Diy Stories

Case Study #2

According to the text, the DIY Store is a nationwide chain that offers everything from home repair to general maintenance equipment for do-it-yourself projects. In addition to the wide variety of goods they sell, the DIY Company has been very successful due to the customer service they provide by hiring experienced employers and strategically placing them into departments that complement their knowledge and skills.

Despite the success that DIY has seen since they entered the market, DIY noticed that they were losing competitive advantage to more convenient online resources. Rather than trying to come up with marketing and sales schemes to bring consumers back to the stores, DIY brought its services to the consumers via the Internet. DIY Stores utilized its existing core capabilities to build an online presence and improve its overall agility by training their pre-existing subject matter experts into online subject matter experts.

1.)

According to the book, core capabilities are the knowledge, expertise, and skills that underlie a company’s ability to be a leader in providing a range of specific goods or services. DIY Stores Vice President said, “The Company’s salespeople were its base of knowledge.” That is because DIY Stores hired retired trade workers and do-it-yourselfers and then assigned them to work in departments relative to their experience.

Regional managers then chose current employees with at least eight years of experience and sound writing samples to provide an online presence for the company. Then DIY Stores provided a three-day training program to two-dozen selected employees before they began their conversations as online sales associates. Finally, in order to prevent losing competitive advantage, and the hands-on and face-to face experience that kept DIY Stores in touch and up-to-date with consumers, they chose to stagger work schedules among the selected employees so they could work part time in the store and part time...