Question: Characterize Trader Joe's strategy using Hambrick and Fredrickson’s model. How does Trader Joe's strategy differ from Walmart's?

Expert answer

In order to characterize Trader Joe's strategy using Hambrick and Fredrickson's model, it is first necessary to understand the model itself. Hambrick and Fredrickson's model is a framework for understanding how organizations make strategic decisions. The model consists of four basic elements:

1. The organization's mission or purpose

2. The organization's external environment

3. The organization's internal environment

4. The organization's strategic choice

The first element, the organization's mission or purpose, refers to the reason why the organization exists. What are its goals? What does it hope to achieve? The second element, the organization's external environment, refers to the factors that exist outside of the organization that can affect it. These factors can include the economy, political conditions, social trends, and technological developments. The third element, the organization's internal environment, refers to the factors that exist within the organization that can affect it. These factors can include the organization's culture, structure, and resources. The fourth element, the organization's strategic choice, refers to the specific actions that the organization takes in order to achieve its goals.

So how does Trader Joe's strategy differ from Walmart's? To answer this question, we need to look at each of the four elements of Hambrick and Fredrickson's model.

The first element is the organization's mission or purpose. Walmart's mission is "to save people money so they can live better." Trader Joe's mission is "to provide outstanding customer service and to offer the best possible prices." As you can see, these two missions are quite different. Walmart's mission is focused on saving people money, while Trader Joe's mission is focused on providing outstanding customer service. The second element is the organization's external environment. The external environment for both Walmart and Trader Joe's includes factors such as the economy, political conditions, social trends, and technological developments. However, the specific external factors that are most important to each organization may differ. For example, Walmart may be more concerned about the state of the economy than Trader Joe's because Walmart is a discount retailer that depends on people having disposable income. The third element is the organization.......