Ryan and Ann Chern Case

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Chern’s is an upscale shoe and handbag company founded by Ryan and Ann Chern. Twenty years ago both of these siblings graduated with their MBAs and started working for different retail organizations. It was during this time that they spent it learning about the industry. Five years later, the two started the company Chern’s and quickly made it into a full scale clothing retailer.

Two years later, Chern’s decides to utilize an aggressive growth strategy. Today the company currently operates 140 stores in 28 states with an average of 19,000 full and part-time employees. Its main business strategy is providing superior customer service. The products that they sell are high quality products. But being that customer’s tastes can vary from region to region, Chern’s has allowed decentralization. This in turn has allowed store managers to hire according to their needs in their particular region. Chern’s has a strong and unique culture in which its belief is to hire good people. They try to identify and select the right people, train them, and give them the tools and autonomy to succeed.

Because Chern’s empowers its employees in this type of culture, the company has built itself a strong reputation in customer service. It’s been named one of the top three retailers in regional customer surveys, it’s listed at number 72 among Fortune magazine’s top 100 best companies to work for, and it’s ranked second highest on the retailer list behind Nordstrom’s. Additionally, the National Retail Federation has ranked it as having the best customer service three years in a row.

While all of this is true, Chern’s has found that finding talented recruits to hire has become an issue. They face direct hiring competition with two of its competitors, Nordstrom’s and Neiman Marcus as well as the shortage of available recruits. In order for Chern’s to pursue its growth strategy it must develop