...Home Depot Data Breach Background on the 2014 Home Depot Data Breach Home depot was the target of a cyberattack on their information system infrastructure that lasted from April of 2014 to September of 2014. As a result of the attack and following data breach, 56 million credit-card accounts and 53 million email addresses were stolen. (“Home Depot Hackers Exposed 53 Million Email Addresses”) The cyberattack involved several steps. First, the attackers gained third party credentials allowing them into the system. Next they exploited an unknown weakness in the system that allowed for the attackers to elevate their own access privileges. Finally, they installed malware on Home Depot’s self-checkout systems in the U.S. and Canada, allowing for the data to be stolen. Because this was a multistage attack, there were several stages of failures. While this shows that there were multiple lines of defense, the fact that there were multiple failures as well is a large issue. It demonstrations that even with multiple lines of defense Home Depot was still not adequately protected. The first failure was that the attackers acquired credentials from a third party vendor. This may not have been Home Depot’s fault directly, but there are still governance processes they could’ve employed to prevent it. Once the attackers were in the system they exploited yet another vulnerability that allowed themselves to elevate their access rights. The third vulnerability that was exploited was the lack of...
Words: 2954 - Pages: 12
...This case study discusses the 2014 Home Depot data breach. During this breach more than 56 million card data was stolen. This breach came after the Target breach. This is important to note because had Home Depot headed Targets mistakes, they could have avoided this situation all together. Unfortunately, because they were attempting to save money by not implementing more secure protocols, it ended up costing them much more in the long run. An attacker basically exploited a zero-day vulnerability in an on version of windows after gaining access to the system using vender’s credentials to log in. Home Depot did have some protections in place, but they were not implemented correctly. For example, they had Symantec’s antivirus called endpoint protection,...
Words: 523 - Pages: 3
...THE HOME DEPOT’S ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION Organization Communications Mgmt 305 Potomac College Abstract This paper will analyze the culture of The Home Depot and its communication practices. This will be accomplished by examining the dimensions of the organization’s structure. The Home Depot’s sociability, power distribution and job autonomy, degree of structure, achievement rewards, opportunities for growth, tolerance for risk and change, conflict tolerance, and emotional support will be used to determine if the organization has a Theory Y culture. Introduction Home Depot is considered to be one of the top ranking home improvement organizations. The mission statement of this organization was formulated around being “committed to maximizing long term shareholder value while supporting management in the business and operations of the company, observing the highest ethical standards and adhering to the laws of the jurisdictions within which the company operates” (Homer TLC INC, 2010). The Home Depot transformed the “home improvement industry” by providing a well round reputation for products, corporate governance and strong values within the community. The purpose of The Home Depot remains to build relationships, have social responsibility, and concrete ethics as an organization. Employees are respected, offered growth and reputable incentive plans. Public policy makers and Home Depot collaborates on ideas to assure prosperity in our society. Home Depot delivers...
Words: 2579 - Pages: 11
...* Strategic Planning Initiative Although Lowe’s has grown to the second largest home improvement retailer worldwide, they still continue to trail Home Depot. At the center of Lowe’s success are their customer focus and their commitment to ethical behavior. However, Lowe’s 2012 Annual Report results a decline in the financial performance (Lowes.com, 2013). As a result of the decline the financial performance, Lowe’s has implemented the following strategic planning initiatives, Retail Relevance and Seamless and Simple. The Retail Relevance strategy is ensuring that Lowe’s keeps with customer love about the retail company while improving the retail operations (Lowes.com, 2013). The main focus of the Retail Relevance strategy is value improvement and product differentiation. Value Improvement enhances the core business by improving the line designs and lowering unit cost (Lowes.com, 2013). Product differentiation drives excitement in the store through better display techniques (Lowes.com, 2013). Value improvement and product differentiation will enable Lowe’s to compete more effectively by delivering better customer experience (Lowes.com, 2013). The Seamless and Simple initiative involves evolving the sales culture across all channels to include upgrading and continuously enhancing our information technology infrastructure, and allowing access to customer’s project and product status at all relevant touch points (Lowes.com, 2013). The Seamless and Simple initiative...
