Professional Documents
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Caso Mrs Fields
Caso Mrs Fields
Caso Mrs Fields
Case 3-1
Creating something new, given the old to be wed to an information system. They be-
and familiar, is an art rather than a science. lieved theirs was a case ofputting an outboard
The late, latter-day Da Vinci, Buckminster motor, not on a skyscraper, but on a boato
Fuller, has been credited with this ability.
"Part of Fuller's genius," wrote Tom Rich- The Company
man.' "was his capacity to transform a tech- In 1988, Debbi Sivyer Fields, as president of
nology from the merely new to the truly use- Mrs. Fields' lnc. and/ Mrs. Fields' Cookies,
ful by creating a new form to take advantage controlled over 416 Mrs. Fields' Cookie out-
of its characteristics." What Fuller's geode- lets, 122 La Petite Boularigerie Stores, 129
sic designs had done for plastic, observed Jessica's Cookies and Famous Chocolate
Richman, the administrative management units, 2 Jenessa's retail gift stores, Jenny's
processes Debbi and Randy Fields developed 8wingset (a children's casual clothing store
for Mrs. Fields' Cookies did for information in Park City, Utah), Mrs. Fields' Dessert
technology. Store (a Los Angeles store that sold ice
Fuller, who once suggested that a particu- cream, cookies, cakes, and pies), Mrs. Fields'
larly awkward application of a new technol- Candy Factory (in Park City), Mrs. Fields'
ogy to an old process would be "like putting an Cookie College (for training store managers
outboard motor on a skyscraper," would very and assistant managers), and a macadamia
likely have approved of the Fields' creation- nut processing plant in Hawaii. Mrs. Fields'
"a shape if not the shape, of business organi- Cookies operated 370 cookie stores in the
zations to come;' according to Richman. United States, 10 in Canada, 6 in Hong
Kong (through 50 percent ownership ofMrs.
[Information technology] gives top manage-
ment a 'dimension of personal control over
Fild's Cookies Far East Ltd., ajoint venture
dispersed operations that small companies with a local company, Dairy Farm Ltd.), 7 in
otherwise find impossible to achieve . It Japan, 6 in the United Kingdom, and 17 in
projects a founder's vision into parts of a com- Australia. The ,company employed 8,000
pany that have long ago outgrown his or her people, 140 instaff positions at the Park
ability to reach in perso_n. City corporate offices.
In the [Fields'] structure ... computers Mrs. Fields' Cookies, like many of Buck-
don't just speed up old administrative pro- minster Fuller's designs, achieved elegance
cesses. They alter the process. Management of function by marrying what might atfirst
. . . . becomes less administration and more seem to be incongruous elements. Custom-
inspiration. The management hierarchy of
ers knew Mrs. Fields' Cookies as the upscale
the company feels almost flato
Debbi Fields had created the business. Keri Ostrofsky prepared this case under the supervi-
Randy had de~lsed a corporate structure fit sion of Professor James 1. Cash as the basis for class
discussion rather than to illustrate either effectiveor
ineffeetive handling of an administrative situation.
lToro Richman, "Mrs. Fields' Secret Ingredient," Inc. Copyright 1989 by the President and Fellows ofHar-
(October 1987): 67 -72. . vard College. Harvard Business School case 9-189-056.
118 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition
brown, red, and white retail outlets that dis- ist area of San Francisco. "With the first
pensed hot, fresh, chewy cookies like Grand- store, I had what I wanted," Debbi recalled.
mother used to bake. Few were aware that "As Randy had his thing to do every day, I
by 6:00 A.M. Utah time, a computer in Park had mine. When the people at Pier 39 shop-
City, high in the Uinta Mountains, would ping mall called and asked me to open a
know of their purchase and every other pur- store there, I was immensely fiattered . . .
