Developing, Managing, and Operating a Retail Business

Due Week 8 and worth 300 points
Imagine that you recently took over your friend's small retail business and you now have to do the following:
Rename the store
Create new hours of operations
Hire two (2) new part-time employees and two (2) new full-time employees
Address a new plan for building your clients and merchandise, and
Address the issues of the remaining employees from the acquired business, who are disgruntled because you are relocating the store to the center of the town where you live.
Consider how you are going to develop, manage, and operate your new retail business.
Additional resources:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/75912

http://retail.about.com/od/startingaretailbusiness/tp/checklist.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fecPdpw3RYw

http://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/industry/30.html
Write a three to six to eight (6-8) paper in which you:
Propose two to three (2-3) strategies for targeting customers and information gathering that would use in order to develop your own clientele while maintaining the clients of the acquired retail business.
Develop a plan that details your approach to recruiting and training a new staff while addressing the concerns of the remaining employees related to the proposed store relocation.
Apply the concept of the one-hundred (100) percent location and saturation to your retail store.
Create a design for the most important financial dimensions of your business, and develop a strategic plan for addressing the dimensions that you have indicated.
Create a name, a mission, and a philosophy for your retail store.
Define store hours, including holidays and weekends, and describe the key goals of employee management.
Develop a plan for cultivating an inviting store atmosphere (e.g., music, décor, style of goods provided, services provided, etc.) and a corresponding window display.
Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Analyze the retailing consumer and database management in retailing.
Analyze human resource management and financial aspects of operation management in retail organizations.
Describe the dimensions of operating a retail business and the development of merchandise plans.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in retail management.
Write clearly and concisely about retail management using proper writing mechanics.
DISCUSSIONS
QUESTION1

Merchandise Plans, Inventory, and Logistics" Please respond to the following:
From the e-Activity, propose two (2) actions that these retailers can take in order to determine the effectiveness of their merchandise plans. Speculate whether logistics do or do not enhance the inventory management systems of these companies. Suggest the main methods in which you would leverage logistics to enhance inventory management.
From the second e-Activity, evaluate the usefulness of the different services that the institute offers to retail owners. Recommend two (2) ways that businesses may use the services available
E-ACTIVITY

Go to Home Depot's Website, located at http://www.homedepot.com/, and Lowes's Website, located at http://www.lowes.com/. Compare and contrast the manner in which these retailers utilize merchandise plans and consider whether logistics may or may not enhance their inventory management system. Be prepared to discuss.
Go to the Retail Owners Institute's Website, located at www.Retailowner.com, and take note of the different services that the institute offers retail owners. Be prepared to discuss.
QUESTION 2

Unity of Effort Among Employees"Please respond to the following:
Recommend two (2) top methods for forecasting merchandise needs and wants from customers and potential customers during key holiday seasons. Support your recommendations with examples of such forecasting methods.
Imagine that you work at a large chain store and the financial inventory control is required to ensure that there is a monthly budget. Determine the appropriate retail methods of accounting that you would use in order to have a dollar control. Justify your response.

HISTORY

President Nixon and Watergate" Please respond to the following: (Note: Please respond to one [1] of the following two [2] bulleted items in a primary posting of at least 200 words. In addition, please make a substantive comment of at least 100 words to at least one [1] of your classmates.)
From the scenario, give a brief summary of Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate Scandal. Explain whether or not you believe that his eventual resignation from office was necessary. Justify your response.
Suggest a better way that Nixon could have responded when he learned about the break-in at the Watergate Hotel's Democratic headquarters. Provide a rationale for your response.