Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! Description
Zappos was founded in 1999, during the Internet boom, to sell shoes online. The company's founding premise was to provide the ultimate in selection to its customers-all brands, styles, sizes, and colors. Zappos organized all aspects of its business (including recruiting, culture, call center, inventory, website, and supply chain) to provide the best possible service-it wanted to "wow" everyone who interacted with the company, from customers to employees to corporate partners. Zappos grew rapidly, and by 2008 was profitable with net sales (after returns) of about $650 million. The company faced a number of issues as it looked forward. While it had penetrated only about 3 percent of the U.S. market for shoes, Zappos had expanded its product lines to items such as camping gear and video games. It needed to determine those elements of its strategy had contributed to its success in shoes, and whether it would be able to duplicate that success in other product lines. It also needed to determine how it could scale its business-much of the effort it had made to "wow" its customers was labor intensive and expensive-could this be scaled to a company with revenues of tens of billions? Finally, the economic landscape changed dramatically in late 2008, with the financial market collapse and recession. The service-intensive Zappos.com business was based on sales at little to no discount, unlike many websites that relied on selling at the lowest possible price. Would the company need to make changes to respond to the changed economic environment, and if so, what were those changes? The case provides an opportunity to evaluate the core competences of an Internet retailer that has experienced rapid, initial success. The case enables students to consider supply chain issues, which are critical to the company's success, in the broader context of the business: the bases of Zappos' success, its core competencies, culture, and competitive environment.
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Case Analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! is a Harvard Business (HBR) Case Study on Leadership & Managing People , Texas Business School provides HBR case study assignment help for just $9. Texas Business School(TBS) case study solution is based on HBR Case Study Method framework, TBS expertise & global insights. Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! is designed and drafted in a manner to allow the HBR case study reader to analyze a real-world problem by putting reader into the position of the decision maker. Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study will help professionals, MBA, EMBA, and leaders to develop a broad and clear understanding of casecategory challenges. Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! will also provide insight into areas such as – wordlist , strategy, leadership, sales and marketing, and negotiations.
Case Study Solutions Background Work
Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
case study solution
is focused on solving the strategic and operational challenges the protagonist of the case is facing. The challenges involve – evaluation of strategic options, key role of Leadership & Managing People, leadership qualities of the protagonist, and dynamics of the external environment. The challenge in front of the protagonist, of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!, is to not only build a competitive position of the organization but also to sustain it over a period of time.
Strategic Management Tools Used in Case Study Solution
The Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study solution requires the MBA, EMBA, executive, professional to have a deep understanding of various strategic management tools such as SWOT Analysis, PESTEL Analysis / PEST Analysis / STEP Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, Go To Market Strategy, BCG Matrix Analysis, Porter Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff Matrix Analysis, VRIO / VRIN and Marketing Mix Analysis.
Texas Business School Approach to Leadership & Managing People Solutions
In the Texas Business School, Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study solution – following strategic tools are used - SWOT Analysis, PESTEL Analysis / PEST Analysis / STEP Analysis, Porter Five Forces Analysis, Go To Market Strategy, BCG Matrix Analysis, Porter Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff Matrix Analysis, VRIO / VRIN and Marketing Mix Analysis.
We have additionally used the concept of supply chain management and leadership framework to build a comprehensive case study solution for the case – Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Step 1 – Problem Identification of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! - Harvard Business School Case Study
The first step to solve HBR Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study solution is to identify the problem present in the case. The problem statement of the case is provided in the beginning of the case where the protagonist is contemplating various options in the face of numerous challenges that Zappos Wow is facing right now. Even though the problem statement is essentially – “Leadership & Managing People” challenge but it has impacted by others factors such as communication in the organization, uncertainty in the external environment, leadership in Zappos Wow, style of leadership and organization structure, marketing and sales, organizational behavior, strategy, internal politics, stakeholders priorities and more.
Step 2 – External Environment Analysis
Texas Business School approach of case study analysis – Conclusion, Reasons, Evidences - provides a framework to analyze every HBR case study. It requires conducting robust external environmental analysis to decipher evidences for the reasons presented in the Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!.
The external environment analysis of Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! will ensure that we are keeping a tab on the macro-environment factors that are directly and indirectly impacting the business of the firm.