chase made at the more than 500 Mrs. thanked the leasing agent profusely, and
Fields' Cookie stores in 25 states and five turned him down .... What I saw as a store,
countries on four continents. he perceived as a business-a business that
The cookies, of course, carne first. Debbi could grow. The point wasn't to make money,
Sivyer began baking cookies as a teenager. the point was to bake great cookies, and we
"Chocolate chip cookies were an easy projeet sacrificed for that principle," Her employees'
. . . just the thing to keep you busy on a desire for growth and greateropportunity f-
rainy afternoon.... The Sivyer dan was al- nally convinced Debbi to open the second
ways delighted to discover a plateful of choc- store.
olate chip cookies, and they weren't expen-
sive to make." Debbi perfected her recipe Explosioe Growth
while a teenager.working frst for the Oak- The San Francisco store was followed by sev-
land A's baseball club (retrieving foul balls eral others in northern California and, in
on the third base line) and later for a local 1980, by an outlet in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mrs.
department store. These experences fueled Fields' next expanded east to Salt Lake City, .
her enthusiasmand drive, and were a source Utah. By 1981, the company had 14 stores.
of the fundamental philosophies she would Seeking further opportunities for expansion,
. later bring to themanagement of Mrs. the Fields tried to attraet shopping mall
F~lds' Cookies. managers at a 1982 trade show in Las Ve-
At 19, Debbi married economist and Stan- gas, but drew a lukewarm response. At the
ford University gradate Randy Fields, then same trade show ayear later, Debbi handed
29. Finding her expertise in demand by her out cookie samples to conventioneers from a
husband's clients, who often asked that she booth arranged as a working prototype of a
bake for their visits, Debbiconvinced Randy store, complete with oven and mixer. This
that she should gointo the cookie business. brought her to the attention ofthe landlords,
The couple borrowed $50,000 and, in August sorne of whom not only let Mrs. Fields' into
1977, within ayear ofbeing married, Debbi theirexisting malls, but asked that stores be
opened her first store, Mrs. Flelds' Chocolate opened in future locations, as well. The
Chippery, in Palo Alto , California. Debbi cookie company's East Coast debut also
sold $50 worthof cookies n her first day in carne in 1983 -Bloomingdale's invitation to
business, and$i5 worth (m'her second day, open a Mrs. Fields' store in its New York
thereby winning a friendly bet made be- location was considered a major milestone
tween Debbi .and Randy regarding the total by Debbi and Randy.
sales she would make each day, . .
More than ayear .passed before Debbi International Expansion
opened a second store in a high~traffic tour-
o p . ,
In 1982, Chuck Borash, a vice president at
.Mrs, .Flelds', suggested that international " .
2Several quotations in this case are t8.ken from Debbi expans on be the next project. The challenge
Fields, One Smart . Cookie .(New York: Simon and was in:~sistible, and, after sorne preliminary
Schuster, 1987). . research, the company formed Mrs. Fields'
; .
_.
Mrs. Fields' Cookies 119
International and targeted J apan, Hong and were to be sold within a specified time.
Kong, and Australia. Cookies not sold within two hours, for exam-
The Fields searched for a Japanese part- ple, were discarded (usually given to the lo-
ner, which they were told was a prerequisite cal Red Cross or other charity).
to doing business in Japan. Prospective part- Mrs. Fields' Cookies was part of the sweet
ners warned Debbi and Randy that the cook- snack industry, which included the packaged
ies would have to be changed to appeal to the snacks segment (e.g., Frito-Lay's Grandma's
Japanese palate, specifically, that the spices Cookies; Nabisco's Fig Newtons, Va~illa Wa-
and physical scale of the cookies were fers, Chips Ahoy, and Oreos; and Keebler's
wrong. When Debbi, Randy, and several Soft Batch). Competitors for impulse snack
other executives visited a potential partner dollars included New York's David's Cookies,
in Japan, Debbi brought along ingredients Atlanta's Original Great American Chocolate
to make cookies according to her recipe, a Chip Cookie Company, and the Nestl Com-
company trade secreto "Agreement was uni- pany's Original Cookie Co.
