No matter what people think about Home Depot or Lowe's, it can be agreed that both stores have contributed for the greater good to the public. Both stores have made significant marks and impacts on our nation and the world. Even if Home Depot may have the upper hand, for now, Lowe's has and will make the general public believe and see its worth. Both companies should be taken seriously and not be ignored. If everyone gives these two companies the recognition they deserve, it would give the employees of Home Depot and Lowe's great joy to see their work rewarded with gratitude.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength:
Customer skill workshops
In the recent years, Home Depot has tried to educate its customer on home improvements. As their motto goes "Do-it-yourself".
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Those countries are namely The United States of America, Mexico, and Canada. According to the article Home Depot: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (2015) by Trefis Team; a Forbes contributor, Home Depot would have great opportunities if the organization expanded its geographical footprint in order to create new sources and origins of revenue. Even if other countries may not agree with all of the methods Home Depot uses, those countries could be inspired by the company's unique strategies and may be curious to know more. Hopefully, some citizens in other countries around the world could find Home Depot's ideas, such as their "do-it-yourself hardware approach”, appealing in some ways. According to an article on the Floor Daily website called Home Depot Looking at Europe, Asia, Home Depot was keeping an eye on Europe and Asia to call the shots to expand its business and for future international opportunities. It is not a guaranteed possibility, but the largest and most popular home improvement retailer might have to consider or think about those options as Home Depot's growth potential in the United States is dwindling. Home Depot had 15 stores in Mexico and 96 stores in Canada. It is easy to understand why Home Depot would want to expand their business and beneficial partnerships in Europe and Asia. Chile and Argentina …show more content…
Technical, Human and conceptual skills (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2015, pg. 21). According to Katz, all three of these skills are equally important; however, the proportion in which they are used depends on the levels of management (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2015, pg. 21). Technical skills are the abilities that a person has been trained, specifically at a college or any institution. An employee's technical skills bring direct value to the employer. Some of the examples are accountants, engineers, financial planner and system analysts. Those types of skills become outdated after the passage of some years. Due to that, an expert must keep him/her up-to-date with the current skills and discoveries in his/her field. Technical skills must be nurtured periodically (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2015, pg. 21). Human and interpersonal skills are skills that are better known as soft skills of a person. According to Katz, a person's ability to communicate, collaborate and network to lead the team and to engage every member with the spirit of trust and teamwork is called human skills (Schermerhorn & Bachrach, 2015, pg. 21). These skills are used equally at all levels of management. The second part of soft skills are emotional intelligence. According to Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence is the "ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively" (Schermerhorn &
Established as the older company of the two, Lowe’s ranks forty-second as a Fortune 500 company. Established in 1946 as a small hardware business, Lowe’s has grown into a 40,000 product, global market enterprise that consist of 1,710 stores nationwide expanding into the countries of Canada, Mexico and Australia (Lowe's Internal, 2010) Home Depot, founded in 1978, is the fastest growing retailer in the United States. Ranked twenty-ninth as a Fortune 500 company, Home Depot continues to remain the number one do-it-yourself retail store in America. These two companies may sell products of the same nature, but comparing their Code of Ethics is their way of setting themselves apart. (Home Depot Internal, 2009)
Target’s first foreign store investment was in Canada; American stores look to Canada as their first foreign investment because the differences between the two countries are relatively minor. Other stores that have expanded to Canada include Wal-Mart, and Sears, each of these companies proved to be prosperous in Canada. Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and is dominated by the service industry, Wawa would have no trouble fitting into the culture Canada has and dominating the market as they do here, in the United States. After reading about Canada and Wawa, we have realized this move could only benefit Wawa and help their reputation and build their company.
After researching Home Depots financials I would invest money in Home Depot by purchasing stock. In my research there was a lot of talk about how popular home improvement is and how many people prefer the do-it-yourself aspect. While I am sure Home Depots numbers have been better, before the recession, I do not for see Home Depot going under anytime soon. I think it is a stable company that will be in business for many years to come.
The Home Depot is recognized as being the leader in the home improvement retail industry by combining the economies of scale inherent in a warehouse format with a level of customer service unparalleled among warehouse-style retailers. ("Home Depot to", 1999)
There are a number of smaller players but lack the public existence and retail footprint of their larger counterparts. With such high levels of market absorption, both HD and LOW enjoy high bargaining power with suppliers of goods. The two companies vary significantly in terms of the strategies they employ to compel consumer traffic. Home Depot centre of attention is customer service, while Lowe’s offers discounts to improve sales. Home Depot has determined on customer service as a driver to grow customer traffic and sales, Lowe has battled mainly on the basis of lower prices. Home Depot has a status for lesser prices and more pro-friendly impression where Lowe’s is trying to capture the traditional do-it-yourself customer by trying to appeal the female customer, who the company declares, is responsible for eighty percent of home improvement
An expansion into markets outside the USA would appropriate for Lowe’s if it is to take Home Depot head on. This kind of strategy would require acquisition of existing businesses and stores rather than going internationally as a green-field. This would be appropriate if done within a time frame of 6 months as this would provide the company with enough time to study the foreign market environment factors that may hinder or boost its operations. Such a move would thus help neutralize the risks exposed by the US housing markets as well as the purchasing economies of scale.
Home Depot is the brainchild of Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank and came about after both men lost their job in the home improvement industry in 1978 (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot has acquired several smaller home improvement stores in both the U.S. and abroad through the years which enabled it to position itself as the world’s largest home improvement chain (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot focuses on the do-it-yourself segment of the market and sells sells tools, construction products and services. Marketing is a strong point for the company. They are able to maintain a competitive advantage by keeping themselves available to their customers at all times. Home Depot has been using both online and offline marketing efforts. The internet has become a very useful tool for the company and part of the reason that they are leading the market in DIY stores. Home Depot currently provides DIY videos on YouTube and Vine that cover current topics that consumers are likely to be interested in. They also have social media pages on Facebook and Twitter, where they have a huge following. They provide online communities where actual employees answer consumer’s questions and provide assistance on
While Walmart gives jobs to Americans all over the world, Walmart also takes them overseas to China where labor is cheaper. In order to keep their prices low for their customers, Walmart demands that corporations keep their prices or they will drop the company’s products. When the price resin increased in the mid 1990’s, Rubbermaid was unable to keep production costs down, so they increased the price of their products. This lead to Walmart dropping their products for a few years and Rubbermaid selling their American production factory and moving to China. Which caused them to become
Home Depot has grown at a phenomenal rate over the last 36 years to become the largest do it yourself retailer in the United States. It’s solid business performance has allowed the company to post double digit growth rates over the last 36 years, and has never had a negative year of growth, even during the financial crisis of 2008-2009.
As a comparison in the industry, Lowe's culture is much more low-profile, collaborative, and collegial. However, many investment reports show that historically, Home Depot often is in front of Lowe’s (Grow 2006).
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).
They are not the technical skills required by an occupation but are the enabling skills that are necessary in most occupations and that allow people to do their jobs successfully. (Molson)
Wal-Mart and Target are two similar global corporations. If one asks each of these store’s customers why they shop there, somewhere in their answer one will find them saying that they can find everything. The difference between these two corporations is their mission, marketing, and quality. Each of these stores are looking to offer a different experience despite selling similar goods. So, when profits are not changing in the United States, they’ve opted for an expansion into other countries. They have opened stores and provided services outside of the United States.
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...
A further geographic expansion. Although H&M is a global company operating in 64 countries around the world, we think exploring more markets specially in the southern hemisphere would not only increase the market share but also its brand awareness.