...Berggren 11/2/15 Zappos Case Study: Happiness and Company Culture To Zappos, service is not just a value held on the corporate plaque or something they like to talk about. At Zappos, delivering exceptional service is a way of life. Zappos is a large online clothing and shoe shop who has made service, not shoes, their business. In 2009 Zappos was acquired by Amazon for an all-stock deal, valued at $1.2 Billion. While many factors contributed to the success of Zappos, the biggest contributors were the leaders, Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin. Hsieh and Lin understood that the happiness of their employees, partners, and customers was key to Zappos business. Everyone inside Zappos, knew the link between the culture of happiness and the positive performance, attributed to the success of the company. Since the creation of Zappos in 1999, the Zappos brand has upheld its “wow” customer service positioning and a distinct corporate culture. At the time there was no other big online footwear retailers, so Nick Swinmurn, founder and CEO of Zappos, created an online footwear site, containing many varieties of shoes in different colors, styles and sizes. At the time there were not a lot of online shoe retailers, so they were primarily competing with brick and mortar shoe stores. Initially, Zappos received inventory through independent shoe stores but by 2000, they had secured relationships with the shoe manufacturers themselves and were able to offer over 100 brands. In a year, Zappos began offering...
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...Zappos Case Study 1. Draw and describe the customer benefit t package that Zappos provides. Identify and describe one primary value creation, one support, and one general management Process you might encounter at Zippos. The customer benefit package Zappos provided to their customers is the” Deliver Wow through Service” for customers who ever order from Zappos , and they also provide free shipping in both directions for all their purchases and they often give customers free upgrade surprise and 360 return day policy. 2. Explain the role of service encounters and service management skills at Zappos. How does Zappos create superior customer experiences? The way Zappos create superior customer experiences is by making sure that their customers are all happy with their order including those customers that have brought the products pass the return date by providing them 365days policy, and also trained their works to be more implored to use their imaginations on customers that they feels has a tough day should be send an overnight flower to her door step the next morning. 3. Describe how any three of the OM activities in the box “What Do Operations Managers Do?” impact the management of both the goods that Zappos sells and the services that it provides. Operations Management is the science and art of ensuring that goods and services OM Inventory management: Zappos it was with fulfillment out of their hands, they were faced with problems of control over service...
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...Zappos Case Study Introduction Zappos is a successful company with a unique corporate culture and impressively low turnover rate. This case study explores the human resources strategy employed by the company, focusing first upon the significance of the environment upon human resources. The paper then identifies how the Zappos strategy fits within the human resource management model. The final section discusses the core strengths and weaknesses of the Zappos HR strategy. While the Zappos human resource practices are characterized by many strengths, they could be improved by enhancing the accountability of managers responsible for conducting performance appraisals and inviting a greater degree of employee feedback into the appraisal system. Both of these relatively small opportunities for change are consistent with the company's overall company culture. Environment and HR The external environment plays an important role in determining the direction of a company's human resources strategy. "An organization's strategy must be appropriate for its resources, environment circumstances, and core objectives. The process involves matching the company's strategic advantage to the business environment."[1] Companies develop networks with external entities, such as customers, suppliers and investors, which must be cultivated to ensure longevity.[2] Human resources must ultimately support the business with practices that will enable it to interact and compete within the surrounding competitive...
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...V-236 2/12/14 Case 1 Zappos has 10 different commandments that they abide by on the everyday basis. There are two commandments that stand out in my opinion that would influence the way employees do their work. Be adventures, creative and open minded. Giving the employees the ability to take risk when doing their normal day task. For example, the call center workers are promoted to try new things to make the customers feel delighted and appreciated. Where as some jobs that offer a call center have their employees on a scripted dialogue, almost making them sound like robots. I think Zappos has faith in there employment by giving the employees an encouragement to make misstates because they are only going to learn from them. The second commandment that stood out to me was, create fun and a little weirdness in the work environment. I believe that this brings the workers closer together, because it actually shows peoples personality. In most work environments you always have to dress business professional and act accordingly. Zappos is bringing the aspect of being yourself in the work place. So if that means dressing in pajamas and having blue hair, that’s accepted at Zappos. They don’t mind people having fun while being the best at what they do. This type of commandment shows how confident this company is, because the results always show their success. Tony Hsieh said, “ I think it really boils down to our focus on a company culture” meaning your culture...
