Mattress Firm History

An organization’s external environment is terribly important and must be studied and understood for the organization to truly succeed. Through such study and understanding, a manager would be able “mitigate threats and leverage opportunities” that are caused by the six segments identified as macro-level external forces: (1) political, (2) economic, (3) sociocultural, (4) technological, (5) ecological, and (6) legal (Rothaermel, 2013, pp. 56-57). Since the manager’s decisions, or firm effects, have a greater impact than those external forces mentioned only when the manager accounts for them and builds a strategy around them, the manager must be aware of and understand these forces to be

Sleep Country Canada (SCC), initiated in Vancouver in 1994, is the largest mattress retailer, offering various styles of mattresses and sleep related products in 224 stores and 17 distribution centers across Canada as of December 31, 2015. The target demographic is the working class, wishing to purchase quality products for less. SCC maintains a leading position in the industry due to competitive product pricing, selling 5% lower than other leading retailers. Success is also due to marketing, making SCC a recognized brand across Canada. Further initiatives include: broadening SCC’s real estate footprint, implementing store designs to enhance displays, redesigning and expanding products to meet change in consumer demand, employing “Sleep Expert” retail assistants, as well as upgrading the logistic system and software. SCC also works to enhance employee training and compensation program, increasing employee satisfaction and productivity.

Contents 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………….…..…3 1.1 Report Overview………………………………………………………….…...…3 1.2 Organisation Overview……………………………………………….…………3 2. External Environmental Analysis…………………………………….……...…4 2.1 Analysis of Macro Environment………………………………………..………4-5 2.2 Analysis of Industry Environment………………………………………..……5-6 2.2.1 Threat of New Entrants……………………………………………….….…6 2.2.2 The

33 8. What strategic issues need to be addressed? 34 9. External environmental analysis 35 10. Internal environment analysis 60 11.

As the human race continues to grow older the population starts to grow. Population growth is a change in the size of a population over time, depending on the balance of births and deaths over a period of time. For the world, population grows when the amount of births exceeds the amount of deaths. As shown in figure 1, the world’s population grew very slowly until about 1750 that is when the population growth started to increase rapidly. Figure 2 shows the growth of the global population from 1950 onwards, it also shows the projected population growth up to 2050. The global population is estimated to rise to approximately 9 billion people by 2050.

The environment is like a double-edged sword, providing companies opportunities but threats as well. Therefore, in an increasingly hostile marketplace, a systematic and careful environmental analysis is supposed to be considered by companies (Johnson et al, 2011). The macro-environment of a company can be analysed by the framework of PESTEL, which includes six categories: political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (Johnson et al, 2011, Appendix A ).

Despite decades of success in producing and distributing high-quality mattresses, Four Star Industries has seen its competitive position dwindle in recent years due to an influx of new companies and products into the market. As a result, Four Star has witnessed increased stress in an already volatile and unpredictable industry. The company has attempted to mimic the operational procedures of larger companies at the demand of dealers, but has not found success with this approach. To maintain competitiveness within the industry, managers must explore the issues holistically and adopt an integrated strategy to reducing costs while continuing to meet the needs of its customers. Fortunately, its reputation of success and potential for direct access to consumers may serve as advantages that can help rectify their situation. This paper explores the various issues impacting Four Star 's competitiveness and presents a range of potential solutions.

The United States is the third most populated country in the world. This country holds about 4.5% of the world’s population. The U.S. population is currently estimated to have 308.7 million persons. This number is more than double of the population from 1950. Besides the fact of the population has doubled its size, the population has also become qualitatively different from the one from 1950. As noted by the Population Reference Bureau, “The U.S. is getting bigger, older, and more diverse.” The growth of the population is the result of the trends over time in the relationship of increased births, decreased deaths, and increased net immigration.

“The Census Bureau estimates there will be 315.1 million people living in the country on New Year’s Day, a 0.73 percent rise from last year’s estimate and 2.05 percent more than the most recent census count in April 2010. At the current pace, the nation’s population will grow by 7.3 percent during the decade, the lowest level since the 7.25 percent increase recorded between 1930 and 1940, per data compiled by Bloomberg”. U.S. continues to have slow rate of growth during their first decade, and economic downturn sine 1930s. Bloomberg blames the economy, because of abortion rate and its affecting the economy. According to the report provided by Census Bureau nation population was growing by 9.7 percent

The general environment is composed of segments that are external to the firm. Although the degree of impact varies, these environmental segments affect all industries and firms competing in them. The

This analysis consists of analyzing the external environment of the company (competitors, social, technological, regulations, etc.). The purpose is to identify the key opportunities and threats in the environment.

An analysis of the external environment includes the factors in a business’s external environment about a business's industry, competition, and political and social environments, and affects the firm’s strategy (Aaker, 2001).

Outside factors can influence the sustainability of a company regardless of the internal structure within the business. Some factors in the general environment that companies should be aware of include demographics, social, economic, political, and others. Understanding how each of these factors can impact the company allows management to make changes within the company for maximum success. At Tesla, the political, economic, and technological factors greatly impact the efficiency of the company.

In the 1900's the U.S. population growth was increasing rapidly. The diagram shows that there was an age structure of much more younger aged people than older aged people which indicated the population would grow more quickly. In the 2000's the population age structure is becoming more populated with older ages.The population has some small differences between the older generations being slightly higher in numbers than the younger generations, so the growth rate is declining slightly. In 2050, it is projecting the age structure to be very evenly distributed between the older and younger generations which will stabilize the population growth rate to largely remain the same. It shows total populations of both the younger and older generations

In selecting and implementing the firm’s strategy, HK Express must gather the information needed to understand all segments and elements of both general and industry environments. The general environment is composed of dimensions in the broader society that influence in the industry and the firms within