jc penney case study solution

J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Problem Definition

Decision facing the company, core value and positioning strategy, target market, competition, 4 p’s analysis, swot analysis of j.c. penney, recommendations, reference list.

J.C. Penny established in 1902; the main problem of this company was to create a brand image to satisfy existing customers and attract young customers.

The marketing strategy of JCP based on promotions discounts policy and sales commissions; however, the customers of this company were dissatisfied with a new pricing structure, which needs to change.

The core values of the company are to improve and recompense the talents of the workers, work with the maximum moral principles, train prospective workers, celebrate small successes, assist sincere communication, promote the innovative idea and smart risk-taking, and most importantly, to care about the people in the localities.

Stock (2013) pointed out that older, less hip, lower-middle-class mothers and shoppers that are older than 55 years of age are the main target market for most department stores; in addition, extremely price sensitive and price-conscious people are loyal customer group of this company because it offered good value for the money (Thompson, 2013). At the same time, this company offered high discounts in order to attract older, price-conscious customers (Thompson, 2013).

Johnson (2013) stated that Macy’s Inc and Kohls Corporation, Target, Wal-Mart, Foundry Big & Tall Supply stores are the major and closest competitors in the market; in addition, the competition of the market has increased for the enchantment of the retail e-commerce business.

On the other hand, this company faced enormous competition at the time of the global financial downturn because consumers only visited its stores and looking for discounts, offers, and coupons (Johnson 2013). In 2011, net income of Wal-Mart was $15,699 million, Target Corporation was $2929 million while a net loss of JCP was $152 million; however, the following figure gives more information in this regard-

Product/Service

Ostlund (2012) stated that apparel, accessories, footwear, fine jewelry, furniture, and Sephora beauty care products are the main products of JCP; however, this company generated the highest revenue from women’s apparel segment. The following figure gives more information in this regard-

After assessing the existing high-low pricing structure, CEO of J.C. Penny had introduced new pricing strategy containing three pricing tiers, for instance, price of everyday items reduced by 40%, and value of monthly products decreased by 20-29%; moreover, customer enjoyed special offer on the first and third Friday of each month (Johnson, 2013). The next figure gives more information in this regard-

According to Johnson (2013), this company had spent more than US$1200 million to implement about 590 promotion events in 2011, and it had generated 72% of its sales revenue from products with a 50% discount offer and its stock soaring up 24%. However, this strategy failed to solve existing problems of JCP as it was confusing to the customers; moreover, competitors have an enlarged promotional budget to overcome from recessionary impact (Ostlund, 2012 and Kardashian, 2012).

Place Strategy

Johnson (2013) reported that JCP operated about 1100 stores with 41 million square feet of retail space among them it operated 700 stores in metropolitan areas and 400 stores in small-town; however, the CEO of this company identified that JCP was bound to close its outlets due to high rent of retail space and small customer base.

Table 1: SWOT Analysis

Effectiveness of the “Fair and Square” repositioning strategy

CEO of JCP had designed radical makeover known as “Fair and Square” strategy to increase sales revenue and brand awareness; however, he mainly changed the logo, spokesperson, and environment of stores, sales structure, and pricing strategy.

The new brand spokesperson was an efficient strategy since new spokespersons would have the capability to protest the company from controversy and gain a positive image (Johnson 2013). The aim of this company was to create a loyal customer base and build brand image, but a frequent change of logo had confused customers and created a chance of fraud (Johnson 2013).

Indicators are pointing to a possible Need to go back

After implementing the new pricing strategy, the sales revenue had decreased rapidly as it failed to attract both new and old customers; at the same time, employees of this company demoralized, frustrated, and unhappy to execute the new system; thus, “Fair and Square” was a mistake.

Indicators are pointing to a more positive direction

Johnson had endeavored to develop a team of specialists to change the sales structure of the company, which indicated Fair and Square” would potentially succeed; however, the employees had started to sale aggressively, which created controversy.

The key assumptions about JC Penny’s 5 C’s Analysis

Table 2: JC Penny’s 5 C’s Analysis

Repositioning with a new target market

JCP has redesigned its stores to attract younger shoppers as it has only 20% of clients under the age of 35; in addition, older customers are price-sensitive, and they only purchase necessary products; however, removed coupons and reduced promotion were the prime factors of failure (Stock, 2013).

New target with the “Fair and Square” brand repositioning

Older customers liked discounts and bargains while younger and modern customers wanted stylish products; therefore, it redesigned stores and sales structure to simulate the buying structure.

Johnson wanted to attract the new target customer

There were many reasons for trying to attract new customers, such as Macy’s and Kohls gained a competitive advantage, older customers were conscious, face financial hardship, increase sales revenue, develop stock performance and change the overall business environment.

Comparison between existing core customers and a new target of JCP

The customer delivers more value to JC Penny

Pros and Cons of Different Types of Pricing Strategies

Transformation of JC Penny with the radical shift in pricing

It was essential to change pricing policy, but it was only factored to transform; however, competitors occupied a large market share while it strived to survive in the market; therefore, it should focus on the overall transformation of the company.

Attitude and Leadership Approach of Johnson

Johnson was neither genius nor a fool; he had just tried to execute the repositioning strategy and wanted to make the business profitable, but he dealt with a sinking ship. More market research was required to introduce a new strategy, but Johnson has not focused on this issue, and he failed to understand shoppers’ behavior, for instance, consumers loved the bargain hunt, but he removed favorite coupons and sales commissions.

Table 6: Similarities and differences between Johnson and Steve Jobs

Source: Self-generated

JCP should change pricing strategy, increase the budget for promotional activities, conduct more research on the market, and follow retrenchment strategy in order to survive in the retail industry.

Isaacson, B. (2013). Lessons in Pricing Strategy from JCPenney . Web.

Johnson, R. (2013). J.C. Penny’s “Fair and Square” Strategy (Abridged). Web.

Kardashian, K. (2012). J.C. Penney, A New Deal . Web.

Ostlund, A. (2012). JC Penney Strategic Marketing Plan 2012: Product Strategy. Web.

Stock, K. (2013). J.C. Penney’s Shoppers are Older, Poorer, than you thought . Web.

Thompson, D. (2013). Who Killed JC Penney? Web.

• Management at J C Penney Company, Inc
• JC Penney Corporation's Environmental Forces
• Red Lobster's and J.C. Penny's Marketing Advice
• Al Ain Distribution Company Company Analysis
• Coach Inc Company Analysis
• Tanglewood Company Strategic Staffing Decisions
• Key Elements of Zara Company’s Business Model
• The Southwest Airlines Corporation Expansion
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, May 8). J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/jc-penney-company-analysis-and-recommendations/

"J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis." IvyPanda , 8 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/jc-penney-company-analysis-and-recommendations/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis'. 8 May.

IvyPanda . 2020. "J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis." May 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/jc-penney-company-analysis-and-recommendations/.

1. IvyPanda . "J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis." May 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/jc-penney-company-analysis-and-recommendations/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "J.C. Penney Case Study Analysis." May 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/jc-penney-company-analysis-and-recommendations/.

Don't have an account? Sign up now

Already have an account login, get 10% off on your next order.

Subscribe now to get your discount coupon *Only correct email will be accepted

(Approximately ~ 0.0 Page)

Total Price

Thank you for your email subscription. Check your email to get Coupon Code.

J C Penney Company Case Analysis and Case Solution

Posted by Peter Williams on Aug-09-2018

Introduction of J C Penney Company Case Solution

The J C Penney Company case study is a Harvard Business Review case study, which presents a simulated practical experience to the reader allowing them to learn about real life problems in the business world. The J C Penney Company case consisted of a central issue to the organization, which had to be identified, analysed and creative solutions had to be drawn to tackle the issue. This paper presents the solved J C Penney Company case analysis and case solution. The method through which the analysis is done is mentioned, followed by the relevant tools used in finding the solution.

The case solution first identifies the central issue to the J C Penney Company case study, and the relevant stakeholders affected by this issue. This is known as the problem identification stage. After this, the relevant tools and models are used, which help in the case study analysis and case study solution. The tools used in identifying the solution consist of the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis. The solution consists of recommended strategies to overcome this central issue. It is a good idea to also propose alternative case study solutions, because if the main solution is not found feasible, then the alternative solutions could be implemented. Lastly, a good case study solution also includes an implementation plan for the recommendation strategies. This shows how through a step-by-step procedure as to how the central issue can be resolved.