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...operation as marketing costs, because good phone experiences encourage people to say positive things about Zappos to their friends. -The website was simple, easy-to-use, and designed to make the experience very enjoyable. - could order shoes from thousands of miles away, and if they’re not right -return them without any hassle. -specific type of shoe for a wedding and was able to easily find them. -The point is that while Zappos offers thousands of shoes and other products that appeal to a broad audience with diverse needs, their customers are able to easily customize their seemingly unlimited options into exactly what each of them needs and wants. -Zappos has spent a lot of time and money to learn the IT that customers want and then deliver exactly that – enormous selection and convenience, all in an easy-to-use and hassle-free package. -Knowing what clients want and developing ways to meet those needs is the basis of creating tangible opportunities that exceed their expectations. Zappos invested their money in customer service rather than in expensive marketing campaigns. Their time is spent observing and tracking customer behavior with the on-going goal of creating more personal emotional connections with its customers. This speaks volumes as they put their precious resources (money and time) into creating customers for life. - While Zappos uses technology to make the customer experience easy and hassle-free, they recognize that there are just...
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...the business of Zappos and what are its critical success factors (CSF’s)? [lists] • Business: Largest Online Shoe Retailer with fast efficient order fulfillment. • CSF’s: o Operational Excellence. Primary focus is selling a wide variety of shoes, but also sell other goods such as handbags, clothes and accessories o Focus on customer satisfaction o 4 week Employee training, will full pay o Employee retention, Zappos offered the employees “the offer” after first week of training, which was a 3,000K payout if they chose to quit. o Stocking of a vast inventory of all makes, styles, colors, and sizes, displayed and sold through the enabling power of Web 2.0 o Focused on fast and accurate order processing and speedy delivery to the customer. Website orders are fulfilled fast and efficiently o Zappos owns warehouses and fulfillment centers with an excess or 3+ million shoes, handbags, clothing and accessories, offering the best selection of shoes available anywhere (one stop shop) o Uses eCommerce for the transaction between business to consumer o Best customer service experience, employing approximately 1,600 workers o Offers free delivery and returns as well as a guaranteed 4-day delivery window and a 365-day return guarantee. o Innovated Company that kept culture and work environment ‘fun’ and relaxed. 2. Please complete the following table. Identify the key information systems and the related IT infrastructure investments that enable Zappos’ core business processes: ...
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...The challenge that I believe that would pose the biggest threat to Zappos would be the sustainability challenge like the economy. If the economy makes a turn for the worst, consumers won’t have the money to be able to spend on extra wants or extravagant purchases. They would have to purchase shoes at local stores that were at a lower cost to them. Another challenge to them would be trying to keep good help. They said that only one in 100 applicants pass their criteria then they offer $2000 in the training process for a person to quit. Some people might decide to try to get hired just to get that offer to quit. If more and more people do that, they wouldn’t be able to have enough people to work for their company. Human resource management practices can help meet these challenges by keeping an eye on the economy and listening to the employees when they talk about not being able to afford the products themselves. With the keeping good workers, they need to again listen to their employees better and if it seems like they are getting unhappy about something, maybe they can find out if there is something that would help make it better. A good employee would be bad to lose over something small that the company could have taken care of. I think that the employees of Zappos have a high level of engagement because the company seems to take care of them. The training is extensive and their benefits are good. Zappos takes care of their employees so that they will be more productive for...
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... Zappos It was the year 1999 when Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos, was at the shopping mall searching for hours for the perfect pair of shoes. He could not find the pair of shoes he wanted in the right color or size so he went home empty handed. It was unfortunate and a disappointment for him but this is what inspired him to open an online retail store. His idea was simple yet motivational. Swinmurn wanted to open an online retail shoe shop that sold the best selection of shoes in terms of brands, styles, colors, sizes, and width. Swinmurn also wanted to give great customer service while at it. With his hard work and dedication to make Zappos’ market offering, value proposition, and customer relationship the best, Swinmurn achieved to have one of the most successful and fastest growing businesses online. Zappos is very generous when it comes to their market offering. The online retailer store offers a 365 day return policy, fast and free shipping, free returns, and a 24 hours customer service line. With Zappos’ polite and helpful customer service, it allows their customers to be happy and have the best shopping experience. Compared to other online retailer shops, most do not have a 365 day return policy, fast and free shipping, free returns, or a 24 hour customer service line. By doing what Zappos does best, this makes their business stand out and have the best reviews. Also, when Zappos give great customer service, it is more...
