CASE – 1 Your Job and Your Passion—You Can Pursue Both!
The 21st century offers many challenges to every one of us. As more firms go global, as more economies interconnect, and as the Web blasts away boundaries to communication, we become more informed citizens. This interconnectedness means that the organizations you work for will require you to develop both general and specialized knowledge—such as speaking multiple languages, using various software applications, or understanding details of financial transactions. You will have to develop general management skills to foster your ability to be self-reliant and thrive in a changing market-place. And here’s the exciting part: As you build both types of knowledge, you may be able to integrate your growing expertise with the causes or activities you care most ….
dislike, what you know and what you want to learn, what you fear and what you dream. Then try the following exercise.
Questions
1. Create a three-column chart in which the first column lists nonmanagement skills you have. Are you good at travel? Do you know how to build furniture? Are you a whiz at sports statistics? Are you an innovative cook? Do you play video games for hours? In the second column, list the causes or activities about which you are passionate. These may dovetail with the first list, but they might not.
2. Once you have you two columns complete, draw lines between entries that seem compatible. If you are good at building furniture, you might have also listed a concern about families who are homeless. Remember that not all entries will find a match—the idea is to begin finding some connections.
3. In the third column, generate a list of firms or organizations you know about that reflect your interests. If you are good at building furniture, you might be interested working for the Habitat for Humanity organization, or you might find yourself gravitating towards a furniture retailer like Ikea or Ethan Allen. You can do further research on organizations via Internet or business publications.
CASE – 2 Biyani – Pioneering a Retailing Revolution in India
“I use people as hands and legs. I prefer to do thinking around here.”
─ Kishore Biyani, CEO & MD, Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.
Kishore Biyani (Biyani), CEO& MD of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd., planned to have 30 Food Bazaar outlets, 22 outlets in Big Bazaar, 21 Pantaloons outlets, and four seamless malls under the Central logo, by the end of 2005. He also planned to launch at least three businesses every year and had already selected music, footwear and car accessories as his next areas of investments. He was already the top retailer in India followed by Raghu Pillai of RPG. As of 2004, Biyani headed a company that had a turnover of Rs 6,500 million and operated 13 Pantaloon apparel stores, 9 Big Bazaars, 13 Food Bazaars, and 3 seamless malls (Central), one each located in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune.
Biyani’s journey from a person who looked after his family business to India’s top retailer in 1987, when he launched Manz Wear Pvt. Ltd. The company launched one of the first readymade trousers brands – ‘Pantaloon’ – in the country. The company also launched its first jeans brand called ‘Bare’ in 1989. On September 20, 1991, Manz Wear Pvt. Ltd. went public and on September 25, 1992, it changed its name to Pantaloon Fashions (India) Limited (PFIL). ‘John Miller’ was the first formal shirt brand from PFIL.
The company opened its first apparel stores, called ‘Pantaloons’ at Kolkata in August 1997. The stores generated Rs 70 million. Biyani then realized the potential of the Indian market and started to aggressively tap it. Accordingly, Biyani decided to expand into other segments of retailing besides apparel. To reflect this change in focus, the company changed its name to Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited (PRIL) in July 1999 and set itself a target of achieving Rs 10 billion in sales by June 2005. In course of time he launched three other retail formats -- Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, and Central.
Biyani didn’t believe in copying ideas from western retailers. He was critical of his peers who felt just copied ideas form the west without making any effort to mold them to Indian conditions. He ensured that his store formats such as Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, and …
about the product. His decision making was quick and devoid of unnecessary delays. Biyani was also a good learner and learned quickly from his mistakes. He planned to improve inventory management through responding effectively to the demands of the customers rather than forecasting them, as he felt that forecasting would pile up the inventory in this dynamic market.
Questions
1. The tremendous success of the ‘Pantaloons’, ‘Big Bazaar’ and ‘Food Bazaar’ retailing formats, easily made PRIL the number one retailer in India by early 2004, in terms of turnover and retail area occupied by its outlets. Explain how Biyani is further planning to consolidate his businesses.
2. “Our striving toward looking at the Indian market differently and strategizing with the evolving customer helped us perform better.” What other qualities of Kishore Biyani do you think were instrumental in making him top retailer of India?
