Case Study

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Overview Zappos, founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, became the first online retailer specializing in the sale of footwear. Over the course of the following eight years, sales consistently escalated and by 2008 Zappos had surpassed their goal of one billion in gross merchandise sales. Strategic partnerships with brands such as Nike and Burberry allowed the company to create several vertical websites for specialty items under the Zappos corporate umbrella. This prosperity allowed the company to expand their product line to include items such as handbags, sunglasses, apparel, watches, linens, luggage, cosmetics and electronics. In July 2009 Amazon announced they had reached an agreement to acquire Zappos and the merger brought together two companies with similar ideologies in regards to customer service. From inception, Zappos has prided itself on providing outstanding customer service and each employee hired undergoes five weeks of training in customer loyalty before beginning in the role they were hired for. Zappos’ strives to employ individuals who share the mindset that customer satisfaction is a priority and offers trainees $2000 to quit during training if they do not feel they are a good fit to the organization. Despite employing over 1300 individuals, Zappos has maintained a fairly flat structure with open communication and transparency throughout all levels of the organization. Through a culture of caring with an emphasis on building a team and family of its employees, Zappos has successfully created an environment where personnel are motivated and able to fulfill workplace as well as individual needs. Issue Identification Obstacles and complications are often unavoidable when companies embark upon the process ... ... middle of paper ... ...stem that does not necessarily warrant changes may have a negative impact on employee attitude. By retaining a separate identity, Zappos can reiterate a sense of community and family values to their employees which may strengthen employee loyalty and commitment. Disadvantages While Zappos’ present culture and values are very effective at producing empowered, engaged and motivated employees driven to excellence in customer service, there is a disadvantage to remaining static. Organizations need to change to reflect variances in the overall structure of the organization as is so often the case during mergers. Improvements in technology, fluctuations in workforce demographics and market conditions are all impetus for change as well. Preserving their existing culture and excluding expert advice from Amazon management may impede growth and development at Zappos.

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