Table of ContentsO'ReillyAutoZoneComparisonO'ReillyO'Reilly started as an auto parts store in Missouri in 1957. Their first year sales were $700,000. The first branch opened in 1964 in Missouri. The first distribution center opened in 1975. In 1978, O'Reilly became a dual market strategy. They started selling in the professional sector and in the retail market. In 1993, O'Reilly became a publicly traded company. They held 2,333,332 shares at $17.50 per share. They are now in 47 states and have a total of 5,021 stores. I chose to interview the manager of the O'Reilly in Magnolia, AR, which opened in 2001 (The O'Reilly Story). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayRachel is a store manager at O'Reilly in Magnolia, AR. Her duties at O'Reilly include sourcing parts for customers, providing customer service, dissipating hostile situations, handling cash, controlling inventory, planning and stocking shelves. The training she received to become a manager included some in-house training sessions but was mainly done on the computer in the form of training and skills tests. She oversees the local plant in Magnolia, AR. She must also communicate with other stores in her neighborhood (R. Jones, personal communication, March 26, 2018). Some changes Rachel would like to see happen at O'Reilly are managers' expectations. Some managers have become friends with the managers above them and are not expected to do their job and work as hard as some other managers. His favorite part of the job is the pay bonuses and the customers (R. Jones, personal communication, March 26, 2018). The most significant event that has occurred since Rachel has been working at O'Reilly is a change in store manager at the Magnolia store. . When this happened, the store employees were not happy that there was a store manager from Shreveport rather than one of the current employees being promoted to store manager. This resulted in the store employees not being as receptive to the sale because they thought it would hurt the spirit of the store manager. After that, the district manager came to Magnolia and had a meeting with all the employees to see why sales were suffering since the new store manager arrived. If there was a problem in the way employees were being managed, the district manager wanted to make sure to discuss it up front with the store manager rather than allowing problems to continue to occur (R. Jones , personal communication, March 26, 2018). ).O'Reilly Auto Parts is a retail chain that has a corporate headquarters, central stores, and local stores. Each local store reports to a central store which then reports to the head office. The main office has many different departments. Some of these departments include credit, collections, customer service, human resources, and payroll. At the local store, there is a regional manager, district manager, store managers and assistant managers. The regional manager and district manager supervise each store in the region and district and must visit them very often. The company is divided into several regions and districts. This is done to accurately maintain store standards across all stores. The strength of this distribution is that regional and district managers build a personal relationship with each store and each member of thethe team. The weakness of the store broken down in this way is that each store in a neighborhood is expected to be productive and achieve its objectives with the same capacity. This is expected even if the store is smaller than another store in the area. An example of this is Magnolia, AR needs to achieve the same sales amount as Shreveport, LA. Shreveport is a much larger region than Magnolia, but it should still have the same level of productivity (R. Jones, personal communication, March 26, 2018). O'Reilly's mission statement is: "O'Reilly Automotive intends to be the dominant supplier of automotive parts in our market areas by providing our retail customers, professional installers and wholesalers with the best combination of price and quality with the highest possible level of service. To accomplish this mission, O'Reilly will deliver a benefits and compensation plan that will attract and retain the type of people who will enable the company to achieve its goals for growth and success” (Company Overview) . This mission statement is somewhat generic and can be used for multiple businesses. This is, however, an important mission statement because it indicates how they will treat their employees. O'Reilly has no code of ethics or statement of values. O'Reilly has a fairly unified culture and can be best described as a hierarchy. Communication within O'Reilly occurs in the form of team letters and weekly emails. These chronicle the store's progress over the previous week. Managers then share with employees the information that has been provided to them. This is expected of all managers so that employees are all on the same wavelength. I think O'Reilly is a market-driven company. One of its biggest competitors is AutoZone. O'Reilly is an auto parts store, so it's a primarily male role. For this reason, many women in this position are insulted by customers because they usually only want to be helped by male employees. Each store needs to figure out the best way to handle this. At Magnolia, female employees usually stand up for themselves and tell them that they can help them just as well as a male employee. The company relies on rules to keep all unethical behavior away from the company. The most common ethical problem is theft. This can happen internally, but most theft comes from customers. To avoid these occurrences, every employee must complete a mandatory background check before they can be hired. To ensure that employees are not stealing time from the company, computers are monitored and restricted on several websites such as Facebook. Internal reporting is encouraged and can be made via an anonymous reporting line. This tip line goes directly to businesses to report anything unethical. The unethical behavior will then be further investigated. Charitable activities are very important in getting O'Reilly's name out in the community. This shows people that they care about individuals and what is happening in the community rather than just worrying about making money. This month, Magnolia's O'Reilly donated to the Boys Club, Southern Arkansas University, and a few upcoming local festivals (R. Jones, personal communication, March 26, 2018). O'Reilly has a problem motivating their employees because salaries are low and because employees monitor their managers. Sometimes