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Scenario 4-2 Stronger Income Growth Among Upscale Shoppers Is Fueling Sales at Sales

question 28

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Scenario 4-2
Stronger income growth among upscale shoppers is fueling sales at the high end, while slow job growth and higher energy costs are prompting more moderate-income consumers to search of bigger bargains. No retail sector is more squeezed from both sides than the department-store chains, most of which continue to lose sales to other retailers. That has opened the door for financier Edward S. Lampert, 42, whose plans to merge Kmart Holdings and Sears could result in Sears vacating 200 to 300 of its 871 mall-based stores Overriding all this jostling is the biggest question in retail: whether the planned merger of Kmart and Sears will work. The deal would accelerate Sears' strategy to move off the mall by taking some Kmart sites. The retailers believe, too, that they would benefit from cross-selling some of their proprietary brands, like Kenmore appliances. (Robert Berner, "Retail's Unhappy Middle Ground," Business Week Online, December 24, 2004.)
-(Scenario 4-2) Sears promotes its Kenmore line with the phrase "The innovative side of Sears." This phrase should be a clear reflection of its

Definitions:

Knowledge Exploitation

The process of utilizing existing knowledge within an organization to create value or competitive advantage.

Perception

The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment.

Threat

A threat is any circumstance or event with the potential to cause harm to a system, individual, organization, or country.

Inertia

The resistance to change or the tendency for objects or systems to remain in their current state without external force acting upon them.