Problem Identification of J C Penney Company Case Solution

Harvard Business Review cases involve a central problem that is being faced by the organization and these problems affect a number of stakeholders. In the problem identification stage, the problem faced by J C Penney Company is identified through reading of the case. This could be mentioned at the start of the reading, the middle or the end. At times in a case analysis, the problem may be clearly evident in the reading of the HBR case. At other times, finding the issue is the job of the person analysing the case. It is also important to understand what stakeholders are affected by the problem and how. The goals of the stakeholders and are the organization are also identified to ensure that the case study analysis are consistent with these.

Analysis of the J C Penney Company HBR Case Study

The objective of the case should be focused on. This is doing the J C Penney Company Case Solution. This analysis can be proceeded in a step-by-step procedure to ensure that effective solutions are found.

• In the first step, a growth path of the company can be formulated that lays down its vision, mission and strategic aims. These can usually be developed using the company history is provided in the case. Company history is helpful in a Business Case study as it helps one understand what the scope of the solutions will be for the case study.
• The next step is of understanding the company; its people, their priorities and the overall culture. This can be done by using company history. It can also be done by looking at anecdotal instances of managers or employees that are usually included in an HBR case study description to give the reader a real feel of the situation.
• Lastly, a timeline of the issues and events in the case needs to be made. Arranging events in a timeline allows one to predict the next few events that are likely to take place. It also helps one in developing the case study solutions. The timeline also helps in understanding the continuous challenges that are being faced by the organisation.

SWOT analysis of J C Penney Company

An important tool that helps in addressing the central issue of the case and coming up with J C Penney Company HBR case solution is the SWOT analysis.

• The SWOT analysis is a strategic management tool that lists down in the form of a matrix, an organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. It helps in the strategic analysis of J C Penney Company.
• Once this listing has been done, a clearer picture can be developed in regards to how strategies will be formed to address the main problem. For example, strengths will be used as an advantage in solving the issue.

Therefore, the SWOT analysis is a helpful tool in coming up with the J C Penney Company Case Study answers. One does not need to remain restricted to using the traditional SWOT analysis, but the advanced TOWS matrix or weighted average SWOT analysis can also be used.

Porter Five Forces Analysis for J C Penney Company

Another helpful tool in finding the case solutions is of Porter's Five Forces analysis. This is also a strategic tool that is used to analyse the competitive environment of the industry in which J C Penney Company operates in. Analysis of the industry is important as businesses do not work in isolation in real life, but are affected by the business environment of the industry that they operate in. Harvard Business case studies represent real-life situations, and therefore, an analysis of the industry's competitive environment needs to be carried out to come up with more holistic case study solutions. In Porter's Five Forces analysis, the industry is analysed along 5 dimensions.

• These are the threats that the industry faces due to new entrants.
• It includes the threat of substitute products.
• It includes the bargaining power of buyers in the industry.
• It includes the bargaining power of suppliers in an industry.
• Lastly, the overall rivalry or competition within the industry is analysed.

This tool helps one understand the relative powers of the major players in the industry and its overall competitive dynamics. Actionable and practical solutions can then be developed by keeping these factors into perspective.

PESTEL Analysis of J C Penney Company

Another helpful tool that should be used in finding the case study solutions is the PESTEL analysis. This also looks at the external business environment of the organisation helps in finding case study Analysis to real-life business issues as in HBR cases.

• The PESTEL analysis particularly looks at the macro environmental factors that affect the industry. These are the political, environmental, social, technological, environmental and legal (regulatory) factors affecting the industry.
• Factors within each of these 6 should be listed down, and analysis should be made as to how these affect the organisation under question.
• These factors are also responsible for the future growth and challenges within the industry. Hence, they should be taken into consideration when coming up with the J C Penney Company case solution.

VRIO Analysis of J C Penney Company

This is an analysis carried out to know about the internal strengths and capabilities of J C Penney Company. Under the VRIO analysis, the following steps are carried out:

• The internal resources of J C Penney Company are listed down.
• Each of these resources are assessed in terms of the value it brings to the organization.
• Each resource is assessed in terms of how rare it is. A rare resource is one that is not commonly used by competitors.
• Each resource is assessed whether it could be imitated by competition easily or not.
• Lastly, each resource is assessed in terms of whether the organization can use it to an advantage or not.

The analysis done on the 4 dimensions; Value, Rareness, Imitability, and Organization. If a resource is high on all of these 4, then it brings long-term competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value, Rareness, and Imitability, then it brings an unused competitive advantage. If a resource is high on Value and Rareness, then it only brings temporary competitive advantage. If a resource is only valuable, then it’s a competitive parity. If it’s none, then it can be regarded as a competitive disadvantage.

Value Chain Analysis of J C Penney Company

The Value chain analysis of J C Penney Company helps in identifying the activities of an organization, and how these add value in terms of cost reduction and differentiation. This tool is used in the case study analysis as follows:

• The firm’s primary and support activities are listed down.
• Identifying the importance of these activities in the cost of the product and the differentiation they produce.
• Lastly, differentiation or cost reduction strategies are to be used for each of these activities to increase the overall value provided by these activities.

Recognizing value creating activities and enhancing the value that they create allow J C Penney Company to increase its competitive advantage.

BCG Matrix of J C Penney Company

The BCG Matrix is an important tool in deciding whether an organization should invest or divest in its strategic business units. The matrix involves placing the strategic business units of a business in one of four categories; question marks, stars, dogs and cash cows. The placement in these categories depends on the relative market share of the organization and the market growth of these strategic business units. The steps to be followed in this analysis is as follows:

• Identify the relative market share of each strategic business unit.
• Identify the market growth of each strategic business unit.
• Place these strategic business units in one of four categories. Question Marks are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Stars are those strategic business units with high market share and high market growth rate. Cash Cows are those strategic business units with high market share and low market growth rate. Dogs are those strategic business units with low market share and low growth rate.
• Relevant strategies should be implemented for each strategic business unit depending on its position in the matrix.

The strategies identified from the J C Penney Company BCG matrix and included in the case pdf. These are either to further develop the product, penetrate the market, develop the market, diversification, investing or divesting.

Ansoff Matrix of J C Penney Company

Ansoff Matrix is an important strategic tool to come up with future strategies for J C Penney Company in the case solution. It helps decide whether an organization should pursue future expansion in new markets and products or should it focus on existing markets and products.

• The organization can penetrate into existing markets with its existing products. This is known as market penetration strategy.
• The organization can develop new products for the existing market. This is known as product development strategy.
• The organization can enter new markets with its existing products. This is known as market development strategy.
• The organization can enter into new markets with new products. This is known as a diversification strategy.

The choice of strategy depends on the analysis of the previous tools used and the level of risk the organization is willing to take.

Marketing Mix of J C Penney Company

J C Penney Company needs to bring out certain responses from the market that it targets. To do so, it will need to use the marketing mix, which serves as a tool in helping bring out responses from the market. The 4 elements of the marketing mix are Product, Price, Place and Promotions. The following steps are required to carry out a marketing mix analysis and include this in the case study analysis.

• Analyse the company’s products and devise strategies to improve the product offering of the company.
• Analyse the company’s price points and devise strategies that could be based on competition, value or cost.
• Analyse the company’s promotion mix. This includes the advertisement, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Strategies will be devised which makes use of a few or all of these elements.
• Analyse the company’s distribution and reach. Strategies can be devised to improve the availability of the company’s products.

J C Penney Company Blue Ocean Strategy

The strategies devised and included in the J C Penney Company case memo should have a blue ocean strategy. A blue ocean strategy is a strategy that involves firms seeking uncontested market spaces, which makes the competition of the company irrelevant. It involves coming up with new and unique products or ideas through innovation. This gives the organization a competitive advantage over other firms, unlike a red ocean strategy.

Competitors analysis of J C Penney Company

The PESTEL analysis discussed previously looked at the macro environmental factors affecting business, but not the microenvironmental factors. One of the microenvironmental factors are competitors, which are addressed by a competitor analysis. The Competitors analysis of J C Penney Company looks at the direct and indirect competitors within the industry that it operates in.

• This involves a detailed analysis of their actions and how these would affect the future strategies of J C Penney Company.
• It involves looking at the current market share of the company and its competitors.
• It should compare the marketing mix elements of competitors, their supply chain, human resources, financial strength etc.
• It also should look at the potential opportunities and threats that these competitors pose on the company.

