Introduction. The Case Study Renovating Home Depot Was

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.

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.

1. Identify the key factors responsible for the success of Gordon Biersch to date. What concerns, if any, do you have as the company looks ahead?

Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. These founders envisioned providing one-stop shopping for the “do-it-yourselfer,” and this vision became a reality after working with investment banker Ken Lagone and merchandising expert, Pat Farrah. The first two stores were opened on June 22, 1979, in Atlanta, GA. These first stores were approximately 60,000 square feet in size each, and stocked 25,000 products, which made the stores drastically larger than any competitor or hardware store at that time. In addition to offering more products than competitors, store associates were also expected to offer the best customer service in the industry. Associates at

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

First, the manager's team will begin to change Home Depot’s culture by creating a team-oriented culture. The managerial style is to treat the workers with the same amount of importance as the customers. After reading the article, one might think that the problem is that Home Depot has a fractured relationship with the store’s associates and corporate office. The manager's job is to mend the relationship between store associates, corporate office, and the customers.

One of the differentiating factors of Home Depot was that it incorporated within its members a major aversion to any kind of beauracracy and hierarchy. It was a usual practice at the stores to ignore all kind of paperwork that was sent to them by the headquarters. They undervalued such directives to the extent that they would throw these papers in the waste basket or mark them with “BS” stamp and send it back to the headquarters. They believed that all this was a waste of time of the managers and they had more important things to address to at their stores, the most important of them being : satisfying the

Bob Nardelli, a longtime GE executive who nearly nabbed the CEO spot at the company, was brought in to run Home Depot in 2000. He was by all accounts an overpaid disaster in the role. Skills that were well-suited to GE’s culture — a place, under CEO Jack Welch, with an intense focus on performance, where people were routinely fired — didn’t fit at Home Depot, which had a more laid-back culture, as Michael Useem, a management professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, noted in a 2007 podcast.

The strategy he used at GE was not adequate to for the structural, and behavioral changes need in Home Depot. Therefore, the company fails under his leadership. The dismissal of experts, cutting the cost and decentralizing the organization was all negative changes. Since that time, Home Depot has progressed in enhancing its performance financially and productively. From a Biblical perspective, top leadership should not be altered by values of the world, but be transformed by renewing of the mind. For example, the Spiritual transformation begins in the mind and heart. Conforming to the world will create a culture that is not stable, but a mind dedicated to God’s word will produce a life that can stand the test of time (Roman 12:2 New King James

The company I have selected for the final project is Lowe’s Home Improvement. I chose this company because it is a well know fortune 500 company. Lowe’s was founded in 1946 and has grown from a small hardware store into the 2nd largest home improvement retailer worldwide, 2nd to only Home Depot. Lowe’s started as a single store in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina in 1921 by Lucius Smith Lowe. The company went public in 1961 and quickly grew in numbers. In the 1980s the company suffered due to market conditions and increasing competition, such as Home Depot. Lowe’s resisted adopting the mega-store format at first but once they changed their perspective the company began to flourish again. It is considered the 8th largest retailer in

Leading Complex Organizations: An Entrepreneurial Perspective Howard Schultz is one of the transformational leaders in the modern business environment given his role in creation and development of a successful company i.e. Starbucks. Starbucks is renowned for its long standing record of growth, profitability, and success, which is a reflection of effective leadership towards making money. The growth and profitability of Starbucks is largely attributed to the leadership of Howard Schultz. Actually, Schultz has utilized an effective leadership and communication style that has contributed to the development of Starbucks. In contrast, General George Patton is also renowned as a transformational leader who has been idolized as an all-powerful

My first choice for a company that would succeed today with globalization is Lowes Home Improvement. My main reason for this company is because what it supplies is needed anywhere in the world. Lowes not only supplies major appliances such as stoves and microwave but also offers installation on these items. They offer many home improvement needs such as windows, doors, siding, and all types of wood to build with. No matter where you go, these items are needed for your homes and businesses. This allows Lowes to be profitable in any market. It creates jobs, which helps local economies. It also brings other companies to these other countries. Companies such as General Electric and Anderson windows can become global companies with them.

Home Depot is a major retailer of household hardware and building materials that started in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank with the first two Home Depot stores in Atlanta (Weinberger, & Miller, 2002). Home Depot has grown to more than 2,200 stores in three countries with a large network of stores all over the US, Mexico, and Canada (Weinberger, & LaPadula,2001). With its network of stores in three countries, it has a Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN) that transfer files and information from one store to another going through different servers by cable and wireless connections (Manning,2009).

This case explores the leadership of Carol Baines in turning around her Baines Company, increasing sales from a $200,000 a year to over $3 million a year, over a period of around 15 years. It discusses Carol’s leadership traits and the roles they play in the expansion of the company. It considers other leadership styles or behaviors that contribute to the continued growth of the business. Finally, it questions whether situational factors had an influence in Carol’s success and whether Carol could succeed as a leader in other business context.