Costco Collaboration Manager (CM) Interview Analysis - Essay Example

Costco Collaboration Manager (CM) Interview Report Story of the organization Costco Wholesale Corporation is ranked among the top 5 retailers in the United State in 2012 and seventh largest in the world. Costco’s main competitors operating membership warehouses are Sam’s club and BJ’s wholesale club. Although Sam’s club operates more warehouses than Costco, Costco has higher total sales volume. The company is the first of its kind to grow from zero to over $3 billion in sales in less than six years. Costco Wholesale Corporation operates an international chain of membership warehouses, under its name which carries the same quality. Costco world headquarters are located in Washington and Korea home-office is located in Costco Yangpyung location. Costco in Korea also targets lower end customers by selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. Costco is experiencing rapid growth in its Asian business. Ever since Costco entered into Asian market, international outlets has experienced a sales growth of 7% in 2011 and Costco’s best performing store is in Korea. Costco does not provide multiple brands varieties where the item is essentially the same except when it has a house brand to sell, often under the Kirkland trademark label. Their distribution system focuses on a high volume of sales from single vendors, allowing further reductions in price and lower marketing costs. Through the collaborative manager interview report, more research and investigation was held on how Costco Korea implemented its business strategy in Korean market and successfully created the collaborative work environment in their distribution channel. In addition, the report focused on their collaborative strategy of how the company communicated with Costco buyers in order to meet local customer demands and requirements. In order to gain visibility into performance at Costco Korea, it was necessary to interview Korean branch of collaborative manager, Sung-Gu Ryu to gain his personal experience and perspectives on overall category of growth trends. Role of the CM in Helping the Organization Achieve Its Strategic Objectives Collaborative manager entails the working together of managers in an organization to achieve the goals and the objectives of the organization. Sung-Gu Ryu outlined the strategic objectives of Costco Corporation which gave directions to his role as the CM. To begin with, Costco Corporation operates on a best value and best price principle. This means that Sung-Gu Ryu has a role of developing and implementing quality assessment tools that aim at investigating the satisfaction of the customers with the quality of products being produced by Costco Corporation. Moreover, Sung-Gu Ryu has the role of ensuring that customers are satisfied with the price of commodities being offered compared to its competitors, in bid to offer the best price for its commodities. Acting ethically, is another strategic objective of Costco Corporation and Sung-Gu Ryu as the CM has a great role in ensuring that this strategic objective is achieved. Firstly, he ensures that the managers working in collaboration with him are managers of integrity and have a high moral standard. This ensures that their operations are morally and ethically upright as pertains to how they treat their customers, employees, suppliers and competitors. Moreover, it is the strategic objective of Costco Corporation to never lose sight of the reason why they are in operation. Sung-Gu Ryu being the CM has the duty of en-culturing the staff to this organization culture and ensuring that every employee knows the vision and mission of Costco Corporation. So as never to lose sight of this vision, it is embedded on products developed by the Corporation and Sung-Gu Ryu also comes up with slogans aiding in achievement of Costco Corporation’s strategic objectives. CMs background, Obstacles Faced, Process Used to Develop External Relationships and Achieve Significant Milestones Sung-Gu Ryu, is the manager who is bestowed with the responsibility of ensuring that Costco Corporation networks with the right industries so as to increase its sales volume and market niche. This means that he has to have a great background on management principles, potential investors, competitors, and avenues of expansion. A lot of research is required to gain credible and factual information and thus Sung-Gu Ryu has background information on carrying out research and developing reports. Moreover, Sung-Gu Ryu has background in writing business plans, preparing financial statements and preparing financial forecasts for the corporation. To be effective and efficient in his work, Sung-Gu Ryu also needs to have strong interpersonal skills, communication skills, decision making skills and leadership skills. There are enormous obstacles that Sung-Gu Ryu faces as he carries his day to day activities aiding Costco Corporation achieve its goals and objectives. Being a collaborative endeavor, it limits Sung-Gu Ryu in decision making since he needs to rely on the opinion of other managers as pertains to various