Change Management Proposal

Executive Summary

Jorges Fine Foods has always prided itself on being the premiere gourmet grocery store providing its shoppers with the finest meats, produce, cheeses, and wine. Our mission has always been to provide our customers with the finest selection of the very best foods and wines so that their culinary visions can become their reality. Jorges’s consistent execution of its vision and mission has led to significant growth forcing us to take on new initiatives and offer new services to our customers. This significant growth has also forced us to examine some of our internal processes in an effort to continue to provide cost effective customer service channels. This internal report serves as a proposal to move the forecasting and research projects from the President, Kathy Jorges and her managers to the Director of Operations Yvonne Reynolds and her management team.

Need for Change

The proposed change to transition the forecasting and inventory management projects from the President Kathy Jorges and her management team to the Director of Operations Yvonne Reynolds and her management team was the result of an internal process assessment as well as Marketing survey results sent to our customer base. Currently, our inventory management and forecasting processes have been a cause for concern. Recent Marketing survey results yielded from our 2014 and 2015 customer surveys revealed that 46% of our customers disagreed that there was a good selection of products present at our retail stores, 80% disagreed that the quality of our products are of value to their costs, and 44% were disagreed that they were satisfied with the products they purchased. The average number of customers who participated in both surveys was approximately 70. Our inventory management policy regarding the adequate levels of inventory is ineffective and has led to an excess of inventory that is not generating income. In addition, our inability to effectively forecast our inventory turning points from when sales increase in sales decreasing has resulted in a lack of some merchandise being available as well as drastic discounts being offered. Currently, Jorges can no longer afford to move forward with processes that are not yielding positive results. In an implement more effective inventory management and forecasting policies, we must leverage the knowledge and experience of our Operations department. The Operations department has a director that is responsible for inventory, purchasing and logistics of all three stores. The Operations’ management team establishes appropriate inventory levels for all stores, compiles and maintains records of quantity, type and value of inventory on hand, as well as anticipate and plan for daily, weekly, and seasonal inventory needs (University of Phoenix, 2007-2013). It is because of the daily tasks and experienced knowledge of Operations team that I