versal that these cookies were ah wrong for Specialty stores seUing chocolates, ice
the J apanese taste," Debbi recaUed, "and yet cream, cinnamon roUs, and croissants con-
in less than a minute, there wasn't a crumb stituted another segment of the sweet snack
to be seen." Although that was the end ofthe food industry. Shopping malls represented
partnership, the actions of these executives the largest source of spontaneous business
convinced the Fields that they could sell for specialty stores, and sorne 80 percent of
cookies in J apan, and they opened several Mrs. Fields'ioutlets were in malls. Competi-
stores without a partner. tion for the most favorable mall locations,
Adjustments were necessary in sorne coun- which were typicaUy next to large apparel
tries, however. For example, it was decided stores rather than in areas with other foods
that the practice of encouraging sampling stores, was fierce. "Customers," noted one in-
when business was slow should be continued dustry observer, "are too busy filling up on
in the international stores. The store man- traditional 'main meal' fare to think seri-
ager in Hong Kong, however, was unable to ously about any edible specialty items. Even
interest people in sampling cookies. When if they decide afterward to have them as a
Debbi visi ted the store and tried offering dessert, they won't have the patience to
samples herself, she encountered the same stand in line once againr" As most maUs
reaction. Observing that neighboring store had few such locations, developers were se-
window displays were very neatly organized, lective about the stores they allowed outside
in contrast to her piled samples, Debbi rear- the "food courts." Said one New York leasing
ranged the tray so that people could take one director, "We can only accept operations
piece without touching the others, and the with sorne sort ofproven production record.'"
passersby became willing to sample. Overall,
Mrs. Fields International looked to be a Management Philosophy
promising avenue for expansiono
The second Mrs. Fields' store raised a host of
the store. Conversely, no corporate expenses education. 1 believe we are split 50/50 be-
were allocated to stores. "When you do that," tween males and females. The turnover of
explained Randy, "you lose traek of what store managers is about 100 percent per year,
corporate is doing." Each store operated as a although many work in that job 12 to 14
months. When they leave, they usually re-
profit center, with average store revenue of
turn to college. 1 think our turnover is aboye
$250,000 per year. average for this kind of business, however.
In 1987, Mrs. Fields' Inc. had after-tax prof- My store managers are compensated in two
its of $17.6 million on revenue of $113.9 mil- a
ways. First, they receive salary which is
lion, a 34 percent increase from 1986 revenue, competitive with other retail food store man-
and a 9.3 percent increase from 1986 net in- agers in this area. Second, they are eligible
come (see Exhibit 1). In 1988, a write-off of for a monthly bonus if they meet their sales
$19.9 million on revenues of$133.1 million for forecasts. They receive 1.25 percent of sales,
atore and plant closings left Mrs. Fields' with and if they exceed their quota, they receive
an after-tax loss of $18.5 million . 10 percent of all revfnue aboye the goal. The
company does not limit the amountof bonus,
in fact, one store manager made an addi-
Organization tional 90 percent of his salary, 1 believe.
The Fields believed that "the less hierarchy,
the better. ... that with hierarchy, the Quotas, which determined the amount of
larger an organization, the more managers bonus a store manager could make, were set
turn to managing people and less to manag- by the district sales manager. They were
ing key business processes." Thus, employ- based on year-to-year trends. The D8M con-
eeshad titles and job responsibilities, but sidered each store separately, looking at past
there was no official organization chart. trends, the maturity ofthe market served by
Communication took place between people the store, and future projections of how the
as needed, regardless of title or position. store could grow. The D8Ms then forecast
Staff. Field sales staff included store clerks, how much or how little additional sales
store management, and district and regional could be made at that store and set the
managers. At year end 1987, 105 district sales quota. They were set on volumes.
managers (D8Ms) reported to 17 regional di- Mrs. Fields' "promote from within" policy
rectora of operations (RDOs), who reported to reflected the high value the company placed
four senior regional directors. on loyalty. Rewarding loyalty extended even
One regional director described her job to suppliers. In 1987, Mrs. Fields' purchased
and the company's management philosophy approximately $6.6 million worth of choco-
as follows: late from the same supplier it had used on
its first day of business, when a .company
l manage six district managers, each of salesman had treated Debbi as ifshe were
w~om manages six stores, 1 also manage a his only customer. .
