History of Retail Industry Essay Example for Free

History of Retail Industry Essay Department stores were gradually introduced which gave customers a chance to choose between brands and products at one location. From JC Penney founded in 1902, to Piggly Wiggly in 1916 who was the first to offer checkout lines and self service. In 1961, Target was founded with Wal-Mart in 1962 and Kohls right behind them in 1963. It wasn’t long and Best Buy, Kmart, TJ Maxx, Costco, and many more retail stores opened their doors to the industry of shopping. It didn’t take long for the retail industry to take off and attract consumers of all kinds with the convenience of shopping and with it ame an experience as well. From department stores to grocery stores they transformed their ways of selling to gives customers not only the products they want but the atmosphere that was appealing. With Wal-Mart opening its doors in 1962 it made the 1960s the revolution in the world of retail. Today, retail industry is booming, yes with the recession it hurt some of the smaller businesses but for the most part they have stayed afloat. We did lose some big retail businesses in 2008 such as Linens N Things, Mervyns and Circuit City. With this being said, the retail industry needs to make stakeholders understand the role in the industry to help protect and improve their reputation as well as build the confidence in consumers. Corporate stakeholders have to be more than a moral responsibility to the company. They need to be a part of much more from how much consumers spend to supporting key policy issues and in the end will change the shareholder value. Social, Economic, and Political Setting The retail industry does a lot for the social and economic setting. Wal-Mart alone does a great deal for the communities where their stores are located. Not only do they provide jobs for around 1. 5 million people, they also have competitive pricing to help local economies. Their competitive pricing brings in more than 312 billion dollars. So not only is Wal-Mart a thriving company they believe in a family work culture as well as supporting their local communities. Many retail stores leave a big footprint in their communities and worldwide. They rally around charities and do their part to put a stamp on the map. On the other hand, most in the retail industry try to keep business and politics separate which seems to be the safest position to take. Some retail businesses like Wal-Mart and Coca Cola are open to their affiliation with the Republican Party and seems to help their image with the traditional consumers but most do not want to take a chance of offending their customer base. Domestic and International Ethics Starbucks who opened their doors in 1971 to forty-one year later they have become a global company with more than 19,000 stores in 60 different countries. They have made the Ethicsphere Institute’s World most Ethical Company List for six straight years. They introduced the Ethical Coffee sourcing program in 2001 to help farms in Central and South America improve their crops while remaining environmentally aware. They helped local nurseries plant over 200,000 seedlings to restore natural forest cover as well as decreasing the use of herbicides and chemical fertilizers with farmers. They also helped train farmers to help reduce the use of carbon by replacing more than 200,000 trees. Ecological and Natural Resources The retail industry has regulations made by the Environmental Protection Agency that they have to comply by to meet regulatory obligations as well as helping reduce environmental impacts such as waste management, product selection and construction of new facilities. Retail businesses may have state regulations to comply by as well as Federal regulations. Many in the retail industry are taking great strides to help impact the environment. There are four areas that highly impact the environment. One is the choice of raw materials for clothing has big impacts on the environment. Cotton is known for its rigorous use of water and pesticides and the so called natural dyes that rely on the harvest of millions of insects to reach the â€Å"natural†color. The second is manufacturing. Textile dyeing and finishing mills can be high producers of water pollution and carbon dioxide emissions and by improving their mills to reduce water, energy and chemical use can really reduce the footprint of their global supply chain. The third is transportation which unfortunately manufacturers and retailers are on other ends of the globe which any mode of transportation sends some sort of pollution into the environment. The last impact is consumer care which many consumers may not even be aware of how a few simple steps can help reduce environmental impacts tremendously. One is washing in cold water and air drying if possible. Dry cleaning is another risk to the environment due to the chemical that is used to clean the clothes called perchloroethylene which has been known to cause many health effects with exposure to this in high levels. So it is not just the retail businesses that can help make changes to better our environment it also falls on the shoulders of designers to use fabrics that don’t require dry cleaning and to the consumers that purchase to make choices that help the environment. Clean by Design launched their program in 2009 to help reduce the environmental impacts by using buying power of multinational corporations by improving processes in the environment to reducing emissions and waste. It is astonishing to see by 2011 that Target, Wal-Mart, Gap, Levis, Hamp;M, Nike and Li amp; Fung are all participating in this program and hopefully they corporations will continue to get in board and the list will continue to grow. Social Issues In today’s lively and unstable business world of retail industry they are always faced with social issues such as customer choices, brutal competitors, complex global economy and the use of the internet. Retailers are constantly trying to find new ways to make their business more profitable and ways to get more shoppers through their doors. Retail industry has caught on to engaging with society and the consumers on a personal level. They are adapting and changing to the environment around them and constantly developing new ways to serve their customers with trust and brand loyalty. Just like Timberland Company did in 2008 by making a â€Å"nutrition label† on their shoe box to show the environmental impact it has from beginning to delivery of the shoe. The company did this in hopes of giving consumers the information they need to make environmentally smart decisions on buying. Not only did Timberland Company do this they also comprised their shoe box that is made up of 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste fiber, no chemical glues and only soy-based inks to print labels. Timberland is just one of many retail stores that take a stand on social issues. Target is another big business in the business industry that comes to mind. From opening its doors in 1988, Target has always tried to be a step above in the industry with the competitive edge logos to their reputation for low prices and offering organic foods in their superstores. They always try to maintain their mission statement which reads, to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.  ® brand promise. They not only cater to the consumers they are extremely involved with schools and the communities that surround them. They are partnered with St. Jude which is a huge plus for them and provide disaster relief and are always raising funds for our country’s children. Another company that has taking great strides to make their place in this economy just as their mission statement says to â€Å"Inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Rating of the industry’s overall social responsiveness I believe the retail industry for the most part is trying to take the right steps to make a difference in the economy and help insure the environment is first priority. Over the years we have seen so many big corporations leave footprints in the global economy as well as making the appropriate changes to better the community and environment we live in. References Retail. (2010). Retrieved from http://www. ceres. org/roadmap-assessment/sector-analyses/retail Wal-Mart. (2012, December 9). History timeline. Retrieved from http://corporate. walmart. com/our-story/heritage/history-timeline https://corporate. target. com/about/history/Target-through-the-years (2012, March). In Starbucks Ethical Coffee Sourcing and Farmer Report. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from http://assets. starbucks. com/assets/6e52b26a7602471dbff32c9e66e685e3. pdf Clean by design. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. nrdc. org/international/cleanbydesign The evolution of retailing. (2009, 12). Retrieved from http://www. kpmg. com/CN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/Evolution-retailing-o-200912. pdf Ken, A. (2012, March 31). Wal-mart company.

