...Head: Organization Change Managing Organizational Change: Circuit City & Linens-n-Things Kara Burke Keller Graduate School of Management Managing Organizational Change: Circuit City & Linens-n-Things Diagnostic tools are applied to organizations to assist in managing change. Diagnostic tools guide how we think about situations (Palmer, 2008), as well as if and how we should go about change within that situation, and also the implications of those changes. The use of diagnostic tools depends on the role of the manager (i.e. director, coach, navigator, etc.). The Congruence Model is one of the diagnostic tools that will be spoken about extensively in this paper in regards to the two companies being assessed, Circuit City and Linens-n-Things. The Congruence Model assumes that a company is most effective when its elements are compatible and work together in a fluid manner. The elements that comprise the model are tasks (the specific duties carried out, people (the skills, knowledge and individuals who comprise the organization, formal organizational arrangement (structures, processes, and policies,), and culture (the unstated beliefs and values of the organization). The model is best explained as an input of strategy and an output of performance (Mind Tools Ltd., 2012) ensuring that the four elements work together within that process. I chose to use the congruence model to analyze both Circuit City and Linens-n-Things because this model‘s best fit is for companies...
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...Journal of Business Cases and Applications The rise and fall of Circuit City Amy Hart The University of Tampa Erika Matulich, Ph.D. The University of Tampa Kimberly Rubinsak The University of Tampa Kasey Sheffer The University of Tampa Nikol Vann The University of Tampa Myriam Vidalon Nielson Abstract Circuit City paved its way in the consumer electronics retail market by committing to its Five S’s operating philosophy – selection, savings, service, satisfaction, and speed. However, the company fell victim to several poor business decisions in the early 2000’s that eventually led to the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008 and its closing in 2009. This case highlights the importance of identifying appropriate product differentiation strategies, building a distinctive competence, monitoring the competitive landscape and making sound business decisions. It will landscape, also aid the student’s understanding of the role and impact of management and explain the importance of employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Keywords: Circuit City, Five S’s, customer service, product differentiation, competitive ity, landscape, employee retention, Alan McCollough, Philip Schoonover, layoff, Chapter 11 bankruptcy Rise and fall, Page 1 Journal of Business Cases and Applications INTRODUCTION history This case covers the time period in Circuit City’s history between the decision of CEO Alan McCollough to halt the sale of appliances in 2000 and the decision of CEO Philip...
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...Diversification Strategies: Best Buy vs. Circuit City BUS 508 Contemporary Business 25 April 2011 Diversification Strategies: Best Buy vs. Circuit City Diversify, diversify, and diversify! It’s something repetitively said to high-schoolers seeking pre-college extra-curricular memberships, employees seeking investment options, as well as businesses seeking to remain viable. But what is diversification? Diversification as it relates to business is defined as a “business development strategy allowing a company to current products, services, and markets” ("What is diversification?" 2011). This strategy enables a corporation several key benefits such as enhanced shareholder value, distribution of risks across several related or unrelated businesses, as well as the ability to offer lower prices than their competitors. Additionally, the company can benefit from entry into new markets. Although these are very great benefits, diversification requires very extensive research and market analysis in order to be successful. If not implemented correctly, the company could face brand confusion, loss of sales due to customer alienation, as well as lack of establishment of a loyal market following. Here we will explore both the diversification strategy and outcomes of consumer electronics retailers Best Buy and Circuit City. We will also explore possible decisions that led to the drastically different outcomes as well as alternative strategies that could have been employed in...
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... Group 6 RU Consulting, L.L.C Nick Morgan Laura Pynn Jennie Ramberg Brenna O’ Regan James Morrison Tweeter, etc. is an audio/video company that faced pricing strategy problems in 1993 that made the history books for adverse pricing strategies. Sandy Bloomberg formed the company in 1972 and the company faired well in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It grew to 13 stores when they implemented the Automatic Price Protection pricing strategy. This strategy nearly drove the company into bankruptcy. The company still faces unremitting problems which this paper will address. This is our proposal as RU Consulting, L.L.C. First, we will examine how the company evolved. Second, an analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and their threats will be considered and an analysis of their corporate strategies will be given. Third, we have included our solutions and recommendations for this company. Last, we would like to give our recommendation to you as the stockholder on what you should do with the stock you are holding. Tweeter started out as a small retailer of high-end audio/video equipment right outside of Boston University. This store was a success and soon expanded into 13 stores through out New England. [1] It began to get a reputation for its excellent service and quality products and sales soared. However, in the late 1980’s, the bottom fell...
