...HOME DEPOT Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement chain and second largest retailer after Wal-Mart. The giant home improvement retailer leads the DIY industry that is followed by Lowe’s. Stores are located in the U.S, Mexico and Canada. Is it necessary for home depot to emphasize both the DIY and contractor markets to build and maintain economies of scale? Home depot continues to focus on the DIY customer. Meanwhile, contractor sales comprise one-third of the total sales. It is necessary to pay attention both markets since there are some people, who don’t have time to do the work themselves. These people want a service that will do all the installation for them. Providing this service will lead the company to differentiate themselves among their competitors. Moreover, it will maintain a strong cash flow by selling high volume of units to the contractors. However, the service provided by the contractors must fulfill customer satisfaction. Therefore, Home Depot should also provide information to the contractors about the products and their installations. These key points will build and maintain economies of scale. Is competitive pressure from Lowe’s causing Home Depot to modify its competitive strategy? Competitive pressure by Lowe’s has caused Home Depot to aggressively upgrade its old stores. Lowe’s has a store layout strategy that focuses on women customers. They see women as a decision maker of a renovation of the houses. Hence, Home Depot has to modify...
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...I. Description of issues and challenges A. Home Depot should adjust their strategies to employees, vendors and especially to customer services. Through strategic realignment to enhance customer service, grab market shares and increase share price. 1. Justifications According to the case, we can see that during the Nardelli era the feedback of customer service is the worst ever in Home Depot history. And also because of the continued share price stagnation and declining housing market, Home Depot need to adjust its strategies to maintain its position in the home improvement market. II. Alternative Solutions A. Solution 1 Focus on cutting the cost of all the processes and use lower price product to grab market share. Maintain Nardelli’s centralized strategies and stop using the Six Sigma method in store operation. Hire knowledgeable full-time person, maintain the balance between full-time and part-time employees and keep implement the employee bonus program. 1. Pros: λ Centralized strategies on merchandise and purchase has advantages on build a uniform and consistent brand image and reduce cost. λ Centralized strategies are more convenience for headquarter to give instructions and unified management. λ Hire knowledgeable full-time person will improve the quality of customer service. λ Maintain the balance between full-time employees and part-time employee and keep implement the employee bonus program will stimulate the enthusiasm of employees, ensure the quality...
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...Strategic Human Resource Management Case Analysis at Home Depot Company By Musalia Doughty Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 1.0 Overview of the Organization 3 1.1 Corporate Hierarchy of Home Depot 4 2.0 Strategic Human Resource Management at Home Depot 5 2.1 Workforce Diversity Management at Home Depot 5 2.2 Disadvantages of Workforce Diversity 7 3.0 Strategy to Counter Diversity Issue at Home Depot 7 3.1 Employee Relations 8 4.0 Implementing Employee Relations at Home Depot 8 4.1 Team-working 9 4.2 Functional flexibility 10 4.3 Employee Involvement 10 4.4 Reward Mechanisms 10 5.0 Recommendations 11 6.0 Conclusion 11 7.0 List of references 12 Executive Summary Human resource management is a sensitive issue in an organization. The performance of any organization is determined by the workforce management practices in place. Owing to the competitive nature of workforce management, human resources are managed strategically (Aghazadeh 2003, p. 201). In this paper, a case study of strategic human resource management has been done. The company considered is called Home Depot. The paper briefly explores the company and its human resource strategy that was found to be diversity management. Thereafter, the paper has explored possible problems that company faces as a result of its diversity strategy. In response to the problems, the paper suggests inclusion of employee relation model in the diversity strategy already...
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...Value Line Publishing, October 2002 1. What do the financial ratios in case Exhibit 7 tell you about the operating performance of Home Depot? What additional information do the different ratios provide? Complete and compare a similar analysis for Lowe’s. 2. How sensitive is return on capital to the forecast assumptions in case Exhibit 8? What independent changes in Carrie Galeotafiore’s estimates are required to drive the 2002 return-on-capital estimate below Home Depot’s cost-of-capital estimate of 12.3 percent? Look specifically at gross margin, cash operating expenses, receivable turnover, inventory turnover, and P&E turnover. What effect does sales growth have on return on capital? Explain your findings. 3. Do you agree with Galeotafiore’s forecast for Home Depot? How would you adjust it? 4. How would your forecast assumptions differ for Lowe’s? Complete and recommend a five-year Lowe’s forecast to Galeotafiore. 5. What do the financial ratios in case Exhibit 7 tell you about the operating performance of Home Depot? What additional information do the different ratios provide? Complete and compare a similar analysis for Lowe’s. 6. How sensitive is return on capital to the forecast assumptions in case Exhibit 8? What independent changes in Carrie Galeotafiore’s estimates are required to drive the 2002 return-on-capital estimate below Home Depot’s cost-of-capital estimate of 12.3 percent? Look specifically at gross margin, cash operating...
