GNC, or General Nutrition Centers, is a company that deals with products in the nutrition field, namely vitamins and sports supplements—founded back in 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by David Shakarian. Nearly a hundred years later, it has grown into one of the largest companies with a financial growth of more than 2.5 billion dollars (Maathuis et al., 2020). The company’s meteoric growth is evidenced by the fact that there are now four thousand shops across the country, and the number is growing.
No company this big can do without an organizational design of configuration. At the very top is the board of directors responsible for the company’s development. It consists of the chairman (Yi Chen Zhang), vice chairman (Yong Kai Wong), lead independent director (Robert F. Moran), and other independent directors. All of them are the tip of the management iceberg and on their shoulders rests the responsibility for the company.
In addition, when managing such a large company, you need people who act more locally and directly influence the manufacturing and delivery process, as well as dealing with trade relations. In addition, GNC is perching on different channels such as eCommerce, research, and design. The district manager, regional manager, CDO, and Ecommerce Manager are involved. Each of them has its area of responsibility and influences the overall work process. Regardless of their status or title, they do their job of improving workflow, recruiting experienced staff, and solving logistical problems.
General Nutrition Centers is a company that works incredibly cohesively and never stops evolving. The employees are very experienced people in their field, and the incredible speed with which GNC has developed is an excellent example of this.
Reference
Maathuis, Ben & Mannaerts, C.M. & Retsios, Bas. (2020). GNC Toolbox manual V2.0.