Lickity Inc. Company analysis

Background Lickity Inc. is one of the foods producing companies in Malaysia dealing with supply of variety cakes. The company was founded in the year 1990 and operated a number of franchised stores within Kuala Lumpur. The stores were strategically located near major tourist shopping market segments in Kuala Lumpur. Lickity attracted a number of investors in the 1990s who desired to acquire franchise store with the company since the brand dominated food market (Wood et al 26).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Lickity Inc. Company analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Description of the Company The company’s supply chain management ensured incorporation of limited product line for the purposes of reducing unnecessary wastes during manufacturing and marketing processes. Their product cakes were recognized for high quality ingredients sold at affordable proportions depending on consumer need. The cake s were full of cream and served all social classes and considered fit for all occasions including birthday parties. Lickity’s product portfolio comprised of twenty variety cakes including portable three-slice-cake served and eaten instantly since the pack contained required cutlery. Traditional moon cake was prepared specially for patrons who preferred enjoying in store eating within various shopping centres. The company experienced financial problems owing to increased rates in operational activities. Such expenses included rent payments across all stores as well as increase in cost of raw materials and other resources required due to high level of taxes (Wood et al 26). Lickity did not apply modernized system within their international market communication mix. They relied on traditional means of using retailers as the only means through which they reach customers. They heavily depended on distributions through franchised stores to generate revenue. Another problem was on t he composition of labour force where even students were considered for employment. Such strategy was used for the purposes of reducing cost of production. The company did not invest much in training and development of its staff and therefore experienced poor management strategies within the food and beverage market. Due to lowered costs of production and quality products, their brand was well positioned in the market attracting multitude of customers. However, the profit levels decreased since the year 2000, this was due to stagnation experienced within various segments of the supply chain (Wood et al 26).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Their products were based on unique qualities such as distinctive taste and shape of which sufficiently attracted customers. However, the stated objectives and mission statement are capable of driving any company when applied and implem ented appropriately. This should have enabled Lickity revive company’s marketing strategies based on global brand management within the segments it had experienced worst performances (Wood et al 26). Review of main ingredients should have been done on a monthly basis, the same to use of modern equipment and application of computerized technology in monitoring of supply chain. This should have been preceded by careful evaluation on market size, consumer behaviour towards food products within the different international market segments (Wood et al 26). Problem Lickity’s popularity before financial woos of 2000 was based on excellent services and prime quality products. The company benefited from market monopoly where its dominance was felt in most market segments (Wood et al). There were no competent competitors from the initial stages of operation hence Lickity enjoyed supplying customers with products at will. There was lack of properly organized sales and marketing te am with profound strategies capable of capturing significant customer base within Malaysian market. Global market had adopted the use of internet in dispatching products, most consumers found it easier to place orders via company’s websites. However, Lickity still relied on their manual system of delivery which experienced drastic fall on customers (Wood et al 26). Lickity was associated with poor management style especially on resources within supply chain stores. The results could be noticed on the drastic drop on sales over the last ten years since the year 2000. Effects of economic downturn further added to the company’s financial woo. Marketing team did not recognize the importance of company’s brand name within the market. Customers usually purchase products based on brand position within the market, brands within the food industry associated with healthy products appear more attractive to consumers since health is a priority. Lack of thorough inspection b y the management on franchises is also considered as great contributor towards Lickity’s financial problems (Wood et al 26).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Lickity Inc. Company analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the same time adjustments on consumer tastes was not easy owing to different consumer preferences towards their health. This calls for the need for robust management team capable of making profitable adjustments within the core strategies. Inexperienced labour force is at times the mother of adversity within such companies (Pride et al). Competition was stiff within the food and beverage industry with such aggressive moves and strategies applied by competitors such as Maxims and queens. This was attributable to the nature of healthy products they offer consumers compared to Lickity. Consumers became health conscious hence preferred light low-fatty cakes as well as fruit cakes. This led to mass exodus of customers from in-store purchase of cakes. The operations from franchise stores recorded low sales leading to hefty overheads which contributed towards the company’s instability. Most consumers preferred making their purchases on-line hence worked