Stirling Sports Essay Example for Free

Stirling Sports Essay Stirling Sports opened their first Store on Dominion Road in Auckland in 1964. The first Stirling Sports franchises were awarded in 1983 after Stirling Sports had invested almost 20 years in developing the best sports retail stores in New Zealand. Stirling Sports Dunedin’s mission statements asserts, ‘The Dunedin community speaks positively about their Stirling Sport experience’. Their logo is ‘We love our sport’, an apt summary of the passion held by management and staff for their products, service and the specialist knowledge they provide. Stirling Sports is the one of the New Zealand leading retailers of sporting goods. Stirling Sports has a huge range of sports clothing and mens and womens shoes, supporter gear and more. In 2004, Russell and Sue became aware of an opportunity to purchase the Stirling Sports Dunedin area franchise and made the decision to buy within a week. Since they originated from the Otago region, this was an opportunity ‘to come home’. After some negotiation they successfully acquired the franchise and began to determine how best to manage the two operations. After some deliberation, the  decision was made that Sue would move to Dunedin and manage that store, while Russell continued to manage the Kapiti store. Russell and Sue decided to buy the franchise with the existing staff at the Dunedin store. The store had to become profitable, so changes needed to be made. However, the change in structure and process did not suit everyone and staff left. Previously, the store had been managed from Auckland, so some having the manager on-site was very different from the previous management style. Stirling Sports adopts marketing strategies based on the seasonal nature of  various sports, student population migration during semester and holiday periods, public holidays and festive seasons Christmas is one of the biggest financial periods with equipment, clothing and shoes being in demand for Christmas gifts. In-store specials, glossy flyers, and newspaper and radio advertising are all useful means of marketing their products to all of their customer segments. The March/April period is the second-largest cash-flow period with the beginning of winter sports, such as rugby, soccer, netball, volleyball and basketball, traditionally boosting sales. September/October is also a peak period, with the focus particularly on fitness and getting ‘back into shape’ after the ravages of winter lifestyle choices. Sports such as cricket, tennis and softball also begin which may require the purchase of new equipment, uniforms and speciality footwear. Many sports are now played all year round, which is beneficial in maintaining an acceptable level of monthly sales in addition to seasonal cash-flow peaks. RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://STIRLINGSPORTS. CO. NZ Rebel Sport is a well known brand name throughout New Zealand and Australia. Until 2006, Rebel had no big-box sports competitor, prompting the use of the well-known slogan No ones got more sports gear. However, Lane Walker Rudkin, owners of sports franchise Stirling Sports, have announced plans to launch several large format stores across the country, beginning with a store in Christchurch, which opened in mid-2006. This followed the collapse of a deal between Briscoe Group and LWR a year earlier, which would have seen Briscoe buyout the Stirling franchise. Since Stirlings big box launch, Rebel has dropped their original slogan, which has been replaced with Lets Play, backed by a new  marketing campaign which targets a wider audience from the traditional club-orientated team sport audience. The company is also continuing their aggressive expansion programme, launching several smaller-format stores such as Napier and Taupo to allow branches to reach further into provincial areas. Briscoe Group. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 15, 2014 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Briscoe_Group The latest retail customer satisfaction report for New Zealand from research organisation Roy Morgan Research reveals that Rebel Sport has emerged as the  sports store with the highest percentage of satisfied customers. Rebel came in at at 82. 0 percent for the 12 months to December 2009 (up 4. 4 percent points from the 12 months to December ‘08). Stirling Sports was third with 77. 5 percent (down 2. 9 percent from the same period). â€Å"The category as a whole has performed below the average for all non-food stores. It seems all sports stores need to close the gap in improving their levels of satisfaction. † Sports Link. Sporting Goods Outdoor Retailing. (May 17, 2010). Retrieved from http://www. mysportslink. net/rebel-sport-leads-the-way-cms-837.

The Time Machine :: Free Essay Writer

The Time Machine The Time Traveller had built a time machine that would allow him to journey through time. He traveled into the future to the year 802,700. It is an extremely different world. It seemed almost utopian-like populated by a childish people, the Eloi. He studied and observed these creatures. Then his time machine was stolen. It is then when he discovers the existence of another people, the vicious Morlocks. Unlike, the nonchalant Eloi, the Morlocks live in desperation and must survive by cannibalism. It seems like a Capitalist system gone wrong with the upper class (Eloi) and the lower class (Morlocks). The lazy rich would play and relax all day becoming frail and helpless. Meanwhile, the poor were living underground and began to hunt the Eloi. The theory that a proletariat driven to the depths will devour the upper class is exemplified. While in search of his time machine, the Time Traveller learned about this future world. He befriends an Eloi, who he named Weena. Then he himself was hunted by the Morlocks. He escaped by scaring them with fire. The Morlocks had hidden his machine. He finally found it and returned back to his own time and home in England. The Time Machine certainly makes you think. We picture the future as very advanced and evolved with much more technology than we have now. But in this novel, the reader can see that the progress of mankind could almost go in a cycle. We start off at a low level and as a species, we grow and evolve becoming more advanced. We can only reach a certain peak before we go back down again, which is what happened to the Eloi and the Morlocks. It is interesting to note that technology is not what saved the Time Traveller from these future people. It was fire. Fire scared and killed the Morlocks. In this future, there is no sign of knowledge and what was learned in all of the years of the past. The museums, which are supposed to be filled with all of mankind's greatest achievements, were all in ruins. No one seemed to care.

