Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Georgia. With their store, Marcus and Blank revolutionized the do-it-yourself home improvement market in the United States. Home Depot began as a very basic store, operated in a large, no-frills warehouse. Home Depot carries over 35,000 products, with national brand names along with the Home Depot brand. At the start, Home Depot was able to offer exceptional customer service with knowledgeable employees who could guide customers through home renovation projects. Since its opening, Home Depot has experienced incredible growth, and today is North America's second largest retailer, and the largest home improvement retailer. Internationally, Home Depot has expanded into Canada, Mexico, and is beginning to operate stores in China. Home Depot's competition includes Sears, Ace Hardware and Lowes (the main competitor). The Article, "Renovating Home Depot," describes how, since the arrival of the new Chief Executive, Robert Nardelli, the business strategy has shifted to a more militaristic style. In the beginning, Home Depot was a "decentralized, entrepreneurial" business, and now is switching to a different management style. Nardelli loves to hire ex-soldiers, and is perhaps using the armed services as a role model for the new business structure. Under Nardelli's leadership, Home Depot is becoming more centralized and the good financial reports following this are signs that it a good strategy (Grow 50). The article centers on the leadership of Home Depot's Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Nardelli. He was born May 17, 1948, in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science in business from Western Illinois University, and also earned an MBA from the University of Louisville. Mr. Nardelli joined GE in 1971 as an entry-level manufacturing engineer. By 1995, he had risen to president and CEO of GE Power Systems, also having the title of GE senior vice president. In 2000 he left GE, and about 10 minutes after leaving he received a job offer from a member of the board of Home Depot. Nardelli became CEO of Home Depot in December 2000 despite having no retail experience. Using the "Six Sigma" management strategy from GE, he dramatically overhauled the company and replaced its freewheeling business process. He changed the decentralized management structure, by eliminating and consolidating division executives. He also installed processes and streamlined operations, which implemented a computerized automated inventory system and centralizing supply orders at the Atlanta headquarters.
In the early 2000’s Lowe’s was rapidly intensifying its presence nationwide. The company carried a varied assortment of home improvement products and catered to the needs of retail as well as commercial business customers. Lowe’s expanded their reach by acquiring a 41-store chain, Eagle Hardware and Garden, and engaging in a strategic alliance with HGTV to obtain a more profound existence in their market (Rouse, 2005). By 2004, Lowe’s operated almost 1,000 stores with plans to continue expansion across the nation (Rouse, 2005). The company has a core competency in helping customers meet their home improvement needs at a low price. In order to use this core competency to gain a competitive advantage, the company has focused on key functional strategies. To continue their success, Lowe’s must specifically focus on marketing, logistics, and human resource management strategies.
Home Depot was started in 1978 as a one-stop shopping for do-it-yourselfers. As the fastest growing retailer in U.S. History, Home Depot went public on NASDAQ in 1981, and moved to the New York Stock Exchange in 1984. By 1989, Home Depot had opened its 100th store. In 1994, Home Depot moved into Canada with the acquisition of Aikenhead’s, in 2001, they moved into Mexico with the acquisition of Total Home. Home Depot acquired The Home Way in China in 2006.
...e recycle system to be constantly upgraded with the latest technology when it comes on the market.
Sears Roebuck did not keep the records of which houses were built and where. Up until recently, researchers had to make educated guesses about what Sears house might be the top seller.
“The Miles and Snow’s typology is based on the idea that managers seek to formulate strategies that will be congruent with the external environment” (64). There are four types of strategies that can be established under this typology that is, the prospector, the defender, the analyzer and the reactor. While prospector is innovative and risky, the defender is conservative and concerned with stability. I have mentioned above that HBC is now able to compete with premium brands retailer due to an acquisition of Saks Fifth Avenue, and yet they are not utilizing low-cost leadership as their main competitive strategy. Nonetheless, Daft and Armstrong showcases a perfect example of the defender positioning using HBC’s case. “HBC has carefully monitored its margins and spending, maintained its discount brand (Zellers) in order to successfully compete with Walmart, and survived as one of Canada’s only two national department store” (65). Then they further describe how HBC refurbish its brand, “HBC hired Bonnie Brooks in 2008 to revamp its brand”, “She dropped many underperforming product lines and brought in trendy product lines such as Coach and Top Shop” (65). This explanation also supports my
His primary focus is to rebuild their senior management team to help them stand out in an increasingly competitive market. They have hired Gene McQuade as president and chief operating officer. He is a former president of Bank of America and Fleet Boston Financial's chief operating officer, he will bring a wealth of experience in operational and financial reporting to
In the beginning of the story, the narrator feels very uncomfortable knowing that he will
Opening its doors for the first time in 1946, Lowe’s is now the second largest home improvement chain in the world, operating over 1,800 stores in the United States, generating $56.2 billion in sales and $2.6 billion in net income for 2014 (Lowes Newsroom, 2015). Employing around 265,000 personal making them one of the top employers in the nation, there is no question that Lowe’s must be doing something right. According to Lowes Newsroom, “Lowe’s professional customers represent approximately 30 percent of total sales, approximately 16 million retail and professional customers are served each week. (2015, para 3) “Never Stop Improving”, is Lowe’s slogan; encouraging employees and customers to work together to maximize their in store
This time meant working for Macy’s, were Mr. Mathis saw the great opportunity for growth in his career. Jerry worked as Sales Manager for 4 yrs, allowing him to lead his team into great success. During this opportunity, he was also able to grow academically in receiving a MBA, Management, and Marketing from Lamar University. Due to this personal accomplishment, he had the chance to be part of the Vice President program in New York. This program is to prepare those candidates that have the skills and qualifications in leading a Macy’s department store. This allowed him to become Merchandise Team Manager in Memorial City
The Home Depot learned the hard way that you must hire a leader that will stay true to the core values. The leader’s ethics and values will play a huge role in determining if the company will succeed or fail. The founders of The Home Depot built a culture on the foundation of respect, integrity, and compassion. The culture and customer service under the influence of the admired founders prospered.
On the off chance that Home Depot had a defencelessness management program, performing monthly vulnerability scans of the POS environment; they could have utilized the consequences of those outputs to show leadership the significance of the gaps in that environment and possibly started to mitigate the risk of that environment before the breach occurred.
He started asking questions and becoming more and more interested by every moment. He loved how the founders had so much knowledge on the coffee and each blend. In 1982, Schultz became director of retail operations. This was just the start of a new phase with the company. When Shultz took over, this started the beginning of a new era.
Harlan Kent has nearly 30 years of experience working in consumer-focused public and private businesses (Alex and Ani Names Harlan M. Kent as President, 2015). He has a proven track record of helping to build brands by driving profitable growth across multiple channels of distribution (Alex and Ani Names Harlan M. Kent as President, 2015). Harlan Kent served as CEO of Yankee Candles. He spent 13 years with Yankee Candle and under his leadership the company has seen tremendous growth, growing 2.5 times more while he was CEO (Alex and Ani Names Harlan M. Kent as President, 2015). Mr. Kent has helped to create a team that is focused on growth and innovations across all 565 company stores and 30,000 wholesale locations (Alex and Ani Names Harlan M. Kent as President, 2015).
Home Depot, well-known by its big, bright orange box logo, is a retailor of numerous popular brands of construction and home improvement products. Reach the Top® manufactures a popular brand of ladders and scaffolding already sold by Home Depot, and...
After graduating from college, Welch found himself working as a chemical engineer at GE in 1960. In 1981, he became the company’s youngest CEO. His approach to his position as a CEO was about creating personal and meaningful relationship. He met with the employees and the customers, talking with them to create a positive atmosphere.