Artifact Name Introduction to Business Chapter 1 Discussion Board, Chapter

8 Discussion Board, Internship at BJAMS (Reflection), and

Small Business Plan (Ownership, Regulations, and Contracts)
Core Competency
Government and Legal Environment-
The student will demonstrate a working understanding of a
business' responsibility to know, abide by, and enforce laws
and regulations that affect business operations and
transactions.
Course Subject Introduction to Business
Last Update September 2013, December 2013, March 2014,and March
2014
Rationale I included the both the Introduction to Business discussion
board questions because I feel the cover the relationship
between business and government well also discussing
business regulations. Chapter 1 discussion board is about a
Wal-Mart and what it will do for the government. Chapter 8
discussion board about a woman who eat Ben & Jerrys ice
cream and was upset due to the lack of brownies, so we had to
figure out what the business regulation was to make this
woman happy and buy the ice cream again. My internship at
BJAMS is included because working in a school you have to
make sure the class/school is clean, safe, and meets the
standards that are set. The last artifact I included is my small
business plan the section that discusses ownership,
regulations, and contracts. I included this section because it
shows if my business has any contracts or regulations that
have to be followed and if my business will be part of labor
unions or not.
Knowledge

From all these projects I learned a lot of items in the law and
regulations that the government has set in place for business.
From Introduction to Business chapter 1 I learned about the
taxes that business have and the relationship that business
have with the government. Chapter 8 I learned a few different
items then I did in chapter 1 such as what laws and
regulations has to follow to be able to be part of the
government business. My internship at BJAMS I got to have
first hand experiences in how a school has to follow the
sanitary regulations that the government has set and the safety
they have to enforce within the school environment. Small
business plan I learned what a labor union is and what type of
business are part of labor unions such as schools. I also
learned if my small business would have any regulations or
contracts but it will not due to my business will be in my
house will just one employee.
Skills Introduction to Business both chapter 1 and 8 I used the skills
of research and writing. I had to write responses on my
knowledge of the questions. With my internship I had to use
the skills of patience and helping. I had to help with keep the
classroom clean and I had to use patience because when a
child is acting up to keep them safe you have to have patients
and work with them. For the small business plan the main
skill that was used was research I had to look different
definitions to words to apply into my small business write up.
Growth and Improvement
Statement

I believe that there could be improvement and growth in every
project I take part of. In these particular projects I see growth
in how I respond to the questions for Introduction to Business
discussion board. Improvement in my internship at BJAMS
could have been cleaning the room up more without being
told or not getting frustrated with the students when they were
acting up. In the small business plan I believe I could have
improved in how I understand the information by doing a
little more research and adding more information.



A Wal-Mart Supercenter is coming to Derby, Vermont.
Wal-Mart Supercenters have opened in more than 3,211 locations throughout the U.S. since their
inception in 1988. These outlets offer a retail format that has the potential to have a major economic and
quality of life impact on a community. Customer satisfaction, a primary goal of Wal-Mart, is achieved
through convenience (one-stop shopping) and low prices. Wal-Mart has managed to out-compete other
generalists, such as Kmart and Target, through effective marketing and aggressive expansion policies.
Target has shifted its focus to higher quality products at reasonable prices, while Kmart has made a less
than successful attempt to compete directly with Wal-Mart by opening its own supercenters, known as
Big Kmart. Wal-Marts margins reflect a competitive advantage, however, and customer satisfaction is
directly responsible.

Emergence of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter means many things to smaller trade areas. For example, a new
213,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter with approximately five acres of floor space opened its doors
in Fort Collins, Colorado. The new store was in addition to a previously existing, but smaller Wal-Mart
Supercenter on the other side of Fort Collins. The city has just 117,000 residents, but is surrounded by
several smaller cities and communities that expand the trade area to at least 200,000. Sales revenues at
this store were expected to average $2 million per week, yielding annual sales tax revenues for the city
estimated at $2.2 million. The development of the surrounding shopping center was expected to lead to
large volumes of traffic. Five retail stores rent space inside the goliath facility, including a fast food chain,
a hair salon and a portrait studio. Further plans for the shopping center include a large home improvement
store such as Home Depot or Lowes, a bike shop, a bank, and several restaurants.