10 Ways to Reduce Your Environmental Footprint Essay

10 ways to reduce your environmental footprint and improve profitability. Posted by Sam Kopytowski [->0]at 7:08 AM[->1] on July 7, 2010 Many companies talk about reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but too often there’s a large gap between words and action. Most companies seem to be holding off on taking any real steps to reduce their environmental footprint because they believe the investment cost is too high. See more: Examples of satire in adventures of huckfinn essay Leading companies, on the other hand, are way ahead of the curve. They know that being proactive on the environment provides risk mitigation benefits. Why? Because they see that government legislation may soon be brought in to regulate CO2 emissions. They understand that external shocks such as wars, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and pandemic outbreaks can have enormous impacts on supply chains and energy supply. They recognize that oil prices can only move upward. They believe that good corporate citizenship attracts investors and employees. And they see environment sensitivity as a way to differentiate themselves. GHG emission reductions must be tackled the same way you achieve safety in the workplace. You need to implement a strategic plan and stick to it. Greening a company requires commitment and support from the leadership team. Businesses need champions to lead their environmental initiatives†¦ and logisticians may be the best people for the job. Not only are they involved in sourcing, but they make the critical transportation decisions that will contribute to the greening of the company. Here are just some of the considerations they have to weigh: 1) Sourcing well – preferably as close as possible to the customer. We consistently examine the trade-off between cost of goods and transportation. However minimizing long-term costs may require us to consider other factors. What about flexibility – the ability to react quickly to market changes? What about consumer preferences? Ultimately if off-shore sourcing is the best option, the most energy-efficient transportation will be necessary. That might mean ocean freight rather than air freight – and this will require a thorough understanding of lead time. 2) Making domestic transportation decisions with a clear understanding of the benefits of rail versus truck, and what intermodal shipping makes most sense for the company. And, once again, this means understanding lead time and communicating time constraints to the customer. 3) Finding environmental programs like Fleet Smart/Smartway which certify leading edge trucking companies. Leading shippers are now incorporating this requirement into the Request for Proposals. 4) Sourcing energy-efficient equipment and a transportation management system that will optimize fleet routing and scheduling. Driver training will also have a huge impact in reducing GHG emissions. According to Claude Robert of Robert Transport, there’s a 35% reduction in the fuel consumption by the best drivers, compared to the worst. 5) Eliminating idling trucks at the shipping dock. Monitoring of idling engines can be done while checking that the wheels are chocked. 6) Using electric forklifts to load vehicles rather than propane or diesel. 7) Taking advantage of collaborative transportation. As discussed in this column last year, cooperation with other companies, even competing ones, needs to gain greater acceptance as a means to cut costs. It benefits everyone. 8) Converting large trucks to natural gas. Yes, capital costs are higher but, in the long run, there are tremendous fuel savings to be enjoyed while reducing harmful emissions. 9) Reducing packaging wherever possible. You’ll increase the density of your shipments, put more product on the vehicle, and reduce freight rates. 10) Reducing paper flow. Embrace the electronic transfer of information. It reduces costs both in supplies and labour. These are just a few ways that logisticians can green the supply chain. Most important is to take a baseline of where you are today and track your progress. I’m sure you’ll find that environmentally friendly business practices definitely improve profitability. Remember, as PricewaterhouseCoopers points out in its Transportation & Logistics, 2030 study, â€Å"He who focuses on carbon footprinting is stepping on the right foot.† Source: http://wwwxcdlogistics.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-ways-to-reduce-your-environmental.html [->0] – http://www.blogger.com/profile/08905558298613954753 [->1] – http://wwwxcdlogistics.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-ways-to-reduce-your-environmental.html

High Risk Sexual Behavior At North Carolina - 1231 Words

It is known that a lot of adolescents engage in different sexual intercourse before they even graduate from high school. A study that was conducted in 2014 by the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina stated how this type of high risk sexual behavior is the reason as to why these kinds of actions have resulted in more than 9 million new cases involving sexually transmitted diseases, and 8,300 new cases of human immunodeficiency viruses, which include things such as HIV. These results continued between adolescents and new coming adults. The study also found that if you have a well-established open communication about the different sexual health issues with your partner that promotes safer sexual†¦show more content†¦The different procedures that were used to conduct this study were surveys, which were administered via computer which assisted self-interviews. These computers were located in a classroom setting with about approximately 30 students. The pr ocedures that CASI executed were shown to reduce biases and increase validity, which would allow the study to be conducted once again and receive similar results. The participants were recruited from three low-income high schools in the southeastern United States. All of the students in 7th and 8th grade were recruited except for those who were in special education classroom. From these participants who were considered for the study, only 82.4% of them provided a consent form concerning the study. From those 900 students, 32 of them were absent from school that day or simply declined participation. The analysis was conducted in five steps. The first step conducted a variety of descriptive analysis to determine what percentage of the youth in the study had discussed sexual health topics with their partners, their parents, and their best friends. The second step was to analyze how the different conversations differed depending on the person to whom they were discussion these topics. For example the difference between how you spoke to your parents versus your friends. Thirdly the study examined the differences in the number of sexual health topics. The fourth way was by examining whether or not discussion of the sexual health topics