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Zappos

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Zappos was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn as an online shoe retail website. It offered more than 100 brands and by 2000 it had expanded to 150 brands. They distinguish themselves from the competition by providing free shipping and an outstanding customer service. In 2009 Amazon bought Zappos for $1.2 billion. Swinmurn is no longer involved with Zappos and Tony Hsieh has been the company CEO since 2001. Hsieh has been the driving force behind Zappos innovative “weird” culture or as some people may call it a “cult”. Zappos’ culture could be considered unconventional, but its formula has generated billions of revenues while keeping customers, employees and shareholders happy. In the following paragraph, I will explore the culture of Zappos and how it manages to be successful and stand apart from the competition. I will also review my own company’s culture and whether its culture helps the company to compete and be successful.
Zappos’ philosophy is based on keeping customers happy with an outstanding customer service, but in order to provide an outstanding customer service you have to have a happy employee. Hsieh’s formula is very simple: happy customers + happy employees = profits. In order words, one cannot exist without the other. Because of Hsieh’s emphasis in providing excellent service to both customers and employees, Zappos’ organizational culture profile is of people-oriented and service. Hsieh understood from the very beginning and from past experiences that the success of a company depends on having the right culture. Zappos goes to great lengths to hire the right employee to fit in Zappos’ culture. All candidates undergo two interviews: a traditional skills based, which is conducted by the hiring manager and a “culture” interview conducted by recruiters in the human resources department. Zappos even offers $3,000 to new hires to test their commitment.

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