Market Basket's Unique Business Structure

Market Basket – Case Study
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April 28, 2020
Conflicts in organizations had long plagued people and firms alike, a fact attested to by experiences and written about by several scholars (Jehn, Greer, Levine, and Szulanski, 2008; Cosier and Harvey, 1998). Conflicts are more likely to arise in business owned and run by a family (Kaye and McArthy (1996) in Cosier and Harvey, 1998). In some, to be specific, conflicts are more likely to arise at senior levels or top management (Eisenhardt, Kahwajy, and Bourgeois (1998) in Rahim, 2003), as is the case with the Market Basket issue discussed in this paper. Although conflicts are generally dysfunctional, many scholars discussed that there are ways to which conflicts can be a source of agreement and solutions. Conflicts can change the way things are run, shake the foundation, and make the people within the organization see things that are seemingly veiled in the first place. Conflicts, in this sense, can make or break an organization.
Market Basket
Market Basket is no exception to the (relatively recent) issue of the firm. Market Basket is one of the family-owned and established businesses that attracted a cult following, making it one of the successful and popular stores whose number of loyal customers had never waned except when Artie T was kicked out of the firm. What made this firm so successful in its own right is, for generations, it managed to uphold its ultimate mission: to be a business that is not only for those who run it but also for the benefit of its customers, employees, and the shareholders alike (Ton, Kochan, and Reavis, 2015). Better yet, Market Basket can be considered as an outlier, given its unique business structure.
Within its business structure is its core competency, which includes the low pricing that has been loved and known for. Despite the competition, Market Basket managed to stick with relatively low prices, which they kept uniform across all their branches. Keeping this trend takes much effort from the management team. In relation, despite the uniform pricing, Market Basket is also unique in a way that what the demographics want, they offer and sell at a low price. This took a lot of studies and immersions from the firm's part. This is precisely a reason why people were able to appreciate the existence of Market Basket. This also brings us to another core, which is being a customer/people-oriented business.
Market Basket has been known to approach people and problems in-person rather than making people talk to a voicemail. This is characterized by the absence of an official website and is hands-on of the staff in every store they have. Through this, the firm was able to establish a way to know the demographics, by asking directly. They also this direct approach by scouting potential vendors within the vicinity, partnering with them in an agreement to sell their produce.
Aside from those mentioned above, Market Basket has been known to care for its employees too. The firm is all about being hands-on concerning employing and training potential candidates. The firm is dead serious when it comes to giving it all for the employees, going to lengths of investing their time and money on training. This goes to show that the firm is more interested in the overall development of skills of the workforce. What is more is that the firm also practices a promotion-within approach.
All of these good things lead to the large following and well-received existence of their stores, wherever they may be. However, all of these proved to be detrimental when the issue of Arthur T. came to light. As mentioned earlier, Arthur T or Artie T was essentially kicked out of the firm amidst the issues and accusations shot at him. The question here was made apparent; what brought these accusations and tirades against Arthur T? The answer should be evident by now: conflicts. We go back to the notion that conflicts are more likely to arise in family-owned businesses, and Arthur T's is no exception. According to Jehn (1997), three types of conflict can be visible in family businesses: task conflict, relationship conflict, and process conflict (in Cosier and Harvey, 1998).
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