Case Study of Best Buy, Inc.
Best Buy’s History & Main Characters: Best Buy is Minneapolis-based and is North America's leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances. Throughout Best Buy's 37-year history, the company has maintained the tradition of making life fun and easy for customers and employees, while providing a significant return to partners and investors. It has 80,000 employees and over 550 stores in the U.S., in addition to the brands Best Buy Canada, Future Shop and Magnolia Hi-Fi. Their leadership is led by Dick Schulze, Founder and Chairman, Brad Anderson, Vice Chairman and CEO, Al Lenzmeier, President and COO, and Darren Jackson, Executive Vice President of Finance and CFO. Chairman Dick Schulze founded Best Buy in 1966 with the Sound of Music, an audio component systems store in St. Paul, Minn. In 1973, Vice Chairman and CEO Brad Anderson joined Sound of Music as a salesperson. The company quickly expanded into video products and computers, was renamed Best Buy in 1983, and became a public company in 1985. Best Buy’s revenues for fiscal year 2003 were $20.9 billion and net earnings of $622 million. It was ranked number 91 on the Fortune 500 in 2003 (Bestbuy.com). Best Buy stores are redefining the way customers shop by offering an unparalleled assortment of affordable, easy-to-use entertainment and technology products and services available through its network of more than 550 retail stores in 48 states and online at BestBuy.com. Best Buy is scheduled to open 60 new stores in fiscal 2003 and is on track to have 650 stores by fiscal 2005. Magnolia Hi-Fi is a high-end electronics retailer specializing in audio and video solutions for homes, ...
... middle of paper ...
...e the three roles that make a good manager. I feel that my manager and the other managers performances include these being, technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills which make up a good manager. Their roles as leaders include that they give us the “know how”, the personal relationship with trust and respect, and they have excellent conceptual skills to get us out of and through tight spots we might get into sometimes regarding meeting budget etc. (best buy.com).
Concluding, Best Buy has advanced and achieved so much since their beginning in 1966, and with the importance of its employees and managers being put first and into definitive roles, will only make the company go further on their road to success. I am excited to see what the future holds for Best Buys organizational behavior changes and advancements to keep current and on the cutting edge.
In 1978, when two executives Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank received news they were fired from their jobs at Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, they decided to take something negative and turn it into an opportunity. They put their experience and knowledge of the business and industry together and developed a business plan to create a chain of home-improvement warehouses. Their idea was to create a business which would be larger and more profitable than any of their competitors. So in 1979, one year after being fired, they acquired their funding and opened three stores in Atlanta which they branded with the name Home Depot. Today, Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement chain and second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart, operating approximately 2,250 stores throughout the Americas (Parnell, 2014).
Another potential source of competitive advantage is Best Buy’s Geek Squad. While this has been a successful line of business for Best Buy, this too could become obsolete. Already an expensive part of Best Buy, Geek Squad costs would most likely increase if they wanted it to be more widely used. The likelihood of Best Buy overcoming this is arguably even less than its likelihood of competing with Amazon’s quick inventory - between 30 and 40%. With technology changing and a trend towards more user-friendly interfaces and products, consumers may not require the help of Geek Squad representatives to assist with their product, as they can figure out any issues on their own or by searching online for troubleshooting or product help blogs, customer reviews, etc.
Youdath illustrates some of Kmart’s management changes, Charles Conway wanted to turn Kmart into an “Everyday low price destination,” making Wal-Mart Stores a direct competitor. Conaway cut back on advertising and the results were not profitable. After an unprofitable holiday season in 2001 the company filed bankruptcy. In 2002, James Adamson hoped to improve customer service and restock the shelves within the Kmart Stores. While Kmart was taking time to recover from filing Chapter 11, its rivals like Wal-Mart and Target were stealing its customers. When Kmart was focusing on random in-store discounts, Wal-Mart and Target were pitching low prices, broad inventories, hip products, and a pleasant shopping experience (2002).
