Case study: Quanlity Funiture Company.

Introduction

The Quality Furniture Company was a high-quality home furniture manufacturer. Its headquarters was in Scranton and distribution depends on the department stores, independent home furnishing retailers and regional chains. The Lloyd's, Inc and the Emporium department store were two of them.

The Lloyd's, Inc had been a customer of Quality Furniture for over 30 years. It always kept the good relationship and credit with Quality Furniture Company. The Lloyd's Inc sold quality home furnishings from three locations and its sales had the seasonal feature, with a slight downturn in the midsummer months and slight upturn during the December holiday season. Its income came from 75% cash or credit card and 25% six-month instalment terms. The Emporium was a new customer of Quality Furniture's. It was a medium-sized department store, which was well-known for its extensive lines of home furnishings. The Emporium built the partner relationship with Quality Furniture Company in 1983.

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LLOYD PERRETT

lloyds

It also had a good credit to Quality Furniture Company.

Quality Furniture Company gave them the same accounts that were on terms of 2%, 10, net 30. Since the beginning of 2001, the competition in the furniture market had intensified, especially in the aspect of quality of product and service. The situation continued in for three years and looked like worse. So Quality Furniture Company thought credit terms and financing of dealers became equally important and was "backed into the position of supporting numerous customers in order to maintain adequate distribution for its products." On the other hand, Quality Furniture Company reinforced its supervision to the financial status of customers. Ralphson had previously a $50,000 limit on the Lloyd's Inc and an $85,000 limit on the Emporium. He adhered strictly to obtaining current reports of the retails quarterly and at times monthly in order to keep...