Words: 567 - Pages: 3
...Home depot mission statement According to their corporate Web site, Home Depot's "mission" is 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: *Excellent customer service *Taking care of our people *Giving back *Doing the "right" thing *Creating shareholder value *Respect for all people *Entrepreneurial spirit *Building strong relationship The primary customer profile Home Depot is a home improvement retailer. As of Jan 29 2012, Co. had 2,252 The Home Depot stores, which included 1,974 stores in the U.S., including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam; 180 stores in Canada, 91 stores in Mexico and seven stores in China. Co.'s The Home Depot stores sell a range of building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden products. Co. also provides a range of services including installation programs, which include products such as carpeting, flooring, cabinets, countertops and water heaters. The Home Depot stores serve three primary customer groups: Do It Yourself, Do It For Me and Professional. How many employees does the home depot? As of January 2011, Home Depot had 321,000 employees in North America, Mexico and China. Training process They hire the best. Then we help the...
Words: 390 - Pages: 2
...Cover Story Renovating Home Depot; Skip the touchy-feely stuff. The big-box store is thriving under CEO Bob Nardelli's military-style rule By Brian Grow, with Diane Brady in New York and Michael Arndt in Chicago 6 March 2006 BusinessWeek 50 Volume 3974. Don D. Ray is one tough hombre. The 39-year-old Kentucky native spent three years with the 82nd Airborne Div., one of the U.S. Army's elite units, serving at the head of a maintenance crew during the first Gulf War and an additional seven years on active duty. Then, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Ray suited up for service again, this time as the commander of a special forces A-team that followed the U.S.-led invasion into Afghanistan. His 12-man squad of snipers, demolition experts, and communications specialists hunted renegade al-Qaeda and Taliban. Combing mountain villages, he grew a thick beard, wore traditional Afghan garb, and rode on horseback to blend in with local Muslims. Ray and his men never killed anyone, he says, but they arrested dozens of suspected militants. Nowadays, Ray commands a different kind of operation. He has replaced crack-of-dawn physical training and green Army fatigues with sunrise store openings and an orange Home Depot apron. A store manager in Clarksville, Tenn., Ray runs a 110,000-square-foot box with 35,000 products and a 100-member staff, 30 of them former military. Many days start at 4 a.m. That's when he wakes, eats breakfast, catches some CNBC news, then heads to the store, where...
Words: 4426 - Pages: 18
...aspects of their products and the sustainability of customer relationships is relevant to the future. II. Home Depot – Home Depot Inc. was formed by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in 1978 was a public company by 1981 and became listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. This is the world largest retailer of building materials, home improvement, and lawn and garden products. The company’s headquarters is currently located in Atlanta, GA. As of 2010 the company has attained 317,000 employees (Datamonitor 360). III. Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Marketing- Home Depot currently is the largest home improvement retailer in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and China. The company does have a competitive advantage over similar industries by using advertisements on their products, and commercials. Home Depot ranks 127th on the Forbes global list of the 2000 largest companies and Customers have found that Home Depot has strength for private brands and shows that their products quality are superior over the competitor. (Marketing Teacher). 2. Marketing weaknesses- In 2009, Home Depot had negative store sales that decreased down to 8.7 percent that which was in comparison to the small decrease of 6.7 percent in 2008. The company lost sales because of the decline in the economy, the operational productivity, and the reduction of construction and home improvement projects. Home Depot unfortunately had a bad batch of product recalls, which caused a decrease in their quality levels and caused a...
Words: 437 - Pages: 2
...Home Depot and PepsiCo Founded in 1978 by Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank, The Home Depot is an American home improvement and construction product retailer. It operates stores in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Canada and Mexico. It is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States, next to Lowes. Founded in 1965, PepsiCo is an American food and beverage corporation formed between the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay. PepsiCo has gone on to expand to include Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Gatorade and many more. Each generating sales of one billion dollars each and distributed in more than 200 countries (PepsiCo). As of 2011, PepsiCo employs approximately 297,000 people worldwide (PepsiCo). This paper will assess the above mentioned companies areas of leadership, management, organizational learning (training), and culture and compare and contrast to the structure The United States Army and Macy’s Department Store. Home Depot Leadership: In 2000 Marcus and Blank were replaced with Robert Nardelli, who pushed hard to make the company more efficient, bringing with him many new metrics to centralize operations, and to meet quarterly goals he even cut jobs of associates. Nardelli, a former General Electric top executive, arrived at Home Depot with a leadership style that was already outdated, an autocratic top –down style of command and control. Under Nardelli, Home Depot went from a retail business to a new contracting...
