Introduction to Management Case Study 7 EMC1 Diego Estrada Marina Rillo Mia Taeza Vincent Zagala Introduction to Management Case Study 7: Zappos DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What traits of effective leadership does Tony Hsieh demonstrates at Zappos? What aspects of his leadership can you criticize, if any? Is his approach transferable to other leaders and other organizations, or is it person and situation specific? For Tony Hsieh, the Zappos brand is less about a particular type of product and more about providing a good customer service. This means that he largely cares about the welfare of his employees and customers. An evidence of him being such an altruist leader was when the blog search engine Land called him “the …show more content…
Additionally, as expressed by Rebecca Ratner, Hsieh’s commitment to merging the workplace with social lives could present risk to the company in the form of unprofessional or inappropriate conduct that is not addressed properly. His approach is person and situation specific. The modern management styles employed by Hsieh at Zappos, while unique, are effective in the proper environment. Zappos employees are noted to be incredibly enthusiastic about the Zappos brand, the company’s core values, and its workplace. Both Zappos unique culture and its management practice of encouraging work-life integration do seem to place emphasis on the need for particular personality traits in company employees. Individuals who are comfortable with a non-traditional workplace environment might thrive in Zappos unique environment. Individuals who prefer to maintain boundaries between their work and home lives and also prefer more traditional environment, as it relates to professionalism, may encounter conflict at Zappos. 2. Can you find examples of where House’s path-goal theory of leadership can be confirmed or disconfirmed in the Zappos setting? Explain your answer. Founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn, Zappos.com, initially named ShoeSite.com, has grown from an inventory-less, “drop-ship” shoe sales website that connected customer orders with shoe suppliers to an Internet shoe mega-retailer that recorded a reported $2.1 billion in revenue in
The ally bank launched in 2009, when the market is at worst time possible but that time everyone is looking forward for a new brand and ally bank came up with creative idea was simple to build a better bank for customer rights. GMAC officially changed its name to “Ally Bank”. Ally bank comes up in market with a large customer and success rate of small business. They gave customer the online banking service that is extending its services due to that there is a less overhead but interest rates are higher as compared to other competitors. They provide the mobile service and social media services to the customers. Ally bank has focused on providing 24/7 customer service.
Examine the CAFR for Montgomery County, Maryland for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. Provide concise responses to each question and cite where you derived your answer from (See below for more specific details):
1. Abortion is murder, because murder is intentionally killing an innocent person. Therefore, abortion is wrong.
The owners of Zappos did an amazing job coming up with the idea of selling shoes to from online. There was a market that was created by Zappos. Zappos has been able to continue to grow due the advancing in technology that has made it must easier for customer to shop online. A lot of people know what kind of shoes they like and what size shoes they wear. If a customer does need a product in the next few days and can be patient then Zappos is a great store for that customer. Zappos makes it very easy for the customer because of it policies and customer service. Zappos offers free shipping. Zappos also give
Sally is a 4 month old baby girl with unilateral talipes equinovarus (TEV) and congenital hip dysplasia. Serial plasters in hospital began since day three of her birth and today she is admitted to the day surgery unit for left Tendo Achilles lengthening and plaster cast application. Following surgery Sally has returned to the ward with an intravenous cannula in her right hand and a plaster of paris cast encasing her left lower leg and foot. The focus of this essay is Sally’s two priority nursing problems, which are post surgery pain related to Tendo Achilles lengthening and the plaster cast application, and secondly peripheral tissue
Their Facebook page has 1,999,074 ‘likes’ and is updated daily. In For Veterans Day, they posted an engaging video honoring disabled veterans by sharing their stories and providing shoes to the vets. The video is very catching and highly relevant. Zappos successfully answers questions from (potential) customers on their posts creating a two-way relationship.
Tony Hsieh graduated from Harvard University in 1995 with a computer science degree and went to work for the computer software giant Oracle. Then he quit.
