Case Study Description of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling
With 24,000 staff and over 300 stores, Belk Inc. sought to replace its entirely manual labor scheduling system with an automated software solution from Reflexis. Belk hoped the upgrade would simplify scheduling, reduce time employees spent in non-customer-facing roles, and result in improved allocation of resources through the use of big data, thereby increasing sales productivity. Like many other retailers, Belk expected the benefits from automated scheduling software to be significant. But unlike other retailers who took an iron hand approach to push compliance, Belk's implementation permitted store managers "edit" the system to "fix" the "bugs" in the automated schedules-seeking not to replace labor but rather inform it. Belk commenced piloting the solution in May of 2013 and subsequently expanded the number of stores running the software to 50 over the course of 2013. Despite signs of initial success with the stores running the scheduling solution, Bass quickly began to notice a significant issue with the implementation: over 70% of shifts generated by the system were receiving manual overrides ("edits") by the store managers. Store managers believed the edits were necessary to remain responsive to local needs-and were, indeed, productive. Senior executives were skeptical, concerned that edits indicated resistance to productive change, and unsure of why Belk had spent so much time and money on an automated system only to have the stores override it. Having deliberately allowed store managers and lead schedulers to override the system, SVP Eric Bass (a retail store veteran who worked his way up to corporate) now needed to understand how and why they were doing so, and make sure that those edits were being made in a constructive manner. In a disagreement between human and machine, Belk allowed humans to win by design by giving them the right to edit the 'optimized' schedules. The case allows students to go deep into the question (qualitatively and quantitatively) and drive a detailed conversation about whether the result of Belk's flexible "edit" policy was a more or less effective implementation.
Authors :: Ethan S. Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley R. Staats, Luke Hassall
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Business processes, Change management, Corporate governance, Developing employees, Human resource management, Labor, Organizational culture, Performance measurement, Technology, Time management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling" written by Ethan S. Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley R. Staats, Luke Hassall includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Belk Edits facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Business processes, Change management, Corporate governance, Developing employees, Human resource management, Labor, Organizational culture, Performance measurement, Technology, Time management and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Belk Edits, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Belk Edits operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Belk Edits
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Belk Edits
Strengths Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Belk Edits in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Belk Edits is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Belk Edits has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Belk Edits has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Belk Edits to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Belk Edits has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Belk Edits are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Belk Edits is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Belk Edits in the sector have low bargaining power. Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Belk Edits to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Belk Edits is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Ethan S. Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley R. Staats, Luke Hassall can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Belk Edits in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Belk Edits has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Belk Edits has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Belk Edits digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Belk Edits has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling are -
Need for greater diversity
– Belk Edits has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Belk Edits is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Belk Edits needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Belk Edits to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Belk Edits, firm in the HBR case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Belk Edits has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Belk Edits has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ethan S. Bernstein, Saravanan Kesavan, Bradley R. Staats, Luke Hassall suggests that, Belk Edits is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling, in the dynamic environment Belk Edits has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Belk Edits has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Belk Edits products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Belk Edits needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling HBR case study mentions - Belk Edits takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Belk Edits has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Belk Edits has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling are -
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Belk Edits to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Loyalty marketing
– Belk Edits has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Belk Edits can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Belk Edits can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Belk Edits operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Belk Edits to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Belk Edits to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Belk Edits in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Belk Edits can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Belk Edits can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Belk Edits can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Belk Edits can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Belk Edits can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Belk Edits can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Belk Edits is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Belk Edits to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Threats Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling are -
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Belk Edits in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Belk Edits needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Belk Edits can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Belk Edits will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling, Belk Edits may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Belk Edits can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Belk Edits is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Belk Edits has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Belk Edits needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Regulatory challenges
– Belk Edits needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Belk Edits can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Belk Edits business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Belk Edits in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Belk: Towards Exceptional Scheduling is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Belk Edits needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