Words: 1739 - Pages: 7
...Background Lowe’s although a well-known store for home improvement now falls behind Home Depot in profit and customer preference. Lowered to second place in 2013 when the Home Depot’s profits increased 18% over the year’s earlier period; with great results in housing recovery. Lowe’s failed during that time resulting in a miniature gain of 2.5% profit and a report of the spring being unusually cold, causing returns due to the ruining of products with dampened hoses and gardening gloves. Lowe’s is also reportedly losing in the battle of customer favorites and profits, because of its customer loyalty. Lowe’s shopper deficit stands at a percentage of -10% for both male and females shoppers, whereas Home Depot gained a total of 7% in customer loyalty between both male and female. This year Lowe’s fell behind Home Depot once again in earnings by not fully taking advantage of building a stronger housing market. To regain some of its earning in the housing market, Lowe’s utilized the strategy of big-ticket sales to boost the company’s revenue, in hopes to get a stronger growth in the categories of appliances and outdoor power equipment. Lowe’s has decided to fix the revenue problem by opening two new stores in Manhattan before the end of 2015, along with that fix is the earnings in shares by a rise of $0.16 ($1.20) from last year’s share of $1.04. Goals • Provide the community with 75% - 85% of resources necessary to accomplish their project improvement goals ...
Words: 629 - Pages: 3
...trends were all used in creating assumptive ratios and growth rates. With five year projected financials, Galeotafiore applied these projections to current company metrics in an effort to publish an accurate forecast. Before finalizing these projections, it is recommended that Value Line produce a detailed qualitative analysis to support the numbers. The purposes of this analysis are to 1) provide detailed forecast analysis for hardware giants Home Depot and Lowe’s. 2) compare these assumptions to the industries previous and potential performance 3) provide a judgment for Value Line readers for potential stock investment actions. Although these two companies have risen to the top of this industry it is recommended that investors hold their current investment position on both companies, as opposed to buy or sell. Problem Formulation As Galeotafiore prepares to release Value Line’s forecasts, there are several important factors that must be taken into consideration. Primarily, are the numbers used in the models for Home Depot, found in Exhibit 7, dependable? Can both companies be expected to achieve similar growth rates or has market saturation been reached? Next, is Galeotafiore properly accounting for macroeconomic trends? In the near future, interest rates are predicted to rise and new housing starts are expected to decline. Both companies perform better when these trends are moving in the opposite direction so current sales forecasts may be too aggressive. Lastly...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...Unit 2 IP MAKING IMPORTANT DECISIONS AS A SENIOR MANAGER Carol Leader AIU Online Abstract Formulating sound choices requires a logical approach. Using an organized approach as a senior manager to create a constructive environment, having a backup plan in place, and being able to go with the alternate plan, quickly in the event plan A is not a workable one or flaws have been discovered. Senior managers need to know what the right course of action to take, how and when to communicate a decision the approaches to carry out the plan. As a front line senior manager it is important to have an understanding of the effects of good decision making learning from past experiences and the reactions of the company’s CEO, CIOs, stakeholders and other upper management personnel. It is equally important to know subordinate team members that will be carrying the tasks to make the project successful. The front line manager is able to analyze the effect of decisions in specific situations and make necessary adjustments in terms of productivity of the team members. Assumptions Taking something for granted is an assumption. An assumption can be a statement this presumed to be true, but does not have concrete evidence to support it. Assumptions can be very dangerous with research to support critical thinking. Assumptions enable companies to plan and make decisions in uncertain situations. Basically assumptions are wishful thinking. Traditional business forecasting is based on...