.store myself, so 1 know what my district The financialside of the stores' business
. managers need to know. To do this, 1 print
was handledat headquarters. Local market-
o~~ about 300 pages of reports a day. My dis-
trict.managers get about 50 pages a day,
.ing: decisions were made by the regional and
Daily, 1 work with my controller in Park City district managers. The average number of
to discuss any accounting differences in my stores under the supervision of a D8M de-
stores. creased from5.3 to 4.2 in 1987. .
My store managers are on average 20 to 25 Corporate. At corporate headquarters, re-
years old and have one to two years of college sponsibility for sto re management fell to
122 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition
Assets
Property and equipment at cost less depreciation 82,827 82,033 51,496 37,838
Leasehold developments at cost less depreciation 10,672 11,429 5,529 2,809
Other" 1,273 863
Current assets
Inventories 6,640 :7,779 4,406 3,198
Accounts receivable . 3,816 3,585 3,222 1,522
Prepaid expenses and miscellaneous 8,937 9,363 4,761 2,105
Due from affiliates 5,000 O 740 O
Cash 3,971 ~,059 1,543 2,257
$123,136 $121,111 $71,697 . $49,729
CUITEmt liabilities . .. ..
Accounts payable, due to affiliates and accrued
expenses .
18,762 "
.~ . . ' 24,963 11,295 - 7,006
.
.. ,.-
l.
Mrs. Fields' Cookies 123
store controllers, who reported to Debbi Drive sales (will it generate new sales?).
through a vice president of operations. The Strategic importance (will it put the company
controllers, each of whom managed betweeh in a position to take advantage of something
35 and 75 stores, reviewed daily computer it could not otherwise do, like the interview
system?).
reports summarizing sales overall and by
product type for each store; monitored un- "Strategic" in our industry means promoting
usualconditions, problems, and trends, as sales and controlling labor and food ~costs. If
well as cash underages and overages; and you can do that you will be successful. I am
contacted field managers for explanations. in an enviable position as the MIS director .
Within 24 hours of the store controllers' re- here, because this company has more infor-
view, Debbi saw the same reports at an ag- mation than people can act upon. When
someone wants a new report, I have usually
gregate level.
already collected the information; it's just a
MIS. The objective of being able to run matter of massagin,g and formatting.
each store essentially as Debbi ran the orig-
inal Palo Alto store guided the implementa- Randy believed that keeping the staff
tion of information technology at Mrs . small kept employees solving business prob-
Fields'. The strategic goal of the MIS area, lems rather than managing layers of people.
according to Randy Fields, was "to put as He believed this kept jobs interesting and,
much decision making and intelligence into moreover, that smaller groups of people
the store level pe as is necessary to free the make decisions faster and better. Randy felt
manager to do those things that uniquely that in order .10 avoid large groups, acom-
people do." Randy believed that it was "de- pany had to either limit business growth or
meaning for people to do what machines can leverage its people.
do." Store managers, he felt had better Randy saw information systems as a way
things to do than paperwork-such as sell- to accommodate growth without expanding
ing cookies. staff. He consistentIy encouraged the people
Director of MIS Paul Quinn reported di- working with the technology to think up
rectly to Randy Fields and was responsible new, creative applications. "Supposeyou
for implementing his visiono Quinn's 11- could not have any people working for you,"
person organization was responsible for de- he would sayo "What must the computer do
velopment, support, and operations for the for you then? Don't be limited by what you
store personal computers and financial and think the computer can do." An accounts
sales systems, and for managing the firm's payable clerk, who routinely paid invoices
telecornmunications equipment, a Rolm Pri- that were regularand consistent, had won-
vate Branch Exchange (PBX), and a voice- dered whether this redundant activity
mail system, The MIS organization chart is might be automated. This employee's initia-
shown in Exhibit 2. . tive gave rise to the development of an ex-
. With respect to systems development at pert system, which was designed to not only
'-' .rd~s . Fields', Quinn explained: automate the routine elements of the activ-
ity, but also learn how 10 respond to excep-
. :..AYorie can come to me or any of my people tions by prompting the manager for input
. and ask for anything. We do an ad hoc cost/
each time an exception was encountered. As
.benefit analysis and justify a' system on one
of three criteria:
the system learned.ithe exceptions became
routine, and the system was able to respond
~ ;Potential payback (will it cut costs andlor to them automatically without further input
save money?). from the manager.