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... Group 6 RU Consulting, L.L.C Nick Morgan Laura Pynn Jennie Ramberg Brenna O’ Regan James Morrison Tweeter, etc. is an audio/video company that faced pricing strategy problems in 1993 that made the history books for adverse pricing strategies. Sandy Bloomberg formed the company in 1972 and the company faired well in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It grew to 13 stores when they implemented the Automatic Price Protection pricing strategy. This strategy nearly drove the company into bankruptcy. The company still faces unremitting problems which this paper will address. This is our proposal as RU Consulting, L.L.C. First, we will examine how the company evolved. Second, an analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and their threats will be considered and an analysis of their corporate strategies will be given. Third, we have included our solutions and recommendations for this company. Last, we would like to give our recommendation to you as the stockholder on what you should do with the stock you are holding. Tweeter started out as a small retailer of high-end audio/video equipment right outside of Boston University. This store was a success and soon expanded into 13 stores through out New England. [1] It began to get a reputation for its excellent service and quality products and sales soared. However, in the late 1980’s, the bottom fell...
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...Article Analysis #1 Richard Mamola Eastern Oregon University Bylund, Anders. “Best Buy: To Boldly Go Where Circuit City Went Before.” Daily Finance. 09 July 2012. Anders Bylund’s recent article, “Best Buy: To Boldly Go Where Circuit City Went Before,” touches on some of the problems that America’s largest consumer electronics retailer is experiencing this year. In an attempt to improve the bottom line, Bylund points out that Best Buy plans to cut 2,400 jobs, including 600 of its technical Geek Squad employees, and replace them with minimum wage hires. Bylund compares the lay-offs to a move a former rival made several years earlier. According to the article, Best Buy’s chief rival, Circuit City, laid-off a sizeable portion of its managerial staff and technical workforce in a last-ditch effort to stave off closure. Unfortunately, those lay-offs led to bankruptcy, which eventually led to the liquidation of America’s second largest electronics retailer. Bylund goes on to propose that, unlike Circuit City, Best Buy doesn't have an easily identifiable adversary at this time, ready to absorb the electronic giant’s fleeing customers. However, the article suggests that there are several big-box discount giants and an online retail behemoth lurking in the electronic fringes, ready to strike a lethal blow. The brick-and-mortar retail stores are having trouble, Bylund contends, keeping up with online retailers like Amazon, and it's starting to show more and more as brick-and-mortar...
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...Failure Analysis/Change Strategy Learning Team A LDR/531 Organizational Leadership October 21, 2014 Dr. Nancy Atkins Failure and Change Strategy for a Business Circuit City was one of the top selling electronic retailers in the United States. The company was based out of Richmond, Virginia started by Samuel S. Wurtzel in 1949. Some say bad real estate deals, lack of focus on being the low cost seller, mistakes with its sales force and straying from its core led to their demise in 2009. The success of Amazon has much to do with Jeff Bezos, the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). His unique combination of character traits and business strategy has driven Amazon to the top of the online retail world. In 2011, Amazon.com was posting revenues of nearly $50 billion per year (Price III, 2013). Part 1: Business Failure/Success Analysis Circuit City Objective (Carolyn Whitaker) Circuit City is dedicated to the highest quality of customer service which is done with the highest respect. With a highly praised customer service and satisfaction, it will improve our sales performance. For Circuit City to effectively sell products to customers, sales representatives will try to understand and fulfil the customers’ needs. With a highly trained team of associates, Circuit City will be successful in the long run. Circuit City Vision/Mission Statement (Carolyn Whitaker) Respect - “Our Associates are our greatest assets. We expect every Associate to demonstrate that they...
