Your classmates are a group of friends who have decided to open a small retail s

Question

Your classmates are a group of friends who have decided to open a small retail shop. The team is torn between two storefront ideas. The first idea is to open a high-end antique store, selling household items used for decorations in upscale homes. Members of the team have found a location in a heavily pedestrian area near a local coffee shop. The store would have many items authenticated by a team member’s uncle, who is a certified appraiser. In discussing the plan, however, two group members suggest shifting to a drop-off store for online auctions such as eBay. In this business model, customers drop off items they want to sell, and the retail store does all the logistics involved – listing and selling the items on eBay, and then shipping them to buyers – for a percentage of the sales price. They suggest that a quick way to get started is to become a franchisee for a group such as “I Sold It” (www. 877isoldit.com).

Questions

a. What is the business strategy for each store concept?

b. How would the organizational structure be different for the concepts?

c. What would likely be the cultural differences in the two store concepts?

d. How would the control-and-reward systems be different?

5. Select any organization and answer the following questions for your selected organization.

Questions

a. From your knowledge of the firm, identify a major strategic change the firm should seriously consider. Briefly describe what the goal of the initiative is for the organization.

b. Work your way through the six stages in Fig-29, answering as many of the questions as you can for the proposed strategic change. As you develop the project plans with specifics for each of the stages, the plan should provide flexibility, allowing for unexpected contingencies to emerge.

Figure 29

Explanation / Answer

a) The business strategy for the high end antique Store selling household items is to offer a service and products which a targeted at a niche consumer group, through provision of products which will be unique and not available elsewhere. Strategy has to be to ensure that the products procured r very exclusive as that is the highlight of any successful antique Store. For intermediary services of used items, by auctioning them on eBay on behalf of customers, and shipping them to buyers, the the strategy employed for the store is to offer a service which is unique. Therefore, it is essential that the services offered need to have an element of exclusivity which makes it essentially different from existing competitors, by providing innovative services with a inbuilt concept, not presently available. One concept is essentially procurement focused while the other is marketing focused.

b) The structure requires to be a flat organisation structure with clear definition of the job and functions of each person involved and the subsequent accountability and responsibility. Given that it is venue venture with Limited capital resources it is advisable to minimise staff. The level of authority will be equal as organisation will mostly have departments operated by individuals with ownership within the organisation and holding equal decision making power. The departmentation needs to be product based for the antique Store and process based for the auction Store. Antique store being dependent upon procurement and sale of highly unique antiques needs to have all activities based around each product. For the option store it is essential that the entire process of procuring unwanted items, putting them up for auction online, shipping the mouth and closing the transaction by ensuring delivery of item to buyer and payment of cash to seller. This requires monitoring and control of the entire process and each part of the process such as collecting the item, putting it up auction, shipping the item and managing the accounts and finances are all different processes involved and departmentation needs to be done around these.

c) The cultural differences in the to store concepts a very clear as the concepts are extremely diverse. One concept is based on social hierarchy and promotes social differences which thrive on ownership and display of highly priced antiques, to project a self image and add value to self worth through ownership of these items not available for every social class. It is the old cultural mindset of different social classes with the higher class flaunting their positions. The auction concept is based on the modern culture where it is considered sensible to dispose of anything not required by an individual. It is not considered a matter of demeaning position or self worth if a person decides to dispose of unwanted items by selling them as second hand, and utilise the money is obtained to procure items which may be required. This concept was looked down upon but gradually gain the acceptance as being sensible and the younger generation being dynamic has adapted to it extremely well.

d) Given the fact that control is likely to be within group of friends but reward is essential for motivation and achievement of goals the distribution of work can be done in such a way as to provide intrinsic rewards for all involved. The job allocated to each person must be on the basis of the interest and likes. Achievements can be celebrated and required motivation provided by implementation of fun methods such as unique badges being provided to exceptional performers. For the antique Store every sale can be big and important thereby closing of a sale we need to carry special financial reward. For the process based system of auction the most efficient process needs to be recognised unrewarded to ensure existence of competition, for providing motivation.

5) With unprecedented advances in communication technology, businesses had to adapt to operating within a global environment, ensuring sustenance and growth by introducing strategies which were dynamic in nature and conducive to implementation of change. The major challenge facing Delta Pacific is its inability to initiate a transition from a conservative business model to a global one which encourages Innovation and talent within the workforce. Delta Pacific company, had a very successful run, since the 1970 right up to mid 1990s, this consistent performance had as its basis, superior development and sales of Technology which lacked any serious competition at a global level, leading to a sense of complacence in Delta Pacific Company and a tendency to rest on its laurels. The major challenge that Delta Pacific Company faces presently is of successfully implementing transition from the traditional to the modern, dynamic, global environment and culture.

