Nordstrom's department store is a nationwide company started in 1891 by John W. From the very beginning the company promoted to their employees a philosophy of being part of the Nordstrom family sharing in the 'Nordstrom Way'. They have engendered a culture within their organization among their employees of achievement and entrepreneurship. They have few rules and give their managers almost complete freedom to manager their departments as they see fit. Rather than thick rulebooks, the company uses a one-page sheet of paper to convey their ideas. This sheet tells the employees that they are to "Use [their] best judgement in all situations" and to "Do whatever it takes to make the customer happy". They are reported to pay among the highest salaries in the retail business and provide substantial sales commissions. In fact they formulate an employee's weekly salary based either on the base salary or their commissions, whichever is higher. .
The company also wishes to create a sense of customer appreciation and goes to great lengths to do so. In many of their stores customers are greeted by the sounds of a live piano performance, wine and cheese and employees with great big smiles. The company goes to great lengths to create this atmosphere and requests their employees do the same. Many a story has surfaced of a Nordstrom employee taking off-work time to fill out and send personalized thank you notes, a chore Nordstrom expects of their employees but not done on company time. Additionally, there is mention of a 'Nordie' taking several hours out of their Easter Sunday to deliver chocolate to a customer. The pressure to perform can be intense with many sleepless nights and stomach ulcers as a result of working at Nordstrom's. At one point in time, with Union involvement, an 800 hotline was set up to handle the numerous complaints that had been lodged against the company. .
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Issue:.
Given all of the factors cited in this case, the issue is: the extent to which Nordstrom's goes to motivate their employees, is it appropriate given the many references to unfair working conditions.
In this area there were businesses such as, Nordstrom, Old Navy, Barns and Noble, Tiffany, Nike Town, Gameworks, Pacific Place, J. ... I discovered that a trashcan was placed inside every eating and coffee establishment, at each side of the crosswalk, and outside all the other main attractions (e.g. movie theatre, mall, Nordstrom). ...
Nordstrom is a good example of using customer service as a competitive advantage. ... As Gregory Ciotti mentions in his article, a former Nordstrom employee named Ambra Benjamin highlighted a couple procedures in their employee's handbook in place to create an exclusive shopping experience for their customers. "A Nordstrom salesperson rarely points. If you have a question about where something is located, they walk you there," Benjamin notes that, "[Nordstrom intends to have] One-to-one service. ... As customers of Nordstrom, the salespersons help them get as much happy as ...
The Mall of America is a huge shopping and entertainment center, where the big family (even with many kids )could spend a whole weekend, get a lot of fun and pleasure, because this place has something special and interesting for everyone. Actually, the Mall of Americais much more than just ordinary ...
.: new channels of distribution) o 1990 - Horizon Air Account o 1991 - First licensed airport location o 1992 - Nordstrom Account o 1993 - Barnes & Noble relationship o 1994 - Starwood Hotel Account o 1995 - United Airlines Account o 1997 - Canadian Airlines Account o 1998 - Grocery store coffee bars due to agreement with Kraft Foods. ...
WEAKNESSES: OPPORTUNITIES: Schultz sees opportunity to make coffee/espresso bar available to everyone: o 1990 - Horizon Air Account o 1991 - First licensed airport location o 1992 - Nordstrom Account o 1993 - Barnes & Noble relationship o 1994 - Starwood Hotel Account o 1995 - United Airlines Account o 1997 - Canadian Airlines Account o 1998 - Grocery store coffee bars due to agreement with Kraft Foods. ...
• United Airlines • PriceCosto • Nordstrom • Wells Fargo Bank • Red Hook Breweries • Dryers' Ice Cream • PepsiCo • Aramark • Horizon Airlines Employment: • Starbucks ability to accomplish what they set to do is based primarily on the people they hire. ... Also, Starbucks made arrangements to supply an exclusive coffee blend to Nordstrom's for sale only in Nordstrom stores, to operate coffee bars in Barnes & Noble bookstores, and to offer coffee service at some Wells Fargo Bank locations in California. ...