with sophisticated companies. Reduction in the purchase of birthday party cakes was attributed to the fact that most customers organized such events in fast food restaurants. The competitors operated on strategic marketing where they target working class within the upper-market since most of them were usually loyal to the brand. Growth of other coffee-houses alongside baked products such as Starbucks uses branded products creating easy recognition and at the same time reward loyal customers (Starbucks Corporation 1). Level of hygiene matters since consumers’ value quality despite the kind of pricing mechanism used (Johlke and Dale 265-277). Problem Analysis Majority of the problems discussed could be at tributed to poor management principles and use of unqualified workforce. There was great competition from within food industry and international market. There was possibility of lack of workable strategies owing to lack of serious management team (Johlke and Dale 265-277). Lickity experienced its first financial drawback in the year 2000 leading to reduction of stock price to below $10 per share. The other problem was based on consumer health concerns; the products had high carbohydrate content considered harmful to health hence making consumers avoid Lickity cakes. Such incidences of closure affected the company’s profitability negatively (Johlke and Dale 265-277). Financial support can be obtained through varied activities including from financial institutions. There is opportunity for the company to generate more through on-premise sales. Lickity can also utilize fees and royalties from the Franchises, arguably organization of the supply chain determines to a greater exten t level of success attained by business companies (Johlke and Dale 265-277).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Alternative Solutions One of the possible solutions to Lickity is to consider forming partnership with other modernized company’s for the purposes of technology improvement. This should be accompanied by incorporating ways on product modification for the purposes of satisfying current consumer needs and tastes. At the same time Lickity requires recruitment of professionals with the ability of predicting and analysing market trends (Johlke and Dale 265). Use of internet in advertising should be considered by the company since majority of the clients use internet and social sites for communication based on purchases and deliveries (Johlke and Dale 265-277). There is profound need to work out on the company’s business models with change of strategy on working within recommended market segments which would enable positive experiences despite expected market uncertainties. Extensive training of marketing professionals is required especially within the international market. Diversification of product portfolio should be considered since consumers prefer to purchase from one-stop shop. Pricing techniques used by the company requires change since they deal with both domestic and international clients, such pricing as geographical pricing techniques should be used in this case. Nature of product’s quality, pricing and marketing strategies should vary depending on the demands of the market supplied with the products. Service marketing plays a vital role in making or breaking an organisation (Johlke and Dale 265-277). Excellent services tend to be remembered for all the good reasons which leave customers with a sense of delight, hence they remain loyal. On the other hand, a poor experience always leaves a bitter feeling which deters customers. Therefore satisfaction, value and quality are essential for a successful marketing service venture (Services Marketing). Works Cited Johlke, Mark Dale, Duhan. â€Å"Testing Competing Models of Sales Force Com munication.† Journal of Personal Selling Sales Management, 21 (2000): 265-277. Pride, Rundle-Thiele, Waller, Elliot Palandino, Ferrell. Marketing. Milton:John Wiley, 2007 Starbucks Corporation 2009, Company Profile: Reproduced in Business Source  Premier EBSCOhost. 18 Nov 2012. https://www.starbucks.com/ Services Marketing. 2010. Web. Wood et al. Management Problem Solving Frameworks- Tools Techniques. Sydney, McGraw-Hill, 2009. p 26. 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OPEC CARTEL Essay â€Å"OPEC As a CARTEL† There are two kinds of extreme market structure and they are perfect competition and imperfect competition. In a perfectly competitive market there are many numbers of sellers and many numbers of buyers selling and buying homogeneous products, therefore there is very little impact of a single buyer or seller changing the price of his/her product. In an imperfect competitive market there are few sellers and these sellers have some control over the prices and output of the product. Here, in this kind of market the whole market is affected by an individual changing his/her product price. In USA most of the industries fall between these two extreme market structures. But in this essay we’ll talk about oligopoly. It is imperfect competitive market state therefore here there are few no. of sellers. Oligopoly covers many kinds of industrial behaviours and structures because of its broad nature. 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There are many industries in oligopoly conditions are automobile, cigarette, malt beverages (beer), small arms ammunition, oil and petroleum, etc. There are many kinds of oligopolies, a number of different oligopoly models have been structured. But we are going to further discuss about the structure of CARTEL. But before that if u examine all oligopoly models have a similar thing i.e. ‘The behaviour of any given oligopolistic firm depends on the behaviour of other firms in the industry comprising oligopoly’. According to the traditional economic theory the producer who is at the stage of profit maximizing and also has some market power (either due to oligopoly or monopolistic competition) would have set marginal cost equal to marginal revenue i.e. MC=MR. A cartel is an organisation of independent firms coming together, to control and limit the production and increase and decrease of price and profit. 