leaders are lazy and don't have a good work ethic. The company fights against this behaviorby sending managers to company meetings and offering coaching. O'Reilly employees enjoy attractive benefits as well as several opportunities to receive bonuses. They also receive a commission for any sales they make (R. Jones, personal communication, March 26, 2018).AutoZoneAutoZone opened in 1979 in Arkansas. It was originally called Auto Shack. Sales on the first day of opening were $300. In 1996, AutoZone launched its commercial program that offers credit and delivery to professional technicians. Some of the stores in Magnolia that can use this service include Spitler's and Bridges. In 1998, AutoZone expanded beyond the borders of the United States to Mexico. Since this happened, AutoZone has become a much larger company. It now has more than 65,000 employees. Because of all this growth, AutoZone needed more than just a CEO and store manager. They now have a CEO, President, Regional Manager, District Manager, Store Manager and Assistant Manager. I chose to interview the store manager at AutoZone in Magnolia, AR. April is the store manager at AutoZone in Magnolia, AR. She has worked for AutoZone for 12 years. Duties include opening and closing the store, employee management, accounts payable, inventory management and customer service. She needed some training before becoming a store manager, but since moving from employee to store manager, she hasn't needed as much training as others might need it. April must have had extensive knowledge of the parts. She also had to take manager training classes and take quizzes on their store system. Most managers are promoted from within, so they are sure to already have parts knowledge. April is solely responsible for Magnolia, AR AutoZone (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). April loves AutoZone's culture because it strives to help customers solve their problems. The only thing it would change is the ability to hire more employees during busy seasons like tax time (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). The biggest change since she started working at AutoZone is theft. Before she became store manager, an incident occurred where an employee was stealing parts to sell at a discounted rate. The employee left for a long time before he was arrested, but when he was arrested, he was investigated and subsequently arrested. After this incident, they had to start taking inventories more frequently (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). AutoZone has a local headquarters and stores. Headquarters are in Memphis, Tennessee. The main office has payroll, benefits, store support, customer service, sales, accounts payable, technical support and several other offices. In local stores, there are distribution centers that deliver freight to the store and return all recalls, cores and damaged products. Local stores have DIY and professional installation departments. Management includes regional, district, assistant store managers and the sales manager. However, the AutoZone in Magnolia, AR does not have an assistant manager. Since there is no deputy manager, the sales manager is second in charge. It is divided this way so that customers feel like they are in a small home store when visiting the stores. The strength of the store lies in thefact that customers can establish personal relationships with employees because most customers are repeat customers. The weakness is that district and regional managers cannot meet with certain business clients. Another weakness is that senior managers do not communicate with employees and therefore do not always understand the entire message (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). AutoZone does not have a mission statement. It contains a commitment that all employees must know. “AutoZoners always put customers first! We know our parts and our products. Our stores are superb! We have the best products at the right price” (Our commitment and our values). This is unique in that the company chose not to make this a mission statement. It includes industry-specific but not company-specific statements. Commitment is very important because it feels powerful. AutoZone has a Statement of Values. “An AutoZoner always puts customers first, cares about people, strives for exceptional performance, energizes others, embraces diversity, helps teams succeed” (Our Commitment and Values). This is very important and really shows team members and customers that AutoZone cares about their image. AutoZone has a very unified culture. Its culture is very market-oriented. It preserves culture and values ​​by including them in training and displaying them in every store for employees to see. Hiring the right person and placing them in the right position is very important for company culture. Training begins on the first day of employment and employees then begin to learn the company culture. Rules and procedures are important to company culture. I would also describe the company as a market-driven culture. AutoZone is a very diverse company. She has implemented programs to maintain the diversity of the company. Globalization is a problem that the head office members face, so the local store members don't know much about it. The biggest ethical problem at AutoZone in Magnolia, Arkansas is theft. The company relies more on rules and procedures to reduce unethical behavior. The company is known for promoting trustworthy people. The company conducts background checks on all employees during the hiring process. They also monitor everyone's sales and daily activities. Charity events are important to AutoZone. The local AutoZone donates most of the time when asked for a donation (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). The biggest problem motivating AutoZone employees is that they have a large workload and low salaries. Employees are rewarded with promotions and raises. Full-time employees receive vacation and benefits (A. Colvin, personal communication, April 2, 2018). ComparisonThe businesses are similar in that they have always been an auto parts store and both have DIY businesses. spare parts or retail markets and professional markets. Both stores also have the capacity to deliver spare parts to their professional markets. The biggest difference I see between the two organizations is that AutoZone has stores internationally while O'Reilly only has stores in 47 states. This could be because O'Reilly doesn't think he's ready to move into the international market. I think the history of the two companies is typical,.