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...competitive rate compared to other competition. Giving good benefits is the foundation of keeping good skilled workers. With a lower turnover rate compared to other companies with these benefits, it will allow employees to build their career within that company as provided examples by Genentech and Zappos. Also since a paycheck is not powerful enough anymore to keep skilled workers from leaving, adding additional packages for the organization's employees, gives the feeling of perks. For example, Hewitt Associates was a company that managed benefits for large corporations. One of the benefits of working at Hewitt was its free lunch program that was provided to every Hewitt employee. The main cafeteria in the building provided free lunch and breakfast every day. It was a great way to keep employees happy and to recruit new skilled workers. When Hewitt ceased this benefit, employees started leaving the company for higher pay and the company's reputation went with it. 2. Genentech is providing benefits such as "Unlimited sick leave, concierge service, child care, etc.” These great benefits give the employee a piece of mind that helps alleviate the stresses that affect them daily. Zappos on the other hand provides benefits that are more entertaining, for example, "pajama parties, nap rooms (my favorite), regular occurring happy hours, and a life coach." if more companies provided these kind of extraordinary benefits to their employees, there would be less and less people looking...
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...effective manager and leader. However, management is not a science. Nor is it a profession. It is an art – a craft that is developed over a lifetime. This course is therefore not designed to offer you a magic formula for how to manage an organization. It is designed to provide tools to help you better understand why people in organizations do the things they do and how to influence these behaviors. We will use theories of management, economics, sociology, psychology, and philosophy to help us discuss individual-, team-, and organizational-level behaviors. The format for this course will be highly interactive in order to provide a rich learning experience. We will do this through the use of debates, role-playing, simulations, and case studies. Each of these experiences will provide opportunities to reflect and analyze in order that we may walk away with new ways of looking at the world around us. We will have few traditional lectures and those that we do have will be short ones that serve to synthesize a class discussion or exercise. This means that the majority of our class time will require the inputs of the entire class, so...
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...contemporary organizational issue you find intriguing. Use one field site or example for the entire paper. Also, be explicit about the level issue. For example, if you are using the concept of personality then it is an individual level issue. A list of concepts and their related levels is provided in a separate document. Focus of paper-related requirements: Outline: Submit a formal outline for your paper, complete with references. The purpose of the outline is to help you organize your content, which also results in increased clarity, improved logic, and better structure of the paper. There may be adjustments from this document to your final paper, but at this stage the paper should not require major revisions. Final Paper: Use a case study format for the structure of your paper. Identify and analyze issues using course concepts, and propose recommendations for the organization you are focusing on. Use of course concepts 1. Use a minimum of 8 concepts for the paper. Include a list of the concepts you used at the beginning of the paper. 2. Briefly define each concept you use within the text (a paragraph or two). 3. For each concept, write a diagnosis at one level (e.g., the person level). For example, you might write “The employee misses work frequently due to stress from conflict with her supervisor.” Note, stress and conflict would require definitions.) 4. For each concept, write a solution or solutions. Identify the level(s) you addressed in Step 2...
