Mrs Fields CookiesEssay Preview: Mrs Fields CookiesReport this essaySituation:In 1977, Debbi Fields opened her first Mrs. Fields store in Palto Alto, California. The Mrs. Fields store concept quickly expanded to a national and international level. With more than 500 Mrs. Fields cookie stores in 25 states and five countries on four continents, Mrs. Fields Cookies was dependent on a corporate structure that was technologically advanced. The companys organizational strategy included a flat organizational structure feel and a management control system that “put as much decision making and intelligence into the store level PC as is necessary to free the manager to do those things that uniquely people do” (HBS, p.6).
A year later Mrs. Fields cookies started adding their own features, and the product was ready. However, in 1978, when there was uncertainty about the quality of the cookies, Mrs. Field received a letter from Mrs. Field CEO David Hainee that stated that with so many of our members „”Mrs. Fields Cookies is now the number one seller in the field after 534,000 Cookies, giving Mrs. Field an advantage over every other store in the country. It is in fact due to a number of factors: Mrs. Fields is one of the top sellers in the world, but Mrs. Field’s sales to our members and users are not as good as those of other stores. (HBS,p.6).
Another factor that Mrs. Field was able to address in 1978 was a change in our policy regarding cookies. First and foremost, we didn’t like the design and look of the cookie, so we turned the business off and started back on a more pragmatic approach. But, next to that, the customers were not happy and when they had complaints about a store, our internal control system wasn’t quite right. The store had to stay on as an independent, but there was very little sense of responsibility to our customers whatsoever, and the sales manager knew exactly what he could do to help them out. After the owners were relieved of the duties, Mrs. Fields and her employees changed the business location „to Palto Alto. A simple and happy Mrs. Fields cookie was able to satisfy all our sales needs with just one location ͗Palto Alto. Mrs. Field worked really hard & paid our staff time to make the change to Palto Alto, and we’re proud of it. But there’s another part of the business that could have benefited from better management. For example, the store is now able to offer unlimited items (3,000), unlimited gift vouchers, &$3,000 in gift cards to anyone. Our customers are still able to purchase $2,000 gift cards every 30 days, but we expect to start selling $2,000 gift cards with a limited number of new products over the next three years. With the help of the new owners ‟Palto Alto, I hope that our customers will join us in our growing bakery business that is already making a name for themselves and for the rest of our families in our area.
In the next couple of weeks, we hope to add other businesses to our repertoire to continue to expand our bakery business.
After the change to Palto Alto, I think that the business will evolve as well, but the first step is to try the other changes.