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Home Depot Analysis

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Analysis: Home Depot’s total rehab With the current economy situation, consumers and businesses alike are going through turbulent times. Jobs are being cut, stores are being closed, homes are being repossessed, gas prices are soaring and businesses declaring bankruptcies just to name a few dilemmas. Home Depot on the other hand is investing when the market is down hoping it pays out on the long run. Francis S. (Frank) Blake, CEO of Home Deport, has boiled his strategy down to a few priorities, all of which revolve around stores engaging employees, making products readily available and exciting to customers, improving the store environment, and dominating the professional contracting business(web). Home Depot has turned its focus to customer service by extending the business through such efforts as at-home services, tool rental centers, the homedepot.com web site, and hiring specialized in-store experts. He also returned some of the decision-making to the stores: About 75% of the end caps promotions at the end of an aisle are now the choice of local and regional managers, who can use their experience to promote locally popular items. Bad customer satisfaction has brought bad media exposure. On the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, Home Depot fell eight points in seven years, to 67 at the end of 2007. It was the largest drop for any retailer in the index, while rival Lowe’s remained steady at 75. Claes Forrell, director of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, notes that squandering a service advantage is in some ways worse than never having one, because expectations remain higher. "Once you destroy a strong service culture," says Forrell, "it's very difficult to get it back." With the bailout proposal by the United States Treasury helping mortgage and lending companies, tough times still lay ahead. With the improvement of

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