th century Baltic region had quite few contacts with Russian culture and Ortodox civilization. Region was already integrated to the West! And there was quite little common in the history of Lithuania in one side and Estonia+Latvia in another side! * Only since the end of the 18th century we can speak about the Baltic region as a region what has a common destiny. Destiny which is not pleasure to Baltic states.Since 18th century all Baltic States were as a part of Russian Empire: * Estonia and Livonia (modern Estonia and Latvia) as a part of Swedish Empire was incorporated into the Russian Empire after the Sweden's defeat by Russia in the Great Northern War in 1721. * The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569) was partitioned in 1795 by the Russian Empire, Prussia, and Habsburg Austria. The largest area of Lithuanian territory became part of Russian Empire. * After the World War I in 1918 all baltic countries got independence.Thi s period was extremely important for national self-consciousness. * And again were occupied in 1940 by Soviet Union. After incorporation into Soviet Union Stalinistic red terror regime was started in Baltic region: systematic persecution and physical destruction of political, cultural, military elite of the nations. Mass deportations (to Siberia for example) began, also nationalisation and industrialisation were started. Strong ideological pressure by communists. So Latvians and Estonians historical hatred against Germans turned now against Russians.But memories from independence time actually helped these nations to survive Soviet period – at once we were independent, maybe will be again! * Regained their independence in 1990 after the fall of Soviet Union. Face some problems with Russia. As we can see all Baltic States was in similar position since 18th century. But if we look deeper, we can find that all these occupations made different impact on each country which caused different problems in each country. It was made by Russia delibarately. Latvia and Estonia had better industrial infrastructure before Soviet rule so it was more easy to carry on extensive industrialization here.Because of industrialisation there were lots of russian workforce brought to Latvia and Estonia. Lithuania was not so industrialized, so demanded more investments and also had more free workforce in its own rural districts, so Lithuania effectively prevented extensive Russian immigration, Latvia and Estonia couldn’t. 2. Issues after gaining independence As I mentioned before each of Baltic country faces different problems with Russia after independence. In Latvia and Estonia the biggest still remains russian minority issue. 2. 1. Russian minority issue.After gaining independence (in 1990) there left a huge russian minority in Estonia and Latvia, about 30% of population were russians. It was a huge problem to these countries bacause they wanted to emphasize their natio nal identity, unique language and culture. So the integration process of russian minorities was started just after the independence. Estonian citizenship was given only to the russians who lived in Estonia before World War II and their descendants. All Estonian residents, who had been Soviet citizens, had the right to register themselves as citizens of Russia or to choose any other citizenship.The Estonian Government actively promotes the acquiring of Estonian citizenship through naturalisation, thus reducing the number of persons with undetermined citizenship. A person who wishes to acquire Estonian citizenship by naturalisation must have been a permanent resident of Estonia for at least five years, have a basic knowledge of the Estonian language, have knowledge of the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia and the Citizenship Act. Residents without citizenship may not elect the Riigikogu (the national parliament) nor the European Parliament, but are eligible to vote in the munici pal elections.In 2012, 84. 3% of Estonia's population held Estonian citizenship, 8. 9% were citizens of other countries and 6. 8% were of undetermined citizenship. The same in Latvia – latvian citizenship was given only to the russians who lived in Latvia before World War II and their descendants. There is quite common non-citizen status in Latvia. Latvian non-citizens can be regarded neither as citizens, nor aliens or stateless persons but as persons with â€Å"a specific legal status†. They have the right to a non-citizen passport issued by the Latvian government as well as other specific rights.They have their own magazines, it‘s like uique community in Latvia. So a lot of russians don‘t bother about latvian citizenship and seek latvian citizenship only if they want to attend in political arena, because as non-citizens they can‘t do so. Otherwise there is no point for russians to learn latvian language. Russians in Latvia claim: „Latvian lang uage? Why do we need it? Americans didn‘t learn American Indian language, british didn‘t learn aborigine language. â€Å" Situation in Lithuania is totally different. There are 80% of lithuanians in Lithuania.Historically minorities in Lithuania usually knew and nowadays know lithunian language pretty well, apart some exceptions. Russia’s attitude to this issue. Russia is always complaining about russian minorities in Baltic countries. Russia state to European Union that human rights are trampled on because there is no appropriate respect to russian minorities in baltic countries. Complaints include all Balttic states although russian minority is not essential issue in Lithuania. Only 5,8% of total population are russians in Lithuania. Compared to Estonia (there is 25% of russian minority) and Latvia () , number is very low. . 