Business Profile Paper

Nordstrom
Katie Byrne
Alexandra Guth
Sydney Sinchek
Abbie Smith

The Lindner College of Business prides itself on its curriculum based on developing each
students Professionalism, Academics, Character, and Engagement. These four aspects,
commonly known by the acronym PACE, ensure that students are becoming not only
successful in their studies, but also as well-rounded members of society. Just as PACE can be
seen through individuals, it is necessary for companies to employ as well. Nordstrom is one of
the best examples of a large company that exemplifies PACE through its overall trajectory, focus
on education and improvement, support of diverse backgrounds of employees, and involvement
within the community as part of its corporate social responsibility.
The first aspect of PACE is Professionalism, which envelops all of the ways in which one
conducts business every day, and handles themselves in trying situations. For a company such as
Nordstrom, professionalism includes the tactics employed to manage the overall trajectory of the
business, and the atmosphere of the company as demonstrated by the employees. After several
quarters of noticeable plunges in the economy of the company, which resulted in several hundred
position cuts, Nordstrom observed an increase in their shares in August of 2016. Nordstrom
attributed the improved performance to conservative and careful management of its inventory
and expenses, and the strength of its crucial anniversary sale, which logged an all-time high in
sales volume (Chicago Tribune). Rather than closing a considerable number of stores across the
nation, Nordstrom remained head-strong in their ability to cope with adversity, and has proven to
be successful in their efforts, seeming to be on track to meet its goal of reaching at least $20
billion in sales by 2020 (Levine-Weinberg). However, with increased technology, more
consumers are buying online, consequently causing an inevitable decrease in sales in traditional
stores. Throughout its history, Nordstrom has continuously updated its merchandise, always
ensuring that customers are exposed to the most-recent styles that they desire. Though shifting

more focus to the online market may be more expensive for Nordstrom at the outset, due to the
companys capability of handling the constant changes in consumers tastes, the eventual balance
of expenses that arise from a shift to a stronger online presence will prove to be beneficial on a
long-term basis.
As for the overall climate of the company, Nordstrom prides itself on functioning based
on the Nordstrom Way, which ultimately serves to satisfy the customer through any means
necessary. Everything that has evolved into the Nordstrom approach to business has one simple
objective -- to free employees to treat customers the way they like to be treated. The companys
entire organizational structure is designed to provide the flexibility needed for employees to
achieve that objective, with the only real stipulation being that the employees use their best
judgement in every situation (Spector and McCarthy). Employees are evaluated based on the
amount of sales they close, and the feedback received from the customers, raising expectations
and demanding ceaseless creativity and professionalism. One of the most unique qualities of
Nordstrom is the fact that the employees have the freedom to experiment with the different
departments in which they conduct their business; they are not confined to only one segment of
the store, providing the opportunity to expand their knowledge bases and allowing them to
understand where they work best. These expectations and flexibilities extend even beyond the
sales floor. As a multi-billion-dollar company, Nordstrom hires within the fields of
merchandising and planning, product development, strategy, marketing, finance, human
resources, credit, operations, and of course, technology and e-commerce. Overall, the
Nordstrom Way is what draws consumers to the company, and permits the company to
overcome obstacles that may stand in their way of reaching their goals.

The level of education necessary to be employed by Nordstrom varies based on each

position. Most of Nordstroms sales positions or cashier positions in stores prefer a high school
diploma and some experience working in fast paced environments. Assuming that there were
jobs that required a higher education and had a bit more responsibility, we looked into more of
the business positions and they did in fact require more experience and education. A financial
analyst for example, had to have a bachelors degree in finance or accounting and a product
manager needed a four-year degree or four years of equivalent experience. For the even more
complex jobs, like program and data engineers or top tier managers, the experience was also
high. The Data power Engineer job required a BA/BS and three years experience as a system
engineer so that they were already accustomed to the job before going in. A Senior Program
Manager for marketing, credit, and customer care technology is required to have at least eight
years of experience and a BA/BS that is relevant to the job. Nordstrom values education, so they
need people who have learned as much possible and are ready to be put to work. Nordstrom also
shows how much they value education through their internship opportunities and their
scholarships. Nordstrom offers a few different types of internships for juniors and seniors in
college or students in an MBA program. Most of the internships offered to juniors and seniors
are in retail so that they are able to be exposed to high fashion retail. The MBA internships are
more focused on the business behind the company and how they stay on top of the fashion
industry. This gives students a start to their career and allows them to be exposed to the business
side of fashion. Nordstrom also offers a large scholarship to 80 recipients each year to reward
students for their academic excellence. This also shows how much they emphasize learning and
growth because they are willing to give each recipient $10,000 for their hard work and financial