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...Best Buy- Circuit City Case-17% 1. Be an informed consumer evaluate where the replacement of highly paid workers with lower paid worker did or did not cause Circuit city to perform so poorly. How confident are you in your evaluation? Why? In evaluating whether or not the replacement of highly paid workers with lower –paid worker at Circuit City caused them to perform poorly I found several factors that lead me to believe this to be true. Circuit City started off being the number one retailer of electronics. It was faced with competition from Best Buy and other large retailers such as Wal-Mart. Circuit City was forced with making changes within the company to keep their position within the market that they didn’t take. In 2003 Circuit city announced the layoff of 3900 workers, following this announcement opening stock price from 2001 to 2003 declined significantly. Also, in 2007 Circuit City fired 3,400 of the highest paid store employees at that same time their customer satisfaction index declined. Circuit City’s compensation strategy was in direct correlation to the business tactic, it rewarded its knowledgeable top performers. Circuit City never considered that by eliminating top earning sales people for less experienced sales people that it would have an indirect effect on the company as a whole. No longer to do they employ skilled and knowledgeable professionals whom customers relied on. Ultimately, managing total compensation strategically means fitting the compensation...
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...BUSINESS ANALYTICS Business analytics (BA) is the practice of iterative, methodical exploration of an organization’s data with emphasis on statistical analysis. Business analytics is used by companies committed to data-driven decision making. BA is used to gain insights that inform business decisions and can be used to automate and optimize business processes. Data-driven companies treat their data as a corporate asset and leverage it for competitive advantage. Successful business analytics depends on data quality, skilled analysts who understand the technologies and the business and an organizational commitment to data-driven decision making. Examples of BA uses include: * Exploring data to find new patterns and relationships (data mining) * Explaining why a certain result occurred (statistical analysis, quantitative analysis) * Experimenting to test previous decisions (A/B testing, multivariate testing) * Forecasting future results (predictive modeling, predictive analytics) * FUNCTIONS OF A BUSINESS ANALYST At a high level, a Business Analyst acts as a liaison between business people who have business problems and technology people who know how to create automated solutions. A Business Analyst serves the mission-critical function of understanding specific business needs, determining and documenting accurate requirements from business units and presenting those requirements in a manner that is agreeable, measurable and flexible enough to meet project...
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...Critical Thinking Mary Peeraer MGT 350 July 24 2012 Professor Duplessis Critical Thinking According to Paul and Elder (2001) critical thinking is the ‘mode’ of thinking, on any subject, content, or problem where the thinker improves the quality of their thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structure inherent to thinking and imposing ‘standards’ upon them. Critical thinking is the basis of ‘universal intellectual’ that transforms subject matter into divisions; accuracy, clarity, relevance, sound evidence, depth, consistency, fairness, and good reasoning and has three elements; evaluative, analytical, and creative components. A critical thinker routinely examine, assess, and improve themselves a method uses intellectual standards, integrity that will create a well- reasoned answer because of the demanding process. Create the understanding that thinking does not always need to be accepted at face values. Problems occur when someone persist of people whom, without knowing lack intellectuals will often portraits displays of an undisciplined mind. This creates unconscious belief of what is more comfortable to believe, puts us into the ‘best’ light’, or serves selfish needs, thus, inability to function as rational person. According to William G. Summer (1906) depicted strong sense critical thinker cannot be rushed, are slow to believe, hold things as possible, or probable within every degrees, without...
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...The Analysis of Law and Courts in Today’s Business Environment Tabitha Merkow ETH 321 10/13/2014 Laurie Wicker The Analysis of Law and Courts in Today’s Business Environment In today’s business environment there is no exact definition of law. Law is a set of rules, standards and principles that outlines the behavior we practice in business. The legal system is a major institution that assists us in defining acceptable social behavior. Laws limit the activities that are not in the best interest of the public. All people have different values and desire different things in life laws act as a way to dispute resolution. Laws play a role in maintaining honesty and integrity in a social environment. The legal system is a tool used to implement changes in acceptable behavior. Laws and courts have many purposes in today’s business environment for example consumer protection, employee protection, environmental protection, and taxation. The laws government enacts are a way to enforce rules. The government’s role in business is to protect consumers from bad business practices by enforcing rules, regulations and laws that the businesses have to go by if they want to practice business. The government is also responsible for protecting the employees that work for these businesses by making sure they provide a safe work environment and that they are protected against discrimination. The environment has to be protected from...
