Whole Foods Market, Do they practice what they preach? Festus Acha, Jaesang Kim, Wanda Moss, Linda Pressley, Alioune Thiam The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Management & Organizational Behavior Professor Rick Milter March 22, 2010 Whole Foods Market, Do they practice what they preach? Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show a correlation between what is perceived about Whole Foods Market and what is factual about them. We intend to explore and investigate the following key points such as their mission statement, vision, their strategy for success, and empowerment techniques. We will look at how they motivate, compete with others, and the type of inspiration used as a whole to promote cohesiveness …show more content…
However, on March 17, 2010 one of our team members Wanda Moss visited the Whole Foods Market located at 1001 Fleet Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Her visit revealed that workers were friendly, outgoing, and very accommodating as she sought out a particular herbal seasoning to use in a seafood casserole. Her curiosity and interest in their herbs and spices made G. Singh, an employee more relaxed as she divulged her interest in their company for a school project. Ms. Singh has been working for the company for a little over four years she revealed. When questioned about the mission of Whole Foods as it pertained to her store and she replied that they are very good to her and they act as family towards one another. The employee was asked one other question in regards to the company’s position on unionized labor and she replied no one that she knows in her store wants to be in a union and that they like things just fine. Wanda Moss said she felt a defensive spirit as “G” responded. Nonetheless Ms. Moss continued to check out with her items and thanked the young lady for her time. Whole Food Markets employees are very knowledgeable about the store and its practices almost as if one has to rehearse. We have surmised either these employees are well prepared for inquisitions or the vision or mission statement of Whole Foods is genuine being
Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage
Whole Foods has to pay close attention to its remote, industry, and operating environments to make sure that they choose the best directions and actions available for its organizational structure and internal processes.
Whole Foods is a great example of democratic approach to store operation. In this organizational environment all team members have the ability to insert their input in decision making that affects their product/service area in addition to having input in store matters as well. Whole Foods has a stringent screening process potential employees are put through to ensure that the applicant is a good fit for the organization. Once an applicant is hired, they are assigned to a team and team leader, who then train the new team member to be knowledgeable on the product/service they are assigned to. Additionally, they are also trained on providing friendly customer service. Due to Whole Foods approach to using workplace democracy, it has created a positive
Whole Foods consistently uses human capital as a competitive advantage in multiple aspects of the company business model. Whole Foods built the foundation of their business model around quality, empowered employees. These employees are the key to the unique experience which defines the company and the source of their primary competitive advantage in the marketplace. This competitive advantage is framed around the concepts of human capital value, human capital rareness, and human capital imitability (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015). Whole Foods human capital value is represented by knowledgeable, capable employees empowered to champion the overall strategy of the company and make decisions at the lowest level to ensure a great product and customer experience (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015). Human capital rareness is demonstrated by the emphasis placed on sourcing, interviewing, and hiring practices. This ensures Whole Foods hires the unique employee that will champion the quality of their product line as well as the front-line face of the company to customers. Regarding human capital imitability, Whole Foods overall human capital focus and packaging makes a formidable task for competitors to replicate. From the overall compensation package, degree of employee input and interaction, benefits structure, bonus program, and overall company environment, Whole Foods ensures that sourcing and retention of employees provides a definite advantage (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015).
Whole Foods Market has a reputable history as a desired place to work. It has been placed in prestigious lists such as Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”, Ethisphere “World’s Most Ethical Companies” and the “Top 150 National Workplaces” (Whole Food Market, 2015) Which web page?. Such accomplishments endorse Whole Foods as a key player in the supermarket industry and an excellent model for competitors.
1.2 Executive Summary Whole Foods Market, Inc. is been respected as a pioneering company for their quality values, a commitment to community and eco-friendly awareness, a healthy growing model and widely admired employment performs. Nevertheless, the business has confronted current problems as a consequence of the economic recession, growing competition, and difficulties from acquisitions. To renew the company from past lows in its hardest year in history, Whole Foods Market must reconsider its expenses, relocate its development strategies, and encourage its brand to participate for the falling customer spending dollar. Throughout the fluctuations in strategic initiatives it’s imperative for the business to preserve Whole Foods Market’s core values and its brand image integral.
For my individual assignment, I chose the company Whole Foods Market (WFM) which deals in selling products that are organic and fresh to its customers. WFM was founded by John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery in Austin, Texas where the original store opened in 1980 and consisted of a staff of only 19 people. WFM was founded because those four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format and at that time there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info/whole-foods-market-history). For the rest of this paper, I will be going more in depth about the company’s history and background, why I chose this company, the organization’s environment, mission, culture, and if the company will change or needs to change.
Whole Foods grocery retailer maintains over 175 stores in North America and Europe and has been consistently nominated as “100 Best Companies to Work For” (Hill, 2006). Furthermore, this type of quality should be considered when reviewing a company because this involves much teamwork and ethical responsibilities.
Whole Foods Market, incorporated on August 15, 1980, is the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods and America’s first national “Certified Organic” grocer. Since 2012, Whole Foods Market operated 335 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Depend on 2011 sales rankings from Progressive Grocer, Whole Foods Market became the largest retailer of natural and organic foods in the U.S. and the 11th largest food retailer overall. Today Whole Foods Market consists of 32000 employees and owns stores average 38,000 square feet in size and 10 years in age, and the scale of Whole Foods Market is continue growing through mergers, acquisitions and new store opening
Whole Foods is using a competitive and strategic approached to set themselves apart from their rival in the retail grocery industry. By using a broad differentiation strategy, they could break through the industry by providing both a unique product and service, simultaneously. Due to all the scientific studies of healthy living, consumers are more conscious about what they buy and how they eat. Therefore, one of the chief element that Whole Foods has taken advantage of is providing sustainable and natural food. Although they are selling the same type of food as other retail grocery stores, another element of this strategy is that they are providing an alternative in terms of life style.
Loyalty is a big word. I believe that Whole Foods initially recruits and hires happy, positive people. By doing this, Whole Foods creates a sense of loyalty among employees and customers. If one encounters positive behaviors, they
They are a great company because they care about the needs of their employees and believe achieving unity of vision about the future of the company by building trust and aim to cultivate a strong sense of community and dedication to the company. The Whole Foods Markets has many opportunities for growth, but they ask team members to take responsibility for their own
Whole Foods Market Inc. is a service provider in the grocery industry, which report in the US economy under the North American Industry Classification System NAICS 42441, General-line groceries merchants wholesalers, by the time the company started operations in 1980 supermarkets had a history of 51 years. Supermarkets unlike other type of retail is considered truly American in origin, self service grocery stores are traced back to 1912 in Memphis Tennessee, and it was in 1930 when Michael Cullen opened the first store of the King Kullen supermarket chain, it was around that time after the big depression that the independent stores which at that time only offered dry groceries started to transition to the supermarket
Whole Foods Market has expanded by a mixture of opening its own new stores and acquiring already existing stores. Today WFM does not follow this strategy, instead their motivation is to open its own large stores. This is due to noticeable sales differences in larger stores as opposed to smaller stores. WFM locates these newer stores in upscale areas of urban metropolitan centers and high-traffic shopping locations. Not all WFMs are isolated structures; some are located in strip malls. WFM offers a larger selection of natural and organic foods than any other grocery store. WFMs marketing expenditure is extremely small. They spend a measly 0.5% of their revenues on advertising. Their chief marketing strategy relies on word-of-mouth. WFM strives to meet or exceed customer expectations. This is so customers receive competent, knowledgeable, and friendly service and become advocates of WFM. The employees here have a decentralized team approach for store operations. This is so some personnel, merchandising, and operating
Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.