Eleanor Roosevelt :: essays research papers

Eleanor Roosevelt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although shy and awkward as a child, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Born on October 11, 1884 to Anna Hall and Elliott Roosevelt, Eleanor suffered great loss early in life with t he death of both parents. After being raised by her grandmother, she met a distant cousin, falling in love and married Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1905. She bore 6 children, with one son dying during infancy due to influenza.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Roosevelt served many types of council and learned the ropes of politics very quickly. With her husband and uncle, Theodore â€Å"Teddy† Roosevelt, both very much involved in politics, she took an interest in civil rights. Eleanor has been voted most admired woman in America because of her compassion and many acts of good deeds. Some of her many accomplishments, including defying segregation laws by sitting between the whites and blacks at a Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Birmingham, truly showed America that she was passionate for her thoughts and beliefs, never being afraid to stand up and let people hear her voice. Eleanor also influenced the Army Nurse Corps to open its membership to black women and then joined the NAACP board of directors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The content of Eleanor’s speech is to reach out and get books for rural areas across the United States. You can tell in her speech that she has a passion for education and wanted to help the people of poor communities get access to education through libraries and books. She stressed the importance of making books more accessible for those that had a true desire to read and wanted to show people how much they could learn by opening a book during their leisure time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Culture always plays a big role in the receiving of any speech. You can not connect with your audience if there’s no interest in the topic.

