Case Study on "Starbucks the Company That I Am Writing"

Quoted Instructions for "Starbucks the Company That I Am Writing" Assignment:

The following guideline is from my professor. He also provides an example for a high grade essay. Please follow his guideline, that all. I will send you a word version if i can. Thanks!

CASE ANALYSIS PROCESS

Your one major written assignment for this course is a *****case study*****. In this case study, you will analyze a company from a management viewpoint. The organization of the paper itself is quite straightforward.

Effectively analyzing a case (using the *****"Case Method*****), involves these three steps:

Give a description or *****biography***** of the organization. What does the company produce/sell?

How long has the company existed? Who are the managers of the corporation?

(The focus of your case can be any size organization*****¦ It is preferable that it is a *****for profit***** business, but, beyond that, it can be a well-known, multi-national

Corporation or your cousin*****s pizza business.

Through primary or secondary research, uncover what challenges or problems your selected organization is currently confronting - especially from a management perspective. This can be an organization-wide challenge, or something specific to a particular area or department.

Some examples are: poor revenue growth, increasing competition, ethical issues, and human resources issues, etc.

Propose a solution to the challenge or problem you have pinpointed. Assume you have substantial authority - a senior vice president or even a CEO or COO.

What would you do to resolve the problem or meet the challenge as a manager?

Length of paper. Length of the case study will depend on the type of organization and the kinds of issues you examine. Though there is no minimum length for your case study, it must be complete and

comprehensive. As a guideline, each of the three sections should be one to two pages in length.

Points and Deadlines: The Case Study is due by MIDNIGHT, November 1st 2012.

All Late Submissions will have a 10% deduction assessed.

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR REPORT ELECTRONICALLY ��*****" AS AN E-MAIL ATTACHMENT OR THROUGH BLACKBOARD...

This is example

Student *****X***** Instructor- Dr. Bock

*****You*****ve Got Questions, We*****ve Got Answers.***** [Biographical Section]

RadioShack was started in 1921, but its origins date back to 1919 with the friendship of Norton Hinckley and Dave L. Tandy. What started out as Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company, which sold leather shoe parts, later became RadioShack, as we know it. The name RadioShack had came from Theodore and Milton Deutchman, who opened the first retail store in downtown Boston. RadioShack was a term used for the small wooden structure that housed ships***** radio equipment. Beginning in 1921, RadioShack started out as just a hand full of stores that were located in the North East region of the United States. RadioShack had become one of the top companies in electronic mail-order distribution. RadioShack continued to do quite well. It issued its first catalog in the early 1940s. In 1947, the company opened the nation*****'s first audio showroom that provided comparisons of speakers, amplifiers, turntables and phonograph cartridges. In 1954, RadioShack began selling its own private-label product line with the Realistic® brand name.

By the early 1960s, RadioShack had expanded to nine retail stores (plus a mail-order business) and was a leading distributor of electronic parts and products to do-it-yourselfers around the world. However, the company soon fell on hard times due to poor operating practices, coupled with a disastrous credit offering to its customers.

November 1959, Charles Tandy took over the Tandy Leather Corp. He moved the corporation*****'s headquarters to Fort Worth the following year, and the name of the company was changed to Tandy Corporation. Charles Tandy, who had become intrigued with consumer electronics, saw the small RadioShack chain as an excellent opportunity for rapid growth. He bought the essentially bankrupt company in 1963 for the equivalent of $300,000 cash. Since then, RadioShack has grown to more than 7,200 stores, and its net sales and operating revenues have ballooned to $4.8 billion.

The Uniqueness of RadioShack is its alliances with trusted brands and companies. These include: Compaq, Microsoft, RCA, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless. RadioShack calls this concept the Store-Within-A-Store. RadioShack has become widely known for its slogan *****You*****ve Got Questions, We*****ve Got Answers. RadioShack does not profess to have the best prices but they pride themselves on being able to help the customer with whatever question they might have. RadioShack*****s competitors include such companies as Circuit City, Best Buy, and The Wiz. These are the major electronic companies right now. RadioShack has been fighting to keep its niche that it had in the market.

