Gold’s Gym, originally started by Joe Gold, is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers. He opened the first Gold's Gym, with homemade equipment, in August 1965, in Venice Beach, California, way before gyms existed. The gym got popular when it was in a documentary, ‘Pumping Iron’ (1977), and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Draper used to train there. Each gym offers a variety of cardio, weightlifting and strength training equipment as well as group exercise programs. Its corporate headquarters have been relocated to the Dallas metropolitan area. Gold's Gym is considered a landmark in bodybuilding culture and has achieved cult status up to this day. Gold's Gym is privately owned. In 2004, Robert Rowling's TRT Holdings bought it from private equity firm Brockway Moran & Partners for $158 million. In 1999 Brockway Moran had bought the company for $50 million.
Adam Zeitsiff was the former Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice-President of Brand Innovation in Gold’s Gym from February 2016 till April 2018 and in February 2019 RT Holdings, Inc., the majority shareholder of Gold’s Gym since 2004, has bought him back to the company in a new role as president and CEO. Adam Zeitsiff played an interpersonal role. He was a leader as he stated “I provided leadership and guidance to a cross functional, geographically dispersed team, acting as an advocate and champion across the entire business”. He also played a decisional role; he was an entrepreneur as he stated “I provided vision and leadership to recalibrate the company to achieve the next level of success. My focus was on expansion plans in the UK and US to maximize market footprint, formulating new business strategy and building a best practices organizational infrastructure”. I would say he had a democratic leading style as he was neither autocratic nor free-rein. As stated, “At Gold’s Gym one important aspect of our culture is the core competencies we value in our team members – judgment, attitude, results, and teamwork”.
I would place him in cell 1 in the uncertainty matrix, because the change in the organization’s environment is minimal. In gyms, components are somewhat similar and remain basically the same. It is a stable and predictable environment. Also, the knowledge the organization need about its environment is minimal. Throughout 2020 the CEO has focused on Gold’s AMP, an application for the members and also non-members to be able to workout at home because of the quarantine. The degree of change is stable and the degree of complexity is simple.
Gold’s gym has a customer-responsive culture as the company provides well trained personnel trainers and it always focuses on responding to customers, the moment they need it. For example, as the healthcare system faced immense challenges, it has launched Gold’s Care, it is a preventative-care practice found inside of each Gold’s Gym. It’s managed by one of their dietitians and combines their nutritional and fitness expertise to provide the members with a 90-day program to help them reduce the risk factors they’ve identified for them. The medical community, insurance companies, and corporate partners recognize that fitness is often the right prescription. Also, the Gold’s AMP that was mentioned earlier is another example of their customer-responsive culture.
Gold’s gym operates in around 28 countries; Egypt, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, Poland, India, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Indonesia, Spain, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Vietnam, Thailand, Peru, Qatar, Iraq, Costa Rica, China, Mongolia and the Philippines are some of the countries they operate in. I think the global attitude of the company is polycentric, because for example, in Saudi Arabia, there are separate ladies-only gyms. In India, they’re closely aligned with the film stars of Bollywood, which informs their media and programming efforts. Also at Gold’s Gym, they encourage all of the franchisees to get involved in their local communities because it’s good for the members, the communities, and the franchisees find it personally rewarding. As the CEO said “While fitness techniques are fairly similar worldwide, cultural influences do play a role. Our international franchisees do a fantastic job of providing the right programs for their particular culture”. The company went global through franchising. It began when Joe Gold sold it in 1970 and then it got sold again multiple times till the late 1970s. In the latest change in ownership, the new owners began franchising the Gold's name. The first franchise was opened in 1980 in San Francisco. The chain quickly developed, and by 1988, there were 50 Gold's Gyms in foreign countries, and another 220 in the United States.
The main purpose of the control process is to ensure that activities are completed in ways that lead to accomplishment of organizational goals. It lets managers know what future actions to take and whether their plans and goals are on target. The best source of information for measuring the company’s performance is written reports because they are comprehensive, formal, and easy to file and retrieve. Unlike statistical and oral reports which would provide limited information and won’t provide the full details.
After the SWOT analysis, I can say that in my opinion, the company’s overall performance is good. I approve its culture and the services it provides. I also agree with their international entry mode and expansion strategy, as they are operating in many different countries around the world with different cultures; franchising makes every franchisee provide what they see is best for the country they are operating in, which benefits the members, the community and the company itself.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold%27s_Gym
https://www.goldsgym.com/blog/adam-zeitsiff-president/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-zeitsiff
https://thriveglobal.com/stories/tips-from-the-top-one-on-one-with-brandon-beanceo-of-golds-gym/
https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/evolution-architect-golds-gym-ceo-sharessecrets-to-success/
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history/Ge-He/Gold-s-Gym-International-Inc.html
https://franchising.goldsgym.com/2019/07/11/want-to-impact-your-community-own-agolds-gym/