Organisation of the Analysis into J C Penney Company Case Study Solution

Once various tools have been used to analyse the case, the findings of this analysis need to be incorporated into practical and actionable solutions. These solutions will also be the J C Penney Company case answers. These are usually in the form of strategies that the organisation can adopt. The following step-by-step procedure can be used to organise the Harvard Business case solution and recommendations:

• The first step of the solution is to come up with a corporate level strategy for the organisation. This part consists of solutions that address issues faced by the organisation on a strategic level. This could include suggestions, changes or recommendations to the company's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. It can include recommendations on how the organisation can work towards achieving these strategic objectives. Furthermore, it needs to be explained how the stated recommendations will help in solving the main issue mentioned in the case and where the company will stand in the future as a result of these.
• The second step of the solution is to come up with a business level strategy. The HBR case studies may present issues faced by a part of the organisation. For example, the issues may be stated for marketing and the role of a marketing manager needs to be assumed. So, recommendations and suggestions need to address the strategy of the marketing department in this case. Therefore, the strategic objectives of this business unit (Marketing) will be laid down in the solutions and recommendations will be made as to how to achieve these objectives. Similar would be the case for any other business unit or department such as human resources, finance, IT etc. The important thing to note here is that the business level strategy needs to be aligned with the overall corporate strategy of the organisation. For example, if one suggests the organisation to focus on differentiation for competitive advantage as a corporate level strategy, then it can't be recommended for the J C Penney Company Case Study Solution that the business unit should focus on costs.
• The third step is not compulsory but depends from case to case. In some HBR case studies, one may be required to analyse an issue at a department. This issue may be analysed for a manager or employee as well. In these cases, recommendations need to be made for these people. The solution may state that objectives that these people need to achieve and how these objectives would be achieved.

The case study analysis and solution, and J C Penney Company case answers should be written down in the J C Penney Company case memo, clearly identifying which part shows what. The J C Penney Company case should be in a professional format, presenting points clearly that are well understood by the reader.

Alternate solution to the J C Penney Company HBR case study

It is important to have more than one solution to the case study. This is the alternate solution that would be implemented if the original proposed solution is found infeasible or impossible due to a change in circumstances. The alternate solution for J C Penney Company is presented in the same way as the original solution, where it consists of a corporate level strategy, business level strategy and other recommendations.

Implementation of J C Penney Company Case Solution

The case study does not end at just providing recommendations to the issues at hand. One is also required to provide how these recommendations would be implemented. This is shown through a proper implementation framework. A detailed implementation framework helps in distinguishing between an average and an above average case study answer. A good implementation framework shows the proposed plan and how the organisations' resources would be used to achieve the objectives. It also lays down the changes needed to be made as well as the assumptions in the process.

• A proper implementation framework shows that one has clearly understood the case study and the main issue within it.
• It shows that one has been clarified with the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• It shows that the details provided in the case have been properly analysed.
• It shows that one has developed an ability to prioritise recommendations and how these could be successfully implemented.
• The implementation framework also helps by removing out any recommendations that are not practical or actionable as these could not be implemented. Therefore, the implementation framework ensures that the solution to the J C Penney Company Harvard case is complete and properly answered.

Recommendations and Action Plan for J C Penney Company case analysis

For J C Penney Company, based on the SWOT Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, PESTEL Analysis, VRIO analysis, Value Chain Analysis, BCG Matrix analysis, Ansoff Matrix analysis, and the Marketing Mix analysis, the recommendations and action plan are as follows:

• J C Penney Company should focus on making use of its strengths identified from the VRIO analysis to make the most of the opportunities identified from the PESTEL.
• J C Penney Company should enhance the value creating activities within its value chain.
• J C Penney Company should invest in its stars and cash cows, while getting rid of the dogs identified from the BCG Matrix analysis.
• To achieve its overall corporate and business level objectives, it should make use of the marketing mix tools to obtain desired results from its target market.

Baron, E. (2015). How They Teach the Case Method At Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://poetsandquants.com/2015/09/29/how-they-teach-the-case-method-at-harvard-business-school/

Bartol. K, & Martin, D. (1998). Management, 3rd edition. Boston: Irwin McGrawHill.

Free Management E-Books. (2013a). PESTLE Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-pestle-analysis.pdf

Gupta, A. (2013). Environment & PEST analysis: an approach to the external business environment. International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2(1), 34-43.

Hambrick, D. C., MacMillan, I. C., & Day, D. L. (1982). Strategic attributes and performance in the BCG matrix—A PIMS-based analysis of industrial product businesses. Academy of Management Journal, 25(3), 510-531.

Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2010). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach, Ninth Ed. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Hussain, S., Khattak, J., Rizwan, A., & Latif, M. A. (2013). ANSOFF matrix, environment, and growth-an interactive triangle. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, 2(2), 196-206.

IIBMS. (2015). 7 Effective Steps to Solve Case Study. Retrieved from http://www.iibms.org/c-7-effective-steps-to-solve-case-study/

Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2004). Blue ocean strategy. If you read nothing else on strategy, read thesebest-selling articles., 71.

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson education.

Kulkarni, N. (2018). 8 Tips to Help You Prepare for the Case Method. Retrieved from https://www.hbs.edu/mba/blog/post/8-tips-to-help-you-prepare-for-the-case-method

Lin, C., Tsai, H. L., Wu, Y. J., & Kiang, M. (2012). A fuzzy quantitative VRIO-based framework for evaluating organizational activities. Management Decision, 50(8), 1396-1411.

Nixon, J., & Helms, M. M. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis – where are we now?: A review of academic research from the last decade. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251.

Panagiotou, G. (2003). Bringing SWOT into Focus. Business Strategy Review, 14(2), 8-10.

Pickton, D. W., & Wright, S. (1998). What's swot in strategic analysis? Strategic Change, 7(2), 101-109.

Porter, M. E. (2001). The value chain and competitive advantage. Understanding Business Processes, 50-66.

Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance (Vol. 2). New York: Free Press.

Porter, M.E. (1979, March). Harvard Business Review: Strategic Planning, How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Retrieved July 7, 2016, from https://hbr.org/1979/03/how-competitive-forces-shape-strategy

Rastogi, N., & Trivedi, M. K. (2016). PESTLE Technique–a Tool to Identify External Risks in Construction Projects. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 3(1), 384-388.

Rauch, P. (2007). SWOT analyses and SWOT strategy formulation for forest owner cooperations in Austria. European Journal of Forest Research, 126(3), 413-420.

Warning! This article is only an example and cannot be used for research or reference purposes. If you need help with something similar, please submit your details here .

9416 Students can’t be wrong

PhD Experts

Saisha Banjeet

What an outstanding feature you can download any samples even without spending a coin on it. The essay was written with a persuasive intro, argumentative body and evidence-based conclusion.

The additional benefit was that of this service that it proved the authenticity of the paper by providing a report on plagiarism. I appoint this service and get myself relaxed from the tensions.

Takats Mark

The feedback of the teacher forced me to visit this service again and again.

Keane Dervan

My second time working with this website was good. Extremely smart service.

Calculate the Price

(approx ~ 0.0 page), total price €0, next articles.

• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Corporate Customer Experience Manager (Handout 2) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Corporate Finance Manager (Handout 3) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Corporate Human Resources Manager (Handout 1) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Midwest Regional Manager (Handout 6) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Northeast Regional Manager (Handout 5) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Northwest Regional Manager (Handout 8) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Southeast Regional Manager (Handout 7) Case Analysis
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System Southwest Regional Manager (Handout 4) Case Analysis
• Space & Light Studios: Cost Volume Profit Analysis And The Business Of Yoga Case Analysis
• Pacific Grove Spice Company Case Analysis

Previous Articles

• County Line Markets: Real Options And Store Expansions Case Analysis
• Execution: The Missing Link In Retail Operations Case Analysis
• Cartwright Lumber Co., Spanish Version Case Analysis
• Clarkson Lumber Co., Spanish Version Case Analysis
• Cooper Industries, Inc., Spanish Version Case Analysis
• Interest Rates, Market Pricing, And Compounding Case Analysis
• Financial Performance Measurement For The 21st Century Case Analysis
• Note On Pricing In Nonprofit Organizations Case Analysis
• Harbor City Electric Case Analysis
• Valuing Wal Mart 2010 Case Analysis

Be a great writer or hire a greater one!

