The Filene’s case talks about Norma, a loyal customer getting fired in a brutal way. We believe that there should be a series of practices that the managers must consider before making such strong decisions. It should be a two-way street in which the management describes to the customer why they are unhappy with her buying behavior and then give the customer a chance to defend herself. Norma, in this case, was kept in the dark throughout until she got her first clue – which was not being invited to join the Insiders Club for the Newton store. This made her very upset as her strong relationship with the company was not recognized. She was treated with respect by the previous management and additional discounts were given to her because of her loyalty. …show more content…
She used to give a lot of suggestions to the company, but the new management looked at her inputs as complaints rather than valuable feedback.
They centralized decision-making at the corporate headquarters, stripping employees of their decision-making power, leaving them disillusioned and in turn disappointing the customers. When Norma approached a store manager with her merchandising help, he rejected it telling her to go straight to the executives with her ideas. The employees must be given freedom to voice their opinion as they are the ones who interact directly with the customers. Filene’s 4P marketing decisions – promotion strategy, product strategy, pricing strategy and place strategy too were largely to blame for Norma’s behaviour. Its’ disorganized store design, limited time sales and automatic discounted pricing contributed to creating a shopping experience in which customers had to purchase items haphazardly, leading them to regret their purchases and return items later. Looking at such a culture, Norma seems hugely innocent of blame for her unending
returns. In order to fire customers, specific CRM functionalities and analytics are required. As mentioned earlier, Norma was given big discounts due to her loyalty, but the new management blamed her entirely for this when they should have interrogated the salesperson who gave her the discounts or encouraged her to attend parties and events. Therefore, the CRM should have a functionality to track a full transaction between the employee and customer. A CRM must also record all suggestions that were put forth by the customer which helped the company grow. In the Filene’s case, Norma had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars since the early 1970s at the company and had introduced hundreds of friends to the store increasing their profit. A CRM must also have a functionality to segregate customers based on their worth and how much value they bring to the company. In this way, the managers can assess every customer and come up with strategies to make them Platinum or Gold customers instead of firing them straight away. Norma took this case straight to the media as she was hurt and felt was treated badly. If the CRM system at Filene’s Basement had better functionalities as mentioned above and if the new managers valued each and every customer, they wouldn’t have lost a loyal customer like Norma and in turn would have saved the company’s reputation.
Mallaby admits Wal-Mart can treat their employees and other retailers unfairly, but as a result everyone can share in the 50 billion in savings that American shoppers consume annually. The pay that employees get is the price they must pay for low priced merchandise. Because of the minimal pay to employees, Wal-Mart strengthens its’ consumer buying power. Giving the American shoppers the savings they need, Wal-Mart’s has ultimately been them successful. Wal-Mart has potentially wiped out the middle class as an employer, but the employees can now work and ...
Takem’s is an appliance store in the state of Virginia serving the residents of the Appalachian regions of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The business model which is currently being conducted in the appliance store has been called into question by one of the customers who has recently purchased a computer on credit. The owner of the store, Tommy, is now contemplating what should be done to handle this situation and protect his interest in the future. In this discourse, the author attempts to reveal to the reader the alleged infractions that Takem’s may be liable for regarding the situation with his customer, Ms. Sally
Levy, Michael, Barton A. Weitz, and Dhruv Grewal. Retailing Management. ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.
Companies that do not take steps to ensure appropriate associate conduct will be penalized by their constituents and erode public confidence in our free enterprise system” (Kroger, 2014, p. 1). Therefore, as one of the largest retail grocers in the country, they are sincere about their obligation to follow the law and ensure transparency in their operations. Additionally, their core values support the goal of maintaining an ethical workplace, which includes: honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and
The polices implemented by the Lincoln Electric Company have been so effective that the rate of turnover is restricted to retirements and new employees leaving the company. Long term employees of the company usually find no reason to leave. The organization doesn’t have a formal organization chart like those of many companies today. This leaves room for flexibility and allows employees to have their problems resolved by the most capable person available. This eliminates the chain of command restrictions that are faced in companies today where you have to report the issue to your direct manager before it can reach someone who can actually fix the problem. This “open door policy is practiced throughout the company”. – Arthur Sharplin, 1989.