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...IRAC Method of Case Study Analysis Nsima Etok and Christopher Dunbar Business Law 531 March 31 2015 Gregory Martins Introduction In any type of business, whether it is partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC) and or a Corporation, these are seen as different types of businesses that involves one, two or more People. The same is implied to businesses that are operated internationally between different Companies and Organizations across the globe which deals with either importing or exporting of products or other items of trade. It is therefore necessary that in this type of business, all the parties involved have to look into so many factors as will be analyzed in this paper from demographic, security, culture and values and other related issues which are more relevant to the smooth operation of the business and not forgetting the legal consequences from the business which is very paramount. Abstract With the increasing focus on globalization form(s) and companies operating their network of business activities across the globe, There are issues to be considered while dealing with those things that helps in streamlining how any business can operate effectively. Some of these are: Economy, Environment, Ethics, Social. It is obvious that when engaging in international business, the different parties must look into the merits and de-merits of their business operation and the overall impact on the business. (Thinkingbookwom...
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...his case follows the performance-review and financial-statement-forecasting decisions of a Value Line analyst for the retail-building-supply industry in October 2002. The case contrasts the strong operating performance of Home Depot with the strong stock-market performance of Lowe's. Students examine a financial-ratio analysis for Home Depot that acts as a template for generating a comparable ratio analysis for Lowe's. The student ratio analysis is designed to build intuition with respect to interpreting individual ratios as well as ratio interrelationships (e.g., the DuPont framework). The historical-performance comparison suggests that investors are skeptical of the ability of Home Depot to maintain its performance trajectory, yet they project sustained improvements for Lowe's. Students are invited to scrutinize the analyst's five-year income-statement and asset-side balance-sheet forecast for Home Depot. The case expressly focuses on the asset side of the balance sheet as a preview for other cases using free-cash-flow forecasting. The Home Depot forecast exercise exposes students to the mechanics of financial-statement modeling and sensitivity analysis, which they can use in building their own forecast for Lowe's. Finally, the strong-growth assumptions for Home Depot relative to the modest-growth forecast for the industry suggest that the company can be expected to capture massive and perhaps unreasonable market share in the near term. The exercise provides a striking example...
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...Kyle Fortin Case 12: VALUE LINE PUBLISHING, OCTOBER 2002 From a profitability standpoint, Home Depot created value, according to their 12.3% WACC found in exhibit 3. They are consistently creating value in all years (97’-01’) beings their ROC is higher than their WACC. Considering the Industry ROE average was 17.1% in 1997 according to Wikinvest.com, Home Depot was a little behind the game as far as creating value for their investors. Home Depot’s Gross Margin increased steadily each year, indicating higher profits, as well as their operating margin increasing to a high in 99’ and leveling out around 2001 due to the economic factors erupting after 9/11. Their NOPAT margin is higher than their biggest competitor lowe’s so they were consistently producing more returns, in conjunction with greater sales figures. Home Depot is operating on relatively wide margins compared to its competitors; its substantial growth rate is quite high compared to Lowe’s which is easily explained by their innovative business strategy. The Home Depot at the end of 2000 stands on good financial footing. Their net revenues have grown 208% between FY 1995 and FY 2000. Home Depot continues its market saturation strategy which consistently grows their net revenues. Home Depot’s growth in net earnings over the same period has been 284%. The money that the firm is retaining as profits is larger than the total amount being brought into the company, indicative of a company that is realizing economies of...
