...SUMMARY The Home Depot is an American retailer of home improvement, construction products and gardening products. Frank Blake is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Home Depot. The Home Depot was founded in 1978 and it is considered the largest home improvement retailer globally. Home Depot has 1786 stores within USA, Mexico, Canada, China, United Kingdom and South America. Competitions in the home improvement industry are based on several factors such as price, quality, durability, product features, customer preferences and warranties. The Home depot has shown its excellent past growth with the products involved in home construction, maintenance, renovation and remodeling. The Home depot has its main target market in...
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...External Environment Analysis Kristy Sanchez MGT/488 September-Sunday 11, 2011 Jeannette Guignard External Environment Analysis Introduction This essay is written in regards to the Home Depot and the evaluation of their external environment. The Home Depot is a highly successful retail industry that has expanded globally. The Home Depot has a wide variety of supplies and materials for all home improvement projects. They even have tools, equipment, and trucks that can be rented out to assist with any larger home improvement needs. The Home Depot has made a continuity plan to assist with protection of the customers, associates, and the industry if a crisis or disaster occurs. A continuity plan is basically the instructional list or procedures for the company in the event that a crisis or natural disaster occurs and how they will handle that event. This essay will look at how the external environment affects that plan. This essay will also look at the affects of the environment in three other areas as well, including general, industry, and competitor. Finally, it will look into the business ethics and see how they play a role when gathering information for competitor intelligence. The Home Depot has a continuity plan that they follow that can be found in their code of conduct and ethics manual. That continuity plan is as follows: “We are committed to taking all reasonable steps to minimize risks to our associates, customers, facilities, information assets and supply chains...
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...Lowe’s Home Improvement Executive Summary Lowe’s Home Improvement Executive Summary B&B Consulting Nicholas Baziuk Shannon Browne 3/3/2016 B&B Consulting Nicholas Baziuk Shannon Browne 3/3/2016 To: Board of Directors of Lowe’s Home Improvement From: B&B Consulting Subject: Executive Summary B&B Consulting Services was requested to evaluate, assess, analyze and make recommendations to Lowe’s Home Improvement in the areas of strategy for growth improvement. The following information will give Lowe’s a better understanding of its company and what improvements can be made in the short-term and long-term. Current Strategy Lowe’s current strategy is to differentiate itself through better customer service. Lowe’s other focus is on the changing home improvement landscapes. In recent years home owners have changed how landscaping looks and operates. Lastly, Lowe’s is looking to deliver long-term profitable growth and substantial return to its shareholders. Competitive Analysis Lowe’s will continue to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships with its customers by having strong brand value and giving support to its customers. Its main focus is “do it yourself” home owners and having larger more spacious stores compared to its competitors. Lowe’s and Home Depot have both aggressively expanded in the United States, especially in the metropolitan market. SWOT Analysis -Lowe’s Home Improvement Strengths * Brand Recognition * Distribution Network *...
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...Strategic Management Analysis: The Home Depot History, Development, and Growth The Home Depot, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, experienced growth rather quickly. The Home Depot is “the fastest growing retailer in U.S. history.” In 1981, the company went public on NASDAQ, moving to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) merely four years later in 1984. The 1980s and 1990s saw tremendous growth for the company, with 1989 marking the celebration of its 100th store opening. From the time of its foundation, The Home Depot has been able to continue growth by implementing and reinforcing its distinct core competencies. Additionally, The Home Depot experienced aforementioned growth through not only continuously adapting to change, but through maintaining the initial culture and values of the organization. Through emphasizing and sustaining said culture and ensuring providence of good products and customer service to its customers has bolstered The Home Depot’s competitive advantage and forged the company’s reputation as the home-improvement industry leader. Internal Analysis - Strengths and Weaknesses All four of the following, whether strengths or weaknesses, are of utmost importance for The Home Depot. Strengths Pronounced Reputation and Brand Image Due in part to its highly evolved marketing and advertising strategies, The Home Depot has developed a pronounced reputation and brand image within the home-improvement industry...
