Noble Bookstore is a small family run bookshop chain based in the UK. It was founded in the 1980s and now has six small shops spread around the major towns in the region. These shops rely almost totally upon the sales of books for their revenue. Most customers are local people who regularly buy from Noble bookstore or tourists (within a limited season) during the year. Noble has always been proud of its wide range of stocks, a policy adopted to attract a wide range of customers with a wide diversity of tastes in literature.
If customers cannot find the book they are looking for, the Bookstore will search on their behalf
and source the book at noextra cost. The Management team sees this as being a significant
advantage over their competitors. Customers generally perceive the Book Store as traditional
and conservative. This image has negatively affected to attract young customers to the store.
Looking at the global market, retail bookstores have changed drastically over recent years.
Large National and International bookstores have gained control over the industry. This has
been achieved by acquiring smaller independent bookshops and diversifying new products (i.e.,
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magazines, music, computer games, online purchasing, and services, etc.). Despite this,
customers still seem to prefer the more unique individual stores. Many independent small
bookstores continue the business successfully by focusing on local needs and ensuring highquality
customer service.
Many of the surviving smaller bookstores find it challenging to defend against the marketing
techniques used by the larger organizations and the global competition. A few smaller
bookstores have now started to sell music, computer games, videos, offer online sales and
services and provide customers with the facilities to sit and read and even offer refreshments
inside the store.
This seems to reflect the general trend to move away from the reliance upon the sale of books
only.
Noble Bookstore is a small company in the industry with a traditional (or what the younger
members of the Management team refer to as ‘old fashioned’) image. However, customers in
the region still have regard for the Bookstore. Yet sales have fallen drastically over the past
five years. 70% of Nobel’s current customer base are over 40 years old.
All the six bookstores are located in prime city-centre locations. However, the general layout
of the Bookstore is outdated. All the bookstore managers are family members who have always
worked for Noble. Three of these managers have worked for the business for over 30 years.
These managers and the assistants who work in the stores have considerable expertise in the
book market and the book stocks held by the Stores. On average, there are 10-12 assistants per
store. Since its inception, the company didn’t have clearly defined functional areas, especially
an HR department. The personnel administration functions are carried out by an Executive who
does not have any professional qualification in that field.
Family members of the organization run the entire business. The younger members of the
Management team are showing increasing concern with the complacent attitude of the older
members, who are reluctant to make any significant changes to how the bookstores operate.
However, the Managing Director (and daughter of the founder) is concerned about the younger
family members’ concerns. She has recently appointed a Management Consultant to review
the position of Nobel Bookstore in the marketplace and focus on its organizational
Development initiatives. Few of the current staff and the younger family members of the
organization are interested in new developments. However, the majority of the staff are very
reluctant to change.
As the Management Consultant;
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 Prepare a brief report recommending what strategies you would develop and implement
to align with the current global and technological trends and cater to the present
consumer needs.
 You need to discuss appropriate organizationaldesign and organizational development
initiatives