Examine an organization in the field or industry in which you work, or are plann

Question

Examine an organization in the field or industry in which you work, or are planning to work. (Banking industry)

In 1,000-1,250 words, evaluate the pressures the organization currently faces and discuss the potential effects these pressures could have on the organization. You will use your evaluation of this organization for your Implementing Change assignment.

Include the following:

Identify and describe the organization you are evaluating.

Provide an overview of the industry within which the organization operates.

Identify the environmental and organizational pressures currently driving organizational change in your field or industry.

Explain the origin or reason for these pressures, and explain how they directly affect the viability of your organization.

Predict what type of organizational changes (first-order/second-order) these pressures may cause within the organization. Provide support for your analysis and prediction.

Explanation / Answer

Organization taken: Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble is a digital media and educational products company in the United States. It has been the most famous book store for almost everyone for decades. It is the largest bookstore in United States with 778 retail stores across the country. The company has done very well since its inception in 1886. It has many food outlets like Starbucks and other consumable brands in many of their stores.

Book store industry: Book store industry in United States is performing very badly with annual growth rate about -3.7%. The demand for the bookstore merchandise is falling rapidly in the country. This does not mean people have stopped purchasing books. The demands for less expensive e-books have risen rapidly hitting the bookstore industry very hard. This is a difficult situation to be in. The technology in the industry is changing rapidly and it is becoming imperative for organizations to keep up with the changes. Even though the economy will strengthen it is unlikely for bookstore industry to follow the suit.

Environmental & organizational Pressure: The environment in the industry I changing fast due to 1) Innovative technology 2) Shift in the demand

The industry is feeling the heat because of these two fundamental changes happening. Dominating players like Amazon is eating away the lunch of Branes and Noble

Barnes and Noble reported a loss of around 14 million dollar the last quarter blaming the challenging retail environment. The other pressure has come from Amazon’s Kindle which is changing the consumer behaviour of reading a book. Amazon has been very successful with Kindle in the market.

Second-Order Change: These pressures in the organization and environment are bound to bring second-order change in the organization.

Barnes & Noble will be closing 8 stores by the end of this year as Amazon is plans to open stores in the same location. Now, the changes in Barnes and Noble will be multidimensional if it has to stay relevant in the market. They have already started an online book order platform but the revenues from that is yet to pick up. Since the habit of consumer is changing the company has to adapt to it by bringing innovation in e-books and audio-books. NOOK by Barnes & Noble has been a huge flop. The company has announced that it will be serving beer and wine in some of the book stores to address the needs of customers.

Analysis: Given all the numbers above it is certain that that Barnes and noble is facing problems. There is still less chance that it will meet the same fate as Borders because it has very less debt and good amount of cash in hand. This does not undermine the threat it is facing from competitors and industry as well. Some changes has to be made in terms of technology, structure to be relevant in the industry.

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