124 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition
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s operators
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11
Service area
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'-----' !
Bake area
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*Tbis floorplan is approximately 600 sq . ft. Stores ranged from 400 sq. ft. to 1,250 sq. ft.
, .." . ! .
headquarters' computer, deposited the day's
,
the .week, school day or holiday, weather I
.. .transactions, and retrieved any mail for conditions, etc., the manager answered a se-
store employees. riesof questions that caused the system to
.A store manager's day began in the back access a specific mathematical model for
roomat the personal computer. After enter- computing the day's schedule. Themanager
ing-workday characteristics, such as day of was subsequentlyadvised how many cookies
126 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition
to bake per hour and the projected sales per The information system had been explic-
hour. The manager would enter the types of itly designed to refieet the manager's per-
cookies to be made that day and the system spective to foster the kind of symbiotic rela-
would respond with the number ofbatches to tionship described above, according to Debbi.
mix and when to mix them. For example, the "Asking store managers making salaries of
following mixing information $20,000 to $25,000 annually to meet an an-
nual quota of a half-million dollars," she ex-
plained, .
Number of is like asking them to fy to the moon. They
Whento Batches to cannot really relate to those big numbers.
Mix Length of Time Mix But if you break it down to $50 or $60 an
hour, the quotas become easy goals. Even if
8a.m. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 31 an hourIy quota is missed by $5 or $6, our
1 p.m. 3 p.m.-6 p.m, 7 employees feel they oan easily make it up the
next hour.
The most efficient way for managers to
would tell the manager: "At 8 a.m. mix 31 communicate was via electronic mail,but
batches of cookies. Use the dough from 10 they also called their phone mailbox in Park
a.m. to 3 p.m. At that time the dough is no City for audio messages on a daily basis.
longer up to our standards, so discard any Debbi, who had from the outset promised to
remaining dough. At 1 p.m. mix 7 batches of respond within 48 hours to electronic and
dough for use from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m." voicemail directed to her, sent messages
As store sales were periodically entered through this network several times a week.
throughout the day, either manually by the Thus, the manager did not simplyread
manager or by an automated cash register, memos from the president, but often person-
the system would revise its projections and ally heard her voice.
offer recommendations. For example, if the The information system helped Debbi
customer count was down; the system might maintain a degree of personal involvement
_suggest doing sorne sampling. If, on the with each store manager. "Even when she
other hand, the customer count was accept- isn't there, she's there," wrote Richman, "in
able, but average sales were down, the sys- the standards built into the scheduling pro-
tem might recommend that more suggestive gram, in the hourly goals, in the sampling
selling be done. Store managers could follow and suggestive selling, on the phone. The
or disregard these suggestions. . technology has 'leveraged' Debbi's ability to
From sales and inventory information project her infiuence into more stores than
stored in the computer, the information sys- she could ever .reach effectively without it.,,5
tem co~puted.projctions, and preparedand , The information system also helped the
'(aft er being checked by the store manager) manager 'make hiring decisions. After con-
generated orders .for supplies, A single -cor- ducting initial interviews, the manager en-
porate database trackedsales in each store tered inforination from the handwritten ap-
and produced reports that were reviewed plications . "int o the computer, which
daily. Headquarters .thus learned immedi- compared it withstored information on pre-
ately when astore was .not meeting itsob-
jeetives and was able tre.spond quickly, Ex-
hibit 4 shows a schematic diagram of the
overall information system. 5"Mrs. Fields'Secret Ingredient," p. 67.
. '
Mrs. Fields' Cookies 127
Store Corporate
Applications Applications
Electronic mail Personal records management
Day.planner Sales management .
