Nordstrom Case Study

This case describes the great success of the Nordstrom shoe stores across the United States. Nordstrom grew to be the largest independent shoe store in the United States. Their motto is "Nobody does it better than Nordstrom". The company became so successful that local governments supported and subsidized the opening of Nordstrom in their cities, as a means of city development and fighting unemployment. The company has developed an excellent reputation for customer service, despite the fact that it has 35,000 employees. The staff handbook contains only one rule "Use your best judgment in all situations". Employees are involved in the choosing the products sold at their stores, because the buying in the products has been decentralized.

Even though the new stores were subsidized, the communities did not benefit as much as expected from them. Tax revenues did not increase and Nordstrom did not get many more subsidies after a couple of years.

Most of Nordstrom's success is based on its excellent customer service. They managed to motivate their employees more than other retail stores, because they know how to treat them.

Like Anne Cummings, of the Wharton University has written in her article, "How to inspire creativity and reward good Employees", it is not the only way to motivate people by giving them money. They might also be motivated by receiving trust in their work and when they finished a project exceptionally well, they should be commended. Trust enables creativity, initiative and risk taking among employees. Nordstrom gives all of its employees this reward by asking them to make judgments and make their own decisions about situations. Not simply employing people who sell any given product to a customer but being involving them and to get them thinking like it was their own business really motivates them.

For this reason Nordstrom became rather successful and because