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...Home Depot vs. Lowe’s Retail Home Improvement Financial Analysis Background Introduction The home improvement sector of the economy is large with two major players in the industry and with many smaller local and regional competitors. These two major competitors are Home Depot and Lowe’s. These two companies account for over $110 billion in total sales each year. Even though sales have gone down over the past few years due to the downturn in the economy they have not gone down nearly as much as home sales and this is due to more people deciding to do more home improvements to their own home then buying a new home. Both of these companies have been able to keep up sales and increase them year over year by improving current stores and at the same time expanding both here in the United States and overseas. Company introduction Home Depot The Home Depot also known as Home Depot is a retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. The Home Depot was founded in 1978. The Home Depot operates 2,242 stores across the United States in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam. Sales within the United States were over $77 billion in 2010. The Home Depot also operates internationally in Canada, Mexico and China. Lowe’s Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a retail home improvement and appliance stores and also does construction. Lowe’s was founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Lowe’s operates 1,710 stores...
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...Doing the right thing * Excellent Customer Service * Creating Shareholder Value * Building Strong Relationships * Entrepreneurial spirit * Respect of All People HOME DEPOT VALUES MISSION IS IMPROVING HOMES SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths * Improving home quality with reasonable prices * team leadership WEAKNESSES * In 2011, home depot lowered prices to keep it customers. * MSC money reported that in the 1st quarter in 2011 same store sales went down to 0.6% * New York times indicated that n 2011 4th quarter sales went up to 5.7% * MSC money reported that in the 1st quarter in 2011 same store sales went down to 0.6% * New York times indicated that in 2011 4th quarter same store sales went up to 5.7% Opportunities * In 2013 spring season they plan on hiring more people, more than 80,000 according to cnn money website. * With this added on plan, home depot expects to not only supply jobs but develop great workers who will hopefully increase profit for the spring THREATS * Their competitor lowes Business strategy * Pricing strategy to create values to the customer, do not repeat promotions from previous years GENERAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS * EconomicNature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes or may compete. * Economic recession- home improvement industry categorized as recession proof product * Housing market * Increased restrictions on credit availability-big ticket items financed * demographicpopulation’s...
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...Recommendation: Home Depot Jermaine Singleton Capella University MBA6004-Foundational Skills Business Leaders Jeff Leinaweaver November 15, 2013 Home Depot Incorporated Home Depot is a retailer, which is one of the fastest Corporations in the United States. In the early 80s, the company went public with NASDAQ and join with the New York Stock Exchange. There was a tremendous growth in the company between the 80s and 90s. Home Depot began putting home improvement centers in Canada in 1994 and Mexico in 2001. The company expanded the business to China forming a 12 store chain called The Home Way in 2006. The company also develops a strategic alliance with manufacturers leading in the industry to give customers exclusive products. Home Depot advertises different national brands to set standards for the merchandise use by professional contractors and customers. Home Depot has offices in China, Canada, U.S., India, and Mexico. The company is enhancing the relationships between the customers and the manufacturers and changing the customer’s confidence in the international suppliers. The two largest companies in the industry, which is Home Depot and Lowes, are the high entry barriers. These companies hold the high cost to maintain the success factors with other companies. The home improvement...
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...Strategic Plan; Home Depot Strategic planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, and ensure that employees and other participants are working toward common goals. It is a disciplined effort that produces essential decisions and actions that shapes and guides what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it. Strategic planning focuses on the future of the company. Strategic planning is building a plan that provides guidance in fulfilling a mission with maximum efficiency and impact for a company. Basically it is the Who, What, When, Where, How and How Much aspect to planning. “A company collectively tries to agree on where it is going (its vision) and how it’s going to get there (its strategy)” (Abraham, 2012). Strategic planning is a very important part of having a successful organization. Without it, the employees will not know what to do or why they are doing it and over time the company will not succeed. In order for the plan to be effective and useful, it should articulate specific goals and describe the action steps and resources needed to accomplish them. In other words, Strategic Planning is a regimented effort to analyze certain things like: the objectives of the organization, why it’s doing that and what is it going to do in the changing environment or future. I have selected Home Depot to analyze and prepare a strategic plan to grow the organization...