Important step for starting company Essay

NAME: SUNEET KAUR To start a New Business or Project is very exciting no doubt but the challenges to get into the system is very heart rendering. The same thing happened to me, when I took upon myself a task to develop a Soft ware Product Development system whereby I required office space, systems, software development team, power back and miscellaneous small activities, and naturally all these requires budget, as I really didn’t had any finance at my disposal. To over come this problem, the foremost thing I needed to do was chalk out Business Plan for myself, as it is the foremost thing to do. It is a prerequisite to not only define all the Propositions for your business plans but also to estimate your budget and chalk out the source of funding. FINANCIAL PLANNING To finance my project, I took upon initiative the task of estimating the financial planning, which included initial estimate of resource requirements, associated costs, revenue, identifying operating costs and to prepare budgetary plans. It also involved cash flow to ensure that there are no gaps between income and expenditure, analyzing breakeven levels and forecasting profits. PLANNING FOR SOURCE OF REVENUE To find out the source that can really finance your business and fulfill your dreams, prepare a well planned Budget including all your recurring cost that will go into a Cost Center like Income or value going into the Cost Center, Cost of Office Space as well as infrastructure, Wages or Salaries of the employees, Cost of power back up and communication systems, Cost of miscellaneous activities etc. After charting out the business and Budget plan, I set upon the task to search the source of funding not only for the start up of the business but also expanding the business, and this source of funding is a back bone of your company. SOURCE OF FUNDING The borrowing depends on number of factors like purpose of funds, your borrowing requirement, repayment period, the availability of security or collateral etc. Bankers will never lend against the full equity value of property, the availability of the loan will be limited by the equity or residual value of property. All these points count if you intend to search for the source of funding. There are several sources for funding, and for me I started with: SHORT TERM AND MEDIUM TERM BANK LOAN I took upon myself to get the short term and medium term bank loan. For the repayment of this loan it took me two to five years. For sum of $5000, the security is required in the form of private or company property, fixed or floating charge over the books debts and assets of the business. Interest is fixed at between 2 per cent and 5 percent over the base rate at the time the loan was taken out. Arrangement fee is also charged on new loans. This loan system was best suited for me as the rate of interest is just fixed for 2 to five percent. It is more advantageous then the other loans because security required is very less. BUSINESS ANGELS Business Angels invests in new and developing enterprises. They, rather than start their own business, invest in someone else’s Investment proposals and initiatives. Those companies who have skilled and technically qualified people, business venture, capital and skill gives a greater chance to succeed with financing from business Angels. There is a site called as a Business Angels Pty. Ltd. Who provide the facility for meeting the both angels and prospective Entrepreneurs. The needs of the business are matched with the angels’ criteria. There are lots of other sources of financing too like Long term loans from banks, Share Capital from private Investors, Debentures etc, Mortgage debentures, Commercial mortgages etc. but the system of Business Angels are best if starting a New Company because it depends on the negotiations between the two parties.

Racism And Prejudice By William Shakespeare s The...

Intolerable Hostility Imagine being paranoid everyday of your life knowing all that you do is being watched and judged. Imagine being mocked and rejected every moment of your life just because you are of different religion. No one likes to be judged and left out because of their religion and what they believe in, however there is racism and prejudice present in the world. William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is one of his most controversial plays. Written in the 16th century England, the play poses many questions concerning racial, religious and human differences due to anti-semitism being very common at the time. The story is set in Venice where a merchant named Antonio lived. His poor friend Bassanio wants to charm and marry a lovely, rich girl of Belmont called Portia, but he needs money to reach her. He approaches Antonio for the money. Antonio could not lend money to Bassanio because his ships are gone. Both of them go to a Jew moneylender called Shylock and asked for 3,000 ducats. He gave money on one condition, if Antonio could not return his money in three months, then Shylock can have Antonio’s pound of flesh. Antonio agrees to Shylock s condition because he is confident that his ships will return within three months. Bassanio reached Belmont and married Portia. 3 months pass, and Antonio’s ships gets lost in a storm. Shylock wants his pound of flesh. Bassanio goes to Venice and Portia follows him in disguise of a male lawyer. Portia reaches Venice andShow MoreRelatedThe Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare1445 Words   |  6 PagesCGI English 11 HH 12 November 2014 Crashing Thru Venice William Shakespeare, possibly the most esteemed writer of all time, wrote a play titled The Merchant of Venice, near the end of the 1500 s. 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