Succeeding in Business:
A Review of Billion-Dollar United States Businesses
Businesses that hire during recession are rare. Businesses that create jobs while providing uncommonly exceptional customer service are even more obscure. That's what Zappos, Hewlett-Packard and USAA have been doing since the companies were created. The companies have been able to balance all of their duties while increasing their gross profit and keeping the customers happy with their service. This paper considers both the leadership and marketing aspects of these companies and answers the following questions:
1. How the company got started?
2. What leadership philosophies do they encourage?
3. What marketing tactics do they use?
4. Where can these companies evolve from here?
The paper finally ends with some suggestions for how each company can improve their current status in the market. Understanding how billion-dollar business manage and market their company during a recession can spawn other companies to improve their business practices.
Zappos: A company history
As a relatively new company that started in 1999, Zappos has grown from just a thought into a billion-dollar company in less than ten years. Its roots started with San Francisco entrepreneur, Nick Swinmurn, who was searching for a pair of quality shoes at the local mall. Swinmurn could not find any shoes that would fit his style or his shoe size. He had the same problem online because the online stores did not offer the selection that he desired. So, the businessman decided to start his own online shoe company that would curtail to varying shoe buyers who valued different brands, styles, qualities, and even pocketbooks.
So began the company that would revolutionize the onl...
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Nordstrom can continue providing their exceptional online experience and client focused approach using their online system by offering an unmatched online experience that copies their in-store customer service. This would allow Nordstrom to raise its revenue considerably as well as further improving their brand image. I will also discuss specific ways of successful execution, and the steps required to provide Nordstrom a stunning picture of how to execute strategy.
My company of choice for this report is Macy 's. 'The Magic of Macy 's ', as the company advertises it, has inspired me to shop there, take advantage of their incomparable discounts and great online shopping experience. Macy 's, Inc. is one of the largest department store chains in the United States of America. Macy 's manages stores under the Macy 's and Bloomingdale 's brands. I enjoy shopping at both of the company 's store brands, Macy 's and Bloomingdales. Bloomingdales provides a more personalized experience
The ecommerce industry is growing faster than ever. TJ Maxx needs to start focusing more on ecommerce not only to keep up with competition, but also to make sure they do well during weak economic periods. ecommerce, overall, tends to do very well during lackluster economic times. TJ Maxx will be able to cut costs more easily the more they expand their ecommerce business. Our business idea will allow them to expand their ecommerce as we will take over their website and delivery. TJX Companies’ three ecommerce sites accounts for only about 1.0% of the company’s total sales. However, the online channel is a key growth driver and TJX is taking initiatives to improve its online business. The ecommerce sales
Achieving world class business performance is a major challenge in today’s society. Manufacturing companies continue to face increased competition and globalization from its competitors. (1, p. 148). The automotive industry is one of the most volatile manufacturing industries that we have, which was evident in the 2008 – 2010 automotive industry crisis. (2) This global financial downturn served notice to the American automotive manufactures to raise the bar, in order to achieve word class business performance. General Motors, one of the country’s largest automotive manufactures, had to receive a government bailout to survive. During this time many with the corporation asked themselves, if we were a world class business, would we be facing this pending crisis. The answer was a resounding “NO”. General Motors has come out of bankruptcy and is focused on being a world-class business organization.
Leadership directly impacts an organization's bottom line, employee satisfaction, and turnover; it can impact how the organization is viewed by society and in particular its marketing audience. This is particularly significant during a downturn in economic markets. Organizations must meet budgetary controls, and need to communicate...
In 2002, CEO of Levi Strauss, Phil Marineau was faced with a tough decision: whether he should sell product at Wal-Mart. In the last five years, Levi-Strauss had lost sales and had to close US plants to move production to cheaper offshore areas. Levi's really needed to revive the brand image to gain back some lost sales and was using marketing to create new advertisements and product placement to broaden their target market. Levi's had tough competition on every level of the price-point spectrum, whether it be high end retailers like Diesel or Calvin Klein, middle vertically integrated retailers like Gap or American Eagles, and on the bottom, private-label brands like Wal-Mart and Target.
JCPenney is a chain of American mid-range department stores that is based out of Texas that started over 100 years ago. JCPenny has been successful for most of its time up until the last three to four years. The company is trying relentlessly to overcome the lingering effects of the makeover that former CEO, Ron Johnson, had implemented in order for the company to take a new direction in hopes of increasing sales. The new CEO, Myron Ullman, has taken a close look into the markets demographic segmentation along with the income segmentation in order to attempt to return the retailer back to its old self, which is to appeal to middle-market customers. A couple issues of major concern for the company are the dissolving of Johnson’s Boutiques, the price of their products, and overall revenue.