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...Riaz Industry & Company Description Home Depot is a home improvement and construction company. It has its headquarters located in Georgia, Atlanta. Founded in 1978, Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States with 2248 stores. This includes 1976 stores in US and the rest in Canada, Mexico, China, UK, Argentina and Chile. Home Depot serves three primary customer groups; do-it-yourself (D-I-Y), do-it-for-me (D-I-F-M) and professional customers. The company offers over 300,000 different products. Home Depot operates in the home improvement and construction industry. The industry consists of other competitors like Lowe’s in USA which is the main competitor in term of size. Home depot and Lowe’s together make up only 18% of the total industry and the rest of the market share is distributed amongst big-box retailers such as Walmart and other small chains and businesses. Home improvement industry is recovering from a slum caused by the housing market collapse of 2008. The revenues of the industry got hit severely as the demand for these goods rock bottomed. But the good news is that the housing market has started a comeback in 2012 and the “Joint center for housing studies of Harvard University” suggests that the market is on the right path of a recovery. After several years as a drag in economy, the housing sector contributed positively to the GDP in 2012. Porter’s Five Forces Industry Competition Home Depot sit quite comfortably on the top as the...
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..."The Home Depot NYSE: HD, headquartered in Vinings, Georgia, is a home improvement retailer that aims for both the do-it-yourself consumer and the professional in home improvement and construction. It is the second largest retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart; and the third largest retailer in the world, behind Wal-Mart and French company Carrefour. The Home Depot operates about 1,900 stores across North America. The company operates stores in the United States (including the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands), Canada, and Mexico. The Home Depot also operates EXPO Design Center stores in select U.S. markets, providing high-end home design products and services. Its 2004 sales totaled US $73.1 billion. It was ranked #13 on FORTUNE magazine's FORTUNE 500 The Home Depot also owns a chain of higher-end home decorating and appliance stores. The Home Depot employs over 325,000 people." The company was founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, and grew rapidly, with sales topping $1 billion annually by 1986. From the moment of its foundation, HD has continued to grow constantly by targeting strong markets with many new homeowners and young people such as New Orleans. Home Depot managed to grow fast by quickly adapting to change and continued to be successful by holding fast to the culture and values of the organization. The constant renewal and the work to sustain culture that produces good products, employees, and customers...
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...standpoint, Home Depot created value, according to their 12.3% WACC found in exhibit 3. They are consistently creating value in all years (97’-01’) beings their ROC is higher than their WACC. Considering the Industry ROE average was 17.1% in 1997 according to Wikinvest.com, Home Depot was a little behind the game as far as creating value for their investors. Home Depot’s Gross Margin increased steadily each year, indicating higher profits, as well as their operating margin increasing to a high in 99’ and leveling out around 2001 due to the economic factors erupting after 9/11. Their NOPAT margin is higher than their biggest competitor lowe’s so they were consistently producing more returns, in conjunction with greater sales figures. Home Depot is operating on relatively wide margins compared to its competitors; its substantial growth rate is quite high compared to Lowe’s which is easily explained by their innovative business strategy. The Home Depot at the end of 2000 stands on good financial footing. Their net revenues have grown 208% between FY 1995 and FY 2000. Home Depot continues its market saturation strategy which consistently grows their net revenues. Home Depot’s growth in net earnings over the same period has been 284%. The money that the firm is retaining as profits is larger than the total amount being brought into the company, indicative of a company that is realizing economies of scale in their operations and increased brand awareness. From the ratio analysis in exhibit...
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...HISTORY: IKEA is a globally famous home furnishing retailer. IKEA was founded by a 17 years old boy Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. It has grown rapidly and today it is the world's largest furniture retailer, known for its cost control, operational details and continuous product development, allowing it to lower its prices while continuing its global expansion. Since then, the IKEA Group has grown into an international retail brand with 131,000 co-workers in 41 countries generating annual sales of more than 24.7 billion EURO. IKEA carries a range of approximately 9,500 products, majority of which is flat-pack resulting in reduction in costs and packaging. This wide range is available in all IKEA stores and customers can order much of the range online through IKEA’s website. IKEA stores include restaurants and cafés serving typical Swedish food. They also have small food shops selling Swedish groceries. The biggest sales countries are Germany, USA, France, UK and Sweden. Competitive prices are one of the foundations of the IKEA concept and help to make customers want to buy from IKEA. This low price strategy is united with a wide range of well designed, useful products. IKEA’s products provide for every lifestyle and life stage of its customers, who come from all age groups and types of households. This is vital in times when the retail sector is depressed, as it increases IKEA’s potential market. I have selected The Home Depot for comparison with IKEA which are one of the largest...
