The document summarizes organizational changes at a large retail company called Runaway. It analyzes issues the company was facing like inflexibility, weak communication across levels, and inconsistencies between local and global marketing strategies. A SWOT analysis identified weaknesses in the company's matrix structure and gaps between low/high management. The changes implemented a more directive approach for low/mid-level management and consulting for the board of directors to address communication problems and improve performance reporting.

1. [2016]
AuthorNote
[Type the companyname]
[2016]
Organizational Changes

2. 1
Contents
Introduction:.................................................................................................................................... 2
Company Details:............................................................................................................................ 2
Business change Analysis:.............................................................................................................. 3
Related Roles in Changes: .............................................................................................................. 4
Changed Organizational model Analysis: ...................................................................................... 4
Conclusion: ..................................................................................................................................... 6
References:...................................................................................................................................... 7

3. 2
Introduction:
The essay reflects the recent organizational changes in the new slogan ‘not snob but
cosmopolitan’ of the MNC ‘Runaway’. The major changes in the organizational structure focus
some fundamental weak points like flexibility, sourcing, store operations and marketing strategy.
According to business charter of ‘Runaway’ the company has gone through first order
incremental changes in late 80s. Therefore the recent organizational changes are of second order
which identifies the transforming and comprehensive changes in the firm’s internal and external
structure. The unique marketing strategy and proper outsourcing had listed the company in the
top list of retail Industry. But last year’s huge reduction in sales is the identifier of organizational
flaws. The consumer report blames outrageous prices, less promotional sales and Mall marketing
as well as direction strategy. Therefore the organization needs rejuvenating strategy for brand
value maintenance. This restoration in organizational changes associates with type two (2nd
order) changes.
Company Details:
The firm ‘Runaway’ is a well-known name in the international retail industry. The US MNC has
its origin in early 80s and has gone through several industrial changes in the past. The firm’s
brand value is based on its unique and don’t’ care attitude in styling all kind of attires. The
organization perfectly reflects its popular slogan ‘revolution in color’ for a long time. Moreover
the company has expertise in all type of clothing and related accessories. The company has
unique and versatile range of color in all kind of clothing from men’s to women’s. ‘Runaway’
has started its journey in the 80s aiming a unique style and attitude to the working class.
However, with time the firm’s aim has changed. In the middle of 90s they started designing
clothes for children. According to the ‘Runaway’ archive the positive response from the
beginning has encouraged them to work in all kind and class of clothing. With changing style in
90s they started working on accessories like Totes, sunglasses, watches and umbrellas to
compliment suit or dresses. From the starting time their outsourcing and networking was
excellent. However, they are still facing problems in work group flexibility and market boundary
reduction.

4. 3
Business change Analysis:
The first order change in an organization searches its points of expansion in the fields like
management, directors, executives as well as related strategies. The type of organizational
changes increments and fills the void section in current strategy. ’Runaway’ no longer needs the
first order changes as the company is saturated with a well- defined management levels and
directorial structure. The networking strategy is robust considering a high level communication
among the headquarters in California and 1000 branches in USA. The recent outsourcing survey
shows an inclined graph to determine good strategy. But local survey report blames the rigidity
in internal teams and gap between local and global marketing strategy.
According to Palmer the rigidity can offer lack of disaggregation and empowerment. The void
space in different strategies also shows the lack of adjustment and tuning (Palmer, et al., 2013).
Therefore the blames according to the recent consumer reports needs a proactive planning to
bring organizational changes in the MNC. The proactive planning combines two strategies;
tuning all levels and restoring the current organizational structure. The modular structure of the
firm is good but the gap in communication level is the major problem area.
The consumer report also claims low level of directional strategy. The low level of labor like
Mall workers, short term staffs, sales persons and the middle level management like sales
manager and marketing executives cannot produce a precise report to the high level of
management. The high level management also reports irregularly to the directors (Zott & Amit,
2013). Therefore the management and directors are not fine-tuned. This point determines that
‘Runaway’ needs change in corporate culture/core processes.
As the gap is in the upper level of management and direction the firm needs a consulting strategy
to bridge gap. But according to the survey report the low and moderate level of management is in
chaos. So these two levels of management need a directive strategy to bring organizational
changes. The directive strategy determines strict goals and forced application of the goals.
Moreover Morgan’s metaphor defines ‘Runaway’ as an organization of culture and organisms
(Örtenblad, et al., 2016). So the firm must be careful about the business unit level changes it
trying to apply. The multi –level changes according to the type 2 of second order must follow the
precise focus of the restoration. The last annual report of ‘Runaway’ shows low performance

