Business Organization and Management

Synthesis
The case is about the ethical dilemmas of a retail apparel company trying to cut corners to make opening of new stores faster.

In opening a new branch, retail apparel companies try to construct faster because malls are already asking for payments. This pressures the company to open their store immediately to be able to pay the malls. But there are certain permits that have to be accomplished for anyone to open a new store and government offices usually take a long time to process permit requests because of the lack of manpower (one person is assigned to many tasks, thus making it harder to fast track processing of permits) and they don't have enough equipment.

To skip this issue, the retail company talks to someone and pays them an undisclosed amount just to secure the permits needed in an instant. Since this is not part of the process, the payment made has no receipt issued and therefore not found in the books. This has been a practice the retail company has been doing for a long time and has been accepted as an ordinary measure.
Point of View
The point of view of the case is from the view of the Brand Manager of an outdoor brand for a footwear, apparel and equipment store.
Statement of the Problem
In opening a new store for the brand in any location, there must be certain transactions that have to be accomplished. Due to this process, people prefer skipping it altogether by paying off someone in the government offices to avoid the red tape. This study seeks to answer:
How to put up a new branch more efficiently despite the tedious processes?
Statement of Objectives
General:

To be able to apply the theories of Management in identifying ways to put up a branch efficiently.

Short-term: * To be able to plan ahead whenever a new store will be opened * To maximize existing resources in processing the permits and other activities
Long-term:
* To identify activities that can be done in parallel with each other * To find an ethical way of shortening the process of application of permits * (in terms of legal or construction? –JC)

Areas of Consideration * The process of opening a new store is the same for every branch * Government offices have their own internal processes that cannot be controlled

Alternative Courses of Action * Create a new department that will handle processing of permits during store openings of all brands under the company * Everyone in the team to focus all their energy and effort in processing permits for the new store

Given the situation of tedious nature, appropriate steps in legal (permits etc) and constructing the building for the apparel store has to be undertaken. The team suggests that these steps has to be carefully identified immediately after the approval from the mall. When these steps are identified, a point person/s in the company has to be assigned to do a specific task. In this case, we have identified building permit, mayor’s/city permit and business permits have to be secured. Taking into consideration that these are three different branches of government and each one might be time consuming to secure, it might be wise to assign two or three employees to do the job. Each one would be given a day (a maximum of two days for the approval of the permits).

Also, take into consideration that there are certain kinds of permits, like mayor’s/city permit and construction permits can only be secured upon the approval of a business permit. Since this is a pre-requisite to all other permits, this has to be given priority. Upon the approval of the business permit, copies of which will be given to the other employees securing the secondary permits. Obtaining requiremements like approved building plans, electrical plans etc from the architect even before the application of the permit will cut down the time needed. Having all necessary requirements handled by one department or person will prove to be wise. Assigning a certain person for each specific job will make things in order.

This way, the process will somewhat shortened and efficiently done cutting red tape and other hindrances in securing the permits.

Recommendation Manager: * To familiarize and learn by heart the process and actions to be done * To be firm and wise on decision-making * To monitor every activity milestone Supervisor: * To delegate tasks to each team member * Make sure to follow-up on a regular basis Rank and File: * To manage their time more efficiently to accommodate processing of the permits on top of their day-to-day responsibilities.

Implementation Plan *
Learning Points

This case study talked about the ethical dilemmas of a retail apparel company. In opening a new store for the branch a certain transaction has to be done, but due to this long process some pay-off to just get this done.

* Managerial Roles (Mintzberg) * Four-step Decision-making process * Strategic Management