Business Case Studies and Analysis

Businesses have a starting point and the steps taken thereafter will either lead to its downfall or success. The leadership and commitment of employees are essential to success. Many companies in the world have a story behind their success or failure and it is evident that certain individuals are behind this. Such cases include the Groupon and World Foods 2010 which are analyzed and discussed below.

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The Groupon Company was founded by Andrew Mason. It is a web platform where services are marketed on the social media platform such as restaurants and various events. Connecting merchants to consumers were a major objective. The company grew at a fast rate recording around one billion worth in just 16 months with around 5000 e-mails of consumers. The leadership of the organization has a big part in success. The leadership consisted of a board of directors that consisted of eight members. Each member of the board had roles to play and had high levels of experience in the field of business which of course had a great impact on the organization. Andrew Mason was included in the board as the Chief Executive Officer. He had worked as a software developer before. Groupon operated in North America which included The United States and Canada. It also operated in international segments. The international segments investment greatly impacted the growth of the organization accounting to about 36% of the total revenue in 2010. Although such profits were achieved, international segments also brought losses due to exchange rates and loss of focus on the local market. This challenge is what led to the proper distribution of resources by the organization to accommodate both the local and international market. The company balanced the income and expenditure to be able to manage their finances in order to realize profits. A table is provided of the expenditure and income in 2009, 2010 and 2011 where the company grew at a rate of 380%. This was attributed to venturing into new markets both locally and internationally. The balance in income and expenditure was a great step to the success of the organization. Technology affected directly the operations of Groupon and so the changes in technology had to be taken into consideration. Blending into new technology ensured the satisfaction of the consumers. More people were reached leading to buying of more coupons ensuring the organization is constant in terms of profit and competition with other organizations giving out the same services. Coming up with an information system that is secure and would communicate effectively with customers was much needed since all things were done on the Internet electronically. According to Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017), data centers were set up with the duty to ensure security and efficient working of their services with the growing number of customers. Investment in intrusion and pattern detection tools ensured security. The company marketed its operations on social media platforms and lured the young generation by discounts on the coupons. As revenues increased, they invested in various marketing platforms including partnering with advertising organizations and making deals. The company experiences a lot of competition from other organizations but has managed to outdo most of them. At first, there was not much competition as many companies competing with them did not use the internet. However, as at now, they are facing a lot of competition but the organization has an established market network hence having an upper hand in the competition.

The organization consists of a board of directors which consists of eight members including Mason who is the Chief Executive Officer. There are also 8 top management positions to run and manage the activities of the organization. The consumers also play a big role as they buy the coupons giving profit to the organization enabling the business to grow to greater heights. The merchants also have shares in the organization as the consumers get the coupons through them. They held a special position and a big role to play in the organization. Major decisions are made by the board and evaluated by the top management. The Chief Executive Officer ensures the running of the organization and that all agreed upon objectives are partaken to ensure the smooth running of the organization. Finances are managed by the top level management by the directives of the board.

I would recommend an increase in the number of top management positions since the organization is well established both internationally and locally hence it will require a lot of effort to be able to handle the situation. This may be too cumbersome to Mr. Mason to control. A position such as Deputy C.E.O can be put in place. More ways should also be deployed in marketing to be able to reach even number of people across the globe. A marketing department can be set up to deal with the marketing of the organization. It should be well funded in order to sign deals with well-established marketing platforms.

Whole Foods is another organization that has prospered in the food industry. It has grown from a store to feed a whole nation and also many other countries apart from the United States and Canada. Founded by John Mackey, he has passed through a lot to enable the company to reaches such a high level. The company looks at the demographics of a place before setting up a store to ensure it reaches a large number of people. The people in the location should also be intellectuals who are aware of nutritional requirements so that they can purchase the products knowing the nutritional value that they carry. The leadership is such that it is team-based in that a store is led by a team leader who has around 11 employees. The team leader has a duty to head a certain department or unit. Each store will have around 72 to 391 employees working under the leadership of the store team leader. Bringing the leadership close to the consumer is what has made Whole Foods among the best companies to work for around the globe. The store team leader controls all activities ranging from the stock and ensuring maximum customer satisfaction. Competition has become stiffer over the years. When the organization began, there were only a few stores in the United States but over the years many stores have come up hence the need for strategies to compete effectively to maintain the level in which it is. The lower price in other organizations has given other organizations such as Wal-Mart an upper hand. The organization has to put in more effort to cope with the growing competition in this field. The organization has well-trained store employees to serve customers and chefs are available to give recipes which make them more customer-based. The extra service offered to consumers is what has made it a place to be. The positions of setting up the stores have been carefully searched for taking into consideration the population and education. Most of the stores are found in cities where the stock is sold out at a faster rate. The charitable work undertaken by the organization has also been recognized. According to Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017), donations are made to organizations which are served to the community and this increases the number of consumers. The company faced an economic recession in 2008 where the leadership had to change some aspects in order to survive since natural foods are expensive. People have known that organic foods are expensive even fear to enter Whole Foods. They even went ahead to match the prices with other firms in order to survive the changes in the market demand.

Stakeholders of this organization include the employees, the consumers, investors, suppliers and the communities around the stores. Employees play a great role in maintaining the standards of the products of the organization and also maintaining their reputation. Consumers are the reason for setting up the organization so their demands have to be satisfied. If they decide to seek services in other organizations, the organization will be closed. Investors play a big role in funding the organization and also the suppliers of the foods. Suppliers have to be constant in their supply so that the organization can never fail to get the required amounts. The store team leaders play a big role as they are able to control the employees at the workplaces directly. Stores can be managed well without directly involving the top management of the organization. The many employees employed working in the stores are able to offer after sales services to consumers during a larger number of customers. Decisions made by the top management can be easily implemented in the stores by team leaders who deal with various departments. The structure is such that every store works like an independent firm which creates internal competition where every store works to have the maximum number of sales.

I recommend that the organization should reduce the prices of organic food in order to get customers who are not well-off. They should also become diverse so that they can venture into new types of food that are much cheaper to increase their variety and attract more people. Not all people are interested in organic foods. The number of workers should be reduced to reduce the cost of paying them and hence save cash. Only a few numbers of employees are needed to get the work done. They should adopt marketing skills and advertise their stores even among the less fortunate people so that they increase the chances of more people coming to seek their services. The business idea can also be expanded to a hotel for organic foods so that those interested can also have a place in the organization. Discounts should be given and also random gifts to the public to get more customers. This firm should benchmark from other firms above them to be able to learn to beat them in their own game.

Businesses face a lot of challenges and it is how these challenges are dealt with that determines if the business will grow or not. Leadership as always will determine the direction the organization will take and good leadership will bring great results. Competition is present in every sector and organizations have to work extra hard to beat others and become the best. Business growth is attributed to a lot of factors and above all the consumers should always smile upon receiving services.

Reference

Wheeler, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy (p. 55). Boston: Pearson.