Best Buy's Problems

There has been an overall loss in Market Share throughout departments stores. JCPenney is one department store in particular that has a very hard time dealing with this issue and has struggled to retain its market value. JCPenney CEO’s of the past and present have taken very different approaches to solving this problem and that will be discussed throughout this paper. We will start off by introducing you to former CEO, Mike Ullman who managed JCPenney before and after the recession as well as his presence after next CEO Ron Johnson was fired. We will walk through the problems that occurred after Johnson enforced his new turnaround strategies for JCPenney and how it cause disastrous results in sales and in the further decrease of market share. We will then focus on the current CEO, Marvin Ellison, and his plans for JC Penney and if his strategies can fix the overall problem JCPenney is facing.

The role of a Human Resource department is ever changing in today’s volatile business environment. Over the years HR have become strong strategic partners within an organization by providing functions such as recruitment,

HR provide the framework for learning and development of current staff of all levels to ensure that we are upskilling our workforce to be able to support our growth. The aim is to help motivate and develop individuals with key skills, experience and knowledge to help the organisation perform better in a competitive environment ensuring that we remain relative and up to date on key changes within the entertainment distribution sector.

Best Buy is a multinational retailer of consumer electronics, computing and mobile phone products, entertainment products, appliances, and related services. The company operates retail stores and call centers and conducts online retail operations under a variety of brand names such as Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, The Carphone Warehouse, Five Star, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and The Phone House (Bestbuy.com, 4). The domestic segment consists of all operations within the United States, while the international segment includes all operations in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and China. The Best Buy 's success is contingent on the market 's demand for electronics. The company 's strategy is to provide good customer service combined with lower prices (news.cnet.com). Best Buy 's success is directly related to economic conditions, the cost of goods, and other things like fuel prices. The company 's strategy depends upon the ability to offer customers a broad selection of name-brand products; therefore, leading its success to depend upon satisfactory supplier relationships (Bestbuy.com, 8). Best Buy, as it is included in the retail segment, is a seasonal store. Their stronger quarter is the fourth quarter, which they can contribute to the holiday season for their success.

From 1966, Richard Schulze, had suggestions for improvement(s), but, wasn’t token seriously from other people. early in his managerial career, Schulze, allowed himself to show-off his uncanny ability to adjust to market trends and seek out profitable opportunities. Since, 1966, Best Buy began

HR professionals have to think carefully about what they are doing in the context of their organization and within the framework of recognised body of knowledge. They have to perform effectively in the sense of delivering advise, guidance and services that will help the organisation to achieve its goals.

Best Buy Co. Inc. a public company is known to be the largest electronic retailer in the United States of America. This may attribute to the fact that it commands a market share if 19% these results in estimated electronic sales in the United States, 19% of these items are sold by Best Buy Incorporated. This company is a large company with about 2,800 stores in other countries outside the Unite States. These countries include: Canada, Mexico, China and Turkey. To add on to this, it has a number of subsidiaries namely the Geek Squad, Pacific Sales, Future Shop and Magnolia Audio Videos.

The role of a Human Resource department is ever changing in today’s volatile business environment. Over the years HR have become strong strategic partners within an

The current function of HR can be defined as supporting “the delivery of the organisation’s strategy and objectives through the effective management of people and performance” (Taylor & Woodhams, 2012; 22). This definition is furthered by a CIPD survey (2007; 2-3), which indicated that the key functions of HR are: recruiting and retaining staff, progressing performance management to maximise the value of employees and increasing employee engagement.

Best Buy had a history of being able to adapt to the changing markets and their ability to do so contributed to their success (i.e. the vastly expanded product line, evolution to superstores, expansion, acquisition, converting from commission to salaried sales force.). The perception that customers were focusing less on the technical aspect of products and redirecting their attention to service and support, led to Anderson’s custom-centricity initiative. This transition and the rollout of 144 new “centricity” Best Buy stores was being blamed for the company missing third quarter earnings in 2005, resulting in a 12% decline in stock value and a loss of nearly $2B in market capitalization. Did Anderson perform the proper strategic market planning analysis before selecting and implementing the centricity initiative?

The current strategic plan implemented by Best Buy to focus on customer services and in-store experiences, enhances technical services, and customization of product availability to demographic location have given Best Buy the competitive advantage over its competitor. The strategic plan had carried Best Buy through tough economic times and achieved profitability. For Best Buy to maintain growth and expand product selection such as home good items, it is recommended that Best Buy uses the proven strategic principles to apply to these new market segment. Best Buy should adjust the strategy as necessary if the outcome does not meet

The role of the human resources (HR) department can play a significant role in the success and achievements of an organization. The department, which has evolved from the

Whether an organization consists of five or 25,000 employees, human resources management is vital to the success of the organization. HR is important to all managers because it provides managers with the resources – the employees – necessary to produce the work for the managers and the organization. Beyond this role, HR is capable of becoming a strong strategic partner when it comes to “establishing the overall direction and objectives of key areas of human resource management in order to ensure that they not only are consistent with but also support the achievement of business goals.” (Massey, 1994, p. 27)

It makes sense for Best Buy to worry more about Wal-Mart, which is getting more involved in electronics retailing, and less about Circuit City. The competitors are a diverse lot today, and for them to continue to grow they're going to have to get much better at everything they do and define themselves in clear ways. Best Buy's plan is to revamp its stores according to the types of customers they serve. A strategy previously mentioned, customer centricity, focuses on targeting five prototypical customers, all of whom have been given names: "Jill," a busy suburban mom; "Buzz," a focused, active younger male; "Ray," a family man who likes his technology practical; "BB4B" (short for Best Buy for Business), a small professional employer; and "Barry," an affluent professional male who's likely to drop tens of thousands of dollars on a home theater system. Their most current focus is on a "Jill" based store, the soccer mom who has money to spend but typically hasn't a clue of where or how to find products in the store. According to the data Best Buy has collected, Jill shops a few times a year, usually twice at an electronics store, but she usually spends a significant amount.

According to this case, and concerning about the strategy that Best Buy has created, retailers can similarly create a retailer-led product strategy to leverage their customer knowledge for product differentiation and to understand what the needs of the customers are; they must discover what satisfies the customer and what not. In addition, the retailer can seek for news partnerships, new stores, new countries and new categories and services in order to increase their net sales and their share market. It’s very important invest in marketing study aiming to discover what the other companies are doing. Besides, with the time, the smaller retailer can increase significantly even more than the