Academic writing has no room for errors and mistakes. If you have BIG dreams to score BIG, think out of the box and hire Case48 with BIG enough reputation.

Our Guarantees

Zero plagiarism, best quality, qualified writers, absolute privacy, timely delivery.

Interesting Fact

Most recent surveys suggest that around 76 % students try professional academic writing services at least once in their lifetime!

Allow Our Skilled Essay Writers to Proficiently Finish Your Paper.

We are here to help. Chat with us on WhatsApp for any queries.

Customer Representative

Human Resources Management Jc Penney

• Harvard Case Studies

Harvard Business Case Studies Solutions – Assignment Help

In most courses studied at Harvard Business schools, students are provided with a case study. Major HBR cases concerns on a whole industry, a whole organization or some part of organization; profitable or non-profitable organizations. Student’s role is to analyze the case and diagnose the situation, identify the problem and then give appropriate recommendations and steps to be taken.

To make a detailed case analysis, student should follow these steps:

STEP 1: Reading Up Harvard Case Study Method Guide:

Case study method guide is provided to students which determine the aspects of problem needed to be considered while analyzing a case study. It is very important to have a thorough reading and understanding of guidelines provided. However, poor guide reading will lead to misunderstanding of case and failure of analyses. It is recommended to read guidelines before and after reading the case to understand what is asked and how the questions are to be answered. Therefore, in-depth understanding f case guidelines is very important.

Harvard Case Study Solutions

porter’s five forces model

STEP 2: Reading The Human Resources Management Jc Penney Harvard Case Study:

To have a complete understanding of the case, one should focus on case reading. It is said that case should be read two times. Initially, fast reading without taking notes and underlines should be done. Initial reading is to get a rough idea of what information is provided for the analyses. Then, a very careful reading should be done at second time reading of the case. This time, highlighting the important point and mark the necessary information provided in the case. In addition, the quantitative data in case, and its relations with other quantitative or qualitative variables should be given more importance. Also, manipulating different data and combining with other information available will give a new insight. However, all of the information provided is not reliable and relevant.

When having a fast reading, following points should be noted:

• Nature of organization
• Nature if industry in which organization operates.
• External environment that is effecting organization
• Problems being faced by management
• Identification of communication strategies.
• Any relevant strategy that can be added.
• Control and out-of-control situations.

When reading the case for second time, following points should be considered:

• Decisions needed to be made and the responsible Person to make decision.
• Objectives of the organization and key players in this case.
• The compatibility of objectives. if not, their reconciliations and necessary redefinition.
• Sources and constraints of organization from meeting its objectives.

After reading the case and guidelines thoroughly, reader should go forward and start the analyses of the case.

STEP 3: Doing The Case Analysis Of Human Resources Management Jc Penney:

To make an appropriate case analyses, firstly, reader should mark the important problems that are happening in the organization. There may be multiple problems that can be faced by any organization. Secondly, after identifying problems in the company, identify the most concerned and important problem that needed to be focused.

Firstly, the introduction is written. After having a clear idea of what is defined in the case, we deliver it to the reader. It is better to start the introduction from any historical or social context. The challenging diagnosis for Human Resources Management Jc Penney and the management of information is needed to be provided. However, introduction should not be longer than 6-7 lines in a paragraph. As the most important objective is to convey the most important message for to the reader.

After introduction, problem statement is defined. In the problem statement, the company’s most important problem and constraints to solve these problems should be define clearly. However, the problem should be concisely define in no more than a paragraph. After defining the problems and constraints, analysis of the case study is begin.

STEP 4: SWOT Analysis of the Human Resources Management Jc Penney HBR Case Solution:

SWOT analysis helps the business to identify its strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding of opportunity that can be availed and the threat that the company is facing. SWOT for Human Resources Management Jc Penney is a powerful tool of analysis as it provide a thought to uncover and exploit the opportunities that can be used to increase and enhance company’s operations. In addition, it also identifies the weaknesses of the organization that will help to be eliminated and manage the threats that would catch the attention of the management.

This strategy helps the company to make any strategy that would differentiate the company from competitors, so that the organization can compete successfully in the industry. The strengths and weaknesses are obtained from internal organization. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are generally related from external environment of organization. Moreover, it is also called Internal-External Analysis.

In the strengths, management should identify the following points exists in the organization:

• Advantages of the organization
• Activities of the company better than competitors.
• Unique resources and low cost resources company have.
• Activities and resources market sees as the company’s strength.
• Unique selling proposition of the company.

WEAKNESSES:

• Improvement that could be done.
• Activities that can be avoided for Human Resources Management Jc Penney.
• Activities that can be determined as your weakness in the market.
• Factors that can reduce the sales.
• Competitor’s activities that can be seen as your weakness.

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Good opportunities that can be spotted.
• Interesting trends of industry.
• Change in technology and market strategies
• Government policy changes that is related to the company’s field
• Changes in social patterns and lifestyles.
• Local events.

Following points can be identified as a threat to company:

• Company’s facing obstacles.
• Activities of competitors.
• Product and services quality standards
• Threat from changing technologies
• Financial/cash flow problems
• Weakness that threaten the business.

Following points should be considered when applying SWOT to the analysis:

• Precise and verifiable phrases should be sued.
• Prioritize the points under each head, so that management can identify which step has to be taken first.
• Apply the analyses at proposed level. Clear yourself first that on what basis you have to apply SWOT matrix.
• Make sure that points identified should carry itself with strategy formulation process.
• Use particular terms (like USP, Core Competencies Analyses etc.) to get a comprehensive picture of analyses.

STEP 5: PESTEL/ PEST Analysis of Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Solution:

• Pest analysis

Pest analyses is a widely used tool to analyze the Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental and legal situations which can provide great and new opportunities to the company as well as these factors can also threat the company, to be dangerous in future.

Pest analysis is very important and informative.  It is used for the purpose of identifying business opportunities and advance threat warning. Moreover, it also helps to the extent to which change is useful for the company and also guide the direction for the change. In addition, it also helps to avoid activities and actions that will be harmful for the company in future, including projects and strategies.

To analyze the business objective and its opportunities and threats, following steps should be followed:

• Brainstorm and assumption the changes that should be made to organization. Answer the necessary questions that are related to specific needs of organization
• Analyze the opportunities that would be happen due to the change.
• Analyze the threats and issues that would be caused due to change.
• Perform cost benefit analyses and take the appropriate action.

PEST FACTORS:

• Next political elections and changes that will happen in the country due to these elections
• Strong and powerful political person, his point of view on business policies and their effect on the organization.
• Strength of property rights and law rules. And its ratio with corruption and organized crimes. Changes in these situation and its effects.
• Change in Legislation and taxation effects on the company
• Trend of regulations and deregulations. Effects of change in business regulations
• Timescale of legislative change.
• Other political factors likely to change for Human Resources Management Jc Penney.

ECONOMICAL:

• Position and current economy trend i.e. growing, stagnant or declining.
• Exchange rates fluctuations and its relation with company.
• Change in Level of customer’s disposable income and its effect.
• Fluctuation in unemployment rate and its effect on hiring of skilled employees
• Access to credit and loans. And its effects on company
• Effect of globalization on economic environment
• Considerations on other economic factors

SOCIO-CULTURAL:

• Change in population growth rate and age factors, and its impacts on organization.
• Effect on organization due to Change in attitudes and generational shifts.
• Standards of health, education and social mobility levels. Its changes and effects on company.
• Employment patterns, job market trend and attitude towards work according to different age groups.

case study solutions

• Social attitudes and social trends, change in socio culture an dits effects.
• Religious believers and life styles and its effects on organization
• Other socio culture factors and its impacts.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

• Any new technology that company is using
• Any new technology in market that could affect the work, organization or industry
• Access of competitors to the new technologies and its impact on their product development/better services.
• Research areas of government and education institutes in which the company can make any efforts
• Changes in infra-structure and its effects on work flow
• Existing technology that can facilitate the company
• Other technological factors and their impacts on company and industry

These headings and analyses would help the company to consider these factors and make a “big picture” of company’s characteristics. This will help the manager to take the decision and drawing conclusion about the forces that would create a big impact on company and its resources.

