The North West Company (C): Human Resources

The North West Company cases allow students to take a cross-enterprise leadership approach in looking at the dilemma facing the president and chief executive officer of The North West Company (North West), a food and general merchandise retailer operating primarily in Northern Canada. In early 2003, North West had negotiated a master franchisor agreement with Giant Tiger Stores Limited (Giant Tiger) with the objective of opening stores west of Winnipeg. In contrast with North West's push system of product replenishment, Giant Tiger had developed a successful pull system that gave individual store managers tremendous leeway in ordering decisions. The president and CEO wonders whether there is an opportunity to drive better results by adopting Giant Tiger's pull system within its Northern stores. The upside potential may include higher sales and reduced inventory levels as merchandise is tailored for each community. On the other hand, North West may face logistics and human resources issues in attempting to adopt this new system. This supplement to The North West Company (A): Cross-enterprise Strategy, product 9B07M047, discusses the human resources issues.