Mrs. Fields Cookies Case Study

From 1977 to 1988, Debbi and Randy Fields successfully built their business from a single cookie shop to over 400 individual store locations by combining their individual strengths. From the very beginning, Debbi’s focus has been to provide a “feel good product” and sell it “in a feel good way”. Randy clearly understood the value of Debbi’s commitment to quality products and the customer experience. He turned his vision of an MIS that “put as much decision making and intelligence into the store level PC as necessary to free the manager to do those things that uniquely people do” into a powerful strategic advantage for Mrs. Fields Cookies.

The successful alignment of Mrs. Fields’ Cookies business and information systems strategies resulted in strong revenue growth and bottom line profits. The company developed an information technology platform that was more than just a business support tool. By collecting data, performing analysis and tracking results, Randy and the MIS Department created an expert system that routinely made day to day decisions for store managers. Suggestions related to daily production scheduling, sales strategies, labor demand and even hiring decisions were routinely generated by the company’s management information system. The sophistication of this tool allowed Debbi to maintain a strong influence on day to day store operations even as the number of locations exploded.

From the beginning, Debbi committed herself to a strategy that would ensure each Mrs. Fields’ Cookies location would mimic the feel, operating strategy and customer experience of her original Palo Alto location. The Fields’ unwillingness to consider franchise opportunities is an example of their commitment to maintaining control. The company was dedicated to a focus on the quality of the product and maintaining a personal connection with the customer, the Fields’ were strongly opposed to creating a hierarchy organization structure. The lack of an official...