The Bay

INTRODUCTION

The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest incorporated merchandising company in the world. The Bay has remained in business in North America after its incorporation on May 2, 1670 by the Royal Charter. The official title of the company is, “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay”. This title is usually shortened to “Hudson’s Bay Company” or, just “the Bay.

I was attracted to the Hudson’s Bay Company because firstly, I am frequently shop at the Bay. As a result of this, I would like to show the pride and respect I have for this successful company and its great history. Secondly, I have easy access to the information required to complete this independent study. Lastly, as I am not an expert when it comes to the operations of the company, this independent study will enable me to achieve a deeper understanding of management, and how it affects me.

I utilized a number of resources in order to create this report. The resources are: Hudson’s Bay Company Annual Repoorts of 1996, 1997, 1998, Employee Training handbook, the Internet, and magazines. I combined these resources to produce a very informative report on the Hudson’s Bayu Company. In addition to this, the resources I used gave me a chance to cover many aspects and areas of this corporation. The topics covered in this report are: Company Profile, Human Resources, Customer Services, Organization, and Community Involvement.

I included these types of information to give you, the reader, a deep interpretation of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

To understand how the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) became the corporation it is today, a brief history is needed to gain some background knowledge. In the Bay’s first century of existence, it created forts on the Hudson Bay and traded furs to the Native Peoples. In the Bay’s second century, competition from the North West Company was acknowledged and responded to. This total time period of 200 years assisted in the discovery of Canada. In 1821, the two competitors merged under the name of Hudson’s Bay.

In the twentieth century, HBC began to concentrate on retailing which is it’s primary activity today. Between 1913 and 1968, HBC made downtown department stores in the major cities of western Canada. As time rolled along, the Bay moved into eastern Canada and the suburbs of major Canadian cities.