CASE – 3 The New Frontier for Fresh Foods Supermarkets
Fresh Foods Supermarket is a grocery store chain that was established in the Southeast 20 years ago. The company is now beginning to expand to other regions of the United States. First, the firm opened new stores along the eastern seaboard, gradually working its way up through Maryland and Washington, DC, then through New York and New jersey, and on into Connecticut and Massachusetts. It has yet to reach the northern New England states, but executives have decided to turn their attention to the Southwest, particularly because of the growth of population there.
Vivian Noble, the manager of one of the chain’s most successful stores in the Atlanta area, has been asked to relocate to Phoenix, Arizona, to open and run a new Fresh Foods Supermarket. She has decided to accept the job, but she knows it will be a challenge. As an African American woman, she has faced some prejudice during her career, but she refuses to be stopped by a glass ceiling or any other barrier. She understands that she will be living and working …
and otherwise assist customers who speak little or no English. Noble believes that she is a pioneer of sorts, guiding Fresh Foods Supermarkets into a new frontier. “The sky is almost blue here,” she says of her new home state. “And there’s no glass ceiling between me and the sky.”
Questions
1. What steps can Vivian Noble take to recruit and develop her new workforce?
2. What other ways can Noble help her company reach out to the community?
3. How will Fresh Foods Supermarkets as whole benefit from successfully moving into this new region of the country?
CASE – 4 The Law Offices of Jeter, Jackson, Guidry, and Boyer
THE EVOLUTION OF THE FIRM
David Jeter and Nate Jackson started a small general law practice in 1992 near Sacramento, California. Prior to that, the two had spent five years in the district attorney’s office after completing their formal schooling. What began as a small partnership—just the two attorneys and a paralegal/assistant—had now grown into a practice that employed more than 27 people in three separated towns. The current staff included 18 attorneys (three of whom have become partners), three paralegals, and six secretaries.
For the first time in the firm’s existence, the partners felt that they were losing control of their overall operation. The firm’s current caseload, number of employees, number of clients, travel requirements, and facilities management needs had grown far beyond anything that the original partners had ever imagined.
Attorney Jeter called a meeting of the partners to discuss the matter. Before the meeting, opinions about the pressing problems of the day and proposed solutions were sought from the entire staff. The meeting resulted in a formal decision to create a new position, general manager of operations. The partners proceeded to compose a job description and job announcement for recruiting purposes.
Highlights and responsibilities of the job description include:
• Supervising day-to-day office personnel and operations (phones, meetings, word processing, mail, billings, payroll, general overhead, and maintenance).
• Improving customer relations (more expeditious processing of cases and clients).
• Expanding the customer base.
• Enhancing relations with the local communities.
• Managing the annual budget and related incentive programs.
• Maintaining annual growth in sales of 10 percent while maintaining or exceeding the current profit margin.
The general manager will provide an annual executive summary to the partners, along with specific action plans for improvement and change. A search …
run the firm would achieve all of its goals. Howser pointed out that people in general are resistant to change. The partners met for drinks later that day and looked at each other with a great sense of uncertainty. Should they ride out the storm as Howser suggested? Had they done the right thing in creating the position and hiring Howser? What had started as a seemingly, wise, logical, and smooth sequence of events had now become a crisis.
Questions
1. Do you agree with Howser’s suggestion to “sit tight and ride out the storm,” or should the partners take some action immediately? If so, what actions specifically?
2. Assume that the creation of the GM—Operation position was a good decision. What leadership style and type of individual would you try to place in this position?
3. Consider your own leadership style. What types of positions and situations should you seek? What types of positions and situation should you seek to avoid? Why?
CASE – 5 The Grizzly Bear Lodge
Diane and Rudy Conrad own a small lodge outside Yellowstone National Park. Their lodge has 15 rooms that can accommodate up to 40 guests, with some rooms set up for families. Diane and Rudy serve a continental breakfast on weekdays and a full breakfast on weekends, included in the room they charge. Their busy season runs from May through September, but they remain open until Thanksgiving and reopen in April for a short spring season. They currently …
the expansion process. “This is our dream business,” says Rudy. “We’re only at the beginning.”
Questions
1. Discuss how Rudy and Diane can use feedforward, concurrent, and feedback controls both now and in future at the Grizzly Bear Lodge to ensure their guests’ satisfaction.
2. What might be some of the fundamental budgetary considerations the Conrads would have as they plan the expansion of their logic?
3. Describe how the Conrads could use market controls plans and implement their expansion.
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