Tanglewood Case 1

In reference to Exhibit 1.7 in the textbook, we feel that of the staffing quantity and staffing quality strategies listed, developing talent, internal hiring, and exceptional workforce quality are the most important strategies to implement or to continue to implement at Tanglewood. These three strategies were chosen over the others because Tanglewood uses a differentiation strategy and the company believes it is important to maintain a strong culture. Tanglewood is concerned that companies like Target and Kohl’s are going to create more direct competition for the company. Therefore, Tanglewood must ensure they differentiate themselves by having the best possible staff that will deliver positive experiences to their customers and make their stores stand out among the competitors.

As stated on page six of the Tanglewood Casebook, “the organization feels there absolutely must be a workforce of committed, qualified individuals who will help carry the Tanglewood philosophy into the future.” We believe they can do this by continuing to use strategies of developing talent and internal hiring as well as employing exceptional workforce quality. We believe these strategies are the most important to use because they will allow Tanglewood to differentiate itself from the competition, build a strong culture, save money by hiring internally and developing their talent, hiring people who are new to retail and developing them as Tanglewood associates, and it will support Tanglewood’s team focus and maintain the family atmosphere in employees that the company was built on.

Developing talent is a better strategy for Tanglewood than acquiring talent because acquiring talent from other companies costs more money. Additionally, if Tanglewood starts employees off as associates who are new to working in retail, everyone will start fresh and learn everything the Tanglewood way. This may also result in there being less opposition among workers about how things should be done in...