Question

Please respond to the discussion post 1 and 2 in your own words: (Must respond to both)

Discussion post 1

Organize and review all your work-to-date. What stands out to you that is potentially of strategic relevance? Think in particular about how your organization is, or can be, or should be different!How will being (more) different in this way potentially create competitive advantages for the organization? Is this a matter of completely reinventing the organization or of enabling it to morph from what it is to something better in a manner that is realistic and doable?

Discussion Suggestion

In your interactions with your group members this session, you will want to compare and contrast the responses of your group members to this question to your own. Why may their perspectives be different from your own? Argue for or against the various positions taken by the group members here.

The one thing that stands out the most after doing research for the past six weeks on The Vitamin Shoppe is their reputation of their Health Enthusiasts. They already stand out from their competitors like GNC and BodyBuilding.com because these employees offer a more personal touch with each customer as opposed to someone just standing at a cash register to take your money. By implementing and promoting their health enthusiasts through their marketing and social media, I think they will have a definite competitive advantage over their competitors. People want to see that there are individuals out there who actually care about your goals and want to help you along the way. Building those relationships between the health enthusiasts and customers will ensure long-time loyalty to the brand and products.

A lot of the members in our group have all mentioned that the goal of The Vitamin Shoppe is to give every individual a unique experience when using their products. This is something we can all agree on is the most important as far as giving customers what they want. I think getting feedback and going through every individual’s journey and helping them along the way is what gives them this advantage over their competitors. As I scrolled through reviews on Indeed about working as a Health Enthusiast, I saw mostly great things and how rewarding of a job it was. When an employee feels confident and loves their job, it will show in how they give customer service. A lot of people also mentioned that they learned a lot of about nutrition, health, and everything in between which makes them a trusted person when it comes to selling these products. As stated by a current employee “The company requires taking short classes online on products and supplements throughout employment” (Indeed). This stands out from competitors as I have not found research stating other companies employees are to do these training classes.

Another thing that this company does that stands out from others is by holding “Share the Health” expos across the country every year. They offer free samples and have health enthusiasts there as well. As stated in the new releases, “Health Enthusiasts, who strive to be the most knowledgeable associates in the industry, will also be on-hand to help answer any product-related questions” (para. 1). This is a great promotion that will show off their reputation of their health enthusiast as well as bring attention to the company and their products. Events like this is what draws people into the company and allows the health enthusiasts to really work and help individuals who don’t know where to start.

I have also noticed a few members of the group have brought forward strong points about the company standing out because of their pricing on the products. This is definitely something that The Vitamin Shoppe has been known for but I have to personally argue that price doesn’t always bring in the customers. I would rather pay a little more for a product if I knew everything I had to know about it. I would choose to go to The Vitamin Shoppe because of their health enthusiasts and the trust I would have in them and getting the products at a lower cost is just an added bonus.

Discussion post 2

Choose the strategy or strategies that the organization should seek to implement going forward. Give a strong rationale for your choice

The strategies that the Vitamin Shoppe should seek to implement going forward are price, and promotion.

Price: The Vitamin Shoppe has great selection of quality products at a certain diverse price point. The company carries over 400 nationally branded kinds of products. A strategy that the company has is being able to sell lower cost alternatives to consumers who need a product but don’t want to purchase one at a certain price range. The company is able to retail other alternatives for consumers who want a specific type of product.

Promotion: Currently, the Vitamin Shoppe is able to advertise through different type of health magazines and through its own website, www.vitaminshoppe.com. Additionally, the company connects with a third-party banner advertisement that shows on other websites. It ends up showing up on the right side of the website that consumers are viewing. This third-party banner helps the company grow by being able to click on the ad that is being displayed on a different website to go directly to the Vitamin Shoppes website. Vitamin Shoppe is able to hand out coupons and rewards to all new and existing customers. It helps bring more traffic into the stores and also have a stronger relationship with customers. Rewards make consumers always want to come back.

Be very clear by both stating the strategies the company should go forward with (new and current strategies) and the current strategies they company should discontinue.

The strategies that the Vitamin Shoppe should go forward with are having a wide range of products with different alternatives so consumers are able to purchase what they need at a lower cost. Any product that is not being sold in a great amount should be discontinued and off the shelves so other great products are able to come in and be tried out. However, advertisement is being more viewed on other websites and social media. Vitamin Shoppe should consider being sponsored on the most used social media applications that way it can help draw more customers attention. Rewards and coupons are a great to grab customers into their doors. When customers see a great coupon, they have a better chance of wanting to walk into that store to spend their money. Magazines and newspaper are rarely being used as often as they were before. The Vitamin Shoppe should consider discontinuing the ads that are being placed on paper and focus more on digital advertisement.

Answer 1

General Electric. DuPont. Procter & Gamble. Visa. Linux. What makes them stand out? Great products? Yes. Great people? Sure. Great leaders? Usually. But if you dig deeper, you will find another, more fundamental reason for their success: management innovation.

In the early 1900s, General Electric perfected Thomas Edison’s most notable invention, the industrial research laboratory. GE brought management discipline to the chaotic process of scientific discovery and, over the next 50 years, won more patents than any other company in America. Much of GE’s current competitive prowess can be traced to that extraordinary accomplishment.

DuPont played a pioneering role in the development of capital-budgeting techniques when it initiated the use of return on investment calculations in 1903. A few years later, the company also developed a standardized way of comparing the performance of its numerous product departments. These innovations, among others, helped DuPont become one of America’s industrial giants.

Procter & Gamble’s preeminence in the packaged goods industry has its roots in the early 1930s, when the company began to formalize its approach to brand management. In the decades since, P&G has steadily built upon its early success in creating value out of intangible assets. P&G’s product portfolio includes 16 brands that have produced $1 billion-plus in sales every year.

Visa, the world’s first near-virtual company, owes its success to organizational innovation. When Visa’s founder banks formed a consortium in the United States in the early 1970s, they laid the groundwork for one of the world’s most ubiquitous brands. Today, Visa is a global financial web that links more than 21,000 financial institutions and more than 1.3 billion cardholders.

Linux, the computer operating system, is the best-known example of a recent management innovation: open source development. Based on other innovations like the general public license and online collaboration tools, open source development has proved to be a highly effective mechanism for eliciting and coordinating the efforts of geographically dispersed individuals.

As these examples show, a management breakthrough can deliver a potent advantage to the innovating company and produce a seismic shift in industry leadership. Technology and product innovation, by comparison, tend to deliver small-caliber advantages.

A management innovation creates long-lasting advantage when it meets one or more of three conditions: The innovation is based on a novel principle that challenges management orthodoxy; it is systemic, encompassing a range of processes and methods; and it is part of an ongoing program of invention, where progress compounds over time. Three brief cases illustrate the ways in which management innovation can create enduring success.