In response to Elizabeth

"Do you feel as though people are going to buy a toyota car even after hearing about them in the news? Or will people start buying from other car companies such as nissan or ford?"

For a long time, my family would only purchase Toyota's. My father is a loyal customer. He will not buy any car unless it is Toyota, and he currently drives one. Luckily his car was not one of the ones that was recalled, and although I haven't talked to him about how he feels about this situation, I feel that if he needed to purchase a new car, he would still stick with Toyota.

Now, just because that is what my father would do, I don't think everyone would have that same feeling. I feel that each company has their loyal customers and people who have been buying from them for years. I think that those who are loyal customers and still haven't had any problems with their Toyota will continue to purchase their cars from them. I also think that people with Toyota's, who may not be loyal customers, they may even be first time customers, but they haven't experienced any problems, will continue to keep with Toyota.

One the other hand, those ones who have had the bad experiences will probably never go back. They may even get their friends and family members to refrain from purchasing a Toyota, but I don't think that it will last forever. Like celebrity affairs, the event will eventually blow over. 10 years from now, people will have totally forgotten about this whole ordeal. There will be a new group of young people entering the car market who were never affected by the events that arose due to the manufacturing problems with Toyota vehicles. Also, all of the bad publicity this company is currently getting is opening their eyes. They now will be much more cautious as to the safety of their vehicles before they put them on the road.

When it comes to whether or not people will look to other car companies to buy cars, I think right now they will. The questionable reliability of Toyota is still lingering and is causing worry to some, so yes, they will buy cars from other companies, but like I mentioned earlier I don't think it will last for long. Toyota has always been one of the leading car sales companies and they aren't going to stop now. Once the newest up to date car comes out, I believe people will forget about what happened and be looking into buying that car.

Do you think its true that over the mistakes a powerful company makes, usually blow over? Do you know any examples as to where this may have happened?

In response to Deanna

"Do you know anyone who has been unemployed?"

The declining job market of 2009 hit many homes in the United States. Millions lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. There were very little businesses that were looking for people to hire and when an organization was hiring, the line of applicants stretched around the block. The unemployment problem did not affect myself personally but one of my good friends family has suffered tremendously.

My friends Mom used to work at one of the local factories in my hometown. It employed hundreds of people, but once the recession began to erupt they had to lay off a great deal of employees. This organization was only able to keep the employees that were absolutely essential in running the business. Unfortunately my friends mother was not one of them. She had only been working at the factory for a couple of years, so the people with seniority kept their jobs and she was out. She previously hadn't needed to have a job because her husband was the sole breadwinner in the family, but my friends grandmother got sick and her Mom ended up having to go to work to help pay the medical bills.

Since she has lost her job she has been unable to find another one. Her husbands job has also been slowing down a great deal and he isn't working as many hours as he used to receive. He also works in a local factory, but was luckily one of the employees who didn't get laid off due to his seniority with the company. Her family has had to downsize from their two story home, to a smaller one story home. They have also had to cut back tremendously on their spending, where they only buy what is absolutely necessary. My friends mother was laid off last year and is still struggling to find a job. Hopefully, now that the economy seems to be recovering, jobs will open up and they will be able to get back to where their family used to be.

Do you think that the job market will grow now that it seems the economy is making a recovery? If so, how long do you think it will take to get the unemployment rate back down to where it was before the recession?

Importance of Price

When it comes down to it most companies rely on the sale of their products to keep a float. In order for their products to be sold, the price at which they sell them is most important. There are some companies who charge the absolute minimum price they need to in order to cover their costs. Others charge outrageous prices because they want it to seem as if they products are of better quality than others. In the end after all of a companies costs are covered, the amount of money they continue to charge is just to benefit them

There are companies like Wal-Mart who charge very low prices for their products. They have become such a large organization because they are able to do that. They are able to keep down their variable costs by having their products produced in developing countries. This also helps to keep down their fixed costs because it cost very little to run factories in this country. They have a competitive advantage in their industry because they have such low prices. They do not have to worry as much when an economic recession hits as may Kohls. Wal-Mart is where people turn to get cheaper products. The pricing that this organization uses is what has helped them to be so successful. There is the controversy though, that they are using forms of slave labor to get these low prices, and at times has caused people to stay away from Wal-Mart.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are those companies who charge extremely high prices for their products. At times, their products may be made out of a better material than the cheaper ones, but other times the brand name of a product, or a product that is endorsed by a celebrity, leads to higher prices. For example, the two clothing stores, American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch are within the same industry, make the same quality clothes yet Abercrombie tends to have higher prices than American Eagle. Their total costs are probably the same but the profit that Abercromibe makes on each sweatshirt as opposed to American Eagle is more than likely higher. I know both stores and have shopped at both and I have come to notice how they both have good quality products, but one charges more than the other.

The type of event described above can be happening for one of two reasons. Abercrombie and Fitch may be a more well known brand name than American Eagle. If this is the case, they feel as if their brand is worth more so they can charge more, although their products are identical. Another reason this may happen is because they are looking to attract a certain kind of customer, which in my own personal experience I feel Abercrombie is trying to achieve. They want to attract more of the middle to upper class citizens rather the lower class ones. They may feel it is an image their company wants to uphold.

In essence, in order to run a good business, the prices of your products have to come into consideration. A company who sells their product at a higher price may not get as many customers, but at the same time still profits because they are able to charge such a high price for reasons such as branding. In the end each company is able to find some way to make a large enough profit to grow.

Would you rather shop at an organization that charges lower prices because they use forms of slave labor, or would you rather pay a little extra money and buy items from a store who provides Americans with jobs?