need. Overall, Nordstrom has been very good with acknowledging how important education is
and giving students the opportunity to grow.
Cultural competence is the understanding of other people's culture necessary to work
alongside them on a team or in a work environment. Nordstrom exemplifies strong company
character by ensuring equal representation of diverse people in leadership, as well as the
corporation as a whole. Nordstrom takes the fostering of cultural competence very seriously.
Each year it celebrates Black History Month as well as Hispanic Heritage. From the day
employees are hired, they begin a diversity training course that helps to bond together employees
of different backgrounds. Additionally, the goal of the company's sales is not only to make the
sale, but to make a connection with the consumer. This is better accomplished when the
employees are representative of all of the potential consumers.
Nordstrom is repeatedly ranked among the very best companies in the country in terms of
diversity and inclusion. It does a remarkable job at buying from diverse suppliers as well.
Because Nordstrom is proven time and time again to be a leader in the workforce for diversity
initiatives, there isn't much more that could be improved upon. The only opportunity or growth
that stands out is the proportion of minority company leaders. Currently 40.5% of the workforce
overall is comprised of minorities, but that is only true of 30.3% of executive and top-level
management. Once that number increases, Nordstrom will be in excellent shape with respect to
diversity and character.
Each year Nordstrom supports hundreds of nonprofits around the US and Puerto Rico,
where their businesses reside. With their gift card donation program where 1% of all gift card
sales goes to nonprofits, their employee match program, and the brands they sell also donatingNordstrom proves to be exponentially involved in their communities. Recently hundreds of

employees were involved in various Pride parades throughout the country, earning recognition
from many customers saying how appreciative they were of the support. Nordstrom also has a
Day of Caring sponsored by United Way where thousands of employees across the country
donate their time to various local nonprofit organizations to give back to the community around
them. During the holidays Nordstrom also partners New Balance with the nonprofit Shoes That
Fit to give new shoes to those in need. With the growth of the popularity of the program
throughout the years, they hope to continue that tradition and potentially expand it to Canadian
Nordstrom stores. Additionally, when MAC Viva Glam lipstick or lip-gloss is sold 100% of the
proceeds goes towards a plethora of HIV/AIDS organizations. Since that program has started in
1997, Nordstrom has given almost $14 million to those organizations. Nordstrom also supports
human rights through their Partnership Guidelines that are required to be followed by any firm
they work with that makes the products. Regarding the environment, the company has many
projects directed towards various efforts working to reduce their impact on the planet. Although
they have several successful projects for energy conservation, reducing water usage, and raising
their fleet efficiency, Nordstrom still has some work to do. More effort needs to be put towards
recycling and composting their waste. While it is one of their environmental projects, Nordstrom
recycled and composited less trash in 2015 than 2014 due to the lack of compositing programs.
Also their usage of paper and packaging has increased rather than decreased, so more technology
needs to be put towards more efficient packaging. From the baseline, Nordstrom is an extremely
engaged and efficient company. Their abundance of efforts to be involved and projects towards
giving back already out-do other companies, which is something to be proud of.
Ultimately, Nordstrom is one of the best examples of a company that displays PACE on a
daily basis. Through its exceptional demonstration of optimistic professionalism, variety of

education requirements, cultural competence, and environmental and community activism,

Nordstrom proves to be an all-around admirable business. These aspects of PACE are evident
when consumers enter the stores, from the incredibly helpful and friendly sales associates to the
unparalleled return policy. These qualities also shine through their behind the scenes actions and
work that they do with the community, employees, and other businesses. Through our research
and better understanding of the company, Nordstrom has proven to be a successful and wellrounded corporation.

Who did what:

In this project, we assigned each person to one category. Alexandra did the trajectory/
professionalism part of the paper so she wrote the first two paragraphs. Katie then added the
paragraph about education/academics, and Abbie worked on the diversity/character paragraph.
Sydney then finished up the paper by writing about the community engagement and we
proceeded to make the video. We all made slides to discuss our topic in the video presentation
and worked together to split up the introduction paragraph, conclusion paragraph, this paragraph,
and the editing of the video. Other than working on the paragraphs on our own, we all sat
together and worked on the rest of the project together.

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