Introduction:
I had my interview with a manager of a local Mediterranean grocery store and a restaurant combined. The interview was in person and it lasted for about 20 minutes. This small business has about 10 employees, the grocery store offers the basic grocery needs for families from Mediterranean origins and who live in the U.S. also it has a poultry section. At the same time, there is a middle door that connects between the grocery store and the restaurant. There are about 8 employees working in this place, however, the restaurant and the grocery store are running separately. Meanwhile, the interviewee mentioned that he manages this store besides other nine grocery stores, and sometimes it is hard to keep up with the demands for all the nine stores. Also, he mentioned that the biggest concerns he faces are competition with other local Mediterranean grocery stores, make the customer from different origins satisfied with the quality of the products and the prices. As a matter of fact, he stated that honesty and trust is more valuable for us than having a quick income.
Area of Need:
During this short interview, the interviewee mentioned several issues and he presented a few examples about the current status of this business. Mainly, he said that the goal is to win customers’ satisfaction through honesty and trustworthiness with their products and keep prices reasonable. Also, they want to beat the other local Mediterranean grocery stores by promoting their products with reasonable prices. At the meantime, the grocery store needs an additional employee whose job is to clean the shelfs, arrange and reorganize the shelfs, put products on the right shelfs. This has to be done because there are different products stacked on the floor and there is not enough employee to put all these products at the right place on the shelfs. The decoder seems to be old and the floor has to be shined or replaced. Also, the dairy products freezer need to be cleaned, rearranged and have a clear price label on the products. Nevertheless, some of the products may be expired because no one checks the expiration dates. Also, the outside displays need some attention.
Proposed Assessment:
Based on my observation for this small business and the testimonies from the grocery store manager, I believe that SWOT analysis assessment, by Robert Stewart, Albert Humphrey and coworkers, is beneficial for this business. The reason because the manager needs to know strength and weaknesses for the himself and his employees, opportunities that they may have in their area, and threats they might face when no improvements are made (“SWOT Analysis Resource Page,” 2006). So, the issues with this business is the manager needs to focus more on what he can improve on his managerial skills, since he manages nine stores. Similarly, when he knows his weakness he would have a better idea on what not to do, and this applies to all the employees. Moreover, he can explore what other options he has to develop this business and expand it, potentially. Also, find out what other threats might harm his business in any way, and he can avoid some future problems when he realizes the threats for this business. For instance, the manager can have promotional products that attract the customers, and he also can reduce the prices and sell larger quantities than the less quantity he uses to sell. By this way he sells the products fast and avoid keeping them until they expired.
Recommendations and Conclusions:
When the grocery store manager takes the SWOT assessment he might improve his business and enhance his managerial skills. Also, when the employees take this test they may not be benefited as their manager because their job is limited, unlike their manager where he has to manage this store besides another eight store. In the GROW model, the W in who would do it? Is the manager himself. Finally, based on what I was able to observe in this store, I came up with a few recommendations that the manager could consider; there should be at least one additional employee whose job is to make sure that the grocery store and the restaurant are clean every day, organize the products on the shelves. Also, have a clear price labels on the products inside the freezer. In addition, clean all the refrigerators near the poultry section and keep the products organized. In fact, change the displays advertisements outside, so this attracts the customers when they drive by. Also, remodel the place by changing the celling decors and the floor. I believe that this business is going to improve when the manager takes some of these suggestions seriously.
References:
Academic Affairs - SWOT Analysis Resource Page | Idaho State University. (2006). Retrieved from http://www2.isu.edu/acadaff/swot/
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