Staples Website Case Study

This assignment had to be written for the class of Management and Organizations at Stenden University, course IBMS, first year. We had a group of 6 and had to work it out together. We were enjoying getting into the world of IKEA, the world’s most furniture store on the market.

The separation of races in stereotypical ways is an ongoing problem throughout the world. Brent Staples is an individual who know this issue all too well. In Staples’ essay titled “Just Walk on By”, he uses countless rhetorical strategies to convey the harmful effects of stereotypes and race diversity. From his own personal encounters, he describes racial issues and how they can wrongfully define an individual. Staples begins by using powerful diction to bring this issue to life.

On the other hand, the organization has many more weaknesses than expected. For starters, it is extremely unorganized. For myself, I am very organized and to start to work in this business setting was hard for me. It is hard to be successful in a business

Cons: Incur loss in the first year; hard to find an advisor whose work ethic and values are similar to the company’s; takes time and effort to train

2. Acquisitions Staples’s revenue was twice the OD’s revenue, OD could merge with Office Max in order to compete with Staples at the same level. In addition, after that the alliance could integrate the source effectively and efficiently and cut more operating cost.

When it comes to the impact of the Five Forces of Competition and its effect on the performance of Staples and Office Depot, there does not appear to be a strong threat of new entrants in the big-box retail office supply segment of the industry. It seems unlikely that anyone will want to open a new office supply store. While there is a level of service differentiation between the two companies, there is little product differentiation between the two. Likewise, there would be little product differentiation from a new competitor. The threat of substitutes comes into play between Staples and Office Depot in that both companies offer basically the same products. If the customer can’t get what he wants at one store, he can go to the other. Likewise, if the customer becomes disenfranchised with one company for whatever reason, he can easily go to the other company. There doesn’t seem to be much bargaining power of customers or suppliers. There does seems to be a strong industry rivalry which, as with most industries, is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry.

Staples contributes to numerous charitable foundations. Staples is a proud member of Boys and Girls Clubs of America as well as other foundations to provide educational opportunities for all.

Industry Rivals – Industry Rivals such as Circuit City and Radio Shack have been hurt in some markets due to the expansion of Best Buy, but by having a better customer service rating, some customers are coming back.

Weaknesses: Negative Image, low credibility, poor management decision, to big of a organization to make noticeable mistakes

Intensity of rivalry among competitive firms. In the past, Staples has been successful in fighting against its competitors with its low prices and brand loyalty, but recently against Amazon there are bigger obstacles to overcome. The rivalry with Amazon, Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs is intense as they have more resources to use against Staples, such as the range of its customers and a thriving business line. Therefore, seeing that the rivalry is intense, it presents a threat to their profitability (Hill et al., 2015, p. 51). From this perspective, the competitive rivalry will be considered as high for Staples.

As such Staples stock does better on a daily basis the Microsoft and Apple stock.

Staples is a comprehensive strategic management case that includes the company’s year-end 2010 financial statements, organizational chart, competitor information and more. The case time setting is the year 2011. Sufficient internal and external data are provided to enable students to evaluate current strategies and recommend a three-year strategic plan for the company. Headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, Staples’s common stock is publicly traded under the ticker symbol SPLS.

In 1966, Richard Shulze opened a small business in St. Paul, Minnesota called Sound of Music. In the next 17 years Shulze's small store rapidly grew into a multi-million dollar outfit. In 1983, Sound of Music changed its name to Best Buy Co., Inc and the first superstore was opened in Burnsville, Minnesota. With the new name the store also began carrying more name brands, appliances, VCRs and offering central service and warehouse distribution. Throughout the nineties Best Buy became pioneers in offering the newest technology such as DVDs and high definition TVs. In 1999, Best Buy and Microsoft combined to cross promote each other and also offered a two for one stock split. Now in 2005, almost 40 years after the first store

The ABC system will help management analyse the profitability of each customer and restore the profitability of the company. Allied needs to offer benefits such as modified compensation plan focused on growing customer revenue and profitability to help encourage sales behaviour. TFC is able to significantly improve profits by concentrating on individual account management which SBP is capable of by identifying service costs and calculate the contribution for each account and then rank the accounts according to profitable ones. TFC should charge its customers based on their service usage by using cost plus pricing. The customers would be charged based on the cost of product plus service charge based on SBP systems plus a mark-up so that it will be fair to customers that have the same sales but different level of service.

S: 1. Product diversity: HP not just do the software and hardware but the whole rang of service to design, implement and IT infrastructure. Right now HP is dominating the market of printer with 40% market share. The product diversity enables the company to hold its position even in the time of recession.