2. “I created Gap with a simple idea: to make it easier to find a pair of jeans. We remain committed to that basic principle.” Don Fisher Founder, Gap Inc. 1928-2009
3. The first store opened in 1969 on Ocean Dr. in San Francisco CA
4. Today Gap Inc is an enterprise of 5 retail divisions with operations both domestic and international! Iconic American Style Gap offers iconic American style to customers of all ages. Accessible Luxury Banana Republic is an accessible luxury brand. Great Fashion, Great Prices Old Navy offers great fashion at great prices, for everyone. A Fresh Online Shop Piperlime is the insider’s guide to the best shoe and handbag brands. Be Strong. Be Beautiful. Designed by and for women athletes, Athleta delivers the performance advantage for your workout and your active lifestyle.
6. Think: customers firstWe make decisions with our customers in mind. We connect with our stores and create the quality our customers value and expect. Inspire: creativityWe think big, take risks and solve problems. We challenge the status quo and always look for new ideas and ways of working. Do: what’s rightWe believe that how we do business is as important as what we do. We act with integrity, and we give back to the communities in which we do business. Deliver: resultsWe deliver the best result possible – we're committed to taking responsibility, setting priorities and meeting our goals.
7. Gap (PRODUCT)RED ™ isn't charity. It's a new way of doing business. Gap (PRODUCT)RED started with the iconic "INSPI(RED)“ Gap T-shirt: Made in Africa from 100 percent African cotton, the T-shirt debuted in the UK in spring 2006. Gap sourced product from Africa for more than a decade — and is committed to giving back to the communities where they do business. As a global (PRODUCT)RED partner, Gap is contributing half the profits from (PRODUCT)RED sales to The Global Fund, to help women and children affected by AIDS in Africa.
8. “Wear your Passion” Gap store employees and their family joining forces to take part in the “Aids Walk 2008”
9. Innovation & Change“Blueprint”
10. External Pressures for Change Pressure For Change Declining traffic LossofMarket Share Loss of Brand Identity
11. Internal Pressures for Change Pressure For Change Clear Career Pathing Lack of Internal Promotions Financial Results
This presentation, will review the history and culture of the Gap retail stores as well as an innovation change process nicknamed “Blueprint” that took place in 2008. Presentation by Walden University Student, Jennette Sagraves
In 1969 Doris and Don Fisher opened the first Gap Store in San Francisco with the goal of creating a store experience that was easy for the customers to shop and offered a wide selection of styles and fits.
Don was inspired to open the retail store when he had a bad experience trying to buy pants in his size. When Don and Doris opened their first store on Ocean Dr in San Francisco they sold only Levi jeans and records. Before Gap Don was in the Real Estate business buying old hotels and restoring them as senior housing projects. Being the entrepreneur that he was his vision was to open stores that would carry a large assortment of mens and womens Levi’s. His goal was to appeal to the 12 to 25 year old age range so: he added records to the store as well. The name The Gap was inspired by the generation gap many experienced in the 60’s and 70’s.
In the early days the organization structure was simple one store ran by Don and Doris as the business grow and store counts increased so did the leadership structure. Today Glen Murphy is the CEO of Gap Inc. Each division of Gap Inc has its own brand President and leadership team made up of multiple departments from manufacturing to field operations.Today there are Gap stores all across the US and you can find franchise locations all throughout the world. In addition The Gap Inc. enterprise includes Banana Republic, Old Navy, and two on-line retail businesses - Piperlime and Athleta.
The culture at Gap is about creativity, people are encouraged to think, take risk and solve problems. Employees are challenged to always look for new ideas and ways of improving. Delivery results, Gap is a for profit organization and every employee at The Gap is aware of the commitment and responsibility to meeting these goals
Without the customer there is no profit, with that all decisions are made with the customer in mind. Doing what is right, integrity is stressed and giving back to the community is always recognized at The Gap.
Don Fisher had another goal for The Gap it was to “make a significant difference and improve the quality of life for society”. Gap is one of many companies that has joined forces with (RED) an organization that funds The Global Fund to help women and children affected by AIDS in Africa.
In 1977 Gap Foundation was formed to help underserved communities around the world.The slogan “Wear Your Passion” is weaved into the culture at The Gap as employees are encouraged to donate their time, money and resources. The Gap matches every dime and gives time grants for volunteer hours that employees give. According to the company website the organization gives more than $100 million to various nonprofit organizations. The creativity and expression of being ones individual self through the generations, The Gap has created a unique culture not found in many other retailers
In 2008 The Gap brand of stores went through an organizational change nick named “Blueprint”.
The Gap brands experienced growth throughout 1970’s and flourished in its hay days of the 1980’s and 1990’s.However, they began to lose market share to up and coming brands like Amber Crombie and Finch or Hollister in the 2000’s. Gap was losing its identity as its core customers began to mature. Trying to keep its ionic branding but attract the younger customer with more disposable income was presenting challenges to the brand.
As business was declining merchants where charged to improve product and field leaders were asked to reduce cost. At the same time the field managers where expressing dissatisfaction through employee opinion surveys. The strong culture of commitment was still in place however there was expression of were concerned that there was not clear communication of what the career path looked like any longer. This was evident by the recent decline in internal promotions.
It became clear that the brand must create more role clarity but with the increase financial pressure and lost sales it was evident that a down size also must take place. The objective was twofold, save the organization in payroll cost and at the same time create a clearer career path for the field management teams. The second objective was to lead this initiative in a way so that is did result in a massive lay off.
The senior leaders where very strategic in their communication plan, they first explained the rationale for the change. The objective was to increase productivity by creating clearer roles, and saving cost by eliminating positions that where no longer relevant. This in turn would sustain the overall health of the company by increasing bottom line profitability. Once this was explained to the field leaders several pilot groups where identified to begin testing the changes.
The leadership group charged with this organizational change was very up front with the communication to the field managers, explaining what they were doing, what it would mean to the overall growth of the company and how long it would take. With this advance information the senior field mangers where able to make adjustments to store structure through attrition prior to the actual execution of the project. Pilot groups where established and time lines where set for each different pilot group. Each of the pilot groups gave feedback and reporting analyzes was established. Steps where put into place to monitor the progress, surveys where taken and financial results were measured.
Overall though out this change process the company did a great job at communicating the strategic plan for change. They shared the overall vision early on and included a peer group to create a coalition for change. They tailored the communication through funneling down to all levels involved. By re-evaluating roles many positions where simply changed instead of being eliminated which reduced the overall amount of impacted employees. Small wins where always celebrated and communicated from the test groups which created trust and buy in.
The company delivered a cost reduction in payroll and smoothly identified roles and competencies which offered a more structured succession plan for internal promotions.
It is evident that the core values, culture and trust in the company established over 40 years ago is still the foundation for the success of this organizational changed nicknamed Blueprint.