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There was a 28% price hike in private international cartels (cartels formed by one or more nations). Domestic cartels where at 18%, less than 10% domestic cartels failed to raise the market price. This study was possible after several economic studies and legal decisions. There are some differences in public and private cartels. It is said that public cartels are less harmful than private cartels because they are operated in the presence of government private cartels are more effective and, hence, possibly harmful, though there is no proof to prove this right. Government has all the authorities to establish and enforce the rules relating to prices, output and other such matters; this is in the case of public cartels. Examples of public cartels are export cartels and shipping conferences. There are also depression cartels permitted in some countries this type of cartel helps in stabilising the required price and production. For example, in Japan such type of cartel is allowed in steel, aluminium smelting, ship building and various chemical industries. In United States during the time of great depression of 1930, in industries such as coal mining and oil production public cartels were allowed by United States and they also remained after the World War-II. Germany’s economy was also affected by these cartels during the inter–war period. There were international cartels formed between governments of some nations by signing an agreement it was called as international commodity agreement which covered products such as coffee, sugar, tin, and oil (OPEC). Private Cartels are having huge different than public cartels, an agreement is signed on terms and conditions that provide mutual advantages, these terms and conditions should not be detected by outside parties. Private cartels are responsible for violating the antitrust Laws. Game theory means studying the oligopolistic behaviour of a series of strategic actions of a firm and reaction of the rival firm. According to this theory cartels are unstable, due to the behaviour of members of a cartel is like the behaviour of a player who has a dominant strategy in a game. If a member does not abide by the rules in the agreement that member will make more profit than by following the agreement. The situation would be worse if all the partners break the agreement. Cartels do not sustain for a long run because members have cheating incentives. A Cartel can exist for only 5 to 10 years this was found by deep study of cartel. If the members intend to cheat on the agreement in order to earn short term profit so that they could cover the long term losses this depends on the situation if they have short term profits through break down of cartel than they’ll possibly break it down. How difficult it would be for a firm to, find out that other firms are following the agreement or not. If the other firms are not following than they are cheating and therefore the cartel becomes unstable. There are few ways to keep watch on a cartel: 1) Number of firms in the industry, 2) Characteristics of the products sold by the firms, 3) Production cost of each member, 4) Behaviour of demand, and 5) frequency of sales and their characteristics. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was initially created with efforts of 5 countries and then later on joined by 9 other countries. It is an intergovernmental organization which was formed by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, on September 10 – 14, 1960, in Baghdad. These five founding members were later on joined by nine other members: Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962-2009), Libya (1962), United Arab Emirate (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973), Angola (2007), Gabon (1975-1994). Ecuador suspended its membership from December 1992 – October 2007. Initially headquarter of OPEC was in Geneva, Switzerland, and after 5 years it was moved to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965. OPEC was found with some objectives. The objective of OPEC is to manage and unify petroleum polices among member countries and thereby secure the stability in the prices for petroleum producers. It was necessary that flow  is maintained in supplying petroleum at an economical rate, to the consuming countries, provided that the members investing in this industry get a fair return of capital. They also have a unique strategy that is allotting the production quota to a member country. This system helps in maintaining and stabilizing the price to a certain level. Developing its collective vision with some objectives and creating its secretariat, in Geneva and then in 1965, in Vienna, OPEC adopted a ‘Declaratory Statement of Petroleum Policy in Member countries’ in 1968. This policy stated that it is absolute right of the member nations to have a permanent rule over their natural resources and use them in order to increase the rate of national development. During 1970s OPEC became an international importance in the world market of petroleum and crude oil, it had a full control over the pricing. During this period there was a steep price rise in petroleum products. In 1980s the prices began to fall down as people started shifting from petroleum products. OPEC’s market share fell heavily to the third of the early rise. At this time member countries had to bare a heavy loss, but soon they regained their position with a little price hike almost half the early rise. OPEC started recovering its market share slowly. During the period of 1990s OPEC had a fall in prices same as it had in 1980s, but it had a solid recovery this time. During this period the prices were stable at some extent than in 1970s and 1980s. One of the member nation left OPEC and one suspended its membership. In 21st century OPEC had an innovative plan which