Harvard Business School case 274-116. Cooper Industries, Inc. Retrieved on August 31, 2008, from University of Phoenix, Resource, FIN/545 web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource
Wal-Mart began operations in 1964 and has since become the world leader in retail. Walmart began with goals to provide consumers with goods when and where they wanted them (Frank, n. d). Walmart developed cost structures to allow its company to offer consumers everyday low pricing. Walmart’s corporate mission focuses on a global growth strategy through concentrated integration. Wal-Mart's supply chain management supports a fast and responsive logistics system. In this paper, I will converse about the history of Walmart, and its supply chain management
The major issues facing the company comprises of there being multiple businesses with different demands. There are separate levels of performance and success as well as growth chances for each of the sector and the firm needs to tackle with issues in each of these divisions (Dube, J.P., 2004).
The business model that sets Zara apart from other clothing retailers is how rapidly the company changes stocks and releases new product lineups. The company averages 12-16 collections annually which equates to more than one lineup a month. Due to stock being limited and the rapid production Zara brings forth, their items are viewed as exclusive promoting further business. Their customers are happy knowing that their specific article of clothing is more “rare” due to only having an average of a two-week window to purchase the clothing. The company specifically targets current trends and has them in the store within 30 days. This maintains the brand’s uniqueness and relativity in fashion.
The article raises the issue of revenue growth stalls that affect even the most successful companies. The article focuses on four major causes of the crisis. The first cause is the premium-position captivity that is”the inability of a firm to respond effectively to new, low-cost competitive challenge or to a significant shift in customer valuation of product features” (p.54). The second reason is the innovation management breakdown that is”some chronic problem in managing the internal business process for updating existing product and services and creating new one” (p.56). Third reason is the premature core abandonment that means “the failure to fully exploit growth opportunities in the existing core business” and “acquisitions of growth initiatives in areas relatively distant from existing customers, products, and channels”(p.56). Finally, the fourth cause is the talent bench shortfall that is “a lack of leaders and staff with the skills and capabilities required for strategy execution” (p.58). Authors emphasize that these causes are mainly within management control since they result from “a choice about strategy or organizational design” (p.54).
Business strategy and model: Zappos.com had a differentiation strategy with which they had differentiated themselves from the rest of the market. They had use a unique corporate culture in their company which was one of the major competitive edges of the company. According to the CEO of the company, Tony Hsieh, that everything that they had done at Zappos such as their relationships with 1,200 to 1,500 brands, policies and website style could be copied, however, the only thing that no one could copy from them was their unique culture. Zappos had 10 unique core values as a basis of their company’s culture, employee performance and their overall operations. They were hiring and firing people on the basis of their abilities that whether they were living up to these core values or not.
The collaboration and carefully connected network was consistent with a culture that allowed the retail kingdom to remain flexible, profitable, and prosperous for two decades (Mehrmann, 2009). Their 4S business model – service, selection, savings and satisfaction where the customer has a choice of wide variety of merchandise, received 110% back if they found a better deal, 30-day money back guarantee and the customer service of high trained sales professional help the company establish a competitive advantage. Their point-of-sale systems facilitated quick transactions and took care of their inventory (Wells
Thau was inspired by the Bashar Nejdawi, president of Ingram Micro Mobility that is a provider of technology and supply chain services. According to Nejdawi, “In five years, consumer electronics stores as we know them today won’t even exist, and the same rings true for our favorite apparel brands”. He also asserts that three influential factors will change the retail landscape: instant gratification, borrowing and customization. A good example of instant gratification is Uber or Amazon. The Uber customer can see in real time where the Uber car is and when is going to arrive. In the same way the Amazon provide fulfillment program that allow retailers to sell products that are not physically in storage. In this way the retailers do not have to care about inventory and can concentrate on marketing. Secondly, the borrowing culture is going to grow. As an example is Zip Car or Netflix applications. On the Zip Car program someone can borrow a car just for few hours. Likewise, some business offer a mobile device rental program that allow a customer to lease the latest device for a fraction of the cost. Further, the customization program permits customers to choose their preferences before the product is being made. As an example is miAdidas company that gives to the clients the possibility to create