Jamie,<\/p>\n
I recently had a very similar experience<\/a> with Amazon. I just signed up for Prime as I found out that Amazon offers a six-month free Prime membership for students and fifty percent off after the first six months. I highly recommend checking it out<\/a> if you are currently paying full price. I decided to take advantage of Black Friday and buy a tablet to use as an e-reader to be able to read textbooks and PDFs. I selected same day delivery and put my office down as the delivery address because I thought my package would arrive during business hours. The end of the day came and it had not come so I went home thinking that Amazon would try again the next day. I ended up getting a call from the delivery driver because the building was locked when he arrived. Upon finding out that I lived two kilometers away he went above and beyond and delivered my package to my house. I was very impressed with the customer service I received.<\/p>\n I think this is part of the answer to your question, \u201cHow do logistics and retail companies stay competitive\u201d (JGARLAND, 2018)? I think the biggest way companies stay competitive is primarily through their customer service. Ma says that the customer should be number one, then your employees and last your share holders (E-learning, 2016). Some scholars actually say that you should \u201ctake care of your employees, and they\u2019ll take care of your customers\u201d (Brightman & Moran, cited in Kandampully, Bilgihan & Zhang, 2016, p. 156). No matter which one of those approaches you take, customer service is extremely important. One survey says that next to quality, customer service is what makes clients loyal (Moth, 2012).<\/p>\n Part of customer service is listening to customers, which in turn creates innovation (Kandampully, Bilgihan & Zhang, 2016). I think you articulated well in your advice for Walmart. Finding the balance of staying focused on your mission while continuing to innovate is a balance I think every leader needs to find. As Sinek (n.d.) puts it, \u201cone of the best paradoxes of leadership is a leader’s need to be both stubborn and open-minded. A leader must insist on sticking to the vision and stay on course to the destination. But he must be open-minded during the process.\u201d<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n E-learning. (2016, June 23). Keys to success from Jack Ma \u2013 Self-made billionaire and CEO of Alibaba<\/em> [Video file]. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9WjHZ5wLe6w<\/p>\n JGARLAND. (2018, November 25). Blog post unit 9 [Blog post]. Retrieved from https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/jgarland\/2018\/11\/25\/blog-post-unit-10\/<\/p>\n Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., & Zhang, T. (Christina). (2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 29<\/em>, 154-164. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jhtm.2016.07.003<\/p>\n Moth, D. (2012, October 17). Infographic: What makes customers stay loyal? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https:\/\/econsultancy.com\/infographic-what-makes-customers-stay-loyal\/<\/p>\n Sinek, S. (n.d.) Retrieved from https:\/\/www.brainyquote.com\/quotes\/simon_sinek_568150<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"