helped in stabilising the prices of petroleum products in early years. The prices began to rise from 2004 and still it’s rising. During this decade one member activated its membership and another member suspended it. OPEC has not proved to be a successful cartel because it was unable to control the prices of petroleum products. Though OPEC had few members and that helped in reducing the conflicts. It was easy for the members to monitor one another’s activities and thereby adhering to the agreement. It was also easy to coordinate the price policy and the output policy according the agreement. It is simpler to form a cartel with few members. OPEC as a cartel is working effectively because 3/4th of its oil reserve is regulated by four countries they are: Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. There is only one threat to OPEC as a cartel, and that is increased production by  non-members. In the short run the price elasticity of demand for oil is quite low, according to this statement if enough production restrictions are implied than it will give a price hike this is a favourable environment for a cartel. Following this in 1973 OPEC contributed to two third of the total oil production of the world. Today if we compare the prices of crude oil than they are much higher than the early stages. To survive for such long period of 50 years OPEC had to face many challenges to fulfil its objective. The first challenge in front of OPEC is how to overcome the problem of supply of crude oil in all the countries keeping in mind the interest of the member countries of OPEC. Initially OPEC used to supply its crude oil to all type of countries like developing countries, under developed countries and developed countries but later on it was not able to fulfil the demand as it kept on increasing. Therefore, OPEC decided to first fulfil the demand of those countries with greater need and who provided with a fair deal and then look forward to those countries that had less demand for crude oil and offered a cheap deal. This decision was taken keeping in mind its own profit. The second challenge for OPEC is the NON-OPEC countries i.e. countries which are not members of OPEC. If these countries started production at high rate then these countries would take the major market share of OPEC and that was not good for member countries. NON-OPEC countries had no restrictions in production and pricing of crude oil. These NON-OPEC countries would take the short run profits because they can vary their prices. The third problem faced by OPEC is that United Nations (UN) was constantly pressuring OPEC in order to stop the wastage of gas which is emitted in high amount due to the usage of old technology. Technological issue is the fourth challenge for OPEC because they used old technology and to install new one it would take time and the market demand would not be fulfilled. Updating the technology was a big issue. The fifth issue was about maintaining large reserves of crude oil in order to sustain the sudden shift in demand. The sixth that is the last challenge is in the form of question that how OPEC can overcome the financial problems occurring during the production of oil because producing oil needs heavy capital investment? There is a big risk taking and uncertainties involved in this process and these uncertainties can be overcome with the help of proper  planning. If OPEC is unable to fulfil the challenge than there, is a fear of losing the whole market share against the NON-OPEC countries. Analysis of OPEC’s behaviour can be done through certain aspects. First, relying on a structural model is better than relying on the estimation approach. According to the analysis done in first step, in last 25 years all the theoretical models constructed for OPEC should be taken and then they should be properly tested. After this we compare and contrast it with equilibrium model of dynamic oligopoly. In the second step we consider organization as a whole and not considering the supply functions of individual countries. By doing this we would be able to estimate the collusiveness of OPEC. This helps us in identifying the switching periods between collusive and non-cooperative behaviour. OPEC has its own collusive behaviour and in many cases there was break down and price war between member countries. Price of crude oil depends on the demand and supply of it. There can be different variations maybe low or high, in price of crude oil, due to the imbalance in demand and supply – maybe little demand and more supply or more demand and little supply. The price of crude oil will be high if demand is more and supply is less and price will be low if supply is more and demand is less. Sometimes the prices fall down due to the non-cooperative act of members of OPEC or due to going against the agreement and cheating. Sometimes the reason for high price of crude oil may be other factors like taxation, governments of the countries of the world, natural disasters, etc. Factors like transportation, climate, capital, machinery, cost of production, etc. affect the prices of crude oil. As other cartels, OPEC also tries to raise the prices of crude oil by reducing the quantity of production of crude oil. When the price raises each member of cartel wants to increase the production by going against the agreement, so that they can get large amount of profit. OPEC member countries frequently agree to the reduction of production but then they cheat on the agreement. During the period of 1973-1985 OPEC was successful in maintaining the high-prices of crude oil, with the help of cooperation of  member countries. The price of crude oil per barrel rose steeply from $3 per barrel in 1972 to $11 per barrel in 1974 and then to $35 in 1981. After that there was absence in maintaining cooperation between member countries due to the argument on the topic of increasing production. Due to this the prices of barrel fell down by $13 per barrel in 1986. In this case OPEC has failed to work effectively because it