STEP 6: Porter’s Five Forces/ Strategic Analysis Of The Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Study:

To analyze the structure of a company and its corporate strategy, Porter’s five forces model is used. In this model, five forces have been identified which play an important part in shaping the market and industry. These forces are used to measure competition intensity and profitability of an industry and market.

porter’s five forces model

These forces refers to micro environment and the company ability to serve its customers and make a profit. These five forces includes three forces from horizontal competition and two forces from vertical competition. The five forces are discussed below:

• THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS:
• as the industry have high profits, many new entrants will try to enter into the market. However, the new entrants will eventually cause decrease in overall industry profits. Therefore, it is necessary to block the new entrants in the industry. following factors is describing the level of threat to new entrants:
• Barriers to entry that includes copy rights and patents.
• High capital requirement
• Government restricted policies
• Switching cost
• Access to suppliers and distributions
• Customer loyalty to established brands.
• THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES:
• this describes the threat to company. If the goods and services are not up to the standard, consumers can use substitutes and alternatives that do not need any extra effort and do not make a major difference. For example, using Aquafina in substitution of tap water, Pepsi in alternative of Coca Cola. The potential factors that made customer shift to substitutes are as follows:
• Price performance of substitute
• Switching costs of buyer
• Products substitute available in the market
• Reduction of quality
• Close substitution are available
• DEGREE OF INDUSTRY RIVALRY:
• the lesser money and resources are required to enter into any industry, the higher there will be new competitors and be an effective competitor. It will also weaken the company’s position. Following are the potential factors that will influence the company’s competition:
• Competitive advantage
• Continuous innovation
• Sustainable position in competitive advantage
• Level of advertising
• Competitive strategy
• BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS:
• it deals with the ability of customers to take down the prices. It mainly consists the importance of a customer and the level of cost if a customer will switch from one product to another. The buyer power is high if there are too many alternatives available. And the buyer power is low if there are lesser options of alternatives and switching. Following factors will influence the buying power of customers:
• Bargaining leverage
• Switching cost of a buyer
• Buyer price sensitivity
• Competitive advantage of company’s product
• BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS:
• this refers to the supplier’s ability of increasing and decreasing prices. If there are few alternatives o supplier available, this will threat the company and it would have to purchase its raw material in supplier’s terms. However, if there are many suppliers alternative, suppliers have low bargaining power and company do not have to face high switching cost. The potential factors that effects bargaining power of suppliers are the following:
• Input differentiation
• Impact of cost on differentiation
• Strength of distribution centers
• Input substitute’s availability.

STEP 7: VRIO Analysis of Human Resources Management Jc Penney:

Vrio analysis for Human Resources Management Jc Penney case study identified the four main attributes which helps the organization to gain a competitive advantages. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. Therefore there must be some resources and capabilities in an organization that can facilitate the competitive advantage to company. The four components of VRIO analysis are described below: VALUABLE: the company must have some resources or strategies that can exploit opportunities and defend the company from major threats. If the company holds some value then answer is yes. Resources are also valuable if they provide customer satisfaction and increase customer value. This value may create by increasing differentiation in existing product or decrease its price. Is these conditions are not met, company may lead to competitive disadvantage. Therefore, it is necessary to continually review the Human Resources Management Jc Penney company’s activities and resources values. RARE: the resources of the Human Resources Management Jc Penney company that are not used by any other company are known as rare. Rare and valuable resources grant much competitive advantages to the firm. However, when more than one few companies uses the same resources and provide competitive parity are also known as rare resources. Even, the competitive parity is not desired position, but the company should not lose its valuable resources, even they are common. COSTLY TO IMITATE: the resources are costly to imitate, if other organizations cannot imitate it. However, imitation is done in two ways. One is duplicating that is direct imitation and the other one is substituting that is indirect imitation. Any firm who has valuable and rare resources, and these resources are costly to imitate, have achieved their competitive advantage. However, resources should also be perfectly non sustainable. The reasons that resource imitation is costly are historical conditions, casual ambiguity and social complexity. ORGANIZED TO CAPTURE VALUE: resources, itself, cannot provide advantages to organization until it is organized and exploit to do so. A firm (like Human Resources Management Jc Penney)  must organize its management systems, processes, policies and strategies to fully utilize the resource’s potential to be valuable, rare and costly to imitate.

STEP 8: Generating Alternatives For Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Solution:

After completing the analyses of the company, its opportunities and threats, it is important to generate a solution of the problem and the alternatives a company can apply in order to solve its problems. To generate the alternative of problem, following things must to be kept in mind:

• Realistic solution should be identified that can be operated in the company, with all its constraints and opportunities.
• as the problem and its solution cannot occur at the same time, it should be described as mutually exclusive
• it is not possible for a company to not to take any action, therefore, the alternative of doing nothing is not viable.
• Student should provide more than one decent solution. Providing two undesirable alternatives to make the other one attractive is not acceptable.

Once the alternatives have been generated, student should evaluate the options and select the appropriate and viable solution for the company.

STEP 9: Selection Of Alternatives For Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Solution:

It is very important to select the alternatives and then evaluate the best one as the company have limited choices and constraints. Therefore to select the best alternative, there are many factors that is needed to be kept in mind. The criteria’s on which business decisions are to be selected areas under:

• Improve profitability
• Increase sales, market shares, return on investments
• Customer satisfaction
• Brand image
• Corporate mission, vision and strategy
• Resources and capabilities

Alternatives should be measures that which alternative will perform better than other one and the valid reasons. In addition, alternatives should be related to the problem statements and issues described in the case study.

STEP 10: Evaluation Of Alternatives For Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Solution:

If the selected alternative is fulfilling the above criteria, the decision should be taken straightforwardly. Best alternative should be selected must be the best when evaluating it on the decision criteria. Another method used to evaluate the alternatives are the list of pros and cons of each alternative and one who has more pros than cons and can be workable under organizational constraints.

STEP 11: Recommendations For Human Resources Management Jc Penney Case Study (Solution):

There should be only one recommendation to enhance the company’s operations and its growth or solving its problems. The decision that is being taken should be justified and viable for solving the problems.

JC Penney Company Case Solution & Answer

Home » Case Study Analysis Solutions » JC Penney Company

JC Penney Company Case Study Help

Case Analysis

Historical Financial Performance

Analysis of Table 1.

The effectiveness of the financial strategy can be assessed by using the liquidity ratios because of the fact that these ratios measures that how able the company is to pay back its debt obligations. From the above table, it can be seen that the current ratio trending down at the CAGR of -0.09 percent, indicating that the company would have problems in meeting its short term financial obligations. Similarly, the quick ratio trending down at the CAGR of -0.15 percent, indicating that the company needs to sell its inventory to pay off its current obligations. The cash ratio of less than 1 indicates that the company is at risk of having financial trouble and calls for maintaining cash reserves. The low cash ratio indicates that the company has less availability of cash to meet the short term debt obligations.

The overall liquidity position is getting worse with every passing year due to which the company is concerned about having significant amount of cash critical to survival of the company. It is to notify that the company was experiencing liquidity issues in year 2012 following a decline in profits and sales over many years. Despite once being a flourishing and profitable organization, the fierce competition in the market had led significant changes in the management and strategy that has been insufficient to return the company to the consistent and financial outcome that the company had previously enjoyed. Due to the reduced profits and sales; the company has been confronted with the liquidity issues because of sufficient cash on hand required to cover the daily operating needs.

  The components of the company’s current assets include: cash and cash equivalent, inventory and other current assets. The declining trend of the cash and cash equivalent shows that the company found itself short of cash caused by the poor planning and budgeting. The shortage of cash is not feasible for the company because of the fact that it hinders the company from investing in the high revenue generating projects and paying its short term debt obligations. In addition to this, the shortage of cash, represented by the declining trend would slow the future investment, internal business operations as well as the overall growth objectives of the company. Similarly, the inventory is on declining trend, which means that the company is not efficient in converting its inventory into cash. On the other hand, the reduction in the inventory gives a signal that the company attempts to meet the demand of the cash flows, which could be possible by reducing the Another perspective on reduction in inventory is that the low inventory leads to low cost of goods sold which in turn tends to result in high gross profits. If the other accounts being equal, a gross profit of the company would translate into higher profits.

