LL Bean: Internal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the human resource management (HRM) practices at L.L. Bean. It begins with an introduction to the company and its revenue, followed by an in-depth examination of its internal strengths, such as its employees, employee benefits, focus on social responsibility, and use of technology. The report also identifies internal weaknesses, which are not explicitly mentioned in the provided text but are implied by the need for improvement. The analysis extends to external opportunities, including multi-channel retailing and global workforce, and threats, such as worldwide expansion. The report discusses the importance of management training, employee benefits, and aligning corporate values with company goals. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of a satisfactory workforce and framing compensation and benefit programs to meet their needs to achieve company goals. The report also includes references to various books and journals used in the analysis.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource management is a very important aspect of any organisation and its
overall growth. It is essential to make sure that right kind of policies as well as procedures are
being followed by the management of an organisation to ensure that human resource of the
company remains motivated and committed towards their work, this will lead to high level of
efficiency and productivity in longer run. L.L. Bean is an apparel company which was opened up
in the year 1912 by an entrepreneur Leon Leonwood Bean; currently the company is having
revenue of more than $2 billion (Glendon & Clarke, 2015). The current report will going to
discuss the internal strength and weakness of the company in current scenario and the same will
be matched through external opportunities as well as threats in an effective manner over period
of time.
MAIN BODY
Internal strength and weaknesses of the company
There has been a change in the landscape of various areas, such as use of technological
tools and internet etc. The company decided to focus on its internal strengths as well as
weaknesses. The internal strength of company is its employees. The management of the
company consider its employees as the most versatile strength of organisation and therefore
company rewards performance and improve overall benefits that are being given to its
employees. The aim of organisation is to improve the quality of life of employees working in
organisation and the general community in which they reside. L.L. Bean also focused on
recycling of natural resources with an aim to fulfil their social responsibility by protecting
environment. The company is also engaged in different labour rights and charitable giving.
These strengths of the company create a value for the business of company, hence contributing in
most of the profits of company in an effective way (Collins, 2013).
L.L. Bean’s responsible paper procurement, and global labor rights mindset, also helped
strengthen the company internally. As stated on the company’s webpage, “As a stakeholder
company, we believe that our purpose is to add value to everyone who has a vested interest in
L.L.Bean.” (SOCIAL) This strong atmosphere of social-responsibility greatly improved the
quality of life for employees and communities.
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L.L. Bean also focused internally on the ever-changing technology such as the Internet and
computer software. While the revitalization of the company’s Internet and technological
performance was costly, it was a required evil in order to remain competitive in their targeted
market. The strategic review performed found that without the changes, the company was failing
to keep up with their growth into the retail market.
External opportunities and threats of the company
There are various external opportunities and threats that L.L. Bean is facing in current
scenario. These opportunities needs to be grabbed by the management of company and threats
needs to be effectively analysed so that better policies and procedure can be made to overcome
such threats in an effective way.
Externally, the danger of worldwide extension and the opportunity worldwide workers
gave were evident, which drove Gorman to rearrange the organization. With an end goal to
develop the business, while keeping up the trustworthiness of the brand, L.L. Bean used a
rundown of reactions from a perspective of total reward in an effective manner. This rundown
incorporates: Responding to the open doors displayed by multi-channel retailing by including
physical store advancement and just as improving Internet deals, a companywide progress to a
worldwide redistributing plan of action, and supporting the organization's promise to social
obligation (Ross, 2017).
The establishment of global compensation standards, performance-based pay,
discretionary cash bonuses, and expanded fringe benefits are all examples of total rewards items
that contributed to the accomplishment of these objectives. There is another contributor, which is
management training. The need is to make sure that management is capable enough to train and
develop the existing work force in an effective manner. The trained work force is more capable
to grab opportunities that are available externally. L.L. Bean outsources most of its training and
development needs (Bogner, 2018). The company arranges various kinds of skill development
training and leadership programmes for its employees which emphasizes on critical thinking,
accountability, team building etc. The aim is to groom them and develop a professional standard
within their workings in longer run.
