Evan Wabrick
Strategic Plan
Dr. Watts
4/18/2012
Strategic Plan for Costco Wholesale Corporation
Executive Summary
The retail industry is an extremely competitive environment that poses many challenges for Costco Wholesale Corporation and its competitors. Since many of the stores offer the same products, it may sometimes be very hard for customers to differentiate between retail stores. Even though the economy is recovering from a recession, the retail business is still a mature industry and is improving very steadily. Costco and its competitors are affected by the same political, economic, social, and technological factors, such as taxes, presidential elections, SEC regulations, the economic state of the country, exchange rates,
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From a political standpoint, one of the biggest external factors affecting corporations in the retail industry is taxes. The United States corporate federal income tax rate is one of the highest in the world, in which companies have to pay 35% in taxes on income over $18,333,333. (Greenstein, Rogoff, Olsen, & Co., LLP, CPA's) Firms in this industry would like to see corporate taxation decrease so that the company is able to have a higher net income. It is uncertain if the corporate tax rate will increase or decrease; however, presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that he is planning on offering a corporate tax cut to encourage businesses to increase operations in the United States than overseas. The nation will just have to wait and see if this becomes reality. A higher net income could potentially mean more earnings per share and more dividends distributed to shareholders. Not only are retail companies affected by taxes in the United States, they are also affected by export and import taxes on goods produced and sold throughout the world. Costco owns a number of subsidiary companies, such as Price Enterprises, Inc. and Shinsegae Department Store Co, which is located in Korea and subject to foreign taxation rates. Costco, as well as its retail competitors, would like to see a decrease in foreign taxation rates so that they’re able to generate a higher net income from their foreign subsidiaries. Another political factor that affects
turnover, which is made possible by low prices and limited product selection. This business model is appealing for them and has many benefits. Firstly, by setting up the business approach to rapidly
* Employment law: the profitability of the company could be influenced by US governmental concerns regarding minimum wage that companies are required to pay their staff. In addition, reduction in licensing and permit costs in countries producing coffee beans for Starbucks would lower the production cost for farmers resulting in savings that would be passed on to the consumer.
Majority of Costco warehouses is located in U.S. and Canada. Therefore, Costco’s financial and operational performance is highly dependent on U.S. and Canadian operations. Within the U.S. it is highly dependent on its California operations, which contained almost third of U.S. net sales. Any substantial decline in California operations could
Costco is a club card organization. Everyone wants to join. Joining Costco gives people access to great things that they must offer. Costco offers high wages, benefits and opportunities for growth. They offer the best wages around. They reward they employees not only with incentives but with bonuses. Employees can grow with the company because they promote within. Costco has some of the best top suppliers, PepsiCo, and Kraft Heinz. Having some of the best suppliers gives the company to bargain with their prices. A new competitor would find it hard to match Costco products and prices. Five Forces that outline Costco are rivalry among competitors. Rivalry among the company is high. Costco and Walmart are the top two in retail. Their or others, Best Buy and Target which are well known for holding their power. Retailers are competing against each other with whom can give lower prices to customers. The treat of substitute products and service is another force. This force is important because it is a technique to take customers away. They try to take customers away from other retailers by carrying items in one size with the best brands at a low price. Potential new competitors is down because competing with Costco and Walmart is hard. Power of supply. Costco does not spend that much on supplies because they buy in bulk keeping the
In this segment, the retailer J.C. Penney will be analyzed against the department store retail industry, with particular emphasis placed upon their competitors, Macy’s and Kohl’s. The major components to be discussed will include the general external environment (i.e. demographics, economics, politics, legal requirements, technologies and global expansion), the industry environment, the competitive environment, the driving forces and the key factors for success within the industry. In terms of the general external environment, the retail industry is a multi-trillion dollar business in the United States alone and maintains operations primarily due to consumer spending. Such purchases rely upon the disposable income of
Costco Sale is one of the big box retail companies with the capabilities to render value to the customers and employees in North America and the rest of the world. Costco Wholesale has the potential of solid balance sheet, and with the strength of generating cash flow, in order to carry out its operations, i.e. over $900 million was returned to shareholders in the form of
Costco has a geographic dependence; Costco is over dependent on North American market to generate its revenues and profits. In FY2015, the US and Canadian markets together contributed 87.5% to the consolidated net sales of the company. Furthermore, within the US, the company is highly dependent on its California operations, which represented 31% of the US net sales in FY2015(Costco,2014). The company generates a bulk of its sales from U.S.A and Canada. “Any decline in the sales of the US (particularly in California) and Canadian operations due to weakening demand trends, increase in unemployment rates, increase in labor costs and other factors could significantly affect the company's sales”(Gabler,2016).
