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

question 45

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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) One of Sears's goals in the redesign of the Kenmore line is that it wants to change the way consumers think about appliances. This statement suggests that Sears is following a(n) ____ strategy.

Definitions:

Liquid Assets

Assets that can be quickly and easily converted into cash without significant loss of value.

Current Liabilities

Financial liabilities of a business that are to be settled within the next 12 months.

Current Assets

Resources anticipated to be transformed into cash, disposed of, or utilized within a year or during the normal operating cycle of a company.