diamond industry Essay -- essays research papers

The value of diamonds lies on their physical properties that make them suitable for many applications. born(p) diamonds ar only of high value if they are scarce in nature. Realizing this, De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed to control the supply of diamonds from mines across the world. The diamond market is influenced by mine production, rough diamond distribution, preparation/cutting, and retail markets. The project will be concentrating on the retail markets for diamonds and other high end jewelry.Jewelry purchases are highly discretionary because they are heavily affected by adverse trends in the general economy and are measured by disposable consumer income. The root half of fiscal 2003 can be described with a lackluster economy, lower consumer confidence and an unstable geopolitical environment. However, general economic conditions and consumer confidence alter in the second half of fiscal 2003, resulting with increased sales. Since the economy has taken some major str ides towards recovery, the jewelry industry represents a bullish market. Large and weeny retailers are evaluating expansion opportunities outside of the traditional regional mall venue. With this in mind, it is the intention of this paper to assess the comprehensive strategies of the cyclical retail jewelry industry.In this highly competitive industry which is extremely sensitive to the level of discretionary consumer income and the subsequent impact of the type of good purchased, competitors include foreign and domestic auberge and premier luxury jewelers, specialty stores, national and regional jewelry chains, and department stores. To a lesser extent there exist catalog showrooms, discounters, direct weapons suppliers, televised kinfolk shopping networks, and jewelry retailers who make sales through internet sites. It is a highly fragmented US market estimated at approximately 54 billion dollars. The breakup of the industry is accordingly mass merchants representing 10%, chai n jewelers with 100+ stores as 14%, chain department stores representing 12%, TV home shopping with 4%, independent jewelers taking the largest share at 36% and other (general, misc.) accounting for 24%. (Please refer to exhibit E)The specialty retailers with the highest sales are Zale Corp ($2.2Bn), Signet US($1.7Bn), Tiffany ($.8Bn) other players include Friedmans ($.4Bn) Whitehall ($.3Bn), and Samuels ($.1... ...d consignment terms have become the norm for wholesalers to extend to their retail partners. A good proportion of the scrutinise costs are transferred to wholesalers through these consignment purchases. Since jewelry is not a perishable good such as the garments and shoe industries, it still works as an asset even if the retailer returns the merchandise back to the wholesaler.The amount of power that a retailer has is directly correlated to the size of their operation. Only a hardly a(prenominal) companies command extensive volumes. To fill the capacity present in most factories owned by wholesalers they require these volumes to remain profitable. Due to these factors, the major chain stores are able to leverage better financing, costs, and payment terms than the rest of the industry. The largest percentage of jewelers can be categorized as independent jewelers accounting for 36% of the boilersuit market. Their ability to leverage power comes from their financial credibility in the market. Jewelry, being a luxury good and furthermore having high costs leads to great losses in the cases of defaults. Thus, the financial strength of these companies dictates the amount of power they have in the industry.

The Purpose of an Education Essay -- Educational Teaching Teachers Ess

The Purpose of an Education Many of todays youth do not grab the purpose of education. Students, however, have remainders and ambitions they want to fulfill when they reach adulthood. They want to be the lawyers, doctors, teachers, computer analysts, and government officials. They want to have salaries that exceed $50,000 so they can admit the BMW(s) and Lexus(es). To fill these positions, young people need to meet the qualifications and they will see that it fundamentally comes down to receiving a good education. The purpose of education is not to deposit young people for the next grade. The overall purpose of an education, however, is to prepare adolescents to be adults so they can be productive citizens in our society. Before the overall goal can be met, students need to learn the smaller things. In kindergarten, they are taught their ABCs and 123s. Here they realize that their hands can be employ to write and color. By second grade, they would have ma stered penmanship and adding and subtracting numbers. They also should know how to spell small words and use them in small sentences. By fifth grade, multiplication and division should be memorized. They should know by now how to write short essays. By this time, punctuation should not be much of a problem. As they reach junior high check, students would have experienced writing longer essays and they now should be able to comprehend what they read. Throughout their high school career, they should ...