issues. This may take a long time to convene all the relevant stakeholders thus delaying the decision making process. Consequently, Sung-Gu Ryu faces a great obstacle in case of emergencies and catastrophes that need to be mitigated immediately. As the CM of Costco Corporation, he is not empowered to make on the spot decisions thus instead of being a proactive manager, he becomes a reactive manager making him less assertive. Process used to develop external relationships and achieve significant milestones. Word of mouth and no Public Relations department is the core marketing objective employed by Costco Corporation. Sung-Gu Ryu has thus established strong communication skills that he employs to garner external relationships with potential investors. Networking is another process that Sung-Gu Ryu uses to develop external relationships. Through networking, he is able know the current market trends, future forecasts, and potential market openings hence tailor the market plan of Costco corporation to these trends. Through networking, Sung-Gu Ryu is able to give Costco Corporation a strategic position and thus the ability to achieve significant milestones. Thus milestones include: being the first company to grow from zero to over $3 billion in sales in less than six years; and being rated 7th largest in the world and 2nd largest in the United States. Evaluation The CM Sung-Gu Ryu, is an endowed human resource that Costco Corporation enjoys. He acts as the liaison between Costco Corporation and the external market thus can either lead to the failure or prosperity of the Corporation. Based on the financial, volume and market growth of Costco Corporation, Sung-Gu Ryu has been an excellent CM to the Corporation. Since Costco employs a principle of promoting within the organization, he should thus be promoted to a position where his decision making is empowered like position of financial advisor to Costco Corporation. Strategies Employed and the Results Obtained Networking is one of the strategies Sung-Gu Ryu employed and has thus led to the rapid growth of Costco Corporation as the result. Creativity synthesis is another strategy that Sung-Gu Ryu has employed. He has been creative in developing marketing, growth and business objectives that give the Corporation a more competitive edge compared to its competitors. This has led to the application of best value and best price by the corporation leading to satisfaction of customers. Innovation is another strategy that Sung-Gu Ryu has employed thus leading to advanced technology not yet tapped by the competitors giving Costco greater benefits. What Made the Cm Successful and Criteria that Made Him Successful Good communication and interpersonal skills made Sung-Gu Ryu successful since they are two important traits for networking to be a success. In addition, using credible and factual financial information gathered from conducting research made Sung-Gu Ryu successful as he was able to develop logic and workable financial forecasts for the Corporation. Assessment of the growth trends in the recent years is the criterion that was used to assess his success. Also, engagement in high ethical standards when dealing with employees, consumers and suppliers is the other criteria that made him successful. Where the CM fell short Sung-Gu Ryu fell short in as far as the timeliness in decision making is concerned. As a result of high collaboration and working as a team, it took a long time to make prompt decisions hence giving leverage to competitor companies like Sam’s club and Bj’s wholesale club. This could have been improved by allowing Sung-Gu Ryu to make on the spot decisions mitigating this threat. What I Found Particularly Admirable or Insightful About the CMs Actions Sung-Gu Ryu is innovative and creative, an action I found admirable since this gave him leverage especially in the development of business ideas. His research competence is admirable and the preparation of financial forecasts insightful. The ability of Sung-Gu Ryu to offer good leadership and maintain communication among team members is also admirable. Reflection I have learnt that collaborative management is one of the management principle I can employ in my organization to give it a competitive edge. I have also acknowledged the power of networking in strategic planning and decision making. Innovation, creativity, strategic planning, and networking are the general principles I have garners about CM. However, I recommend that the CM should be giving the authority to make o the spot decisions and thus become an assertive manager and not a reactive manager. What I have learnt will influence my career since it has enlightened me on the strategies, approaches, motivations and challenges faced by a CM. having used a reputable organization like Costco Corporation, this assures me that as a CM, I can also employ principle used by Sung-Gu Ryu to make give my organization a competitive edge through strategic planning and decision making. Work Cited Costo Strategic Plan. Retrieved from < http://www.slideshare.net/guestce0202a/costco-strategic-plan> on October 23, 2012. Read More