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...Dow 30 Case Table of Contents 1.1 Bordered Covariance Matrix 3 1.2 Determination of Target Return 3 1.3 Solver Parameter 4 1.4 Efficient Frontier Creation 4 1.5 Asset Weights 5 1.6 Weekly Rebalancing 6 1.7 Portfolio Calculations 6 2.0 Firm Analysis: Home Depot 7 2.1 Trends 7 2.2 Analysis of current Macro-economic conditions 8 3.0 Analysis of Return & Benchmark 8 4.0 Analysis of Porter’s Five Forces 10 4.1 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry 10 4.2 Threat of entry for new competition 10 4.3 Threat of Substitutes for Product & Services 11 4.4 Supplier Power 11 4.5 Buyer Power 11 4.6 Closing Remarks 11 5.0 P/E 12 6.0 Individual Company Analysis 12 6.1 Growth ratios: 13 6.2 Gross profit margin: 13 6.3 Financial Strength: 14 6.4 Efficiency ratios: 14 6.5 Management Effectiveness: 14 7.0 Dividend Discount Model Analysis 16 7.1 Calculations 17 7.2 Methodology & Result 17 8.0 Modeling: Free Cash Flow to Firm & Free Cash Flow to Equity 18 Appendix A 22 Appendix B 25 1.0 Asset Allocation Model 1.1 Bordered Covariance Matrix The chapter 7 in class spreadsheet model was a strong foundation that helped teach the group how to find an optimum portfolio. To create our portfolio model, a bordered covariance matrix and an efficient frontier was developed to find our minimum variance portfolio in the DOW 30 trading case. A screen shot of our model developed on October the 8th, 2010 is in the...
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...Audit of Home Improvement Retailors Home Depot and Lowe’s are both large successful home improvement retailers. This paper discusses the background of both companies and goes into detail about the financial ratios including profitability and liquidity ratios. The paper also discusses business risks, audit risks, and the proper audit procedures that are necessary. The paper focuses on audit procedures of three important asset accounts: Cash, inventories, and accounts receivable. Team Members: Julie November Shuai Guo Wenqian Zhu Yusi Zeng Zongxian Wang Background Yusi Zeng No matter if customers are a homeowner, renter, or Pro customer, as long as they are creators and want improve their houses, they would seek quality tailored experiences, and are on the lookout for new ideas to improve homes. The home improvement industry or hardware stores, in terms of public companies was an industry once ran by smaller companies and is now dominated by some of the largest retail companies in the world. DIY or do it yourself has become the business and in the United States Home Depot and Lowe's are the two largest competitors and are currently changing the landscape of the industry. Both of them are among the the many businesses, including home centers, paint stores, hardware stores, lumber yards and garden centers. The industry growth is very limited, and very slow...
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...Home Depot: Research and Development Improvement Recommendations This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment for Business Marketing (EMBA) - March 24, 2013 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 SWOT Analysis 7 Strategic Alternatives 7 Recommendations 11 Marketing Strategy 11 Marketing Implementation and Control 13 References 14 Executive Summary Where do you go to buy your home improvement supplies? Have you experienced an exceptional home improvement store that meets all your needs and provides exceptional service? If the answer is no, there are several reasons to shop at your nearest Home Depot home improvement store. You can count on the variety of products to choose from while viewing the floor showcase. If you are worried about transportation, we offer truck rentals and service installations so you can sit, enjoy and relax while we do all the work. However, we are going to change the customer experience, our goals and efforts are to change your experience the minute you step into your friendly Home Depot store. You will no longer have to wait for a cashier to answer your question because an expert associate will be available immediately to help guide you and meet your needs during your shopping experience. To help fulfill the new customer service experience, we will enhance our current Mobile App that will provide navigation around the store along with a product information scanner. We hope to improve your families shopping experience by incorporating...
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