Business

Best Buy…Best Job
Customer - centricity. That’s the new strategic focus that Brad
Anderson, CEO of Best Buy, is betting on to keep the company from
becoming a retailing casualty like Woolworth orKmart. What is customer
– centricity?
Simply, it’s figuring out which customers are the most profitable
and doing whatever it take to please them so they want to come back
often and spend money.As the biggest consumer electronics retailer in
the United States, Best Buy has a lot at stake. And its 100, 000-plus
employees will pay a crucial role in this new approach, which shifts the
focusfrom “pushing gadgets to catering to customers.” What’s the best
way for the company to get those employees on board? Well, the way
it’s always treated its employees undoubtedly is a good start!
“AtBest Buy, people Are the Engines That Drive Our Success.”
That’s the up-front and central phrase on the company’s Web-based
career center. And to Best Buy, it’s not just an empty slogan. Thecompany has tried to create an environment in which employees,
wherever they are, have numerous opportunities to learn, work, play,
and achieve. One way they do that is by providing facts and figures toemployees on everything from new technology to industry changes to
company actions. At store meetings or on the intranet, employees can
get the information they need to do their jobs and do themwell. But
that’s not all the company does for its employees.
Like many other companies, Best Buy “struggled to meet the
demands of its business – how to do things better, faster. And cheaper
thanits competitors – with an increasingly stressed-out workforce. “ Its
culture had always rewarded long hours and sacrifice. For instance, one
manager used a plaque to recognize the employee “who turnson the
lights in the morning and turns them off at night.” However, that
approach was taking its toll on employees. Instead of trying another
work-life balance program, Best Buy decided to...