The effect of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the local economy is not limited to sales tax revenues and
increased business. It also involves many local retail operations, sometimes referred to as Mom & Pop
stores. Supercenters have driven Wal-Mart to become one of the largest corporations in America. In
addition, Wal-Mart is currently the highest volume grocery seller, surpassing chains such as Safeway,
Albertsons and Kroger, which focus specifically on groceries and do not provide the complete product
lines found in a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Many people feel the introduction of a large retailer with those
kinds of assets causes local businesses to fail. Citizens also have to reconcile using limited tax dollars for
infrastructure development, such as roads, traffic lights, and water/sewer lines, for sprawling
development.

Special interest groups, ranging from environmentalists to older citizens not wishing to see their small
town turn into a metropolis, often oppose the development of a sprawling new facility. In some instances,
historic sites are developed in deference to their cultural value. In Davidson County, Tennessee, for
example, rezoning was approved by a business-friendly city council for a Wal-Mart and Lowes shopping
center that destroyed a Native American burial site and a historic civil war site on the Cumberland River.
In Russell County, Virginia, a similar controversy emerged over the proposal of a Wal-Mart Supercenter
in an industrial site of marginal industrial (coal mining) capacity. Local residents feared that a precedent
might be set allowing other, perhaps more lucrative, industrial sites to become commercial space for large
multinational corporations, thus hurting local economic development. Local businesses also feared the
competitive advantage a large retailer would have, possibly resulting in a negative effect on the local
economy.

One Wal-Mart Supercenter may bring more than 450 jobs to an area. The increase in employment largely
reflects part-time employees with low average incomes but includes a few larger salaries associated with
store managers, assistant store managers, pharmacists, and the like. This increase in jobs can be good for
local economies, as well as national employment figures. In fact, Wal-Mart is the nations leading
employer. While some small businesses may fail, it is often claimed that more jobs are created by the
opening of a supercenter. In addition, Wal-Mart often pays higher wages and more benefits than a small
mom and pop store can pay its employees.

However, many people remain unconvinced that Wal-Mart is an asset to local economies. Typical fears of
local residents may include traffic congestion, environmental degradation (including increased sprawl),
the negative effects on downtown commerce, the fact that money spent at Wal-Mart might not be
recycled in the town, and the sense that the town would lose its homey identity. Thus, many times a
new development of this magnitude faces several political, legal, regulatory and citizen hurdles before it
can become a reality. For example, over 150 communities in America and Canada have pressured big-
box retailers such as Wal-Mart into withdrawing plans or have publicly voted to reject their retail
development. Citizen groups usually employ a number of delay and avoidance tactics. These may include
lawsuits, protests, pigeonholing of local politicians, and town hall meetings. Most of these citizen-based
initiatives fail, however.

There have been success stories of small towns preventing construction of Wal-Mart Supercenters. For
example, residents of the small town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, were able to fight off a Wal-Mart
Supercenter. To do so, the citizens had to raise sufficient money to hire professional help and legal
counsel, organize protests, circulate petitions, and raise awareness of the issue. They were able to
convince three local political bodies to block the multinational corporation and have since established a
Web site to help other small communities to follow their successful methods.

In Fort Collins, the history of the Wal-Mart Supercenter project spans back about seven years before the
store opened. City Council and Zoning Board meetings often were packed with emotional and highly
vocal citizens, both for and against the proposal, and many times ran into the early morning hours. As a
result of this lengthy approval period, the location of the store changed once, wasting years of planning by
Wal-Mart officials. Planning and Zoning Board decisions were overturned by a citywide election, which
approved the new shopping center on a very thin margin. Several lawsuits, both real and threatened, were
attempted in order to stop the development or, in contrast, to stop the deterrence of the development.

In the end, the shopping centers in both Fort Collins, CO, and Russell County, VA, became reality despite
local unrest. The Fort Collins stores opening brought in more than 5,000 shoppers on its first day, while
concerns over traffic, infrastructure, and economic impacts persist. For example, city engineers expect the
intersection where the store is located to be inadequate to handle the expected traffic. It also remains to be
seen whether Wal-Mart will drive many local retailers out of business, as it has in other small towns, or
whether it will mean increased economic development and subsequent improved business for many other
companies.

