Bass Pro Shops Case Study: Kotter's Change Framework
This case study examines the strategic challenges facing Bass Pro Shops, Inc., the leading sporting goods retailer in North America. Founded in 1972 by Johnny Morris, the company has grown from a single shelf of fishing lures to a multi-billion-dollar enterprise with over 200 locations. The paper diagnoses three key challenges: intensifying competition within a growing sporting goods sector, declining gun ownership rates amid shifting public attitudes, and the absence of a CEO succession plan for its aging founder. Using Kotter's eight-step model for organizational change, the paper proposes a structured framework for addressing each challenge, emphasizing urgency, coalition-building, vision communication, and cultural anchoring to sustain the company's competitive advantage.
- Introduction: Overview of Bass Pro Shops' strategic challenges and paper purpose
- Company Overview: History, scale, acquisitions, and competitive positioning
- Diagnosis of Key Challenges: Sector growth, gun ownership decline, and CEO succession risk
- Kotter's Eight-Step Approach to Change: All eight steps applied to company's three core problems
- Conclusion: CEO succession identified as most urgent strategic priority
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What makes this paper effective
- Applies a well-established theoretical framework — Kotter's eight-step change model — directly and consistently to three concrete business challenges, demonstrating how abstract management theory translates into organizational practice.
- Grounds its diagnosis in real industry data and Gallup polling evidence, lending empirical credibility to the identification of threats facing the company.
- Maintains a logical, case-study structure that moves from background to diagnosis to prescription, making it easy to follow and appropriate for a business strategy context.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied theoretical analysis — the ability to take a named academic framework (Kotter, 2012) and map each of its components directly onto a specific organizational case. Rather than merely describing the theory, the author instantiates each step with company-specific content, such as actuarial considerations for CEO succession and brand diversification for firearm revenue loss.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with an introduction that identifies three central challenges and states its analytical purpose. A company overview section provides essential background on Bass Pro Shops' history, scale, and competitive position. A diagnosis section examines sector trends, gun ownership data, and leadership vulnerability. The longest section applies all eight of Kotter's steps sequentially to the identified problems. A brief conclusion synthesizes findings and prioritizes CEO succession as the most urgent concern. References follow APA formatting throughout.
Introduction
Today, Bass Pro Shops, Inc. (hereinafter alternatively "Bass Pro Shops" or "the company") is faced with some significant challenges in maintaining its current competitive advantages. On the one hand, in spite of increasing competition and rising prices, the sporting goods sector has experienced sustained year-to-year growth over the past decade, and industry analysts expect the same trends to hold true through 2023 (Sporting goods stores, 2018). On the other hand, the American public's views about gun ownership have changed in fundamental ways in recent years, and gun ownership levels have declined slightly as a result. In addition, the company continues to be led by its septuagenarian founder, who has not announced any plans to retire in the foreseeable future.
Taken together, addressing these challenges in a timely and effective fashion may spell the difference between success and failure for this American sporting goods institution. The purpose of this case study is to provide an overview of the company, a systematic diagnosis of its current situation, an application of Kotter's eight-step approach to effecting meaningful organizational change, and a summary of key findings in the conclusion.
Company Overview
Founded in 1972 by nationally award-winning angler and sports enthusiast Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops has grown from offering fishing lures on a single shelf in his father's Springfield, Missouri liquor store to become the national leader in the sporting goods sector today. The company has more than 200 retail and marine center locations in its North American market, and its $5.5 billion acquisition of its former major competitor, Cabela's, has helped the company secure and sustain its sector lead as a "one-stop-shopping" experience (Bomey, 2016). Although the company is privately held and does not publish its earnings, industry analysts estimate that Bass Pro Shops generated nearly $5 billion in revenues in 2017 (Bass Pro Shops, 2018). Moreover, current projections indicate that the sporting goods sector will experience year-to-year increases in demand through 2023, and the company is currently well situated to take advantage of these trends (Sporting goods stores, 2018).
