Case: The Men’s Wearhouse
From Graduate School of Business Stanford University.
Men’s Wearhouse is a great example of how setting the right priorities and promoting a healthy organizational culture can lead to success in a declining industry that has established players. This case refutes two notions: it does not make sense to enter a market that is not growing, and company culture does not impact the company’s profits.
When George Zimmer founded Men’s Wearhouse, the men’s clothing “space” was already crowded. The case does not say why he founded the store, however his father was also in the retailing business and eventually started his own company. When Zimmer founded his store, he decided to build a culture of servant leadership and defined the following order of importance for stakeholders: employees, customer, vendors, communities.
Since Zimmer focused his attention on employees, the employees would then have much better performance for the company. Men’s Wearhouse is a great source of ideas for how to develop company culture.