RadioShack has come out with a list of goals that they plan to work towards for the upcoming years.

1. For Our Customers: To be the top specialty retail brand in America

2. For Our Employees: To be the best company for high performing people who demonstrate their corporate values.

3. For Our Community: To be recognized nationally as an outstanding corporate citizen.

4. For Our Shareholders: Lead the specialty retail category in shareholder return.

[Challenges and Problems Section] For RadioShack to meet its goals it will have to overcome both internal and external challenges. Internally, RadioShack has had problems keeping employees. This includes Managers and Sales Associates. As an employee of RadioShack, I have seen in my own store a loss of a good percent of our staff. Most RadioShack stores are not that large, so each one might have anywhere from 6-10 employees. With the loss of employees it makes the burden on the remaining employees to fill the void very great. RadioShack has to find a way to keep the employees happy so that they will stay. Associates and managers are expected to do much of the work that other companies have divided among workers. Associates make their money on commission, so if they don*****t sell, they don*****t make any money. There are times when you are expected to take care of incoming stock, help the customer, put out price tags, and still try to get the customer to try and buy something that you can make commission on.

For what the associates get paid it is too much work. They expect you to do a lot for a little. I have recently discovered in my studies of RadioShack a Website that is for disgruntled employees, former employees and customers. This website contains a bunch of postings of things that they dislike about RadioShack For reference http://www.radioshacksucks.com/

External problems for RadioShack include trying to keep up or compete with larger stores that have cheaper prices and more variety. RadioShack*****s major competitors include Circuit City, and Best Buy. These companies have larger stores in compared to RadioShack. This enables them to carry many more products in their stores. Consumers now a day want to get good quality for the cheapest price. These other stores with lower prices tend to get many of these customers. RadioShack has to find away to compete with them. Economic downturns also hurt Radio Shack. This is making it even more important for RadioShack to find new ways to improve sales so they can increase their revenue.

Solutions Section - The Organization has been determined to try to improve sales. They have focused their attention on its Stores-Within-A-Store policy. They are looking to satellite and cellular phones to try lift themselves out of the hole that they are in. They have been stressing to the sales associates to sell Direct TV, Dish Network, Sprint, and Verizon. They want the associates to offer these services to EVERY customer that comes into the store. They have also made plans to change around the appearance of their stores so that when customers enter the store they will immediately see The cellular, and the Satellite Sections.

Personally I think I would do something to first try to change the way many of the employees feel about working for RadioShack. There should be more incentives for the employees if they want them to do the amount of work that they are giving them to do. They should give the employees some kind of recognition for the good things that they are doing. They are constantly criticizing and telling them to OFFER MORE! After awhile it gets stale. I think that I would do what ever it takes to make the employees happy, because they are the one dealing with the customers. If they are not happy when they are helping the customers, the customers aren*****t going to be happy. The first step I would make is to increase employee relations, and I think that they then would want to sell more. If more employees are happy it means more employees will stay, and that means a lighter workload ��*****" per employee. One of the other ways I would try to increase employee morale would be to seek more employee input into decision making. This makes employees feel more like they are part of an organization, not just employees.

I think that I would do what RadioShack has been starting to do, and that is put the emphasis on the dependable brands that they carry such as Sprint, Verizon, and Direct TV. These are big companies that are doing well and they can help increase RadioShack*****s sales. Advertising is also a good step in trying to increase sales. Another thing that I would do is to lower the cost of certain items, so as to compete with the other electronic stores. They should try and build on to their slogan of having *****Answers to Questions*****; they should also concentrate on have the products the customers need. As noted above, most RadioShack stores are fairly small. This means that employees at RadioShack can offer more personalized services than most larger electronic stores do. This is a strength that should also be exploited.

RadioShack has grown from a little store in Boston to a large corporation, but as with every company, it has to try and overcome the problems that it might encounter. Each one has to be handled one at a time and for a company to be successful I think the most important key factor is BALANCE.

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