The chapters two and five discuss two successful figures in business that I can learn from with their different leadership styles. Michael Dell and Andy Grove led their companies to billionaire status with great business strategies and some risks during their tenure. Michael Dell focus on the customer and Andy Grove focus on the employees always being on their toes so that they will always work hard. Their companies both struggle at times, but they put strategies in place to continue their successful. I will provide a brief description of Michael Dell and Andy Grove contributions, their resistance they encountered, and how they are different along with the factor of their success.
Through tough hiring decisions, Hsieh ensures that there is always a positive culture at his company. At Zappos, every single employee is put through training that includes the corporate culture and famous ten core values. The core values range from “create fun and a little weirdness” to “build a positive team and family spirit” (Hsieh 154). Hsieh believes that each one of the company’s values are important, so they are “committable core values that we are willing to hire and fire on” (157). As a result, Zappos has thrived in profits and hit its goal of $1 billion in gross merchandise in 2009, the same year the company ranked 23rd on the Fortune magazine “100 Best Companies to Work For” (210). By making culture a backbone of his company, Hsieh
After doing some research, the largest problem with Zappos is “a workplace where on one and everyone is the boss” (Noguchi, 2015). As their newly appointed CEO, I would stand up and take charge in order to reorganize the company. The phrase “too many Chiefs and not enough Indians” can be applied here because it is unclear who are Chiefs and who are Indians. Zappos’ lack of structure and management is a direct cause of this. In order to gain structure, I would first determine who in the company has been there the longest, who improved processes, who achieved goals within the company, and finally, who is able to manage people. Once these people are determined, we can analyze their values and personality traits so that they can be appointed to the right position. To make sure all the HRM regulations are in order, we will make sure to appoint a diverse managerial staff with different cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, we will need to assess who is best for which managerial positions. Some employees will need to be top management, middle management, and first-line management. The following chart will show which areas are needed:
The threat of new entrants into the online shoe/apparel market is relatively small due to the fact that Zappos is such an established brand and has specialized their business model. It would be far too expensive for a new company to copy the characteristics of Zappos including their next day delivery and large overhead. The fact that Zappos was losing money initially illustrates this difficulty. Another issue that would create a high barrier to entry is Zappos commitment to the consumer through overnight shipping. Zappos stated that the overnight shipping caused them to leave their warehouses open for the entire day. Any other company would
Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay) is an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is the CEO of the Zappos, an online shoe and clothing shop (Wikipedia). Tony first became involved with Zappos in late 1990 when he and his business partner, Alfred Lin, invested in several internet companies, including Zappos. Through his investment, he noticed Zappos was “the most promising and the most fun” and decided to join the company, eventually becoming the CEO (Dunlop). Under Tony’s leadership, Zappos went from gross merchandise sales of $1.6M in 2000 to over $1 billion by 2008 (Dunlop). In November 2009, Hsieh sold his shares of Zappos to Amazon for over 1.2 billion dollars while maintaining his position was the CEO (Hsieh).
If the Zappos website displays an item, it is in stock. Once the company sells out of an item, the listing is removed from the website. This helps to reduce customer frustration. Its inventory and shipping systems are linked directly to the website via a central database, and all its information systems are developed in‐ house and customized to the company’s needs. Their warehouses operate around the clock, which allows them to get a product to the customer faster.
Zappos started out by selling shoes online to become the world’s largest online retailer of shoes. Subsequently, in their quest to boost sales, they moved beyond footwear to become an E-tailer that sells ‘anything and everything’.
Zappos.com, established in 1999, has rapidly become a strong competitor in online apparel and footwear sales. With the original corporate vison of offering the absolute best selection in shoes; the vision has evolved over the past several years to include the goal of being the retailer that “provides the absolute best service online -- not just in shoes, but in any category” (Zappos, 2014). The online retailer stocks millions of reasonably priced footwear products; carrying thousands of hard to find brand named shoes, handbags, apparel and accessories via the company website and 7,000 affiliate partners. In recognizing their rapid success, Zappos credits it to their commitment to the customer, stating,