Skills test Electronic mail
Interview Accountirig
Time clock Property management system
Labor scheduler Systems development
vious .applicants who had .been hired. The edge, and attitude-and hence would fit into
system thus helped themanager to narrow the corporate culture. Promising applicants
the field to -applicants who were "Mrs. were recalled for an interview conducted in-
Fields' kind of people," people who possessed teraetively with the computer. The appli-
attributes the company v lued highly-e.g., cants' answers were compared with those of
honesty, values.tpunctuality, availability, existing employees and became part of the
education, experience, salesmanship, knowl- . personnel database. The manager could
128 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition.
override the system's final recominendation .combination stores, and planned to have ex-
on hiring by going to the personnel depart- isting senior managers work in them for a
mento The manager eould do this, or go .any- month or two in order to become familiar
where else within Mrs. Fields' for that mat- with their operation.
ter, electronieally. Randy was excited about the combination
store approach. It presented an opportunity
Dioersification to earve out a niche in a highly fractional-
In April 1987, Mrs. Fields' Holdings Ine. ae- ized market, and the size of the operation
quired from Pepsico a 119 store French bak- constituted an investinent barrier to cornpe-
ery/sandwich chain, La Petite Boulangerie .tition, The Mrs. Fields' name was demo-
(LPB). In the month following the acquisi- graphically well established, and Randy be-
tion, Randy reduced the subsidiary's admin- lieved whatever they put it on would sello
istrative staff from 53 to 3~ explaining: Furthermore, a recent market analysis had
"We abso.rbed many of the overhead func- suggested that enormouademographically
tions into our existing organization includ- driven growth in the popularity of quality
ing aecounting, finan ce, personnel, human baked goods would not be significantly af-
resources, training, and development. We fected by fiuctuations in the eeonomy.
left two people in operations and one in .Randy wanted to pay for future expansion
R&D." with profits, and he was convinced that the
This was not Mrs. Fields' first acquisition. greater profits generated by the combination
The company had acquired another retail stores would enable them to open more new
cookie chain, the Famous Chocolate Chip atores.
Company, in 1984. The forerunner of Mrs.
As you will see from the financial results, our
Fields' current MIS system had been de- .
strategy required a comprehensive rational-
signed to incorporate that chain's cookie ization of our real estate portfolio, including
stores into the Mrs. Fields' fold. But the LPB consolidating and closing a number of stores
acquisitionwas different, primarily because that either did not complement the bakery
of the size of the company, which Randy es- store concept or were performing poorly. This
timated would add $45 million in revenue in necessitated a real estate write-down of $19.9
1987. LPB sto res baked (from frozen dough) . million, which we consider R&D expense re-
and served eroissants, breads, and other lated to opening our new combination atores.
baked goods as well as hot soups and sand- This program is now completed, with the cost
wiches . "It was," according to Randy, "a log- fully provided for in the 1988 accounts. This
ical extension for the bakery aspect of Mrs. has enabled us to establish both a broader
and more solid base with greatly enhanced
Fields' Cookies," ,
potentia1 for generating future profits.
Th focus oLtlie company's :"exparided
store" strategy was Mrs. Fields' Bakeries. Corporate direction was clear. "Our bak-
"I'hese.texplained Randy, "are destmation ery strategy," Randy explained,
outlets combining fulllines of both cookies
is long-term, and is based on our operational
and bakery.products," La Ptite Boulangerie
' .' experience and extensive.market and con-
provided the rl estate and Mrs.) .'ieldj' the sumer research. iBut .it will takesome time ..
."feel good'' element for these .upscale, ,s~ .-,: .for the company to reach its full potential
down cafs. This was not mere exparislon; 'J dueto the significant expenditures .inherent
11 l . .' _ ~ . ., .".
this was ia . new ,concept for Mrs. Fields'. in the bakery store program and the sheer
Debbi
. . was involved with designing thErnew,
, .. ..size of the market we' intend to .domnate. " " . ' ," ':.
~ .
. .
..~ ';~.
~,
.' J
! . .