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...7/26/2014 Home Depot vs. Lowes As a recent home buyer, I know first-hand the importance and value of having a local home improvement store. Within the first 6 months as a property owner, I have spent numerous hours, visits and money buying the essentials to complete my home. I never thought of myself as a loyal customer to Home Depot (HD) vs. Lowes (LOW) but after researching the two competitors, I have found myself take pride and loyalty with Home Depot. In this report, I will provide you with a full analysis comparing and contrasting Home Depot and Lowes. My conclusions will yield that clearly there is a difference between both company’s values and strategies, but importantly, Home Depot is a stronger investment for the short-term and long-term. My recommendations will support holding stock with Home Depot or invest soon. Quantity: The Value of Market Share In America, “size of the US home improvement retail industry is approximately $129.2B by revenues, with Home Depot leading the market with a 58.9% share; together Home Depot and Lowe’s account for 97% of the market share by revenues,” stated by William Bias. The fact remains that brand recognition drives price. There is clearly brand recognition and more importantly, brand loyalty with Home Depot compared to Lowes. And where does the brand loyal derive from…Proximity. The humanity that dwells within us tends to migrate to common and frequent people and venues. We are creatures of habits and Home Depot has strategically...
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...10-mar-2015 THE HOME DEPOT, INC. 1. Evaluate The Home Depot's growth strategy. The Home Depot innovated in the home center industry by bringing a new retailing concept. One of the most important decision was to cut out completely the warehouse costs by designing retailing stores in a warehouse format in which all the inventory was already at store. This format helped The Home Depot to keep Overhead costs low and as a consequence, past these savings to their customers. This practice also led The Home Depot to work with a higher volume, lower margin and higher inventory turnover, a good indicator for retail companies which in turn helped to reduce costs even more. Having the warehouse format also helped them minimize out-of-stock occurrences, which helped them to have a stronger relationship with the customer, to whom they offered guaranteed products, by either the manufacturer or themselves. Customer service was so important for The Home Depot that 90% of their employees were fulltime works with special trainings of technical knowledge to help their customers with home improvement projects, and their advertising program included in-store demonstration of do-it-yourself which helped the Home Depot grow successfully in its early years. 2. How well did the company implement its strategy? Analyze The HomeDepot's financial performance and cash flow during the fiscal year 1985. How well did the company perform in 1985 relative to the previous years? How does The Home Depot's performance...
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...Background The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Georgia after they were fired from their executive post at the Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers in California. The founders began the home improvement company around their vision of “one-stop shopping for the do it yourselfer” opening their first two stores in 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia in a cavernous warehouses that dwarfed the competition stocking 25,000 stock keeping units (SKUs), much more than the average hardware store at that time, and staffing the stores with knowledgeable experts in home improvement and customer service. From the beginning, Home Depot was able to offer not only the best customer service in the industry by hiring employees knowledgeable and experienced in the business and by motivating the sales associates to develop relationships with the customers instead of seeing sales as a transaction, but by popularizing the concept of “do it yourself” (DIY) offering to homeowners and other individuals trainings workshops and clinics so customers could learn how to do it themselves. The Home Depot revolutionized the home improvement industry by bringing the know-how and the tools to the consumer and by saving them money. In 1980, Home Depot opened two more stores achieving annual sales of $22 million from all its four stores. By 1990, the company had opened 145 stores, employing 21,500 people, generating annual sales of $3.8 billion, and becoming the number one U.S. retailer...
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...businesses that pop up in our cities every day, but it’s not every day that one of those businesses turns into a huge corporation or is able to add a sister company in a another city. For the ones that do make it big to have multiple stores across the world leave it to each person’s imagination on how they were able to be so successful, but to the people in the business world it is know that those companies had a strategic plan and strategy that was followed for the company to be so successful. Walmart which runs as a cost leadership strategy and Home Depot which runs as a service focused strategy are two very good examples of companies that have made it big and are their strategies are easily visible and explained. Walmart seems like an everyday trip to some families around the world because it has become so big that everyone has someone in their family that dreads hearing the famous phrase “We need to go to Walmart today” in their home. Walmart is a cost leadership strategy because they are the lowest cost producer that can sell at or below industry prices and by doing this they gain a bigger market share. This gives Walmart the competitive advantage in many different areas of the market and helps to control pricing.When we look at Walmart’s internal environment we look at their strengths which include the consumer’s knowledge and understanding of low prices, their market clout, their competence in information technology, and their wide range of stores across the world. ...