Managers have a multitude of formal responsibilities and are accountable for the actions of their employees. Managers must lead and direct an organization through manipulation and deployment of an organization?s resources. People in a management position are expected to carry out specific functions, jobs, and responsibilities; they must influence people, manipulate the environment, money, and time to achieve
Best Buy, a 47 year old business, has faced countless challenges over the years. While Best Buy’s reputation has fluctuated, the company has presented several strategies to deal with these problems by creating plans to stabilize and promote growth. Through an in-depth analysis, the following areas were studied performance, environment, and organization. The analysis will assist in examining Best Buy’s strategies and core competences. The objective of this study is an understanding of the challenges and to figure out what makes the organization successful.
With the passion for the latest and greatest technological knowledge, and the charisma and devotion towards the youth, Best Buy is sure to continue on the high road to success. Best Buy will be changing and advancing to accommodate the ever-changing field of technology. They are truly a testament to upholding and exceeding their vision statement of “meeting the customer at the intersection of technology and life” (FAQ).
Best Buy's principal objectives, as a public company is to sustain growth and earnings. For this to continue to work, they have to be frequently review their business model to make sure that it is pleasing customer needs and desires as effectively and completely as possible. The company attempts to have not only wide-ranging product offerings but also exceedingly trained workers with broad product knowledge.
(Author). According to Oxford dictionary a manager is an individual viewed in terms of their ability in managing resources (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2016) Managers need certain skills to become good managers, to be able to solve problems, good time management, and organization skills. Good managers are able to hold good relationships with their colleagues. Therefore, the company is managed well and progress making more profit. (Author)
in the similar manner, Hill, & McShane, (2008), argued that managers remain the most important asset of the business that drives the business towards path of development and growth. Additionally, the importance of managers, their roles and functions cannot be neglected. As the business environment has become highly competitive with market segments highly fragmented forcing business entities to adopt and integrate effective business practices that can ensure that the business is heading towards the path of competitive advantage. In this regard, it is realized that the role and function of manager has become highly indispensable. The early theory of management, as per stated by Need, (2006), argues that the core functions of manager are to Plan, Organize, Staffing, Leading, and Controlling. Augier, & Teece, (2009), within this regard stated that effective and efficient managers do not just go and perform haphazardly, in fact, good and effective managers discover their strengths, ensure they are making the most out of the existing resources and mastering the above mentioned five basic functions. The overall role of manager is highly significant, mainly because of the fact that manager while performing these five functions guide the entire business and
It is necessary for these managers to assure that their employees know what is expected of them. They also need to effectively communicate the company goals and strategies in addition to frequently giving feedback to their employees. Managers also need to have the confidence in their employees to allow them autonomy in their work roles.
Strategic plan reviews the mission and vision of a company (Armajani 2012). For Best Buy, it aims at providing customers the latest devices and services at an attractive price at any time via multi-channel. And apart from just selling, it provides technical services and warranty of products in order to further improve customers’ experience to which the company highly valued (Best Buy 2014, p.25).
Strategic human resource management involves the development of consistent and aligned practices, programs, and policies geared toward the achievement of an organization’s strategic objectives. It requires human resources (HR) managers to abandon the standard personnel management mindset and focus instead on strategic issues. These programs must be integrated into a larger framework that facilitates the organization’s overall mission and objectives (Mello, 2015). Nordstrom considers customer service to be at the core of the company’s culture (Spector & McCarthy, 2012) and sales is their service.
function, managers need to analyse how activities and resources are to be grouped and carry out plans successfully (Bartol 2007). A manager have to understand their ability to manage the lower level employee which is the most valuable of the company as they are the key of output and implement in the planning. Then manager will coordinate the jobs between authority and responsibility that is to define the role position of them (MSG 2012).
likely to focus on goods that are necessary. Like other competitors, Best Buy’s current underperformance is
Henry Mintzberg has defined the ten main managerial roles of manager as monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, figure head, leader, liaison, entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. He further categories them into Decisional, Informational and Interpersonal.