The first of Porter’s Five Forces that impact Costco is the threat of new entrants. The threat of new entrants into the wholesale and membership retail space is low. There are several reasons why the threat of entrants into the market is low. The leading reason why the threat of entry is low is because an emerging company will struggle to have the volume necessary to compete with Costco. Costco is the sixth largest retailer in the U.S. As a major retailer, Costco has the highest discounts on a majority of its
Looking in to a new phase with Target Target has turned out to be the leader of retail stores that operate in different parts of the US and has made a good reputation as you might want to decipher an extent to which it has been trusted in past two decades to decide the fate of retail shopping as it has prospered in the past few years. There is an expectancy you will want to consider with positive realization that this store has made sales of billions of dollars looking at the number of customers exceeding 100 million in US only. Chances are that this store will carry out most of the online tasks that will get assigned to US consumer business as it has to prosper in future and make essential needs and consider points that are put under use with tactics to please the public that deals with these stores in many situations as there is consideration of making customers provided with sales reaching to a surprising rate. With exception of making visits to the store when you want to communicate with this stores authorities it is expected that you take the incentive.
Costco has a cost (i.e. price) advantage and would be able to price an entrant out of the market. We must still be mindful of other big-box retailers that offer portions of what Costco has for inventory. Companies such as Super Wal-Mart, IKEA and even WinCo are lesser threats but threats all the same.
Superstores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot have always been frowned upon by local businesses because of the competition it brings. Lower prices forces nearby stores to lower their prices until they shut down because of the negative profits from lowering their prices or because they don't acquire enough revenue to stay in the market. However ironically this feeling isn't shared towards the opening of Costco, another wholesale superstore. Costco's lower prices surprisingly causes local businesses to raise their prices. Even to the point where investors find area's relatively close to Costco to be an ideal location to
Costco Wholesale Corporation is in an industry where there are several of dynamic competition from huge chains such as Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club and Target, and yet it could maintain a competitive and profitable stance. Effective strategic planning is essential part in operating any business in relation toward adapting to organizational and operational adaptation to changing markets. Through inquiries, the influence in the recent economic trends, provide strategies that have use or could use in the adaptation to changes in the market related to issues of economic trends, such as recession and economic downturn. Costco Company’s research paper will further discuss the tactics that has
At the end of 2012, Costco was a successful business, but there are some issues that they would need to deal with. These issues mainly arise from their previous successful ventures as a warehouse wholesale company. The first issue is that Costco has competitors that can actually be and are a threat to their success. Competition allows a company to improve itself and prove its prowess to its customers. However, when a competitor is able to provide the service at a much reduced cost, problems will arise. As for the second issue, it seems that Costco’s efforts to become an international company are moving slowly. They have not reached a point where their US and Canadian warehouses provide a backbone for their finances. Costco’s third issue is that their finances are too reliant on acquiring new members and not on selling their products. If they cannot keep acquiring new members at a steady rate, their financial infrastructure could suffer.
Costco’s pioneering ability to constantly reinvent itself has given it a strong world-wide competitive advantage. In order to maintain its position as one of the most consistent retailers around, Costco always demands the best from its vendors, and ensures productivity and effectiveness by administering all its departments in a competent
Company should create linking mechanism across organization boundaries. The only links mentioned in the assigned business news is that Wal-Mart introduced the retraining program called Associates Out in Front. Store managers must meet with 10 associates each week and hear them out. It is described as a way for Wal-Mart to show employees “that we do appreciate you and that we have an ongoing commitment to listening to and addressing your concerns.”