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... ng temps health insurance coverage, retirement plans and paid sick leave, vacation time and 401 (k) tax-deferred retirement plan. More than a million people on the job each day in the US are temporary employees according to the National Association of Temporary Services (NATS). Higher the skill levels with higher education and training, the more likely a worker is to prefer being a temp. Globalization and current marker conditions have driven the organizations to restructure. "Keeping costs low is a priority that is directly related to the new commitment to Amazon's forecast", says Amazon's CEO Jeff Below. Call it layoffs, downsizing, early retirement or "corporate rightsizing", it's no secret that pressures to improve profit levels have turned massive workforce reductions into a way of life for many American companies.
But with this recent trend has come concern and a demand for higher levels of assistance to discharged workers. Companies have explored many different downsizing options without affecting the work demand. The number of temporary workers in the U. S. has nearly doubled over the past five years from 1. 2 million to more than two million -- a record of job creation that beats just about every other industry in the country, mostly because of organizations' restructuring.
The growth and increasing sophistication of the temporary-employment industry is creating a national trading floor for talent. "It's a contingency spot market, " says Jessica Sweeney, a research director at the Advisory Board Co. , a management-consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Just as an exchange floor provides a fluid, efficient forum for clearing the market for stocks, gold, and pork bellies, the temp industry is becoming a clearinghouse for buyers and sellers of skills. The economic consequence of this phenomenon is a more flexible and efficient job market. It is also creating opportunities for workers and employers. Global competition for higher qualified professionals has tremendously impacted the immigration laws. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) reported that, as of May 23, 2001, approximately 117, 000 H- 1 B (technical labor visa type) workers had been approved against the 195, 000 limit for FY 2001.
This law certainly increases companies' access to new market for higher end professionals. Fastest-growing segments of the consulting market are in professional and technical fields. These high-skill areas already make up about 20 % of the total temp payroll. Many companies, for their part, are turning to temp agencies to outsource the administration of their temporary workers.
Tom O'Halloran, an analyst at Dillon Read, says that five or ten years ago companies would just call a local temp agency and order up workers a la carte. Now that they see how important flexible staffing is to their cost structure, and realize that more and more upscale positions can be filled by contract labor, they " re hiring. Table 1. Occupation and Industry Distribution of Employment by Work Arrangement (In percentage) Agency Temporaries Agency Temporaries On-call or Day Laborers Independent Contractors Contract Company Workers Other Direct Hire Temporaries Other Self- Employed Regular Employees Occupation Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage Executive, Adm. 6. 9 2. 7 20. 7 8. 6 7. 6 24. 1 Professional 6. 6 20. 9 17. 9 20. 3 26. 5 13. 0 Technica Sales 1. 7 6. 6 17. 9 3. 0 5. 3 20. 7 Administrative Support 320. 2 5. 4 Services 9. 0 20. 2 9. 1 28. 4 15. 2 10. 0 Precision Production 5. 2 15. 0 17. 9 19. 7 8. 6 7. 5 Operators 1 Transportation OccupationLaborerFarming & Forest 14. 7 Industry Agriculture 15. 3 Mining & Construction 4. 0 16. 3 2 Manufacturing 33. 8 5. 3 4. 8 19. 3 7. 2 6. 3 Transportation, Communication, Utilities 14. 0 3. 5 3. 7 Trade 21. 7 14. 1 13. 6 12. 7 11. 5 26. 2 Finance Insurance & Real EstatServices 25. 5 47. 5 41. 1 24. 6 57. 5 37. 1 Public Administration 13. 8 6. 2 0. 0 Source: Author's tabulations from CPS Supplement on Contingent and Alternative Work Arrangements. Consumer and Client Sector Organizations are concerned with converting resources into products or services that are desired by consumers or clients.
Marketplace success depends on careful analysis and a thorough understanding of market conditions. It is essential for organizations to identify characteristics of the consumer and client market that an organization serves. All marketing strategies aimed at bringing old customers back and enticing new customers. Organizations must also be aware of potential power of buyers and changing clients' preferences to serve their needs. Buyers who are the largest or most significant customers of an organization can exercise significant control. New market niches, advertising and promotional activity can be used to control the market place.
Amazon. com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they want to buy on-line. Amazon has slashed outlet prices on every thing from books that sell for under $ 10 to garden gear reduced by 70 % or more. Good news for die-hard bargain shoppers.
Amazon is more than a post-holiday clearance sale. It will be a permanent tab open for business 365 days a year. In short, the e-tailer is warming up the idea that people love bargains all year round. This strategy is been attracted by all kinds of consumers. Amazon served 20 million customers in 2000, up from 14 million in 1999.
Sales grew up to $ 2. 76 billion in 2000 from $ 1. 64 billion in 1999. Besides on-line business, Amazon opened its outlet store on Dec 28, 2000 to handle excess inventory. With the deep discounts, they " ve hit upon a pricing strategy that's meant to move merchandise fast and pull the customers who wants to see and touch the product before buying. While Amazon. com previously offered bargains in each of its stores, the outlet store makes sniffing out deals easier by housing the items under one virtual roof. Average consumer spending in 2000 at Amazon was $ 134, up by 19 %.
