Competing against walmart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Competing against walmart - Essay Example Not all the people can be able to afford the prices of the services being offered by the business. That is the major challenge the business is facing. The business is well known for its optical services. Customers are tested for their different sight problems, and then given the rightful spectacles. One can also have their lenses or frames changed. Those are some of the many services offered by the business. The employees of the business work tirelessly to ensure that there is no gap in any of the services provided. Most of the customers of the business are usually children who attend school, and the aged people. Most of the school-going children are usually faced with the sight defect known as the short sightedness, while the aged are usually faced with long sightedness. The business has been able to gain a competitive advantage over the years. It has been able to do so through giving to their customers services that are of a high value. This is one of the aspects that keep the customers coming. The location of the business has also contributed towards creating a competitive edge for the business. The business is different from Wal-Mart in that, unlike the Wal-Mart, the business has been in operation for 10 years and, therefore, it has been able to analyze fully the market environment in which it is operating. It has been able to merge fully into the market environment. The Wal-Mart Optical Center has not been in the market, therefore, it will be difficult for it to gain the knowledge of the market that the business has. Since the Wal-Mart Optical Center is to be launched, it is curial for the business to undergo certain changes in order to uphold its competitive nature in the market. First, the business should be able to offer different range of services on top of what is offering. This will enable the customers to be able to shop around for their preferred choice. The business should also be able to revise

Social Networking and SME's (small and medium enterprises) Literature review

Social Networking and SME's (small and medium enterprises) - Literature review Example . However, Sicilia & Palazon (2008), conclude that social networking improves overall efficiency in operations of a business. This literature review summarizes and evaluates finding of diverse research work done in different parts of the world in regards to social networking and business. It focuses on the impacts of Social Networking to performance SME's in this modern age of telecommunication. Marketing, publicity and communication are the main business activities in which SME’s integrate social networking and business (Rodgers and Thorson, 2000). The following literature review finds out how SMEs harness benefits rising form social networking and it also investigates how these enterprises try to mitigate risks of social networking which include reduced worker productivity, security and compromised legality of operations (Williams, 2009, pg. 225-228). Large enterprises embrace social networking more than SME’s in their operations (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick, 57, 2009) . The majority of research has focused on large enterprises and how they merge social networking in their organization. There are three main areas which have received little enquiry. These are the pros, cons and barriers of social networking in SMEs. This justifies the need to explore this field with interest. 1.1 Growth of Social Networking According to Weber (2009), both developed and developing states have experienced great effects of the social networking development. More than 130 million Europeans are involved in social networking in one way or another. Between 2006 and 2007, Facebook grew by 270% whereas Bebo which is relatively more popular in the UK than the US by 172% (Weber, 2009). However there are speculations that the amount of time people spend on social networks is reducing. This has been explained either as an indication in the growing completion in the social networks themselves or an indication that the record growth of 2006 and 2007 is not sustainable (Nikolaeva, 2006). Even with this explanations, the underway expansion of social networking website into non-English speaking countries shows that the influence it has will not fade out in the near future (Weber, 2009). According to the Institute of Real Estate Management (2010), members of IREM were asked to share ways they have used social networking as a tool to market their business to clients, manage properties, attract potential tenants or interact with current tenants. They also wanted to find out on the future prospects of social networking and results of their effort in integrating their areas of business with social networking. Klyuchnyk, in IREM (2010), indicated that potential clients can get information they require in a moment. This may include information about rent or price of an apartment in another city or even photos and its location. In Brazil, Twitter and Facebook are used widely by traders and companies that sell and purchase real estate. This is according to Fernanda (IR EM, 2010). However, law firms are a bit reluctant to exploit networking as they should as they feel that social networking is strongly focused on personal relations rather than law practice (Rodgers and Thorson, 2000). A legal claim can be justified from comments in blogs where residents may record