External and internal factors come in many forms that can impact a business in different ways. Assessing external and internal factors that an organization may face can be vital to the planning function of management. As with any organization, there are always four functions of management. These functions are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 19). Within the organization, Best Buy, which is known to be an electronics store, has their own external and internal factors. Founded in 1966 as Sound of Music and incorporating in 1983 to become Best Buy, Inc. Ask. com, 2010, para. 1), accounting for 19% of the market (Metaweb, 2010, para. 1), has become one of the leading electronic stores in the nation.
It takes management and the view of internal and external factors like globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics. Of course there are many more factors to consider but in the interest of Best Buy, Inc. , these are some of the major factors. External and internal factors not only display how diversity or ethics are explained, they also affect the four functions of management. As companies are started such as Best Buy, Inc. with the view of success, external and internal factors are needed to achieve this success. Taking a look into the past, many organizations relied on people to work in sales.
The majority of these people were men. As times changed, so did the way that a diverse organization did. As Best Buy continued to succeed and sound changed as well, so did the way that people viewed diversity in the workplace. Today, sound is much softer and women are salespeople. Diversity is all over the world now with Best Buy. Diversity in planning has shown that women can become salespeople as well as customers are diverse in the selections of electronics.
In organizing, Best Buy must be diverse with customer service, accomplishments, and backgrounds. Leading, on the other hand, must show diversity to staff, customers, goals, and even personal standards. Finally with controlling, employees must be able to see their mistakes and correct them as they go. It takes these four functions of management to help an organization succeed. Instead of applying what Best Buy already knew when it came to globalizing, they knew they had to get involved in other markets and absorb what exactly was going on around the world.
The plan was to buy into existing retailers and learn not only the latest innovative technologies but also operations, sourcing, and distribution. They decided to start with Canada, extending to China, Europe, and Mexico. They began in Canada knowing it was probably the simplest to conquer and most familiar in relation to technique. From there, the expansion and absorption of the much more ingenious technologies of china seemed almost inevitable. Best Buy learned quite a bit from the first initial expansion into Canada when they bought into Future Shop, Canada’s technology leader.
Here they came up with the dual brand concept that involved both Best Buy and Future Shop working side-by-side instead of completely merging. They did this to satisfy two separate audiences with two different brands, each uniquely different to the customer. From there, Best Buy went to China knowing they had to learn what the world’s leading technology manufacturer was producing and distributing. The next step was to then go into cell-phones by entering the European market in acquisition of The Car Phone Warehouse, Europe’s leading cell-phone retailer.
Best Buy believes that to grow they had to create an environment in which everyone contributes; they did this by enabling employees with innovative, global assets that gave them the advantage when it came to customer relations. Best Buy mainly focuses on a customer centric business model. By paying attention to productivity, Best Buy can determine if a strategy is working in the right direction. But that isn’t the only factor best Buy relies on. Second, management focuses on employee’s relationship with its stakeholders. The stakeholders include other employees, end customers, vendors, investors, and the community.
Relationships built upon these individuals feed the understanding of the company’s changing needs. Best Buy promotes and open source technique that allows the employees to determine what works best based from first-hand experience. Like any successful business, Best Buy has to be on the cutting edge to succeed in today’s market. They do this by exploring what technologies and services other companies display all around the world. Best Buy also pays attention to the changing of times, realizing what’s dated and what is on the cutting edge.
In 2006, Congress passed a law that required television signal providers to abandon analog broadcasting ultimately switching to digital. Best Buy was the first store completely to rid the option of buying television analog equipment. Best Buy also understood the growing global market for the gaming media. By partnering themselves with manufacturers and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), they were able to involve themselves with rating systems assigned to games. Taking a step further, Best Buy took the initiative to control the selling of m-rated games and banning adult-only games, promoting a family atmosphere.
Best Buy also considers themselves the leader in establishing policies and standards concerning protecting customer and employee privacy. This is done by eliminating third party accessibility to personal information. They provide a choice over what information customer choose to share with the company. They also protect all information pertaining to customer’s cell-phones, digital cameras, and computers with a security team that monitors all such involved. The education of technology and standards doesn’t end or begin with employees; it also extends to the customer. Employees are trained to dispense all sorts of information.
One in particular is the switch from television analog to digital. Material is available both in stores by word of mouth, online, and even on customer receipts. The Geek Squad (an in home tech-support agency) also distributes information and know-how about DTV transitions, basic computer miss-haps and all around technology problems. In support of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), education is also available pertaining to game ratings in the form of guides explaining the rating system. Best Buy also works closely with congress, state legislature, governors, and state attorney general’s with a board of government relations.