So what effect does Wal-Mart have on smaller towns and smaller companies? In a study of competition
and retail structure published in the Journal of Marketing (1999), authors Miller, Reardon, and McCorkle
explored the relation of superstores, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, to saturation (measured as number
of stores per household) of the competitors. They found that as saturation by generalist (such as Wal-
Mart) increased, broad-line specialist (for example, sporting goods, electronics, and furniture stores)
saturation did as well. However, the positive effect did not carry over to saturation of limited-line
specialist (e.g., Mom and Pop stores). The authors did not test the potential negative effect of generalist
saturation on limited-line specialist saturation.

Other studies have shown that most shoppers prefer to do their shopping at large discount stores,
potentially disrupting business on small towns main streets and downtowns. Some studies show that
Wal-Marts can be good for downtowns, but highly disruptive to surrounding (within a 20 mile radius)
communities downtowns, as customers are likely to drive to another town to do their shopping. These
studies indicate a negative trend for other retailers when a Wal-Mart Supercenter emerges in the town.
Indeed, many downtowns have become vacant in an attempt to directly compete with Wal-Mart, while
some have thrived. The secret of which stores do well in a downtown setting may rely on customer focus
and finding a niche. Even though there may be controversy, the growth of Wal-Mart Supercenters is
expected to continue at a rapid rate.
*************************************************************
Question 1 of 2:
Do you feel the entry of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in a small trade area (<200,000 population) is positive or
negative for the quality of life in that area? Defend your answer after taking a positive or negative
position.

The members of the community that will most likely oppose a Wal-Mart Supercenter are the
small business owners. Im sure they will not want to deal with the competition. Their
objections may be that Wal-Mart can supply more goods and services that they can. Also,
thedemand for name brand products will go up and only Wal-Mart will be able to provide
enough for the community. Equilibrium price will be another issue because Wal-Mart can
have a lower price for products than the small businesses can. Wal-Mart has the natural,
human, and financial resources that mom and pop shops simply dont. Wal-Mart can
answer the complaints by making some sort of agreement with local stores that they will not
sell certain items. If the owners at Wal-Mart respect local businesses enough they can
agree not to run them out of business by having selling different products.
Here's a short video on a pregnant woman eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
1. Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFrQOP5D20g
2. Refer to the "Managing Quality" section in your textbook. Recommend the process(es) that
Ben & Jerry's should implement/consider to ensure this doesn't happen again

Ben & Jerry's incurred a problem with one of customers consuming some of their world famous
ice cream. Instead of enjoying it, the pregnant customer was not pleased, and decided to slam
them with a YouTube video discussing her displeasure. The company's mission is to make,
distribute and sell the finest quality all natural ice cream and euphoric concoctions with a
continued commitment to incorporating wholesome, natural ingredients and promoting business
practices that respect the Earth and the Environment. However one simple mistake
in production brought on some bad publicity, and questioned their credibility. Quality
control may have been supreme, and top notch, but one ice cream container sold to one random
customer had zero standards held to it. The flavor was chocolate fudge brownie, yet the
displeased customer found not a single brownie in her whole container. Something went wrong
during manufacturing and left the ice cream without any extra goodies. Instead of chocolate
fudge brownie ice cream she simply had plain chocolate ice cream. Still good, but where are the
brownie pieces that she paid for and expected? The customization of their different ice creams is
key. They meet each customers individual tastes. To keep meeting their individuals needs and
not mess up again they should take some extra steps. Ben & Jerry's next time could avoid this by
testing samples, or checking each container for any flaws or weight differences. I feel that this is
a little of a unrealistic suggestion but it could work if during their operations they took some
extra steps to insure great quality.







1/29
-I was helping with cutting out pictures, keeping the classroom clean, and watching the
students.

Ownership, Regulations, Contracts
For my small business I will not have any regulation fees because my business is a
business that does not need any licenses, registrations, and will not have any insurance or
taxes. It will not have any insurance or taxes because the business will be ran from a small
house office.

Many business these days employees are part of a labor union which is an employee
organization formed to deal with employers for achieving better pay, hours or working
conditions. My small business will only have one employee an assistant so I believe she/he will
not have to be part of a union due to the fact that I will work something out with them that will
benefit and make them happy well working for me. I will make a contract with my employee and
within the contract I will include what there wage financial reward based on number of hours
worked will be and the benefits nonfinancial form of compensation provided to an employee
such as health insurance and made holidays. In the contract I will also include a chance for
promotion advancement to a higher level job with increased pay and responsibility as my
business gets larger because they were there first and would benefit from the promotion the
most.