5. 4
level in the last level of management. Therefore the firm needs ‘content’ business model for
changes.
Related Roles in Changes:
‘Runaway’ is facing problems from lower to higher order in working level of the organization.
Low level staffing: This level includes the staffs in all the branches, stores and malls. The staffs
majorly represent sales girls/boys, caretakers, marketing executives, store keeper etc. The
organization should break the large business unit in small group so that the performance
reporting is easier and regular.
Middle/High level of staffing: The above mentioned level reports directly to the middle level
teams. The level represents store/marketing managers, sales managers, security managers etc.
Middle level directly reports to high level which consists of marketing/finance/sales managers,
creative consultants, Audit/ appointing committee etc (Bair, 2015). These management levels
must be highly communicative to produce daily/annual precise reports.
BOD: The organization needs change in long term strategy /local marketing. Directors should
take consulting approach for an immediate change in sales report.
CFO/CEO: They must consider the innovation and consistency in planning.
Changed Organizational model Analysis:
The weakness in the organizational structure of ‘Runaway’ is shown in the SWOT analysis of
the recent report. The SWOT is given below:
Strength:
 Modular organizational structure
 High level of networking
 Unique creative strategy
 High brand value
 Functional approach in work culture
Weakness:
 Weak matrix organization
 Gap in low and high level of
management
 Confusion in team building
 Complexity of ‘organism’ metaphor

6. 5
 Adequate resources and expertise in
products
 Low trust level in hierarchy
 Lack of open communication
Opportunity:
 Robustness of modular structure
 Tend to innovation
 Importance to value /ethics in work
culture
 Expertise in risk management
 Application of new strategies
 Quick adaption
Threats:
 Inflexibility with rapid changes
 Lack of optimization
 Confliction of management and
directors
 Low rank co-operation
 Confliction in production and creativity
The modular approach of ‘Runaway’ is difficult to break. But they should check the low level of
co-operation in different ranks. The last years’ annual report is the proof here. The creative
strategy is unreal in the recent marketing scenario. So the consumers are blaming high prices for
the products. Moreover the firm has a reputation for innovation and creativity (Anderson, 2016).
They started their journey differently. But with time the rank confliction has increased. The
creative directors are not reflecting their strategy properly in the management level.
There is a communication gap/lack of team spirits. Therefore delayering is not efficient now.
Furthermore the efficient networking among 1000 branches and the headquarters is not helping
in the low level of co-operation. The functional structure lacks its high level of performance and
low level management lacks restrictions of daily reporting etc.
But the firm has taken quick actions after observing last year’s final report. The consulting
approach in the BOD is the proof in this case. According to the recent risk management report
the directive approach in low and moderate level of management has shown positive changes to
bridge the gap (Carayannis , et al., 2015). The directors must change the creative and marketing
strategy to get the high level of optimization.
The performance report must include the recent local and global changes in the similar brands.
According to the SWOT ‘Runaway’ is not flexible with quick changes (Goetsch & Davis, 2014).
Therefore the company needs to increase the team spirit in all staffing levels. The low level of

7. 6
open communication must be reduced using flexible management strategies. The directive
approach in the business unit level must continue until the efficient reporting comes back.
The last thing in which the ‘Runaway’ needs care is the trust level of hierarchy. To increase faith
the work culture must be more flexible as the same can change communication level positively.
Conclusion:
The essay focuses on the organizational changes of a leading firm in retail industry. The
‘Runaway’ is famous for its innovative and creative marketing strategies. But according to the
last year’s annual charter the sales report is declined majorly. Considering this point the essay
discusses what kind of organizational changes is required for the brand. The essay discusses the
annual and recent performance report of the company and focuses the major gaps in the internal
structure of the company. According to the business model analysis the essay also identifies the
related roles and their effect in the organizational structure. The gap of communication and rank
wise confliction need multi-level organizational changes of second order. Furthermore the essay
has discussed the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats according to the standard SWOT
analysis. The weak points/threats of the firm can be removed using high creative/adaptive level
of strategies according to this analysis.

8. 7
References:
Anderson, P., 2016. Nicolai J. Foss and Tina Saebi, eds.: Business Model Innovation: The
Organizational Dimension.. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(2), pp. NP17-NP19.
Bair, J., 2015. Putting Organizational Transformation and Workplace Dynamics in Global
Context. Journal of World-Systems Research, 21(2), p. 532.
Carayannis , E., Sindakis, S. & Walter, C., 2015. Business model innovation as lever of
organizational sustainability. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 40(1), pp. 85-104.
Goetsch , D. & Davis, S., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. s.l.:pearson.
Örtenblad, A., Putnam, L. & Trehan, K., 2016. Beyond Morgan’s eight metaphors: Adding to
and developing organization theory. Human Relations, 69(4), pp. 875-889.
Palmer, I. et al., 2013. “Flexibility” as the rationale for organizational change: a discourse
perspective. ournal of Organizational Change Management, 26(1), pp. 83-97.
Zott, C. & Amit, R., 2013. The business model: A theoretically anchored robust construct for
strategic analysis. Strategic Organization, 11(4), pp. 403-411.