...Is Best Buy the Best? Is Best Buy the Best? Best Buy is one of the leading retailers in electronics and electronic services. With the growing popularity of online shopping, some retail stores are experiencing less physical business and more e-commerce. Best Buy has adapted to this trend and is still able to maintain many stores throughout the nation. The company simultaneously provides an easily navigated website to reach all of its client preferences. To maintain a structure as this, a company must have superior management and functionality. There are four basic fundamentals that encompass the management of a successful business such as Best Buy. The traditional functions are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. These functions are affected by several external and internal factors such as globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics. Five Common Factors In 2010, Best Buy separated itself as a company into three divisions; the Americas, Asia and Europe. Each division was created with an executive vice-president running each area who would report to the Chief Executive Officer (Ernst & Young Global Limited). When the company planned this out, it created a self-paced region instead of the entire company proceeding as a whole. In other words, Asia can progress at a different pace then the Americas in all aspects. This plan enabled all regions and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to use their brains and ideas from clients to develop more efficient...
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...Best Buy MGT/521 - MANAGEMENT BUSINESS Description Best Buy or BBY is one of the leading developers of technology products and technology services. Best Buy is broken down into two segments; domestic and international, and works under a variety of names. In the domestic region there is Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and Geek Squad. The international regions include; Canada, China, Mexico and Europe and use the brand names; Best Buy, Cell Shop, Best Buy Mobile, Five Star, Future Shop, Connect Pro, Geek Squad, The Carphone Warehouse, Geek Squad, and The Phone House. (Reuters, 2012) Best Buy stores currently make their money in six categories: • Consumer Electronics – Video products like TVs, DVD and Blu-ray players. Audio products like MP3 players, home theater audio systems and components, • Entertainment – Video games, DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, and computer software, • Services – Installation from home theater and mobile audio, warranties, and repair, • Computing and Mobile Phones – Laptops, desktops, tablets, and printers, • Appliances – Major and small appliances, Other – Snacks and beverages History To understand the history of Best Buy, one would have to know the history of its founder, Richard M. Schulze. Mr. Schulze and a partner started Sound of Music, Inc. in 1966 with their first store in St. Paul, Minnesota. Four years later Schulze bought out his partner and decided to expand. His first step to expand came in 1982...
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...ADMIN 404 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Assignment one Best Buy Co. Inc : Sustainable Customer Centricity Model? Executive Summary Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics. It operates as a retail store and online operations under several brand names in multiple countries, USA, Canada, Mexico, China and Europe. In Canada it operates under Future shop and Best buy names, offering in five revenue categories: Consumer electronics, Computing and Mobile phones, Entertainment, Services and other. Best buy’s mission is to become the leading multi-channel retailer by serving their customers and making a meaningful difference in their lives. Introduction and company overview Incorporated in Minnesota USA in 1966 as Sound of Music, Inc., Best Buy today is a multi-national, multi-channel retailer of technology products, including tablets, computers, televisions, mobile phones, large and small appliances, digital imaging and related accessories. It employs approximately 140,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees worldwide, it offers to its employees company-paid, full benefits that vary from location to location. Best buy’s success relies on the design and execution of appropriate business strategies. Best buy’s current strategy includes transformational change to many areas of business including online and in-store customer experience, employee-engagement, partnership with vendors and cost control, these strategies were adopted since 2012 as a result...
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...Critical Analysis: Best Buy: Grasping at Straws By tuc70402 | November 2012 Zoom In Zoom Out Page 1 of 2 Critical Analysis: Best Buy: Grasping At Straws Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American public company that is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19 percent of the market (1). Over the last fifteen years, Best Buy, like many retailers, is “competing with a perfect storm of disruptive technologies (2)”. It is hard to compete with those companies embraced with innovations, such as Apple and Amazon. Best Buy has lost $1.23 billion and 2.4% decreasing of revenue last year. In order to create a delighting customer atmosphere, Best Buy should focus on: engaging in innovations of e-commerce, training employees, and focusing on the target market. Engaging in innovations of e-commerce is the best way to differentiate with the competitors. The remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar have been systematically eroded. On the other hand, e-commerce has been increasingly popular, “through technical and business innovations that include embedded video on their sites, highly credible customer reviews and peer advice, free or subsidized overnight shipping, easy returns and extended warranties, and phone or on-page video chat for customer support”(2). If Best Buy can try to create a cheaper alternative, offering customers a faster, more convenient, and less-expensive online shopping atmosphere, perhaps Best Buy can have a dramatically...
