JustSave Foods is a chain of 19 grocery stores in North Carolina owned by Merchants Distributors Inc. (MDI). While they are now a sister chain of Lowes Foods, JustSave’s stores were originally Lowes stores not too long ago. The 19 stores are largely located in more rural areas with more tight-knit communities. Due to their poor performance in comparison to local competitors, it was clear to management at MDI that the stores needed a change from what Lowes Foods offers. While one part of that change is focused more on appealing to the economies of these rural communities with lower prices, management at MDI believes that another significant change that needs to be made is in the realignment of JustSave’s organizational culture.…
Trader Joe’s is a food retailer that is known across the world. The store was introduced in the 1950’s and started off as a typical convenience store. The original stores were all names Pronto Markets. After about 15 years, the founder of Trader Joe’s, (Joe Coulombe) changed both the name of the store and created a new way of doing things. The new store now not only has a new physical appearance; but has new morals and values. There are many different food retailers across the world; Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods are just a few.…
Trader Joes started as a small chain of convenience stores back in 1958 called Pronto Market. In 1967 their founder changed their name to Trader Joes, while also changing the way they do business. They made their stores bigger, decked the walls with cedar planks and dressed up their crew in Hawaiian shirts. They also started packaging hard-to-find food up the Trader Joes name. This helped cuts costs and saved their customers money; a concept they still practice today. “Value” is a concept they take very seriously, and by ‘Value’ they mean great everyday prices on all of their products; great food + great prices = Value. “No sales, no gimmicks, no clubs to join, no special cards to swipe.” (Trader Joe’s, n.d.) Here’s some examples how they are…
Trade Joe is one of the grocery stores in America, and it is popular because it provides natural organic food and some special food, which could not be found in other grocery stores. The Natural Dairy Products and Dairy Smart Inc. are companies that sell ice cream and daily products. They offered high quality products to Trade Joe as intermediary and they bought products from suppliers and manufacturers. When Trade Joe was a small grocery store, the NDP started to provide ice cream to Trade Joe and attracted many customers because of NDP’s ice cream reputation. At the same time, the NDP’s…
I believe Joe took a rout that was in his mind the best way to go, even though he most certainly felt remorse when it came to letting go of workers who needed the job. He may not have been as advanced as to knowing he could have kept the employees he had and hire turnaround workers instead. I believe that it would have been worth the risk of newly joining employees to seek potential in themselves to face a challenge that occurred when it came to hiring the turnaround.…
The lessons that the Trader Joe’s story offers to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to get off to a good start in any industry is to understand the advantages and disadvantages of any industry. If an entrepreneur wants to start with Trader Joe’s, he/she would learn to think in smaller retail markets so they can improve food access and quality in neighborhoods with few or no large grocery stores. While the economic advantages of large grocery stores are disadvantages to the smaller markets, small grocers do have distinct advantages. They can offer more personalized service and a greater sense of community. Their smaller pool of employees and customers allow for the development of personal relationships. Corporate grocery store chains recognize the small retail market niche and some are now repackaging their offerings into smaller retail settings. Trader Joe’s is designing new, smaller stores that may offer a more social shopping experience. Through the Trader Joe’s story, entrepreneurs need to explore many facets of their industry they want to dive into.…
John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, is one of the largest natural and organic food retailer worldwide. Throughout the article Mackey has made numerous accomplishment on many occasions with his business. In the article Mackey talks about his competitors, and how his company is different from other food retailers. Mackey talks about his management styles and what he believes to be, the best way to run his business. Throughout the Whole Foods article Mackey speaks of Organizational structure and how and why he uses centralization and decentralization throughout his company.…
Fast forward another decade and Sears, Roebuck and Company found the structure of business shifting from catalog sales to retail stores. Robert E. Wood, the vice president of the company during…
Trader Joe's demonstrates the importance of leading by presenting a unique way of doing business compared to their competitors. They do not carry many products compared to other super markets which carry 6 times if not more products compared to them but in the end they still managed to generate more revenue. Because of this other companies are projected to follow in Trader Joe's footsteps by limiting the number of products their store carries. Because they clearly show their way of doing business works.…
Although John Mackey frequently gets the attention of headlines, the company has a solid senior team. In 2010 Walter Robb was appointed as co-CEO. This emphasized the power of shared decision-making and the importance of collective construction within all levels of the company. Mackey and Robb are not part of the CEO’s celebrity culture widely spread in America. On the contrary they envision the role of the E-suite to embrace the higher purpose of the business, lead by example, inspire and transform while still satisfying all the stakeholder needs. The shared leadership approach practiced by Whole Foods Market™ is aligned to the premise that such “hero” styles alienate the workforce through failing to provide a genuine sense of involvement in, and commitment to, corporate goals. (Manz & Sims 1987) 8…
For this activity, I chose to go to the supermarket I go on a weekly basis, Trader Joe’s because they sell affordable organic foods. Since I lived on campus, Trader Joe’s, New Leaf and Safeway are the closest and most convenient grocery store options for me, although Costco offers cheaper foods. During shopping I paid attention to price, variety and foods higher in calorie, nonetheless, the contrast between calories are subtle and have little to do with the amount of money spent. The results reveal that processed food basket has higher calorie/ dollar than the fresh fruits and vegetable basket. It is also noticeable that the one with fresh fruit and vegetable is much heavier than the processed food basket.…
In my opinion the value chain at Trader Joe’s begins with its employees and the methods utilized by Trader Joe’s to make them good at providing excellent customer service. “Employees are encourage to taste and learn about the product” this results in employees who are able to share their experience and expertise of the products they are selling to the consumer. Creating a helpful and customer service environment, which consumers appreciate.…
Ron Johnson was set to disrupt retail as he had done at Apple with Steve Jobs and the Apple stores. He did not succeed with JCPenney. Johnson's problems came down to market research and stakeholder buy-in. Johnson did not plan, he just did, and it alienated customers and employees. Johnson had great ideas but the customers hated the changes and the employees were stuck on the front line with limited support.…
The multi-billion dollar enterprise known today as Target Corporation has grown into what it is because of the combined efforts of hundreds of thousands of dedicated employees, and over one hundred years of expansion. George Draper Dayton was a man of humble beginnings who had an ambitious dream, and made his dream a reality due to a determined work ethic. Dayton was born in New York in 1857 and relocated to Minnesota in 1883, which is where his success originated. Dayton was not fortunate enough to be able to afford college, so he went into banking. Ten years after moving to Minnesota, the Panic of 1893 struck the United States, and a church that Dayton attended burned to the ground. The recession caused extremely low property values, so Dayton bought the property and erected his first business, the Goodfellow Dry Goods Store. This first store that would later create an empire was opened in 1902, and renamed the Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1903. World War I and the Great Depression offered challenges for the company, but Dayton ran it based on strict ethics and ambition that were inherent to him, which led the company past these obstacles. Also, consumer goods were very scarce, so as long as there was inventory, the store became profitable. This combination was the recipe for Dayton’s future success.…
Ron Johnson the former CEO of JCPenney had a very short-lived time at JCPenney. Ron Johnson who was formerly praised for his work at Apple was not able to last longer than seventeen months. During his time at JCPenney, he seems to ignore parts of the three core processed of business: People, Strategy, and Operation (Kinicki & Williams, 2013). The next few paragraphs will identify Johnson's failure(s) in these three core processes and make recommendations that would have helped him be more successful.…