Internet Sales (NSA) 01 Q 2 01 Q 1 00 Q 4 00 Q 3 E-Commerce Sales ($ Bil) 7. 46 7. 59 8. 88 6. 90 Retail Sales ($ Bil) 807. 4 728. 7 817. 7 772. 8 E-Commerce % of Retail Sales 0. 92 1. 04 1. 09 0. 89 Amazon. com strengthened its brand by linking itself with a trusted off-line retail chain, boasting of 707 domestic stores and a 16. 5 % market share in 1999. Despite soft economy, fourth quarter results revealed the promise of the partnership, and perhaps of future partnerships like it. Gross profit grew to $ 656 million in 2000, from $ 291 million in 1999, up by 125 %. International sales grew to $ 381 million in 2000, from $ 168 million in 1999. Amazon's focus on the customer was reflected in a score of 84 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (highest score for service company in any industry).
Unfortunately, for most consumers, e-retailing remains a service-free business. Additional media whining will be heard about all the things that go wrong with Internet shopping. This will be particularly fertile ground, including, but not limited to such atrocities as delivery snafus, credit card fraud, kids stumbling into pornography sites, system failure, slow response times and customer unfriendly site designs. Unreliable online customer service is the leading barrier to consumer e-commerce success.
Poor customer service was a major factor in the 32 percent of online shopping carts being abandoned prior to the completion of the transaction. Shoppers' fears that gifts would fail to arrive by the drop-dead deadline of Christmas Eve or wrong package arrived to front door. While the Internet users have been rising, Internet infrastructure may not expand fast enough to meet the increased levels of demand. Slow Internet connection and non-accessibility of Internet to the customer slows the Internet sales. As consumers learn how to block unwanted offers or insecure over Internet purchases, retailers will have to learn how to transform their information about consumers into knowledge that is desirable to the consumer. In 1998, top 10 on-line retailers accounted for 43 % of total on-line retail sales, putting Internet retailing smack in the middle compared with other retail channels (Super markets 41 %, Home improve centers 37 %, Electronics stores 44 %).
The dominance of large on-line retailers like Amazon will only increase as they leverage their scale and create switching costs through personalized offers and add-on services. In terms of over all consumers spending, on-line sales will definitely cannibalize store and catalog sales. Growth in online revenues continues to be at the expense of other traditional selling venues. The greatest migration is from catalog and phone orders. Senior citizens are rapidly becoming the second-largest customer base after minorities. Today, 16. 4 million senior citizens are actively online in the US.
By 2003, that number will grow to exceed 27 million seniors (or 43 percent of all US seniors). Conclusions with Discussion Sigma Consultancy has identified key areas within Amazon. com that we feel need to be addressed in order to remain competitive in the future. One area of concern deals with the Economic Sector. A slow economy and recent terrorist attacks have presented another negative indicator to be factored into the economy of the United States and most other parts of the global economy. Because these attacks were intentional with long-term security implications, the psychological effect on consumer psychology could negatively impact consumer confidence.
Total online sales declined 58 % and sales for books alone declined 45 % since the day of the attacks. Sigma Consultancy has identified a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for Amazon. com. This goal would accomplish providing online shoppers the ultimate personalized one-stop shopping experience. Patricia Seybold, the CEO of a worldwide business and consulting group, was quoted as saying, "What if there were a single web destination that you could go to no matter what you needed to purchase? This personal store would save you lots of time (the most precious commodity of all).
All of your and your family's personal profile information would already be stored on this site as a result of your earlier shopping expeditions. " Recommendations with discussion It is the recommendation of Sigma Consultancy that a catalytic mechanism needs to be implemented as a quality control measure to improve performance and increase customer satisfaction. The catalytic mechanism could be a guarantee to the customer that the book will arrive on or before the date specified on the online confirmation page and invoice. And every invoice should read, "If the book doesn't arrive in the allotted timeframe, Amazon. com will refund all shipping and handling expenses to the customer. " Another recommendation would be to develop a relationship with a bricks-and-mortar bookseller that will help optimize online merchandising, recognize cross-selling opportunities, build greater customer loyalty, and establish more profitable relationships. Amazon. com should expand the existing relationship with Borders.
com and integrate the online business with Borders bricks-and-mortar stores. While the number of Internet users has been rising, Internet infrastructure may not expand fast enough to meet the increased levels of demand. Slow Internet connection and non-accessibility of Internet to the customer slows the Internet sales. Our final recommendation would be to expand the business through catalog and mail order sales. Alternative Courses of Action Those retailers and service providers who focused on profits from the beginning have demonstrated the e-tailing has more to do with old-fashioned business sense and the ability to ship boxes around the country than which company has the snazziest website or most innovative business model. Amazon.
com should integrate the new technologies with the old way of doing business. An alternative recommendation would be to identify areas such as Brazil as well as all of South America where the literacy rate is high and the use of the Internet is expanding. Once identified, Amazon. com should tailor the portal to meet the needs of that culture and possible establish distribution centers in these areas of the world. < b> General References< /b> Associated Press. (2001, September 27). Economic impact from terrorist attacks. The Oakland Press, pp.
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