was lacking in coordination and cooperation between member countries and this resulted in the instability of price of crude oil. According to the study there are approximately 1.5 trillion barrels of oil reserve in world. Out of which 81.33% i.e. 1193 billion barrels, is with the member countries of OPEC. In 2010, OPEC member countries produced 29.2 million barrels per day of crude oil that is about 41.8% of the world total output; this has increased to 69.7 million barrels per day. According to OPEC they have sufficient crude oil reserves that can last for 112 years. According to OPEC’s World Energy Model (OWEM) the demand for crude oil in 2006 was 84.7 million barrels per day. Due to the continuous growth in world’s economy the demand for crude oil in 2015 will rise to 96.1 million barrels per day, 102.2 million barrels per day in 2020 and 113.3 million barrels per day in 2030. OPEC as a cartel was unsuccessful to a certain extent and successful to a certain extent. There was high variation observed in prices of crude oil due to the instability of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Lack of cooperation and coordination amongst the members of OPEC was seen because each individual member was tempted to earn high amount of profits and therefore he/she would cheat with the agreement. There was one thing observed that, when the price of crude oil rise than the members of OPEC intend to go against the agreement and they try to increase their production in order to earn short-run high profits. During any crisis in the world OPEC was not able to keep itself steady. There were some technological related issues with the members of OPEC. They used the old machinery to produce the crude oil and to overcome that they started updating their machineries, but during this period they were unable to handle the market demand for crude oil and therefore t hey failed to provide it to other  countries which resulted in price hike. If innovation is carried out properly than the cost of production will reduce to certain point and this will react in high rise in demand in international market, which will directly affect the profits of members of OPEC. In conclusion I would like to say that OPEC is a best form of oligopoly and both suit to each other because of the continuous development of OPEC as a cartel. In past 50 years OPEC has faced many heavy tasks; it failed to fulfil some tasks but still tried to recover the losses. OPEC has the largest oil reserve in the world. Amongst the NON-OPEC countries main competitor of OPEC is U.S.A because it has one of the largest reserves of crude oil. If we see in today’s market than OPEC as a cartel has a higher market share and it is the longest and largest living oil producing organization. OPEC is one of the longest survived cartels in the world. REFRENCE 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel 2) http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm 3) http://www.scribd.com/doc/55875469/Oligopoly-OPEC 4) http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/press_room/179.htm 5) Principles of Microeconomics (Indian edition) 4th edition, by N. Gregory Mankiw, published by Cengage learning India Pvt. Ltd., 356-357 6) Principles of Economics 8th edition, by Karl E. Case and Ray C. Fair, published by Dorling Kindersley India Pvt. Ltd., 310-311

Postpartum Depression Essay -- Health Medicine Reseach Papers

Postpartum Depression In 2001, Andrea Yates, a Texas mother, was accused of drowning her five children, (aged seven, five, three, two, and six months) in her bathtub. The idea of a mother drowning all of her children puzzled the nation. Her attorney argued that it was Andrea Yates' untreated postpartum depression, which evolved into postpartum psychosis that caused her horrific actions (1) . He also argued that Andrea Yates suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of her fourth child, and that she attempted suicide twice for this very disorder ((1)). What is postpartum depression, and how can it cause a mother to harm her very own children, altering her behavior towards her children in a negative way? One in ten women experience postpartum depression ((2)), a condition that often goes undiagnosed, and occurs in women after childbirth. A reason for the lack of diagnosis of postpartum depression is a milder, more common form of depression after childbirth, often known as the "baby blues". Th e baby blues occur in mothers three to five days after childbirth ((2)) , and may last for as little as a couple hours to a couple weeks ((4)). These symptoms include * mild sadness * tearfulness * anxiety * irritability, often for no clear reason * fluctuating moods * increased sensitivity * fatigue ((2)) The treatment for the baby blues are frequent naps, a proper diet, and plenty of support from partners, family, and friends ((3)). Generally, the baby blues subside without any sort of serious treatment. However, the baby blues may evolve into postpartum depression. One study discovered a link between postpartum depression and the baby blues: out of the women that were diagnosed with postpartum depres... ...lso drop during childbirth, and thus may be a factor in postpartum depression ((4)). Consequently, ways to prevent another Andrea Yates from going too far is to treat postpartum depression seriously. Because the baby blues are so common, postpartum depression and psychosis are often misdiagnosed as the baby blues, or even more frequently, not diagnosed at all. Thus, postpartum depression must be taken seriously. References 1)Study Works! Online: What is Postpartum Depression? http://www.studyworksonline.com/cda/content/article/0,,NAV4-42_SAR1208,00.shtml 2)Postpartum Depression and Caring for Your Baby http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_newborn/home/ppd_baby.html 3) Postpartum Coping: the Blues and Depression http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=HQ01243 4)Frequently Asked Questions about Postpartum Depression http://www.4woman.gov/