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...Abstract In this paper we will be reviewing a program called Rowe or Results-Only Work Environment. This program was first used in 2003 by Best Buy. The system was a success. The basic concept of Rowe is to take some of the pressure off the employees by relieving the stress from over working and allowing the employees to create their own work schedules. By doing this the company improved morally, decreased turnover and reduced stress. The ROWE program allows employees to work on their own time and from anywhere they were most comfortable. It gave employees the freedom to work as many and as little hours as they wanted as long as the job was complete and it reached the targeted goals. Before this program was implemented, employees tended to work long hours and were burnout, which caused the high turnover. Best Buy faced many challenges while implementing the ROWE program. Challenges included meeting the prerequisites for the company’s success. In this paper I will also discuss Best Buy being able to implement the policy in all their locations and the pros and cons of that decision. "ROWE Program at Best Buy" Culture of Best Buy Best Buy has implemented the Result-Only Work Environment or ROWE which was established by Jody Thompson. Before the ROWE system, Best Buy employees were known for working long hours and a substantial amount of overtime. The employees were over worked which affected the company as a whole. With this system in place employees have more...
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...ACCOUNTING BEST BUY FINAL PROJECT General Student’s Discussion and Analysis History: Best Buy Inc is a leading provider of consumer electronics. The company is a top rated Fortune 500 company and is considered to the largest specialty retailer within its sector throughout the United States. It accounts for about 21 percent of the market. Best Buy Inc also is present in the Canadian, Chinese and Mexican market places. The company was founded in 1966 and is a public company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange as BBY. The company is headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota and the founder, Richard Schulze, is still on board and is chairman for the company. This retail business is specialized in consumer electronics. In 2008, Best Buy Inc has revenue of more than 40 billion dollars with 12.7 billion in assets. The company also employs about 150,000 people (2008 numbers.) Best Buy Inc also has a number of subsidiaries. This includes its computer repair service The Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video and Pacific Sales. The company operates both Best Buy retail stores and Future Shop label products and stores in Canada. Best Buy Inc is an aggressive company and set out to become one of the country's best providers of consumer electronics from the beginning. The most recent announcements for plans of the company included a statement in 2007 of pushing for a 40 percent increase in its operations. The company plans to operate more than 1800 retail stores around the world. Of these...
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...Critical Analysis Paper #1 The revenue of Best Buy declined by 2.4% since 2011. The company lost $1.23 billion in 2011, or $3.36 per share. This report will conduct a situation analysis of Best Buy, explain internal issues and the external environment, and summarize key issues that can explain the poor performance. One of the potential internal causes of revenue decrease for Best Buy is the fact that they have high dependence on vendors for a supply of their products. Vendors that supply Best Buy are located domestically and internationally. Around 60% of merchandise that Best Buy purchased was from its 20 largest suppliers in 2011. “The five major suppliers namely, Apple, Hawlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba represented 39% of total merchandise purchased by the company.” Due to this fact, Best Buy might have difficult time meeting the demand of customers because key vendors can fail to supply Best Buy with products. This issue can drive down Best Buy’s revenue and profitability (Global Data). Another possible internal cause of revenue decrease is the lack of expansion. Previously, Best Buy was trying to open “big box” stores overseas to expand its product as well as customer segments. However, revenue is declining because Best Buy had to close its “big box” stores in United Kingdom, China, and Turkey in 2011 because their strategy failed, which decreased brand awareness in these countries. Best Buy plans on opening 50 new but smaller localized stores in China and...
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...BEST BUY CASE: Yiming Dong 1. What examples of environmental scanning do you see in the case? What role do you think environmental scanning has played in the company’s future? Although Best Buy is trying to become a perfect electronics retailer, it is not easy to deal with those challenges from external environment. For example, many other retailers, the economic climate has forced Best Buy to carefully consider its strategic options. In my own opinion, I believe that Best Buy will face more challenges in the future. Because as the improvement of technology and science, information is easier obtained by other competitors than before. So Best Buy must think about a good strategy to keep and hold the best information and technology. 2. Using the five competitive factors approach and the information in the case, do a brief industry-competitive analysis. Existing Competitors: We could find lots of products provided by Wal-Mart and Target that are same as goods from Best Buy. However, Best Buy is an electronics retailer, others are super market. Possible Competitors: There are also some possible competitors in the market. For example, we can buy some phones from Amazon and E-bey. Alternative Industry Providers: Although we could buy the same product in other places, there is no any electronics retailer like Best Buy. 3. What types of information do you think Dunn might want from each of the five general environmental sectors? I think that Dunn maybe want to get...