In recent news, a Utah court is pondering if the right to self defense superceeds a Walmart “de-escalation” policy, which led to the firing of six Walmart employees. (Kieler, 2014) The former Walmart employees’ behaviors appear to be within human nature to protect oneself and the organization. Why would Walmart view the former employees’ behaviors as damaging to the corporation? What are the impacts of the firings on Walmart’s remaining workforce? How do Walmart’s actions influence employer and employee relationships? The aforementioned questions come to mind when contemplating if Walmart made the right decision(s) following their employees’ actions. Although Walmart views their former employees’ actions as black or white, others within
The department store was known for selling goods at fixed prices and even the store workers were given a “percentage on the smallest bit of material, the smallest article they sold: a system which had caused a revolution in the drapery trade by creating among the assistants a struggle for survival from which the employers reaped the benefit” (Zola, and Nelson 35). The managers...
Lichenstein, N. (2007) Why Working at Walmart is Different Connecticut Law Review, Volume 39 Number 4, May 2007
Employees of companies must consider their actions before making decisions and remember they have an ethical responsibility to the organization and use high moral standards to influence their decisions. Ethical responsibility is crucial and goes beyond personal values, it takes into account which actions provide the greatest benefit for the greatest number and produces the least amount of harm. Not all decisions are black and white, many fall into gray areas. When individuals make unethical decisions it can damage the name of the organization. In the business world the reputation of an organization is based on its integrity. A company must acquire and maintain customers to survive and grow in today’s competitive global market. Rational
Sears, Roebuck, and Co. seemed to have the right idea when beginning their business in the late 1800s. Instead of just opening up one type of company, Sears, Roebuck, and Co. expanded from retail to insurance, real estate, securities, and credit cards (Nelson, 2007, p. 207). Until the early 1990s, the company seemed to be doing very well considering the revenue and earnings reported that equaled up to billions of dollars. Then, the company began to experience financial difficulties due to the fact that other discount retailers were coming into business. Therefore, Sears decided to implement an incentive plan to increase their profits within the auto centers nationwide (Nelson, 2007, p. 207). Once the commission based plan was evaluated, many ethical standards seemed to have been overlooked during the development process.
Marks & Spencer is one of the UK's foremost retailers of clothing, foods, homeware and financial services, boasting a weekly customer base of 10 million in over 300 UK stores. Marks & Spencer operate in 30 countries worldwide, and has a group turnover in excess of £8 billion. It has specific values, missions and visions. It’s main vision is ‘to be the standard against which all others are measured’, it’s main mission is ‘to make aspirational quality accessible to all’, and it’s main values are quality, service, innovation and trust. (www.marksandspencer.co.uk).
Wal-Mart maintains aggressively, a distinct and consistent corporate culture through out its operations. The issue is that local managers and supervisors are given unguided discretion on the hiring, firing, promoting, and disciplining of employees (Hart, 2006). These individual managers bring with them their own beliefs, biases, stereotypes, and assumpt...
"Organize Your Retail Spaces To Encourage Buying." Firmology. N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Nordstrom department stores are an employee empowerment success story with their no-questions-asked return policy which empowers employees to give a full refund to their customers when returning merchandise. This policy espouses “The Nordstrom Way” which has one rule which states “Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules” (Spector & McCarthy, 2012). In my opinion this one rule sums up the philosophy of employee empowerment.
Employee stakeholders have another story. The discrimination lawsuits ranging from female employees not getting equal pay or equal positions, to disabled employees, class-action lawsuits stating that Wal-Mart doctors questionnaires to prevent disabled workers from applying, Wal-Mart does not rank very high with these employees. Lawsuits stemming from Wal-Mart’s failure to monitor labor conditions at oversea factories and hires illegal immigrants add to the rift in relations between the employees and the company. Wal-Mart continues to deny charges...