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...inShare0 0 Comments In-Depth Analysis: Best Buy (BBY, AMZN, WMT, BKS, BGP) Best Buy (NYSE: BBY[FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) reported fourth quarter and full year earnings yesterday and failed to meet analysts' expectations. Best Buy reported revenue of $16.26 billion in the fourth quarter compared to $16.55 billion in the same period a year ago, or a decrease of 1.8%. Net income decreased by 16.4% from $779 million to $651 million. Thus, earnings per share fell from $1.82 to $1.62.This decrease largely reflects Best Buy's decision to spend $222 million in restructuring charges to focus its international efforts and drive supply chain efficiencies. Excluding restructuring charges, earnings per share rose for the quarter to $1.98 which beat analyst estimates. Nonetheless, Best Buy's stock price showed that investors were less than thrilled with the earnings news. Best Buy's share price fell 5.4% on the release of the earnings information. Best Buy struggled domestically: revenue fell 4% versus the prior-year period. Most notably, there was double-digit decline in sales of entertainment hardware and software and TVs. Consumer demand for new television technologies was not a significant revenue-generator. Where the domestic segment declined, it was offset by the 4% increase in the international segment. This increase is mostly due to new store openings and a favorable fluctuation in currency exchange rates during this time. As Benzinga readers already know, Best Buy has missed...
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...1. To set Best Buy apart from its competitors, Schulze introduced the warehouse-like store format in 1989 and took sales staff off commission. The number of employees per store was reduced by about a third, resulting in significant cost savings. This concept was crucial to Best Buy’s ascent to become the second largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. by 1993. strategy of non-commissioned employees to give customers more control during the purchasing experience. 1966 Richard M. Schulze & partner establish Sound of Music, Inc., a home and car stereo store in St. Paul, Minnesota. 1971 Richard Schulze buys out his partner 1982 Sound of Music Inc. expands to include household appliances. 1983 Sound Of Music Inc. becomes Best Buy Co. Inc. 1985 Best Buy Co. Inc. goes public, with an initial offering of $8.3miilion. New symbol is witnessed on the New York Stock Exchange. BBY 1989 Company introduces its Concept II stores, which have a warehouse format and no commissioned sales help 1992-1993 Best Buy surpasses the $1 billion mark in annual revenues 1994 Concept III stores, with hands-on information displays introduced 1999 Revenues surpass $10 billion 2000 Website www. Bestbuy.com is launched; Acquires Magnolia Hi-fi Inc. for $88 million , adding 13 more stores to the West coast Fundamentally, Best Buy's strategy is to reduce square footage, increase margin, reduce costs, and grow standalone businesses By 1993, Best Buy had become the United States...
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...MBA 6070X – Ethics & Law Essay 2 February 2015 Enron - Ethics & Law Essay Introduction: Enron Corporation was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 employees and was one of the largest electricity, natural gas, paper, and communication companies, with overall revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. The company developed, built and operated power plants and pipelines while dealing with rules of law and various infrastructures worldwide. In just 15 years, Enron grew into one of America’s largest companies and leading magazine “Fortune†named Enron “America’s Most Innovative Company†for six consecutive years. Enron divided its business into three main areas: (I) Enron Wholesale, (II) Enron Energy Service, and (III) Enron’s Global Asset. Enron wasn’t focusing to specific industry strategies. Rather, it has an overall strategy that calls for creating an environment and culture of creativity and idea generation. “Enron is a laboratory of innovation. Enron’s entrepreneurial approach calls for new insights, new ways of looking at problems and opportunities. Enron has an exceptional ability to leverage its intellectual capital. Individuals are empowered to do what they think is best. Enron’s philosophy is not to stand in the way of our employees. This environment spurs the innovation that enables Enron to revolutionize traditional energy markets and successfully enter...
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