What is PESTEL Analysis? Briefly Explained
PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that impact the external environment of firm in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study. PESTEL analysis of " Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!" can help us understand why the organization is performing badly, what are the factors in the external environment that are impacting the performance of the organization, and how the organization can either manage or mitigate the impact of these external factors.
How to do PESTEL / PEST / STEP Analysis? What are the components of PESTEL Analysis?
As mentioned above PESTEL Analysis has six elements – political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal. All the six elements are explained in context with Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! macro-environment and how it impacts the businesses of the firm.
How to do PESTEL Analysis for Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
To do comprehensive PESTEL analysis of case study – Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! , we have researched numerous components under the six factors of PESTEL analysis.
Political Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Political factors impact seven key decision making areas – economic environment, socio-cultural environment, rate of innovation & investment in research & development, environmental laws, legal requirements, and acceptance of new technologies.
Policy Making Impact on Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Government policies have significant impact on the business environment of any country. The firm in “ Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! ” needs to navigate these policy decisions to create either an edge for itself or reduce the negative impact of the policy as far as possible.
Data safety laws – The countries in which Zappos Wow is operating, firms are required to store customer data within the premises of the country. Zappos Wow needs to restructure its IT policies to accommodate these changes. In the EU countries, firms are required to make special provision for privacy issues and other laws.
Competition Regulations – Numerous countries have strong competition laws both regarding the monopoly conditions and day to day fair business practices. Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! has numerous instances where the competition regulations aspects can be scrutinized.
Import restrictions on products – Before entering the new market, Zappos Wow in case study Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!" should look into the import restrictions that may be present in the prospective market.
Export restrictions on products – Apart from direct product export restrictions in field of technology and agriculture, a number of countries also have capital controls. Zappos Wow in case study “ Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! ” should look into these export restrictions policies.
Foreign Direct Investment Policies – Government policies favors local companies over international policies, Zappos Wow in case study “ Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! ” should understand in minute details regarding the Foreign Direct Investment policies of the prospective market.
Taxation & Regulation Impact on Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Corporate Taxes – The rate of taxes is often used by governments to lure foreign direct investments or increase domestic investment in a certain sector. Corporate taxation can be divided into two categories – taxes on profits and taxes on operations. Taxes on profits number is important for companies that already have a sustainable business model, while taxes on operations is far more significant for companies that are looking to set up new plants or operations.
Tariffs – Chekout how much tariffs the firm needs to pay in the “ Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! ” case study. The level of tariffs will determine the viability of the business model that the firm is contemplating. If the tariffs are high then it will be extremely difficult to compete with the local competitors. But if the tariffs are between 5-10% then Zappos Wow can compete against other competitors.
Government Scheme & Subsidies Impact on Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Research and Development Subsidies and Policies – Governments often provide tax breaks and other incentives for companies to innovate in various sectors of priority. Managers at Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study have to assess whether their business can benefit from such government assistance and subsidies.
Consumer protection – Different countries have different consumer protection laws. Managers need to clarify not only the consumer protection laws in advance but also legal implications if the firm fails to meet any of them.
Political System & Stability, and its Impact on Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Political System and Its Implications – Different political systems have different approach to free market and entrepreneurship. Managers need to assess these factors even before entering the market.
Freedom of Press is critical for fair trade and transparency. Countries where freedom of press is not prevalent there are high chances of both political and commercial corruption.
Corruption level – Zappos Wow needs to assess the level of corruptions both at the official level and at the market level, even before entering a new market. To tackle the menace of corruption – a firm should have a clear SOP that provides managers at each level what to do when they encounter instances of either systematic corruption or bureaucrats looking to take bribes from the firm.
Independence of judiciary – It is critical for fair business practices. If a country doesn’t have independent judiciary then there is no point entry into such a country for business.
Government attitude towards trade unions – Different political systems and government have different attitude towards trade unions and collective bargaining. The firm needs to assess – its comfort dealing with the unions and regulations regarding unions in a given market or industry. If both are on the same page then it makes sense to enter, otherwise it doesn’t.
Economic Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Social Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Technological Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Environmental Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Legal Factors that Impact Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!
Step 3 – Industry Specific Analysis
What is Porter Five Forces Analysis
PESTEL stands for political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors that impact the external environment of firm in Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW! case study. PESTEL analysis of " Zappos.com: Developing a Supply Chain to Deliver WOW!" can help us understand why the organization is performing badly, what are the factors in the external environment that are impacting the performance of the organization, and how the organization can either manage or mitigate the impact of these external factors.
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