  To assess the liquidity position of the company at the quarterly level, the liquidity ratios are calculated including current ratio cash ratio and quick ratio. Taking into account the quarterly calculated current ratios for the year 2011, it can be seen that in the first two quarters, the current ratio almost remained stable but in quarter 3 of 2011, it is declined from 2.04 to 1.76 but increased to 1.84 in quarter four of the similar year which means that the liquidity position of the company was better at the quarterly level. Similarly,the current ratio calculated for the year 2012 at quarterly levels shows that the in the first two quarters, the current ratio almost remained stable but in quarter 3 of 2012; it is declined from 1.90 to 1.66and further declined to 1.43 in the fourth quarter of the similar year. Additionally, when comparing the quick ratio at the annual level and quarterly level, it can be seen that the liquidity picture changed at the quarterly level because of the reason that the quick ratio is rapidly declined from 1.19 in 2010 to 0.52 in 2012 whereas the quarterly calculated ratios shows that a slight reduction from one quarter to another. Furthermore, the cash ratio shows a slight decrease at the quarterly level for both years which means that the quarterly trend of cash balance has declining yet smooth trend.

The cash balance of the company at the annual basis and quarterly levels is assessed to evaluate whether the cash balance on annual reflects the similar trend as the quarterly cash balance trend. The analysis shows that the cash balance on annual does not reflect the similar trend as the quarterly cash balance trendbecause of the fact that when assessing the cash balance at the annual basis, there is a significant reduction in the cash balance from year 1 to year 2 with greater margin whereas if the cash balance of thecompany is being assessed on the quarterly levels, it can be seen that thecash balance is was increased from $1085 in quarter 3 of 2011 to $1507 in quarter 4 of 2012 but it is reduced to $839 in quarter 1 of 2012 and $525 in quarter 2 of 2012. Afterwards, the cash balance of the company was increased in quarter 4 of the year 2011, which means that the cash balance on annual does not reflects the similar trend as the quarterly cash balance trend.

Debt capacity

  The cash to debt ratio most likely used to compare the company’s operating cash flow with its total debt. A cash to debt ratio of JC Penny is decreasing from 0.34 in 2010 to 0.14 in 2012 which shows that the company is in the weak financial position and is not able to accelerate its debt repayment. It is because of the reason that the company has low amount of cash available within a business to pay off the debt obligations and there is a likelihood that the company would face challenges in paying off its debt in the near future. The cash to long term debt is reduced from 0.84 in 2010 to 0.31 in 2012 and the cash to short term debt is also reduced from 0.99 in 2010 to 0.36 in 2012, which demonstrates that the company is running out of cash to pay for both short term as well as long term debt.

The debt tocapitalization ratio of the company is increased from 0.67 in 2010 to 0.76 in 2012 which means that the company is more highly leveraged, which in turn tends to carry the high risk solvency risk. Additionally, the high debt t capitalization ratio indicates that the company is extensive using debt to finance the business operations.

The high debt to equity ratio of the company from 1.39 in 2010 to 2.08 in 2012 indicates that the company has been aggressive in financing its growth with the debt. The high debt to equity ratio indicates that the company might not be capable enough of generating healthy amount of cash in order to satisfy its debt obligations. In the similar way, the net debt to equity ratio of the company has increased from 0.91 in 2010 to 1.79 in 2012, which means that the changes in the long term debt and assets would have a greater impact on the debt to equity ratio they are the larger accounts as compared to the short term debt.

The debt to assets ratio of the company is greater the 40 percent which is considered a good debt to asset ratio. The debt to assets ratio of the company has increased from 0.58 in 2010 to 0.67 in 2012 which means that the company puts itself at the default risk on its loan in case of sudden increase in the interest rates.

The above calculated debt capacity ratios are calculated at the quarterly level for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. The cash to debt ratio at the quarterly level for the year 2010 shows that the ratio has reduced in the quarter 3 of 2010 from 0.200 to 0.13 but again increased to 0.20. Similarly, the ratio has reduced in quarter 3 of 2012 to 0.07 but slightly increased to 0.14. Additionally, the other ratios including debt to equity ratio, cash to short term and long term debt and debt to asset ratio indicates that these balance on the annual does not reflect the similar trend as the quarterly cash balance trend.

Debt coverage ratios

The EBIT to interest expense ratio of the company has reduced from 3.56 in 2010 to -5.79 in 2012 which indicates that the financial standing of the company is not strong and the company represents higher risks to the shareholders or investors in terms of solvency. Additionally, the company would face difficulty in meeting the interest expense in the near future.

On the other hand, the asset coverage ratio of the company was 39.2 in 2011 and then reduced to 32.03 in 2012 which does not indicate towards a positive sign because of the fact that the reduced asset coverage does provide an ability to the company to cover its debt. The reduction in the asset coverage ratio means that the company is not able to pay off its debt obligations from assets in the event that the earnings of the company could not cover the debt obligations.

Furthermore, the cash coverage ratio of the company has reduced from 11.35 in 2010 to 4.11 in 2012 which means that the company is not capable enough to pay principle and interest amount when they become due. The reduced cash coverage ratio stipulates that the company is illiquid and could not easily fund its debt.

The debt coverage ratios are applied on the data provided for the quarterly basis. The EBIT to interest ratio at the quarterly level shows that although the company has witnessed the reduction in the EBIT to interest ratio, the margin of reduction is little between two quarters when compared to the ratio on annual basis. In the same way, the significant reduction in the asset coverage ratio is witnessed only between quarter 3 and quarter 4 of the year 2012. The evaluation of the debt coverage ratios on annual basis does not reflect the same trend as the quarterly cash balance trend.

Profitability ratios

The gross profit margin of the company is slightly reduced from 0.39 in 2010 to 0.31 in 2012 and trending down at the CAGR of -0.04 percent which means that the company is not generating healthy profits returns over time and the decline in gross profit margin occurred on account of the shrinking revenues relative to the sales volume.

The EBITDA margin of the company is also reduced from 0.0077 in 2011 to -0.088 in 2012 which means that the company is confronted with the profitability concerns and cash flow problems. The reduced EBITDA margin is an indicator of the unstableearnings of the company over time.

The EBIT margin of the company was reduced from 0.046 in 2010 to -0.000 in 2011 and further contracted to -0.100 in 2012, which means that the company is not being well managed is potentially high of a risk.

The net profit margin of the company is not attractive as it is trending down at the rate of -2.28, which means that the company used poor pricing policies and ineffective cost structure.

The cost of goods sold margin is increased with slight margin from 0.63 in 2011 to 0.68 in 2012 which means that the company could make a payment of the cost of goods sold from the revenue generated from the sale of products to the customers…………………………

This is just a sample partical work. Please place the order on the website to get your own originally done case solution.

Related Case Solutions:

LOOK FOR A FREE CASE STUDY SOLUTION

Fern Fort University

J. c. penney company case study analysis & solution, harvard business case studies solutions - assignment help.

J. C. Penney Company is a Harvard Business (HBR) Case Study on Finance & Accounting , Fern Fort University provides HBR case study assignment help for just $11. Our case solution is based on Case Study Method expertise & our global insights.

Finance & Accounting Case Study | Authors :: Kenneth Eades, David Glazer, Shachar Eyal

Case study description.

The case examines the liquidity issues that J. C. Penney (JCP) experienced in 2012 and 2013 following a decline in sales and profits over several years. Despite once being a highly profitable and growing company, the increasing pressures of competition led to changes in strategy and in management that were insufficient to return the company to the consistent financial results it had previously enjoyed. While sales and profits waned, the cash balance also suffered, and Wall Street analysts began expressing liquidity concerns as the company wrestled with having enough cash on hand to cover daily operating needs. Students are asked to calculate a time series of quarterly liquidity and leverage ratios to illustrate the declining financial condition of the company. They are further challenged to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of raising equity versus debt as a solution for the company's lack of liquidity. To assess the amount of external capital required, students are asked to use a sources and uses analysis that provides intuition for the cash flow challenges facing the company. Set against the background of an iconic retailer, the case provides an engaging context in which to discuss the need for a major capital structure decision due to operational challenges.

Financial management

Order a Finance & Accounting case study solution now

To Search More HBR Case Studies Solution Go to Fern Fort University Search Page

[10 Steps] Case Study Analysis & Solution

Step 1 - reading up harvard business review fundamentals on the finance & accounting.