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...BEST BUY: USING CUSTOMER CENTRICITY TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS “So much of our business success comes down to understanding consumer behaviour,” explains Joe Brandt, a store service manager at one of Best Buy’s newest stores. “What we do is we try to keep our ear to the railroad tracks. In essence, we listen to the customer to be able to change on a dime when a customer wants us to tailor that experience a certain way and provide certain shopping experiences and certain services.” “Consumers look at a lot of different things,” Joe added. “They look at brands, shopability of the store, how easy it is to navigate the store, how pleasant the employees are, price, and how we take care of the customer.” Overall there are many factors that “customers look at when they’re making a purchase decision.” Best Buy is the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer with 1,172 stores, 140,000 employees, and $35.9 billion in revenue. Its U.S. and Canadian market share is almost 20 percent, far ahead of rivals Wal-Mart and Costco. Best Buy operates superstores which provide a limited number of product categories with great depth within the categories. The retailer sells consumer electronics, home office products, appliances, entertainment software and related services. In addition to its U.S. and Canadian stores, Best Buy has recently opened stores in China and has announced plans to open stores in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Turkey. Best Buy also offers its products online through...
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...Best Buy BAD 318 Mher Kandoyan 1. Comment on Best Buy’s customer-centric strategy. Is this a viable approach for breaking out of the commodity status associated with electronics retailing? Becoming customer-centric means looking at an enterprise from the outside-in rather than the inside-out. That is, through the lens of the customer rather than the producer. It's about understanding what problems customers face in their lives and then providing mutually advantageous solutions. It's the approach Best Buy took and it's a key reason why the company has survived in the tumultuous consumer-electronics marketplace, while Circuit City is gone. Best Buy took the time to understand who its customers are and what they need and then started selling solutions instead of products. As part of its research, for example, Best Buy discovered that 55 percent of its customers were women, and that for the most part they loathed their shopping experience at the retailer. Men look for a specific product at a discount price. Women want not just a digital camera, but a printer, cable, and other accessories--and they care far more about these things than price. Equally important, they want help with installation, while most men prefer to try to put things together themselves. Accordingly, Best Buy adopted mostly common-sense solutions once it understood the issues involved. Related products were bundled together. In many stores, kids now have special play areas while...
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...Chapter 5-Best Buy 1 Chapter 5 Best Buy Using Customer Centricity to Connect with Customers Narrator: Best Buy is the world's largest consumer electronics retailer, far ahead of its rivals: Walmart, Circuit City and Costco. Joe Brandt is a service manager at a Best Buy store focused on centricity. Joe Brandt: So much of our business success comes down to understanding consumer behaviors. Female Customer: I'm looking for a laptop. Male Customer: I’m looking for a Bluetooth headset. Female Customer: You can see computer right up, so I know exactly where to go. it was easy. Male Customer: They're definitely customer focused around here. Edie Adaza: The beautiful thing about this one is you can surf the Internet. Joe Brandt: We really focus on getting our employees in the know and being able to described to customers how technology can enhance their lives. We try to make that shopping experience as easy and as simple as possible. Edie Adaza: My name is Edie Adaza. I'm the personal shopping assistant and customer assistant. I opened this store so I'm very proud of this store. If you notice, our aisles are color-coded. It's just basically telling customers where to go, easy access to, let's say, computers, Geek Squad. Joe Brandt: Consumers look at a lot of different things. They look at shopability of the store, how easy it is to navigate the store, how pleasant the employees are, how we are price-wise, and...
