Winn Dixie

William Milton Davis and his four sons founded Winn-Dixie in 1925 in Miami, Florida. On February 18, 1952, Winn Dixie became the first Florida-based industrial corporation listed on the NYSE. In 2005, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in â€Å"an effort to address financial and operational challenges that had hampered its performance. † (NYTimes. com) Winn Dixie was having a difficult time trying to overcome competitors, such as Wal-mart, that had blanketed crucial markets, such as Florida. In March 2012, Winn Dixie became a wholly owned subsidiary of BI-LO, another Southeastern supermarket chain, who took over Winn Dixie’s headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. Currently, Winn Dixie operates more than 480 stores and 380 in-store pharmacies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, employing approximately 63,000 individuals. Management Style Winn Dixie stores operate individually in that they all have their own general manager who is in charge of that store. This person is â€Å"responsible for deciding how to create a competitive advantage and achieve high profitability with the resources and capital they have at their disposal. † (pg. 9) The general manager hires functional managers who are responsible for the various departments (ie deli, pharmacy, dry goods, bakery, etc). Functional managers are responsible for â€Å"the specific business functions or operations that constitute a company or one of its divisions. (pg. 11) Therefore, the general manager looks at how the store as a whole is doing and pinpoints areas that need improvement. The GM then tells the functional managers what goals they need to achieve for their specific departments. The functional managers then need to develop a strategic plan in order to get their team to achieve those goals. An example: The GM is alerted to the fact that the customer service is not up to par. They would inform the customer service manager of this fact, and the customer service manager would decide how to get the team to improve customer service. Perhaps an incentive plan that rewards positive customer feedback or better training may be necessary. After a set period, customer service will be re-evaluated to determine if the changes were positive or negative and what can be done to continue improvement.