Free Essay Home Depot History and Business Case Analysis

Home Depot has clearly set itself up to be successful in the recent upswing in the housing markets. Their technology upgrade has proven to be successful in keeping stores stocked and employees more engaged with helping the customers.

The Home Depot mission statement reads 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 values include the following: excellent customer service, taking care of our people, giving back, doing the “right” things, creating shareholder value, respect for all people, entrepreneurial spirit, and building strong relationships.”

Home Depot is the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. by some accounts. It has a fascinating history of innovation and entrepreneurship. The company had some difficulties in the mid-2000s that some attribute to cultural clashes. However, during this period the company was able to take full advantage of the housing boom. Yet when the bubble burst, Home Depot was forced to claim substantial losses. Despite these loses Home Depot has weathered the storm fairly well and is in prime position to take advantage of an economic recovery; if it ever comes.

The Home Depot knows that they must stay on top of technology and management must be able to organize this function in a way that surpasses the competition, pleases the customers, and keep the employees satisfied.

I believe that Home Depot has done an excellent job at reaching its goals in the past ten years. They have been able to expand their market by aggressively opening several store locations and using a clustering strategy. In doing this they have become a market leader and they have also been able to keep their SG&A expenses down by eliminating redundant expenses by spreading them out between stores close in proximity to each other. Home Depot is facing a few problems in order to continue reaching its stated goal(s) of becoming a global leader and expanding their existing market. There are a few established business that are in direct competition with Home Depot such as Lowe's, their number one competitor, and other companies such as Eagle Hardware & Garden of Seattle, who has been preparing for the intense competition

If we look at Home Depot's business segments and the statistics on new home sales, we can see where the challenge is. According to the Commerce Department, sales of new homes grew by 6.6% in the month, setting the annual pace for 2010 to 307,000 total units sold. Although, there was an increase in September, this annual pace is the worst on new home sales since 1963, even when mortgage rates are at an all time low. This signifies why there would be disappointment from Home Depot. It is quite obvious that they will continue to struggle, at least through the 4th quarter of this year due to an industry dependent upon a strong real estate market.

The company started out as two stores, but now has 2,200 across North America. The brand has grown exponentially, but The Home Depot difference keeps them grounded. Despite their growth their priority is their service to customers, associates, communities, and shareholders according to their website.

In conclusion to reading both the message to shareholders and management’s discussion and analysis, the current situation and the outlook for the future are very good in my opinion. This company may have had a slow start in the casegoods sales for example and the current situation may have suffered a little but the first part of the fiscal 2013 year. But they were looking to the future and making their transition in that area, for more efficiency in the future and picked up sales the second half of the year. They also made up for this transition with over a 70% increase in there upholstery division sales. The Outlook that Hooker Furniture Corporation is great, they are making new business deals and making employee transitions to help them make it through the Great Recession as the housing market goes back up.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer operating in 45 states, Canada, Chili and Puerto Rico. Home Depot stores aim to serve both do-it-yourselfers and professional contractors with home improvement superstores carrying between 40,000 and 50,000 different products. Home Depot has also been listed as one of Fortune's most admired specialty retailers for the past six years. In order for companies to succeed in the competitive current marketplace they must consider not only the bottom line and their investors but also their impacts on the community, their employees, and their customers. Home Depot was founded on the idea that treating employees well is an important responsibility. Home Depot believes employees that are

Home Depot 's target market is individual homeowners/small contractors. Even though the traditional ideology is that cost leadership and product differentiation business strategies are mutually exclusive, Home Depot was successful at using a combination strategy. First, Home Depot optimized the cost leadership strategy by offering low and competitive prices to its customers by emphasizing higher sales volumes with lower margins, while instituting a high inventory turnover. Home Depot successfully offered a warehouse product strategy to the individual consumer for the first time. Previously, this type of price discounting was only available to professional contractors who earned product price

The opportunity for Home Depot is international expansion. If the company decides to expand internationally and open up more stores in other locations, this can help spread the good news about the company and also generate more income. The threat for Home Depot is competition. More stores out in the world also sell home improvement merchandise and if people start going other places it can hurt the profit for the

While only time will tell if this was the best move, as the number one home improvement store in the country, it is a wise move. By focusing their efforts on improving their current stores, they will make the customers experience better and encourage them to return. Once the recession is over, these customers will be more likely to come back and spend their money. The one recommendation I would make to the CEO is not to cut back on employee incentives. If their main goal is to improve their stores, they need to start with the employees. Keeping their employees happy during this time is crucial as happy employees work harder than unhappy employees and are less likely to seek new employment when the economy turns around.

The Company operates retail stores and call centers, and conducts online retail operations. Home Depot is considered a service based business. Home depot depends on people and the client experience and it also targets different markets in general.

The foreign markets have significant opportunities for the growing civilizational and economy, which favor the demand for modern home improvement products. Therefore, Home Depot should also consider global expansion to spread their quality products and generate more sales and revenue.

A strong foundation for success and growth was already in place in Home Depot under Marcus leadership. The company demonstrated a very strong culture, built on entrepreneurialism and customer service. Abundant promotion opportunities were created due to rapid growth attracting carpenters, plumbers and other building professionals as salespeople. Most of the non-entry-level jobs were filled internally, and from the 400 department heads, just a dozen came from outside the company. Additionally, employee stock