It's not that Delta Pacific Company did not try to initiate change to adapt to changing customer requirements within the IT sector. Towards the beginning of the 21st century Delta Pacific Company started providing end to end solutions rather than only hardware solutions. They included software and knowledge base solutions integrated into information management problems. Therefore image of array into the IT consultation market, which was huge draw at that time. However the transition was not planned in managed perfectly resulting in many of the sales representatives fitting on the jobs due to discomfort with their changed profiles. As lot of time was spent on training the sales representatives were unable to be out in the field, resulting in decline in sales and profitability, due to extensive training time to facilitate successful transition to the new roles. The slowdown lasted much longer than expected, leading to the satisfaction and in patients amongst the directors, shareholders, as well as, the leadership team.

The type of change required within the Delta Pacific Company, is of the transformational kind as the vision of the organization requires to be modified, and the goals reinvented to match the current global environment the company is operating within. Basically the company requires an absolute overhaul of its principles, mode of operation, the processes in place, as well as, the products and services. It needs to evaluate areas to focus monitoring and control required, for efficient management and optimal results. Successful implementation of the transformational model requires a dynamic organizational setup such as, adhocratic, led by a visionary and strategic leader who will ensure inclusive management, and motivation through exemplary performance. The transformational change requires significant involvement of staff at every level of the organization, control structure being top down with effective flow of communication throughout. It is essential to ensure that the entire organization understands the requirement for the transformation, the objective it is to achieve, the impact on every employee and the importance of the entire organization moving forward as a whole.

For any change to be effective it is essential that the leadership be extremely exemplary to ensure motivation of the entire organization and successful implementation of the change at every level. Therefore top management which institutes the change has to be dynamic and not only initiate the change but be the change itself. Considering the shifting product and its marketing strategy it is very important that the marketing team and the Salesforce be changed into a cross functional unit to be able to better meet customer requirements, as well as optimize sales. The sales and marketing managers need to understand the importance of leading the team, effectively and delivering excellent results by keeping them motivated. The leaders need to be focused on the results to be achieved while, charting a roadmap for the team to be able to achieve the required results. Effective utilization of input data of customer feedback and implementing the required control to change in plan, should be a part of any transitional management. The technical managers are an important profile for the organization considering the dependence on the supremacy of the product for their success in the Global Arena. Technical managers therefore should understand the requirement for innovation as well as ideas which require out of the box thinking along with talent. The manager should be highly motivational as creativity requires motivation as a primary input.

In any organization, it is necessary for employees to understand the reason behind anything happening in the organization that directly or indirectly impacts them. It should be one of the major responsibilities of any organization to address employee concerns and treat them as an integral part of the corporate structure. Inclusive management is a must not an option in today's competitive world and every capable management understands the need for retaining employees and inspiring loyalty. If we want an employee to give their best output and implement change which is quickly adapted to without losing employees or work days, we need to make them part of that change and address their fears and apprehensions on how this would impact them. Achieving this would mean guaranteed success in implementation of the required changes.

The leader of the organization is always responsible for the organization and carrying it forward with implementation of a well-planned strategy and a focused approach, along with, effective management. He is a major motivating force exemplifying the attitude required for successful transformation and ensuring that the change becomes a challenge rather than a fear. The managers of each department of sales, marketing, as well as, technical are motivated by such a leader and many of the qualities as well as tactics are copied by these leaders. Each department implements the required changes and there is a perfect flow of communication within the organization enabling informed and strategic planning, as well as, control and subsequent action, in case of deviation.

Each leader is required to be most effective at the level of his responsibility and accountability structure. Chief executive officer is responsible for the entire organization and accountable to the shareholders, his effectiveness is most prominent in strategic planning of the goals of the organization and implementation to ensure objective are successfully obtained. Along with this leader is responsible for performance of every other department and employee within the organization, through exemplary performance. Managers of each department need to be most effective in maintaining focus on the objective to be achieved by the department and ensuring the required output is achieved in the most efficient manner. Sales targets need to be met or exceeded, marketing strategy framed through adequate market research and analysis, technical developments should be innovative and superior to the products existing in the market. Therefore, each manager and leader needs to be effective, in achieving the respective goals, as well as, assure effectiveness of all below them.

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