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...Best Buy Co.,Inc: Sustainable Customer Centricity Model Case Study Review Siddarth Anney ID: 573413 Submitted on 10/31/2013 Sound of music, which is known as Best Buy now, is a retail store of consumer electronics having 24 locations with 1,100 stores in US. Best buy adopted the strategy of "Customer Centricity Model" and converting all its stores to adopt Centricity Model is a big task and cost effective. The Centricity Model changed the way how the sales associates worked that is from bringing more sales to understanding customers and answering to their queries. This involved training of sales associates about the products and services that best buy offers. Unlike Walmart's strategy of low-price, Best buy's strategy was service oriented, which made them different from their competitors. Best buy started to expand its market and differentiate its products through acquisitions, It took advantage of its economies of scale, for example Magnolia Hi-Fi inc provided home theater systems and for the installation it took help of geek squad. Best buy expanded its network internationally too by acquisition of Future Shop in Canada and Jiangsu five star appliances in China. The American customer satisfaction index shows that best buy increased its numbers from 2001 to 2012 (acsi,2013) telling us that best buy has good customer satisfaction through out the years. Best buy though was good in customer satisfaction but had certain...
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...Best Buy Inc. – Dual Branding in China Summary When Best Buy decided to go beyond the domestic market in the United States in December of 2000, the company had found Canada to be the logical first step. The Canadian CE market was fragmented, having only one dominant player which was Future Shop. Best Buy’s original objective was to set up its own stores in various Canadian cities to compete directly with Future Shop stores. Its plan was to open several stores in the Toronto area in 2003, then begin its three-year expansion program that would launch about fifteen stores in Canada. In August of 2001 the founders of the two companies met and decided over the course of three weeks that they could accomplish more together than they would if they stayed in competition with one another. By January 2002, Best Buy had acquired 100% ownership in Future Shop. When the time came to finalize the integration, the management of Best Buy decided to retain the Future Shop brand and let it compete with Best Buy as an independent brand which was a strategy that had no precedent within the company. The dual-brand strategy was an initiative being tested for the first time by Best Buy. Best Buy had plans to expand into China over time. Problem/Suggested solutions In examining prospects of the dual-branding strategy in China, Noble had to make a call on whether it would serve as well in China as it did in Canada. He had to define the road map for implementing the strategy in China. In a broader...
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...Best Buy Corporation - S. Bensen, A. El Haddi, K. Fitzsimmons, A. Hussein, H. Marotske -- UST EMBA [1] “Best Buy Corporation: Strategic Management Analysis” S. Bensen, A. El Haddi, K. Fitzsimmons, A. Hussein, H. Marotske Strategic Management University of St Thomas, College of Business Executive MBA program, Cohort 62 Abstract Best Buy’s news coverage of the last few years has been consistently negative. The company’s performance and reputation suffered greatly. Its Earnings per Share fell by more than 200% in 2012 alone. These negative events were the result of governance problems, a changing market landscape (cloud computing, music streaming, online purchasing, online gaming, etc.) and a significant leadership turnover in a period of crisis. The company’s value stream is in a state of flux and could be said to be a master of none at this time. This paper presents strategies to deal with these problems by creating a strategic road map that will first stabilize Best Buy and eventually put it on a growth path. As a result of our analysis, we recommend that the company employs new strategies that include growing its online business by capitalizing on Geek- Squad’s expertise and exploring an internal fix-it strategy with the development of a compelling mission and vision. Finally, we recommend that BB explore the formation of an alliance with its rivals and leverage opportunities presented by new markets. 1. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to examine Best...
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...actually saw Geek Squad in An Los Angles over the Christmas break inside a Best Buy and was very curious to what it was. Basically Geek Squad a group of highly trained technology agents that can you can bring electronics to be fix or they can come to you. They can now be found in some Best Buys and ware becoming very popular in our technology based society. The founder of Geek Squad Robert Stephens wanted to figure out a way to keep up with the fast pact advancement that our society is facing with technology in fact he called it “chaos”. When you think about it he has a good point. In our society now everything is technology based and with that being the case there are ways things that needs fixing or installed or something to that nature. Which is in fact why he created Geek Squad, he wanted to find away to off set the chaos caused by innovation. With innovation comes change and that effects not only is but our environment also. There are several environmental changes that helped open the door for Geek Squad to arise such as : the rise in broadband usage, viruses, maintenance management, social factors(demographics and culture), limited competition, the rise of our economy (more discretionary income) and many more. The changes in patterns in all consumers has had very big effect on why Best Buy wanted buy Greek Squad and also the impact of women purchasing patterns also made it a must do deal for Best Buy. According to the text total overall spending of consumers on electronics...
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