Some of the other attributes that contribute to the company's competitive advantage include its novel store designs, which incorporate local flora and fauna in unique ways that have made these retail outlets far more than just a store. Its Outdoor World format includes gigantic aquaria, realistic stuffed predators such as mountain lions and bears, and sporting-themed video games such as deer hunting and fishing simulations (About Bass Pro Shops, 2018). In addition, the majority of its retail stores also feature world-class restaurants and fast food outlets, making the company's locations highly popular tourist attractions. In this regard, the company notes that "Bass Pro Shops locations are more than just stores — they are true destination experiences that draw more than 200 million visitors annually" (About Bass Pro Shops, 2018, para. 3).
Indeed, the company's flagship store in Springfield, Missouri is so popular that it attracts more than 4 million tourists each year, making it the leading tourist destination in the state (About Bass Pro Shops, 2018). It would seem that the company's business model and innovative approaches to marketing have served it well in the past, but the future holds some significant challenges for Bass Pro Shops, as discussed further below.
Diagnosis of Key Challenges
At present, Bass Pro Shops is confronted with several important trends that carry special implications for its future operations. First, as noted above, the sporting goods sector has experienced sustained growth over the past five years due to increased interest in outdoor sporting activities on the part of the company's primary target market of young male adults, as well as a secondary market of female sporting enthusiasts in North America (Sporting goods stores, 2018). Increasing competition among major companies, however, has constrained overall sector growth. Notwithstanding these constraints, industry analysts report that "over the five years to 2023, industry revenue is forecast to continue to grow as growth in sports participation propels demand for athletic apparel, equipment and footwear" (Sporting goods stores, 2018, para. 4). This increase has been attributed to greater awareness of the health benefits of sporting activities among the company's target market, as well as rising disposable income levels — both of which are expected to continue through at least 2023 (Sporting goods stores, 2018).
Many of the company's higher-priced products include its extensive line of firearms, ammunition, targets, and shooting accessories. In the wake of numerous high-profile mass shootings in recent years, the most recent Gallup polls indicate that gun ownership has declined slightly, while there has been a concomitant increase in calls for stricter gun control legislation. Based on these data, it is reasonable to suggest that these trends will have a particularly significant impact on the company's profitability if they continue, and current indications suggest that gun ownership will likely decline further in the face of growing public concern.
A final challenge facing the company is the absence of a formal succession plan for its chief executive officer, Johnny Morris, who has not announced any plans for stepping down from his leadership position. Although life expectancy rates continue to increase for individuals born today, actuarial data for those born before 1950 underscores the urgency of identifying and grooming a qualified replacement. This and the other issues described above can be reasonably expected to have a profound impact on the company's marketing operations and profitability over the next several years. An application of Kotter's eight-step approach to change can help identify optimal strategies for addressing them, as discussed below.
Conclusion
After nearly a half century in operation, Bass Pro Shops has become the leading sporting goods company in North America due in large part to the inspired and savvy leadership provided by its founder, Johnny Morris. The passion and love for fishing and other outdoor sporting activities that the CEO has consistently communicated throughout the organization has helped to create a company that offers tens of thousands of products and numerous marine services. Ensuring the future success of this company, however, requires the selection and appointment of a successor for Mr. Morris at the earliest opportunity.
It is reasonable to conclude that the other challenges facing the company today have already been identified and that steps are underway to address them. Smoothing the inevitable leadership transition as soon as possible will help ensure that Bass Pro Shops maintains its leadership position in the sporting goods sector for decades to come.
References
About Bass Pro Shops. (2018). Bass Pro Shops. Retrieved from https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/about-us.
Bass Pro Shops. (2018). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/companies/bass-pro-shops/
Bomey, N. (2016, October 4). Bass Pro Shops purchases rival Cabela's. News Sentinel, 1B.
Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_82.htm.
Sporting goods stores. (2018). IBIS World. Retrieved from https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/market-research-reports/retail-trade/sporting-goods-hobby-book-music-stores/sporting-goods-stores.html.
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