Leadership is king!

There are many ways to evaluate companies these days. It seems as if every analyst has an economic model whether it's new or old to illustrate the strenghts and weaknesses of an organization. It's my opinion that great leaders are the true key indicators of the strength of an organization, whether that's in the near future or forward looking.  If you look at some of the great american companies, their leaders are what drive sustainable success.

 Philip Selznick's book titled Leadership and Administration, explored the ideas of institutional leadership and distinctive competence. Philip Selznick believes leaders "create and define an organization’s purpose or mission. In more contemporary terms, institu-
tional leaders help create a vision for an organization around which its members can rally." Philip not only believes the institutional leadership is what sets the vision, but it creates the distinctive competence on the core  - "those activities
that a particular firm does better than any competing firms." I believe Philip's analysis is extremely accurate when you look at some of them most successful organizations around the world.

Dick's Sporting Goods is no different. Their CEO and Chairman Ed Stack has provided great vision, structure and support to his organization that has helped created the #1 Sports retailer in the United States. I've attached a few links that go back in time that helps outline what Ed Stack has meant to Dick Sporting Goods.

http://www.binghamton.edu/news/inside/news.html?issue=2007jun21&id=6

http://archive.fortune.com/2010/04/20/news/companies/dicks_sporting_goods.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2010042709

http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2004/11/21/Ed-s-way-stacks-up-well-for-Dick-s-Sporting-Goods/stories/200411210231

Private Label Branding

We are seeing more and more private labeling across many industries in the business environment today. It's an opportunity to neutralize the threat of suppliers for many retailers. Dick's has great brand awareness throughout the United States and they sell all of the top brands like North Face, Nike and Under Armour. What would happen if the suppliers changed their business practices or created new partnerships with competitors, would this leave Dick's in a vulnerable position?

Maybe...and given Dick's own strength of brand, would it make sense for them to start going into the private label business and start selling their own brand of clothing and sports equipment? This strategy has worked out very well for other giant retailers like Costco and Target. Their own brands of Kirkland and Archer Farms respectively have become household names for many consumers. This strategy would help neutralize the threat of suppliers, especially suppliers that have so much control with their retailers.

I wouldn't be surprised to see "DSG" branded athletic apparel in the near future. Can't you imagine the mannequins greeting you in the store with a "DSG" logo'd shirt holding a golf club with the same branding!

How would you design the logo???

THE FIVE FORCES MODEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS

Business leaders are often concerned with many aspects of their business. One of the models that most leaders look at is called the Five Forces Model of Enviromental Threats. These five forces are: (1) the threat of entry, (2) the threat of rivalry, (3) the threat of substitutes, (4) the threat of powerful supplier, and (5) the threat of powerful buyers. Dick Sporting Goods has many regional competitors, but as a whole they don't have a major competitor outside of Sports Authority who have stores throughout the country. But, when you look at this model a few of these threats really stand out. The threat of substitutes and the threat of powerful suppliers are the two greatest threats for Dick Sporting Goods. Amazon, the online retail giant plays this role better than anyone else. They offer another option for today's consumers who spend a lot of their time shopping online. Not only does Amazon offer a substitute to the typical box store, they have signficant buying power which makes them a powerful supplier of goods that can be offerred to consumers at cheaper prices than they can find "in-stores." The consumer can "window" shop at Dick's but potentially find the same product for a little less money at Amazon.com.

 

So, what can Dick's do to offset this threat? One of their strategies has been to drive goodwill in their local communities. I've blogged about this before, but it really is a key strategy to create customer loyality that entices their customer's to support their partner in the community.

 

Dick's also went on the attack with their own online strategy. They recently announced an ecommerce intiative where they are bringing their online platform inhouse. In 2014, their internet sales were up 28%, 31% just in the 4th quarter. It appears Dick's has analyzed these same threats and are going on the attack!

 

I've attached a link that dives deeper into this strategy.

 

https://www.internetretailer.com/2015/03/03/slam-dunk-year-online-dicks-sporting-goods

 

Intangible Resources - Competitive Advantage!

Good evening! One of the reason's I wanted to create a blog on Dick Sporting Goods is so I can help share with the world all the good that they do in their communities to help support youth athletic programs for those less fortunate!

Check out their latest inspiration and if you have the ability to help, please do so!

http://dickssportinggoods.sponsorport.com/

One of the measures to evaluating an organizations value is to look at intangible resources or resources that are difficult to measure like most assets. Dick Sporting Goods has developed brand loyality and created a bond with members of the community in which their stores operate. They've done this through a multitude of community projects. As I said, it's very difficult to measure financially, but it plays a large role in their success!

Be sure to support your local Dick Sporting Goods!