Mrs. Fields ' Cookies 129
These changes caught the attention of the has always had to serve two masters. First,
financial press, which suggested that Mrs. control.Rapid growth without control equals
Fields' faced the characteristic management disaster. We needed to keep improving control
dilemmas of a growing business. Its expan- over our stores. And second, information that
leads to control also leads to better decision
sion, both domestically and abroad, had pre-
making. To the extent that the information is
cipitated changes in organizational and fi- then provided to the stores and field manage-
nancial strueture. The company was in a ment level, the decisions that are made there
state of flux. It was attempting to diversify, are better, and they are more easily made."
sorne claimed belatedly, into combination
stores. Earlier it had begun to sell its pro- Had Mrs. Fields' lost control? J ust ayear
prietary information system. Finally, what earlier, the MIS director had remarked that
Randy viewed as record revenues were re- he had more information available than peo-
ported by the press as record losses in 1988 ple could act upon. Was the information sys-
(see Exhibit 1). tem still that cornucopia? The Fields had ac-
commodated past expansion by modifying
Future Growth their information system. Was that what
was needed now Randy Fields wondered as
What was a cookie company to do? Just a he walked purposefully through corporate
year earlier, explaining what .h e meant by headquarters, one floor below the Main
"having a consistent vision," Randy Fields Street shopping mall in Park City.
had said that he could have described as far
back as 1978, when he first began to create it,
the system that exists today, But he doesn't
mean the machines or how they're wired 00- .
gether. "MIS in this company," he says, GIbid., p. 72.
130 Chapter 3 Effects of IT on Competition
Appendix A
Mrs. Fields' standard personal computer the System 38s were dedicated, one to sales
configuration was a Tandy 1000 (an MS- systems;one to financial systems, nd one to
DOS system with 8086-based CPU) with applications development.
one floppy disk drive, a 20-megabyte hard With aH significant corporate data resid-
disk, and an internal 1200-bps modem used ing in one database, disaster planning was
for communication with the Utah data cen- of critical importance. The company had ex-
ter. Tandy computers were chosen because perienced several system fail ures and had a
of a favorable service arrangement. Mrs. simple disaster plan': if one of the System 38s .
Fields' maintained a 24-hour service con- failed, one of the remaining two would back
tract with Tandy, but most managers sim- it up for critical functions. Store PCs that
ply contacted the nearest Radio Shack if had not transmitted their daily work would
they had problems. store the information locally and transmit
Software was the responsibility of the Mi- latero If data had already been transmitted,
cro Systems manager in Park City. The data but the nightly backup tapes had not been
center in Park City utilized three IBM Sys- run, the information would be lost. Such
tem 38s, each equipped with six 9335 hard problems hadn't occurred, though there had
disks. Chosen for their database strengths, been recoverable disk failures.
Mrs. Fields ' Cookies 131
Appendix B
Randy Fields' notion of having "a vision of Skill Tests was a set of computer-based
what you want to accomplish with the tech- multiple choice tests any employee could
nology" was refieeted in the applications he take to be considered for raises and promo-
had developed. The most frequently used ap- tions. The system indicated how many ques-
plications are described below. tions were answered correctly and provided
Form Mail, the menu-driven electronic tutorial sessions for questions answered in-
mail application, was used mainly for brief correctly. Scores were sent to the personnel
messages between managers and staff. Man- database when other information was trans-
agers decided when mail was transmitted to mitted to the corporate offices.
headquarters-whether immediately or Interuiew helped storemanagers make hir-
when their daily paperwork was sent. ing decisions. Managers entered information
Day Planner was the first application a from applications filled out by candidates
store manager used each morning. It pro- into the program, which made recommenda-
duced a schedule for the day based on the tions based on the historical demographics of
minimum sales target (in dollars), the day of people who had previously interviewed and
'the week, and type of day (holiday, school worked for Mrs. Fields', Prospeetive employ-
day, etc.), This schedule was updated every ees were called back to the store for an in-
time hourly sales information was entered teractive interview with the computer appli-
into the system. (Manual entry by the man- cation, which made a final recommendation
ager was to be eliminated by cash registers for hiring.
custom designed to automatically feed the Time Clock was a planned application
hourly sales into the personal computer.) that would enable employees to punch in
Labor Scheduler was an expert system and out via the Tandy computers. The auto-
that, given requirements for a specific day, matic time card maintained by the system
scheduled staff to run a store. would facilitate the payroll process.
,!