Communication styles of JC Penny v. Sears Term Paper

Communication styles of JC Penny v. Sears - Term Paper Example Penny Company Inc. is one of the largest chains of American mid-range department stores, catalogue, and e-commerce retailers; with headquarters in Piano, Texas. It operates over 1, 100 departmental stores in U.S’s 50 states, Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico (JC Penney 2012). It also runs 49 Renner department stores in Brazil. J.C. Penny began as a partnership between James Cash Penney, Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan on April 14, 1902. The three created two more stores. In 1907, Johnson and Callahan dissolved their partnership and Penney purchased full interest in all three locations. In order to be closer to banks and railroads, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1909. The stores expanded and by 1912, there were 34 stores in Rocky Mountain States. The following year, all the stores were consolidated under the name J.C. Penney with William Henry McManus as co-founder. The company’s expansion was mainly due to its diversity of products and affo rdability. After much struggle in the 1970s, following stiff competition from upstart companies such as Wal-Mart that sold goods at discounted prices, the company reverted to a fashion oriented marketing strategy in the 1980s. It also moved its headquarters from New York to Texas, which reduced operational costs. The company was the first to sell zero coupon bonds in the public market. JCP stores are mainly located in suburban shopping malls, which is strategic in its operations. With about 1100 stores in America’s 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Mexico, it is the second largest department store retailer and the largest catalogue merchant in the America. J.C Penny mainly targets juniors. The company focuses on value-priced fashion with an emphasis on classification and key-items focussed merchandising. JC Penney focuses on its pricing vis-a-vis its competition. Also, it focuses on providing mid-tier fashions in the malls. Its stores are located in attractive markets, tha t attract customers. It increasingly incorporating Sephora inside its locations, aimed at upgrading customers’ experiences in the stores. For the year ending January 2012, the company made sales totalling $17,260.0M and realized an annual growth of 2.8%; its net income for the year amounting to $152.0M (JC Penny 2012). 1.1 Background of Sears Holdings Corporation Sears Holdings Corporation is America’s fourth largest broad-line retailer with over 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its headquarters are based in Hoffman Estates, Ill. It became a multi channel store when it opened its first store to complement its catalogue channel which was launched in 1886 (Sears 2009). It provides quality merchandise and exceptional service, leading in retail of appliances, tools, lawn and garden, consumer electronics, and automotive repair and maintenance. The company provides diversified products through a wide range of retail channels. It was crowned the 2011 Energy Star Retail Partner of the year. Its leading brands are mKenmore, Craftsman and Diehard along with broad apparel offering including well known labels as Lands’ End, Jaclyn Smith and Jose Boxer, the Apostrophe and Covington brands. It is the

Great Pyramid of Khufu Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Great Pyramid of Khufu - Personal Statement Example I hope to be an architect one day, and seeing these marvelous wonders first hand would be an experience like no other. I would be able to marvel at the complexity and genius that went into building them, and actually get to be there, an experience that could not be attained simply by reading a book or looking at a picture. I have estimated that the air fare for the trip will be around $2800.00 for round trip tickets; the hotel would cost around $500 dollars a night, for a total of 5 nights. I would also allow myself 100 dollars. The only other small cost would be the cost of admission to the pyramid. The Great Pyramid at Giza is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is also the only of the seven that has survived the test of time and remains today ( http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/pyramid.html). This not only shows the monument's unique look back into an ancient time, but also its uncanny ability to resist time, and to withstand each and every century as if it were nothing. This is a tribute to the hard work and time that went into building this great marvel of the world. The pyramid is "756 feet long on each side, 450 high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight. Despite the makers' limited surveying tools no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the points of the compass."( http://www.unmuseum.org/kpyramid.htm). These figures show how much work and care must have gone into the completion of this great work of art, and how advanced the methods of this structure must have been. It is because of how intricate and advanced this structure is, as well as its height and history, that I feel it is important to get to see as part of growing as an artist, architect, and person. Despite the enormous size and history of the project, how exactly that Great Pyramid was completed is a riddle that time may never answer for us. "Herodotus said that it would have taken "30 years and 100,000 slaves to have built it."(http://interoz.com/egypt/cheops.htm). However, exactly how long it took, and how many people it took is a question still debated by scholars and historians. However, many historians believe that Herodotus got many of his numbers wrong, and that it took less workers and less time that Herodotus recorded for us. It is not far fetched to think this, as by the time Herodotus visited the Great Pyramid, it was already 20 centuries old, and many of the information may have been lost of mixed up already (http://www.unmuseum.org/kpyramid.htm). The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest pyramid ever built, and, "it incorporates about 2.3 million stone blocks, weighing an average of 2.5 to 15 tons each. It is estimated that the workers would have had to set a block every two and a half minutes."( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/khufu.html). The immensity and hard work that went into this monument are just two of the factors that make it resistant to time, and also make it an invaluable work of art to visit on my trip to Egypt. The precision and care that went into this work of art was also great. Perhaps to combat problems that had happened with other pyramids being built around this time, great care was given to the detail and measurements of the pyramid, which is an achievement in itself with the primitive tools the Egyptians would have had to