Corporate values of L.L. Bean, revisions in benefit program and alignment of the same with
company’s goals as well as values
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L.L. Bean tries to follow a passion for wilderness; it eventually motivates or drives
various policies of the organisation. The company has different kind of beneficial policies for its
employees. The company offers a program also known as Employee outdoor club. The members
of the club which employees and their family members are given opportunity to enjoy varied
type of recreational facilities in an effective way. The aim of organisation is to give their
employees a lasting experience by enriching their lives. The management of L.L. Bean always
want a greater health and wellness of its fellow employees.
This incidental advantage, characterized by the Marriam-Webster word reference as "a
work advantage allowed by a business that has a money related esteem however does not
influence fundamental wage rates," additionally supports total quantity of L.L. Bean stock
because of the way that representatives are urged to give valuable analysis on how the items hold
up to their proposed use. It is a standard practice for gatherings of workers to take "experience
days" together. This activity fills in as both a group building occasion just as a chance to make
proposals for L.L. Bean product improvement (Cunningham, 2016).
There are certain revisions that can be made in the benefits program of the company as
proposed by the management. The company should plan to give its employees a viable platform,
which allows employees to donate their ‘personal time off’ to any other employee during the
time of emergency in an effective way. This will allow other employees to reduce the sudden gap
that they may face during a month in the overall expenditure of an employee as compared to its
earnings. It is a long term process which requires efforts from the side of management.
For the purpose of creating a benefit package for different employee, one of the most
important factors that needs to be considered is the demographic that they came from, if an
employee of USA is hired, he or she will certainly expect higher compensation package and
benefits as compared to an individual who is hired from a developing country like India and
China. Therefore demographics of an employee also play a very important role in deciding the
compensation package and benefit. There are various companies around the world which offers
different kinds of benefits to its employees, in order to create a brand reputation in the
employment market. A big company like Boeing has collaborated with various healthcare
companies to reduce the overall healthcare cost of its employees in an effective manner.
There are cases when some of the employee would not consider a reduction in healthcare
cost as a step towards employee benefit, rather they would consider a foreign trip for employees
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as a tangible benefit. Such kind of experience to travel around the world is considered far more
valuable to an employee over longer period of time.
L.L. Bean should analyse the employees and their needs based on the relevant
demographics and behaviour patterns (Martínez-Jurado & Moyano-Fuentes, 2014). Once it is
done, the company can improve its current benefits programs so that the expectation of
employees from management of the organisation can be met up. Employees can be trained and
developed in an effective manner to ensure that benefits that are offered to them are not wasted
and they contributes in the overall growth as well as productivity of the business in an effective
way. The time, money as well as efforts put in by L.L. Bean will be justified, if some kind of
tangible benefit is directly derived from employees in the longer run.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that companies and businesses
around the world cannot achieve higher level of growth without having a satisfactory work force.
The management of companies need to ascertain the needs and demands of human resources of
the firm and then necessary compensation and benefit program have to be framed to fulfil their
needs as well as demands in an effective way. It is a long term process and requires efforts from
the side of management in longer run. The company should make polices with regards to human
resource of the organisation, and should implement the same in order to achieve higher level of
revenue, profitability and growth over longer period of time.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
"Fringe Benefit." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 2 June 2018.
“BENEFITS.” L.L.Bean Careers, L.L. BEAN, llbeancareers.com/benefits.htm.
“SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.” L.L.Bean Careers, L.L. BEAN, llbeancareers.com/benefits.htm.
Bogner, M. S. (2018). Human error in medicine. CRC Press.
Collins, D. (2013). Management fads and buzzwords: Critical-practical perspectives. Routledge.
Cunningham, J. B. (2016). Constructing Retirement and Benefits Plans. Strategic Human
Resource Management in the Public Arena, 289-304. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-
43241-4_15
Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological
perspective. Crc Press.
Martínez-Jurado, P. J., & Moyano-Fuentes, J. (2014). Lean management, supply chain
management and sustainability: a literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 85,
134-150.
Pope, B. (2017, October 22). Mercy's Employer Health Solutions Sets Partnership with Major
Employer. Retrieved June 3, 2018, from https://www.mercy.net/newsroom/2015-07-
28/mercys-employer-health-solutions-sets-partnership-with-major-employer/
Ross, J. E. (2017). Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge.
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