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...Calendar Overall for Case-Study Presentation & Mid-Term Exam – MGT 4760 (Strategic Management) Sem 1, 2012/2013 Sec 8 (M-W) No. | Week | Topics | Class Day | Date | Schedule | Details | | 1 | Chapter 1: The Nature of Strategic Management | 1- Mon 2- Wed | 10/912/9 | | | | 2 | Chapter 2: The Business Vision and Mission | 3- Mon 4- Wed | 17/919/9 | | | | 3 | Chapter 3: The External Assessment | 5- Mon 6- Wed | 24/926/9 | | | | 4 | Chapter 4: The Internal Assessment | 7- Mon 8- Wed | 1/103/10 | Quiz 1 (Chapter 1.2.3) | | | 5 | Chapter 4: The Internal Assessment | 9- Mon 10- Wed | 8/1010/10 | | | | 6 | Chapter 5: Strategies in Action | 11- Mon 12- Wed | 15/1017/10 | | | | | BREAK(22/10 – 28/10) | 13- Mon 14- Wed | 22/1024/10 | | | | 7 | Chapter 5: Strategies in Action | 15- Mon 16- Wed | 29/1031/10 | Case Presentation Session 1Case Presentation Session 2 | Group 1:L: Lia Hilaliah (Case Study 3)Group 2:L: Mas Syairah bte Mohamad (Case Study 5) | | 8 | Chapter 6: Strategy Analysis and Choice | 17- Mon 18- Wed | 5/117/11 | | (Mid-Term Exam 7/11 Wednesday)Seminar Room 1.1 | | 9 | Chapter 6: Strategy Analysis and Choice | 19- Mon 20- Wed | 12/1114/11 | Case Presentation Session 3Case Presentation Session 4 | Group 3:L: Mohamed Sheikh (Case Study 9) Group 4:L: Izzati Nor binti Salleh (Case Study 14) | | 10 | Chapter 7: Implementing Strategies: Management and Operations...
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...ARCTIC MINING CONSULTANTS Case Synopsis Arctic Mining Consultants is a mining company that deals with mineral exploration. In this case study, the project given is staking 15 claims in Eagle Lake, Alaska. The project Manager was Tom Parker, who has a wide experience and specialized knowledge in all nontechnical aspects of mineral exploration. He is a geological field technician and field coordinator for Arctic Mining Consultants. He assigned his previous field assistants John Talbot, Greg Boyce and Brian Millar to help him complete the project. The job required them to stake at least 7 lengths each day in order to be completed on time. However, the whole team has became very tense and agitated, especially Tom Parker, as the deadline was just around the corner and there’s still many to be finished within the limited time. The problem became worse with the way Tom managed and treated his team. The only motivation to the team was the $300 bonuses promised by the company when the job is done on time, otherwise, they might wished to give up already. This happened because working as a field assistant and in long-working hours only giving them low wages, which is considered unreasonable compared to what they have to do. During the eight hard days, everything had actually proved the strengths and weaknesses of each of the team members, including Tom. Case analysis symptoms 1) What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong? The symptom(s) to suggest...
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...Running head: CASE STUDY XYZ Case Study XYZ: An Examination of Project Procurement Management Practices Group 12 John Doe Jane Smith Bobbie Sue University of Maryland University College Project Procurement Management, Semester XXXX, Section XXXX Professor Stephen R. Guth MMMM DD, YYYY [No Abstract or Introduction required for this assignment] The Inception Phase Rating Scale: 5—Excellent, 4—Very Good, 3—Good, 2—Poor, 1—Very Poor |Project Management Area |Inception Phase | |Scope Management | | |Time Management | | |Cost Management | | |Quality Management | | |Human Resource Management | | |Communication Management | | |Risk Management | | |Procurement Management | ...
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...policy. 2) Employee conditions: a. Lack of motivation b. Compensate for low wages by over indulgence of free food allowance c. High turnover rate due to availability of high application rates. d. Employees are mostly college and high school students e. Lack of respect for managers. f. No incentive to increase motivation. In the case study Perfect Pizzeria, the area supervisor has many problems that need his attention. The largest appears to be the organization. In this case study I will assume that the area supervisor has the authority to affect change within his organization (i.e. he is the franchise owner). Being in an area with few job opportunities should give him the perfect opportunity to recruit bright, ambitious, and motivated people to staff his pizzerias. How can the area supervisor change his organization to achieve a more fluid corporate culture? I think this change can be achieved by human resource changes, structure changes, motivational changes, and reward for good performance as well as accountability for poor performance. Each one of these areas will require a change from the corporate level. For the sake of my case study I am going to assume that the area supervisor (franchise owner) can lobby to achieve this change within the organization. The first area to look...
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