Even before you start reading a business case study just make sure that you have brushed up the Harvard Business Review (HBR) fundamentals on the Finance & Accounting. Brushing up HBR fundamentals will provide a strong base for investigative reading. Often readers scan through the business case study without having a clear map in mind. This leads to unstructured learning process resulting in missed details and at worse wrong conclusions. Reading up the HBR fundamentals helps in sketching out business case study analysis and solution roadmap even before you start reading the case study. It also provides starting ideas as fundamentals often provide insight into some of the aspects that may not be covered in the business case study itself.

Step 2 - Reading the J. C. Penney Company HBR Case Study

To write an emphatic case study analysis and provide pragmatic and actionable solutions, you must have a strong grasps of the facts and the central problem of the HBR case study. Begin slowly - underline the details and sketch out the business case study description map. In some cases you will able to find the central problem in the beginning itself while in others it may be in the end in form of questions. Business case study paragraph by paragraph mapping will help you in organizing the information correctly and provide a clear guide to go back to the case study if you need further information. My case study strategy involves -

• Marking out the protagonist and key players in the case study from the very start.
• Drawing a motivation chart of the key players and their priorities from the case study description.
• Refine the central problem the protagonist is facing in the case and how it relates to the HBR fundamentals on the topic.
• Evaluate each detail in the case study in light of the HBR case study analysis core ideas.

Step 3 - J. C. Penney Company Case Study Analysis

Once you are comfortable with the details and objective of the business case study proceed forward to put some details into the analysis template. You can do business case study analysis by following Fern Fort University step by step instructions -

• Company history is provided in the first half of the case. You can use this history to draw a growth path and illustrate vision, mission and strategic objectives of the organization. Often history is provided in the case not only to provide a background to the problem but also provide the scope of the solution that you can write for the case study.
• HBR case studies provide anecdotal instances from managers and employees in the organization to give a feel of real situation on the ground. Use these instances and opinions to mark out the organization's culture, its people priorities & inhibitions.
• Make a time line of the events and issues in the case study. Time line can provide the clue for the next step in organization's journey. Time line also provides an insight into the progressive challenges the company is facing in the case study.

Step 4 - SWOT Analysis of J. C. Penney Company

Once you finished the case analysis, time line of the events and other critical details. Focus on the following -

• Zero down on the central problem and two to five related problems in the case study.
• Do the SWOT analysis of the J. C. Penney Company . SWOT analysis is a strategic tool to map out the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that a firm is facing.
• SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix will help you to clearly mark out - Strengths Weakness Opportunities & Threats that the organization or manager is facing in the J. C. Penney Company
• SWOT analysis will also provide a priority list of problem to be solved.
• You can also do a weighted SWOT analysis of J. C. Penney Company HBR case study.

Step 5 - Porter 5 Forces / Strategic Analysis of Industry Analysis J. C. Penney Company

In our live classes we often come across business managers who pinpoint one problem in the case and build a case study analysis and solution around that singular point. Business environments are often complex and require holistic solutions. You should try to understand not only the organization but also the industry which the business operates in. Porter Five Forces is a strategic analysis tool that will help you in understanding the relative powers of the key players in the business case study and what sort of pragmatic and actionable case study solution is viable in the light of given facts.

Step 6 - PESTEL, PEST / STEP Analysis of J. C. Penney Company

Another way of understanding the external environment of the firm in J. C. Penney Company is to do a PESTEL - Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental & Legal analysis of the environment the firm operates in. You should make a list of factors that have significant impact on the organization and factors that drive growth in the industry. You can even identify the source of firm's competitive advantage based on PESTEL analysis and Organization's Core Competencies.

Step 7 - Organizing & Prioritizing the Analysis into J. C. Penney Company Case Study Solution

Once you have developed multipronged approach and work out various suggestions based on the strategic tools. The next step is organizing the solution based on the requirement of the case. You can use the following strategy to organize the findings and suggestions.

• Build a corporate level strategy - organizing your findings and recommendations in a way to answer the larger strategic objective of the firm. It include using the analysis to answer the company's vision, mission and key objectives , and how your suggestions will take the company to next level in achieving those goals.
• Business Unit Level Solution - The case study may put you in a position of a marketing manager of a small brand. So instead of providing recommendations for overall company you need to specify the marketing objectives of that particular brand. You have to recommend business unit level recommendations. The scope of the recommendations will be limited to the particular unit but you have to take care of the fact that your recommendations are don't directly contradict the company's overall strategy. For example you can recommend a low cost strategy but the company core competency is design differentiation.
• Case study solutions can also provide recommendation for the business manager or leader described in the business case study.

Step 8 -Implementation Framework

The goal of the business case study is not only to identify problems and recommend solutions but also to provide a framework to implement those case study solutions. Implementation framework differentiates good case study solutions from great case study solutions. If you able to provide a detailed implementation framework then you have successfully achieved the following objectives -

• Detailed understanding of the case,
• Clarity of HBR case study fundamentals,
• Analyzed case details based on those fundamentals and
• Developed an ability to prioritize recommendations based on probability of their successful implementation.

Implementation framework helps in weeding out non actionable recommendations, resulting in awesome J. C. Penney Company case study solution.

Step 9 - Take a Break

Once you finished the case study implementation framework. Take a small break, grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like, go for a walk or just shoot some hoops.

Step 10 - Critically Examine J. C. Penney Company case study solution

After refreshing your mind, read your case study solution critically. When we are writing case study solution we often have details on our screen as well as in our head. This leads to either missing details or poor sentence structures. Once refreshed go through the case solution again - improve sentence structures and grammar, double check the numbers provided in your analysis and question your recommendations. Be very slow with this process as rushing through it leads to missing key details. Once done it is time to hit the attach button.

Previous 5 HBR Case Study Solution

• County Line Markets: Real Options and Store Expansions Case Study Solution
• Toyota's Innovative Share Issue (2015) Case Study Solution
• Financial Services at Falabella (A) Case Study Solution
• Link REIT Case Study Solution
• Execution: The Missing Link in Retail Operations Case Study Solution

Next 5 HBR Case Study Solution

• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Corporate Customer Experience Manager (Handout 2) Case Study Solution
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Corporate Finance Manager (Handout 3) Case Study Solution
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Corporate Human Resources Manager (Handout 1) Case Study Solution
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Midwest Regional Manager (Handout 6) Case Study Solution
• Johansen's: The New Scorecard System-Northeast Regional Manager (Handout 5) Case Study Solution

Special Offers

Order custom Harvard Business Case Study Analysis & Solution. Starting just $19

Amazing Business Data Maps. Send your data or let us do the research. We make the greatest data maps.

We make beautiful, dynamic charts, heatmaps, co-relation plots, 3D plots & more.

Buy Professional PPT templates to impress your boss

Nobody get fired for buying our Business Reports Templates. They are just awesome.

• More Services

Feel free to drop us an email

• fernfortuniversity[@]gmail.com
• (000) 000-0000

• Harvard Business School →
• Faculty & Research →
• October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
• HBS Case Collection

JCPenney: Back in Business

• Format: Print
• | Language: English
• | Pages: 29

About The Author

Related Work

• Faculty Research
• JCPenney: Back in Business  By: Elie Ofek and Christine Snively
• JCPenney: Back in Business  By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Christine Snively

• Order Status
• Testimonials
• What Makes Us Different

J.C. PENNEY COMPANY Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Home >> Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions >> J.C. PENNEY COMPANY

 J.C. PENNEY COMPANY Case Solution

What do the liquidity ratios – Current, Quick, and Cash-to-Sales – reveal about JC Penney’s financial position for the eight quarters spanning Q1 2011 to Q4 2012?

            The liquidity ratios for JC Penney have been computed as shown in the appendix for the eight quarters spanning from quarter 1 of the year 2011 to quarter 4 of the year 2012. First of all, if we look at the current ratio of the company, then it could be seen that the current ratio of the company has been consistently dropping over the past eight quarters. The current ratio for JC Penney in the first quarter of 2011 was 2.1 times. This ratio was near to an ideal ratio for a retailer in such a market. However, this ratio started falling since then and the current ratio in the fourth quarter of the year 2012 was 1.43 times. Although the current assets of the company are in excess of its current liabilities, however this is not an ideal ratio and the decreasing trend for this ratio is an alarming situation for JC Penney.

            Secondly, if we analyze the trend of the quick ratio, which shows the percentage of the quick assets of the company over the current liabilities, then it could be seen that this ratio has also been declining continuously over the last eight quarters with a quick ratio of 0.83 times in the first quarter of 2011 falling to a quick ratio of 0.52 times in the fourth quarter of 2012. This is very risky and shows a poor working capital management of the company. This also shows that the cash position of the company is weak or the amount of those current assets which could not be converted quickly into cash is high.