2. The border issue. Estonia. Estonia had hoped for the return of more than 2,000 square kilometers of territory, named Petseri County, an nexed by Russia in 1945. The annexed land had been within the borders Estonia approved by Russia in the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty. The border treaty with Estonia was swiftly ratified by the Estonian parliament in 2005. However, the Russian minister of foreign affairs withdrew his signature from the Treaty because he objected to the Estonian parliament’s ratification law which made reference to texts mentioning the Soviet occupation of Estonia.The border remains substantially the same as the one drawn by Stalin, with some minor adjustments. Latvia. In the case of Latvia, the border treaty was not even signed till today because Russia was angered by the Latvian parliament’s desire to add a unilateral preamble condemning the Soviet occupation. Also Russia insisted that the situation of Russian-speakers in Latvia must be improved before any treaty could be signed. The Abrene District has been the main reason the two countries have not been able to agree on a border treaty. T he Latvian-Russian border is functional in de facto terms.There are two possible ways in which the situation might develop in the future. The possibility that Latvia might entirely waive the unilateral declaration or that Russia might agree to ratify a treaty with the appended declaration. Lithuania. Russia’s border problems with Lithuania were different from those with Estonia and Latvia. True, nationalist Lithuanian groups questioned the legality of Russia’s take-over of the Kaliningrad region from Germany, and the first President Vytautas Landsbergis demanded not only the demilitarisation but also the †de-colonisation† of the region.However, all Lithuanian governments recognised the existing borders with Russia. In 1997 the Lithuanian and Russian presidents finally signed a border treaty. The Russian Duma, however, refused to sign the border agreement, openly explaining that it would remove one of the last obstacles to Lithuanian NATO membership and NATO bases. The Duma also claimed that the transfer of Klaipeda (Memel) from the Russian share of German East Prussia to Soviet Lithuania in 1945 was illegal, complained about Lithuanian politicians raising territorial claims on Russia and discrimination of Russian-speakers in Lithuania, too.However it was ratificated by Lietuvos seimas (Lithunia’s Parliament) in 1999 and by Russian Duma in 2003. Russia‘s policy with Baltic countries: * With Estonia and Latvia, Russian foreign policy is focused on the protection of the rights of Russian minorities. With Lithuania, where this card is useless, Moscow has developed more subtle tactics. * Russia’s tactics take the form of oil sanctions, ‘gas isolation’ and dissuasion of Western firms from investing in Baltic energy projects. * Russian interest: Baltic states as a window to Europe. Baltic States as an obstacle for Russian trade and communication with Western Europe.

Down Syndrome Characteristics

Down Syndrome is named after John Langdon Down, an English Physician who first described the set of characteristics that have long been associated with the genetic abnormality. The chromosomal aberration is an additional full or partial copy of the 21st chromosome which causes a change in the developmental arch of the organism (child) and therefore the developmental differences.   There is no definite cause for the presence of Down Syndrome than the random presence of this mutation.   There is a higher incidence of Down Syndrome births to mothers as their age increases, but there is no familial or genetic component. Physical Traits Short stature:   Often a child can be diagnosed based on the ratio of length and width of the bones in the finger.   Adult males average a height of five foot one inch and adult females average four foot eight inches.    The stature issue is also reflected in difficulty with balance, short, broad fingers and hands and later motor.    A Flat Nasal Ridge: a flattening of the face and large tongue often contribute to sleep apnea.    Wide Spread Feet:   Students with Down Syndrome usually have an extra large space between their big and second toes.    This creates some challenges for coordination and mobility.    Neurological Traits Intellectual deficits:   Children with Down Syndrome have mild (IQ or Intelligence Quotient of 50 to 70) or moderate (IQ of 30 to 50) intellectual disabilities, although a few have severe intellectual disabilities with an IQ from 20 to 35.    Language:   Children with Down Syndrome often have stronger receptive (understanding, comprehension) language than expressive language.   In part, it is because the facial differences (flat nose ridge and a thick tongue, often attached to the bottom of the mouth and requiring a simple surgery).    Children with Down Syndrome are capable of making intelligible language, but require speech-language therapy and lots of patience in order to master articulation.    Their physical differences create articulation challenges, but children with Down Syndrome are often anxious to please and will work hard to create clear conversation. Social Traits Unlike other disabilities such as Autism Spectrum Disorders which create difficulties with social skills and attachment, children with Down Syndrome are often enthusiastic to engage other people and are very social.   This is a reason that inclusion is a valuable part of a child with Down Syndromes educational career. Students with Down Syndrome are often very affectionate, and may benefit from social training that includes helping students identify socially appropriate and inappropriate interactions. Motor and Health Challenges Weak gross motor skills and a tendency of parents to isolate their children may lead to long-term health problems, including obesity and a lack of aerobic and gross motor skills.   Students with Downs Syndrome will benefit from physical education programs that encourage aerobic activity.   As children with Down Syndrome age, they will have health challenges related to their physical difference.   They are prone to arthritis due to the skeletal stresses related to their short stature and their low muscular tone. They often do not get enough aerobic education and can often suffer from heart disease.   Co-Morbidity Often students with disabilities will have more than a single (primary) disabling condition.   When this occurs, it is referred to as Co-Morbidity.   Although some sort of co-morbidity is common in all disabilities, some disabilities are more likely to have co-morbid pairs.   With Down Syndrome, it can include schizophrenia, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Being attentive to the symptoms is essential to providing the best sort of educational support.