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The Human Resource Activities of Zappos

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The human resource activities of Zappos
Introduction
Zappos, which is an online shoe retailer, was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn. Now it becomes a famous brand in US which have 10 sub-companies in 2011. This company cannot create such a great success without its excellent customer service and human resource management. This essay will state that the influences of environment on the strategy, HR planning and implementation of Zappos firstly. Then it will argue the relevance between HR practices at Zappos and the human resource management. At last, it will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Zappos practices and how to promote these practices.

Strategy, HR planning and implementation
Environment is an important element to help companies making their strategies. Strategy is a function and framework of companies’ actions in the future. The appropriate strategies setting can decide the success of the companies’ operation. So the companies usually base on their strengths, weaknesses and the different situations of external environment to make suitable strategies to achieve their goals in the operation periods. With the information technology developing, the online shopping becomes an important area for the retail market. According to Demangeot and Broderick (2010, 117), the online retailer already occupies almost 50% market of the sale industry. Nick Swinmurn foresaw this situation so he founded the Zappos as an online shoe retailer. Sometimes, the external environment can control the function of companies’ strategies. Samimi, Lim and Buang(2011, 197) state that globalization is a process which influence the economy, society and culture of different areas to connect with each other and develop together. Because of the development of globalization, the strategy of Zappos decides to conform to the trend to create new market. Therefore, the company joined

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