With public policy at the disposal, Best Buy can stay abreast with federal standards and research. When monitoring innovation is concerned, Best Buy relies mainly on their employees. Special attention is paid to them in the form of internal news sites and online forums in which they can rate and discuss products and services. Best Buy can track retention and turn over resulting in improvement under both measures. At Best Buy’s corporate headquarters, employees participate in a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE), which involves setting goals and expectations to which employees strive to meet.
This allows employees more freedom without “the man” looking over their shoulder, which statistically has improved productivity. Best Buy, with its vast technology and entertainment products, has operations around the world. Best Buy is leading the market with office products and electronics for the home and office. The organization has also changed the way that their human resources department and administration functions to achieve its customer focus with technology so that consumers can work together within their communities.
Best Buy information technology is constantly changing how business operates and as a result, how technology affects the work environment. Best Buy, using its critical thinking skills within the employees of the organization use their decision making skills to create the foundations for producing the best products and providing the best services for their customers. In 1994, Best Buy geared up with the Geek Squad for their customer support offering technological services to the public. Technology today, is a changing environment on a day-to-day basis.
With the way that electronics have changed, so has the way of the customer allowing for technology to continue in this vast world helping the consumer and businesses around the world to achieve their goals. Best Buy is influenced like many companies by internal and external factors that can affect ethical issues. Ethics refers to standards of right and wrong that describes what humans should do, usually in terms of right, obligations, benefits, society, fairness, or specific virtues. The process of assessing the external and internal factors that an organization will face can be vital to the planning function of management.
An example of Best Buy’s planning and its ethics process is seen through its M-Rated entertainment policy. Best Buy recognizes the concerns regarding the content of certain video and PC games. The company currently has a “mature” product sales policy in place that prohibits the sale of video and computer games rated M (as defined by the Entertainment Software Rating Board) to customer under the age of 17 years old. All store employees must read the policy and sign an acknowledgement of the policy on their first day of employment. Failure to comply will result in discipline, which may include termination.
Organization and ethics within Best Buy focuses on coordination, and control of task and the flow of information. Recently within Best Buy, two members of the team inadvertently accessed actual data from two competitors. As soon as the members realized that they inadvertently accessed real date, they closed out immediately. They told their supervisor of the incident. The supervisor then called the vendor so that the software flaw could be fixed; the vendor could let their customers whose sites were accidentally accessed; or Best Buy could make certain that no one was able to access heir confidential information.
Leading is influencing people’s behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. Within Best Buy, leading combined with ethics can be shown in a recent article, “Tis the Season! Where are the gifts from Vendors? ” (Edmond, 2010, para. 26). This article pointed out that Best Buy would not accept gifts from vendors. At the same time, Best Buy sent out letters to its vendors asking that they do not send their employees any gifts. The simple and complex truth is that Best Buy chooses vendors based on quality and value of the product.
Best buy never wants their decisions to be influenced by personal gain. Additionally, it has been reported that fraud and corruption begins small and at the edges of a business relationship. Controlling is the process of measuring and reporting performances, comparing the two, and taking corrective or preventive action as necessary. This process provides plans that are being implemented properly. Best Buy demonstrates its ethics by living their values every day in their interaction with one another, customers, vendors, business partners, competitors, and in communities in which they work, live, and play.
By globalizing, Best Buy knew that they could have been involved in other markets around the world. The expansion of efficient global financial markets is largely beneficial though, it presents new risks. The impact of globalization had the best results on the Information and Communication System which successfully has transformed the world into a global village. Best Buy Standards of Education Technology begins with their customers. They tried to look at what worked for their customers by switching from analog television to digital and succeeded.
Best Buy looks for ways to help their customers with the use of the Geek Squad support. They also look to improve their on-line forum where they can discuss new products and services. Best Buy looks for changes in technology on a regular basis and compare it with their business works. Customers come first when technology changes within the market. Although Best Buy is known as a major electronic store chain and has succeeded in business for many years, the organization has allowed for its customer base to have a major say in how successful they are.
Best Buy has also changed their standards to affect internal and external factors. Their foundations in which people build their lives are their personal management ethics. Ethics represent the core value that many people use in day to day problem solving. Intuition plays a large role in what one finds ethical. As Best Buy continues to be successful in what they do, so will the product that they supply to the consumer.
