Ems, a Business for All

Writing Assignment-Week 5
Benjamin Shoemaker
ITT Tech Online
BU131-Business and Information Systems
Instructor:   James Lance
3/7/2010

Eastern Mountain Sports, an outdoor supply company, is become one of the largest specialty retailers in the country.   Their high quality gear has been trusted in the field for over thirty years (Laudon).   Personally, I have used these products when backpacking and have been more than satisfied.
Two possible decisions that Eastern Mountain Sports staff might have to make are handling inventories and the decision to enter or exit certain markets.   Operational management generally handles the restocking of inventory.   They are responsible for keeping shelves stocked.   After reviewing information, they choose which products need to be ordered and what items need to be discontinued.   Managers order the highest selling, biggest margin units to make the business successful.
Another decision facing the staff is the decision to enter or exit a market.   These decisions are left to the unstructured Senior Management.   At this level, staff can concentrate on the core of the business and don’t have to concern themselves with mundane decisions made by lower level management.   They can concentrate on the research needed to enter new markets or leave markets that are performing on a sub-par level.
Handling inventories is a crucial part of any business.   Unsold inventories tie up cash flow and on the other end, customers can’t buy what is not there.   Operational management first must discover and identify products that move and don’t.   After determining this, managers will implement clearance and markdowns to unpopular items and have a minimum on-hand quantity of popular items.   The choice and implementation is swift because profitability is on the line.
The decision-making process is very detailed at the Senior Management level.     Companies spend a lot of money getting precise information.   This is especially true when exploring...