            Lastly, if we look at the cash to sales ratio for the company, then it could be observed that this ratio has also been following a declining trend but it had also observed slight ups and downs between first and the last quarter for the year 2012 but the overall decline in this ratio is significant. The cash to sales ratio for the first quarter of 2011 was 45% and currently it is 24%. This clearly shows that the company has issues in transforming its sales into cash and thus, the company is facing cash problems. Overall, all the three liquidity ratios show that the predictions of the industry analysts are correct and the liquidity position of the company is weak.

What do the leverage ratios – Debt-to-Capital, Interest Coverage, and Cash-to-Debt – reveal about JC Penney’s financial position for the eight quarters spanning Q1 2011 to Q4 2012?

            After performing an analysis for the liquidity ratios of JC Penney, the leverage ratios for the company have also been computed for the last eight quarters. First of all, if we look at the trend of the debt to capital ratio, then it could be seen that the capital structure of the company is strong as it has maintained a debt to capital ratio of about 33% to 36% on average for the last eight quarters as compared to the industry average of 30%, which is quite impressive. The current debt to capital ratio for the company is around 33% to 34% approximately.

            Secondly, the interest coverage ratio for the company has been calculated and this is the ratio, which shows the most alarming situation faced by the company. The interest coverage ratio shows the ability of the company to pay interest on its outstanding debt. The interest coverage ratio for the company in the first quarter of 2011 was 2.77 times. This was a very low ratio for the company however, what is more worse is the negative interest cover ratio for the company of -13 times in the fourth quarter of 2012. This is a worse situation for the company since it has negative operating income, as a result the company would not be able to pay debt on its outstanding obligations....................

This is just a sample partial case solution. Please place the order on the website to order your own originally done case solution.

Related Case Solutions & Analyses:

Hire us for Originally Written Case Solution/ Analysis

Like us and get updates:.

Harvard Case Solutions

Search Case Solutions

• Accounting Case Solutions
• Auditing Case Studies
• Business Case Studies
• Economics Case Solutions
• Finance Case Studies Analysis
• Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions
• Human Resource Cases
• Ivey Case Solutions
• Management Case Studies
• Marketing HBS Case Solutions
• Operations Management Case Studies
• Supply Chain Management Cases
• Taxation Case Studies

More From Harvard Case Study Analysis Solutions

• STATA ANALYSIS TASK
• Focus Media (B): A Chinese Shooting Star Crashes
• Alvalade XXI
• Bridging the Digital Divide: The Case of Bell Nortel and Chapleau Ontario
• Precision Worldwide Inc.
• History of Credit Agencies in the United States

Contact us:

Check Order Status

How Does it Work?

Why TheCaseSolutions.com?

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

HHS Announces Cost Savings for 64 Prescription Drugs Thanks to the Medicare Rebate Program Established by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Lower Cost Prescription Drug Law

Under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, some people with Medicare will pay less for some Part B drugs if the drug’s price increased faster than the rate of inflation.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), today announced that some Medicare enrollees will pay less for 64 drugs available through Medicare Part B. The drugs will have a lowered Part B coinsurance rate from July 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024, since each drug company raised prices faster than the rate of inflation.  Over 750,000 people with Medicare use these drugs annually, which treat conditions such as osteoporosis, cancer, and infections. White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden will announce the cost savings on these life-saving drugs in a keynote address on the Biden-Harris Administration’s focus on lowering costs today at the Center for American Progress.

“Without the Inflation Reduction Act, seniors were completely exposed to Big Pharma’s price hikes. Not anymore. Thanks to President Biden and the new Medicare inflation rebate program, seniors are protected and benefitting from lower Part B drug costs,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden. “The Biden-Harris Administration will continue fighting to bring down the cost of health care and prescription drugs for all Americans.”

“President Biden’s Medicare prescription drug rebate program is putting money back in the pockets of seniors and people with disabilities, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “President Biden made lowering prescription drug costs for Americans a top priority, and he is delivering on that promise. Our work is not complete, and we will continue to fight for lower health care costs for all Americans.”

Please find soundbites from HHS’ Chief Competition Officer, Stacy Sanders, here .

Because of President Biden’s lower cost prescription drug law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which established the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program, some people with Medicare who use these drugs during this time period may save between $1 and $4,593 per day.

“Everyone should be able to afford their medication, and the Inflation Reduction Act continues to deliver on this goal to improve affordability,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Discouraging drug companies from price increases above the rate of inflation is a key part of this effort, and CMS continues to implement the law to bring savings to people with Medicare.”

Padcev, a medication used to treat advanced bladder cancer, is an example of a prescription drug with a price that has increased faster than the rate of inflation every quarter since the Medicare Part B inflation rebate program went into effect, resulting in lowered Part B coinsurances for seniors and others with Medicare. A beneficiary taking Padcev as part of their cancer treatment may have saved as much as $1,181 from April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024, depending on their coverage and course of treatment. Another example, Crysvita, treats a rare genetic disorder that causes impaired growth, muscle weakness, and bone pain. A beneficiary taking Crysvita may have saved as much as $765 from July 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024 depending on their coverage and course of treatment.

The Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program is just one of the Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug provisions aimed at lowering drug costs. In addition to this program, the law expanded eligibility for full benefits under the Low-Income Subsidy program (LIS or “Extra Help”) under Medicare Part D at the beginning of this year. Nearly 300,000 people with low and modest incomes are now benefiting from the program’s expansion. A comprehensive public education campaign is underway to reach the more than three million people who are likely eligible for the program but not yet enrolled.

In addition, as of January 1, 2024, some people enrolled in Medicare Part D who have high drug costs have their annual out-of-pocket costs capped at about $3,500. In 2025, all people with Medicare Part D will benefit from a $2,000 cap on annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.

The Inflation Reduction Act requires drug companies to pay rebates to Medicare when prices increase faster than the rate of inflation for certain drugs. CMS intends to begin invoicing prescription drug companies for rebates owed to Medicare no later than fall 2025. The rebate amounts paid by drug companies will be deposited in the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, which will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the Medicare program for future generations.

For more information on the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program visit, https://www.cms.gov/inflation-reduction-act-and-medicare/inflation-rebates-medicare

To view the fact sheet on the 64 Part B drugs with a coinsurance reduction for the quarter July 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024, visit, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/reduced-coinsurance-certain-part-b-rebatable-drugs-july-1-september-30-2024.pdf

More information and helpful resources about the Inflation Reduction Act and how it is helping to lower costs for people with Medicare can be found at LowerDrugCosts.gov .

Sign Up for Email Updates

Receive the latest updates from the Secretary, Blogs, and News Releases

Subscribe to RSS

Receive latest updates

Related News Releases

Hhs publishes first round of inflation reduction act case studies on health sector climate investments, hhs releases new data showing over 10 million people with medicare received a free vaccine because of the president’s inflation reduction act; releases draft guidance for the second cycle of medicare drug price negotiation program, biden-harris administration furthers medicare drug price negotiations, releases new data on how the president’s historic law lowers health care costs for women, media inquiries.

For general media inquiries, please contact  [email protected] .

Provide details on what you need help with along with a budget and time limit. Questions are posted anonymously and can be made 100% private.

Studypool matches you to the best tutor to help you with your question. Our tutors are highly qualified and vetted.

Your matched tutor provides personalized help according to your question details. Payment is made only after you have completed your 1-on-1 session and are satisfied with your session.

• Homework Q&A
• Become a Tutor

All Subjects

Mathematics

Programming

Health & Medical

Engineering

Computer Science

Foreign Languages

Access over 35 million academic & study documents

J.c penny case study.

Sign up to view the full document!

24/7 Study Help

Stuck on a study question? Our verified tutors can answer all questions, from basic  math  to advanced rocket science !

Similar Documents

working on a study question?

Studypool is powered by Microtutoring TM

Copyright © 2024. Studypool Inc.

Studypool is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university.

Ongoing Conversations

Access over 35 million study documents through the notebank

Get on-demand Q&A study help from verified tutors

Read 1000s of rich book guides covering popular titles

Sign up with Google

Sign up with Facebook

Already have an account? Login

Login with Google

Login with Facebook

Don't have an account? Sign Up

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.