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...Company Overview Home Depot, Inc. (Home Depot) was, for the 2008 fiscal year ending in February 2009, the world’s largest home improvement retailer. It is known for its warehouse-style stores offering a wide range of building materials, appliances, and lawn and garden products. Home Depot serves three primary customer groups: Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-For-Me (DIFM), and Professionals, each of whom have different inventory and customer service needs. As of February, 2009, Home Depot had 1,971 stores in the U.S., including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam; 176 stores in Canada; 74 stores in Mexico and 12 stores in China. (Home Depot 2008 Annual Report, 2009). The Home Depot, like many large corporate entities, has found purpose in creating a mission statement to drive its future operations. The Home Depot website outlines the Company Mission Statement as follows: “The Home Depot is in the home improvement business and our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products and the most competitive prices. We are a values-driven company and our eight core values include the following: 1. Excellent customer service 2. Taking care of our people 3. Giving back 4. Doing the “right” thing 5. Creating shareholder value 6. Respect for all people 7. Entrepreneurial spirit (and) 8. Building strong relationships” Fiscal 2008 was a challenging year for the United States economy, and was particularly...
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...University of the Potomac BUS510 Professor: Petya Case Study: The Home Depot’s Eco Vicky Thomas 7/18/15 Apply a PESTEL analysis to The Home Depot and Ford Motor Company. Which are the most important? Which are the most important external forces impinging upon the companies? Are the forces the same or are they different? Why? The Home Depot’s most important external forces would likely be ecological, sociocultural and economic. The most important forces for Ford Motor Company would likely be the legal, ecological, and economic forces. The forces that are the same for both companies are economic and ecological. The economy affects both companies because if the economy is in a recession and consumers are not purchasing as many products, neither company would be able to sell their products. For The Home Depot, some DIY projects may increase in a down economy. However, this is likely to be more than offset by the reduction in sales of durable goods (such as dishwashers) during a recession. Since Ford Motor Company specializes in the production of motor vehicles; their product offering is limited to automobiles. Strong ecological forces may possibly hurt the company because it may require a lot of research and innovation to improve their product, all of which could take a long time. Strong ecological forces would not have as much of an impact on The Home Depot because they offer a wide variety of products, from household appliances to gardening goods and lumber...
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...External Environment Analysis Kristy Sanchez MGT/488 September-Sunday 11, 2011 Jeannette Guignard External Environment Analysis Introduction This essay is written in regards to the Home Depot and the evaluation of their external environment. The Home Depot is a highly successful retail industry that has expanded globally. The Home Depot has a wide variety of supplies and materials for all home improvement projects. They even have tools, equipment, and trucks that can be rented out to assist with any larger home improvement needs. The Home Depot has made a continuity plan to assist with protection of the customers, associates, and the industry if a crisis or disaster occurs. A continuity plan is basically the instructional list or procedures for the company in the event that a crisis or natural disaster occurs and how they will handle that event. This essay will look at how the external environment affects that plan. This essay will also look at the affects of the environment in three other areas as well, including general, industry, and competitor. Finally, it will look into the business ethics and see how they play a role when gathering information for competitor intelligence. The Home Depot has a continuity plan that they follow that can be found in their code of conduct and ethics manual. That continuity plan is as follows: “We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to minimize risks to our associates, customers, facilities, information assets and supply chains...
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...most common geographic issues Home Depot faces is that of Latino day laborers standing outside the stores looking for jobs. This has been an ongoing issue for years and many cities have tried to enact laws that would ban day laborers from using city parking lots to find work. In 2007, the city of Baldwin Park tried considering a new law that would ban day laborers as well as street vendors on parking lots. There were too many complaints from residents and businesses about the laborers congregating at the Home Depot. Luckily, this ordinance never made it through as it challenged because it was said to be cruel and unconstitutional, due to the fact that the primary target were Latino men. In the end the council repealed the ban and city officials found an alternative solution, which was to establish a covered area at the corner of the parking lot which would be the designated area for laborers to stay within. Many other cities face this same issue when it comes to Latino laborers seeking employment outside of Home Depot, therefore it is the most know geographic issue they face and will continue to do so. Surplus of Skilled Labor Without a doubt Home Depot has a surplus of skilled labor since there are more than enough workers. Reason being is that too many people apply for a position and not enough jobs are available. If a job opening was vacant for a long period of time then there would be a shortage, but unfortunately that is not the case with Home Depot. There is an excess in workers...
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