Brrokstone’s business Essay

Brookstone is a nationwide specialty retailer that sells a variety of consumer products with distinctive function, excellent quality and design, which are not available in other retailers. The company develops strong positioning as a specialty retailer selling the â€Å"hard-to-find tools† in Popular Mechanics Magazine in 1965. The main concerns of Brookstone is to provide customers with the quality of products and quality of services, which served by the quality of people. The company first catalog is printed in black-and-white in the 24 pages that present the detailed and no-nonsense information regarding the product features, materials, measurements, capabilities, and any other useful information to guide customers in buying the suitable products for them (Brookstone, 2009). The successful catalog-type company has encouraged Brookstone to open their first retail store in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Right now, the company is headquartered in Merrimack, New Hampshire, which backed up by vast distribution center and customer service department that handle mail and telephone orders that located in Mexico, Missouri (Brookstone, 2009). The company also has over 305 retail stores within the United States and Puerto Rico. Mostly, the retail stores are located in leading shopping malls, the nation’s busiest airport, and lifestyle center. In order to cope with the demands, the company, on average, opens 10 to 15 new stores each year (Brookstone, 2009). As a catalog company, Brookstone employ a multifaceted Direct-Marketing approach by using two catalogs and Internet operation (www. brookstone. com) to help boosting the orders. The two catalogs are Brookstone catalog and the Hard-to-Find Tools catalog. The Brookstone catalog presents the branded products that available at stores and merchandise from key vendors of Brookstone. Meanwhile, the Hard to Find Tools catalog features customers with high-quality and unique solutions for the home. In addition, the corporate website (www. brookstone. com) acts as the combine catalogs that features all offering that placed in the two printed catalogs. Figure 1 shows the current offering in the corporate website. Figure 1 Brookstone corporate website Source: www. brookstone. com 1. Market Attractiveness Assessment 1. 1. Environment Overview Qatar is actually the country who has the highest per-capita income in 2007. This however, was effect of its overwhelming petroleum resources. Its high level of income nevertheless, has been influencing other aspects of people’s lives also. In this chapter, I will display short elaboration on several aspects of Qatar’s environment. 1. 1. 1. Political Environment Qatar is a politically active nation. The country is home to many Islamic activist and pro-Islamic views. Country officials however, refused to the confirmed of any connections with terrorist groups. Nevertheless, the country maintained very good relationship with the US government. The country is home to the largest US airbase in Middle East, outside of Iraq and it also support a US Naval base. The country has a large magnitude of gas projects, converging with Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch/Shell. These businesses significantly enhanced Qatar’s importance to the vital Western Political interests and also economic interests. Many have said that Qatar’s ‘balancing’ political and economic programs are actually quite difficult to understand. However, analysts have also understood that this willingness to court both sides aggressively has given the country such a high political and economic profile compared to other nations in the Middle East. Despite the bomb attack that happened in 2005, Qatar’s political atmosphere is actually conducive for business. It is revealed that there are no ruling families holding control of the political activities, even though conservative elements of the society are still unease with recent foreign policy changes which have brought thousands of foreigners into the country. We should hold in our understanding however, that Qatar is still a eforming country. One of the good signs of positive developments is that the ruler of the country has been actively encouraging education and open political debates as key elements of his reform strategy. The latest banking environment also reveals that the country in overall, enjoy stable political conditions.