Words: 945 - Pages: 4
...the Customer Experience at Home Depot Rev. 12-2012 During 1990’s, the Home Depot was well renowned for its orange-blooded entrepreneurial culture and outstanding customer service. From the beginning, the retailer took a long-term approach by training its associates to form enduring customer relationships rather than push for incremental sales gains. As a result, the company grew very quickly becoming the fastest retailer in history to reach sales milestones of $30 billion, $40 billion, $50 billion, $60 billion and $70 billion in revenuesi. Despite this remarkable success, Marcus and Blank, the founders of the Home Depot, stepped down as leaders stating that continued growth required new leadership with fresh and innovative business approaches. Thus, in 2001, Robert Nardelli was named Chief Executive Office of the Home Depot. Nardelli introduced many new initiatives to the company such as, centralized buying, company-wide analytics and improved information systems, which were essential for the company to remain competitive. Many of his other changes, however, led to significant dissatisfaction, low morale, high turnover, reduced productivity, and general discontent among the associates that seriously derailed the company from the customer-centric approach that made the Home Depot such a success story during the Marcus and Blank era. The result was the most dramatic decrease in customer satisfaction in retailing history. In 2001, the Home Depot and Lowe’s both had customer...
Words: 7629 - Pages: 31
...Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores Sheila Thomas Webster University Abstract Lowe’s exists to help customers improve and maintain their biggest asset- their home. We do this by meeting the changing needs of our customers by providing inspiration and support whenever and wherever they shop. Whether our customers shop in store, online, by phone, or if we’re meeting them at their home or place of business, Lowe’s is ready to help. In our more than 1,830 stores, we have implemented multiple systems to improve the customer experience, including an upgraded store information technology infrastructure that allows customers and employees to access richer product information, enjoy an endless aisle of product choices and manage their projects from inspiration to enjoyment (Lowe’s.com). Online, we are rapidly expanding our assortments to offer customers a broader range of products that can be researched and purchased online, in store or via our mobile app. MyLowe’s makes it easy for our customers to automatically track and store all purchases on their online customer profile. We’ve vowed to “Never Stop Improving” so we can satisfy the ever-changing needs of our customers (Lowe’s.com). Lowe’s operates more than 1,830 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. We serve approximately 15 million customers each week and employ more than 260,000 people (Lowe’s.com). Our stores stock 12 product categories ranging from appliances and tools, to paint, lumber and nursery...
Words: 3755 - Pages: 16
...of companies like Home Depot, Lowes and any local hardware store. Each of these businesses aims to satisfy their customers by providing a wide range of products that can assist on home improvement projects or general contracting and construction. While all three businesses may have similar business models or target the same type of clientele, they each have a different Operations and Materials Management (OMM) cost. Home Depot is one of the largest hardware retail stores located in the United States. Home Depot employees run various tasks from assisting a customer with suggestions on items, to actually running heavy machinery to cut wood or metal for a customer. The employees seemed to be geared to help customers with their needs as fast as possible. The store stocks a wide variety of items for multiple different projects or repair. They also have a lower cost alternative under the Home Depot brand for many different items available in the store. By having a Home Depot brand on the shelves for a variety of items helps the OMM of the business by increasing revenue thru a low cost alternative item that the customer my purchase instead of the name brand. Lowes is a competitor to the Home Depot. Lowes is also one of the largest hardware retail stores in the United States. Lowes employees also perform many of the same tasks as a Home Depot employee. The difference that can be observed between Lowes and Home Depot is that by the types of items being carried. Home...
Words: 722 - Pages: 3
...ZhangAlex Zurbuch | Mingle Li | | Fin 470 Oct 16, 2011 Value Line Publishing There are two leaders for retail building-supply industry: Home Depot and Lowe’s, the two companies captured more than third of the total sale of the industry. Home Depot hold 22.9% market shares of the industry and Lowe’s hold 10.8% market share. Two companies are head to head competitor but focus on different market, Home Depot focused on large metropolitan areas and Lowe’s focused on rural area. Two companies both maintained online stores. Lowe’s has its own Web site: “Accent & Style” and focused on professional customer. Home Depot developed new type of retail stores in urban area and provide products and services in a compact format. Home Depot developed its first international retailer in 1994 and 10% of Home Depot international stores were built in global area at the end of 2001. Home Depot has 1,333 stores and 256,300 employees in 2001 and Lowe’s has 744 stores and 108,317 employees in the same period time. Return on equity shows how well a company uses investment funds to generate earnings growth. Generally a return on equity between 15% and 20% are considered desirable. Home Depot’s five year returns on equity all between 15% and 20% and Lowe’s five year returns on equity mostly less than 15%. The data prove Home Depot got higher net earnings than Lowe’s. Gross margin can use to determine the value of increasing sales. The higher gross margin means the company...
Words: 1709 - Pages: 7
