...University Online Walgreens management method has a small amount of change since the founder, Charles R. Walgreens systematic approach. As an entrepreneur, Charles had much more work to do than management today because he had to create a starting point. In 1893 when Walgreens was founded, there was already over 1,500 drugstores competing for business and which many were successful (n.d., Our Past). This left customers with many stores to choose from. Walgreen decided on beating the odds with changing the layout of the store and broadening the merchandise at feasible prices. Unlike the other drug stores Walgreen store was attractive and brightly lit, had wider aisles, and provided pots and pans, which was unheard of as well as products for health and wellness. Walgreens insisted on a wonderful customer experience, himself and his colleague personally greeted each customer. Always thinking of ways to grow a customer base, Walgreen also provided hot food during the cold season. Walgreens competition only served cold items ((n.d., Our Past). Like Walgreen, management today consistently keeps new ideas going to satisfy their growing customer base. Today Walgreens is continuing to provide a well experience for customers. Besides upgrading the physical store, management trains employees on how to provide exceptional customer care. Management continues to provide the right products and solutions in every neighborhood store in America. Upon the stores success, Walgreens has expanded the...
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...Walgreens was founded in 1901 by Charles R Walgreens Sr. Charles purchased a drug store that he was working at and created Walgreens’ Drug Store. This goal became much more than expected as the store grew. Charles Walgreen Sr was not only the manager but president of his company. In 1800’s most if not all companies managers were the owners of the companies. In a matter of eight years Walgreens was no longer a single store. By the time the second drug store opened there was enough money and experience to hire managers and other employees. Because Charles knew what it was like to be an unhappy employee he strived for his employees to be different. Charles trained his employees under these guidelines “let the customers finish making the complaint – never interrupt. Say softly that you are sorry he/she has been put to this trouble and you understand how he/she feels, even though the customer is wrong, make the exchange or adjustments”,(Scott Smith,2014). “Because Walgreens treated his workers well he tried to hire only those who would be prospective managers or better,” (Scott Smith, 2014). One thing Charles did when a new store opened was he would have an old manager run it while the new manager was training. This was a good approach on his behalf. Not only did he know the store was being ran right but the new manager was being trained by someone well trusted. A manager’s role is never easy. Dealing with an upset customer, to dealing with off inventory. Managers not only...
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...Company Past and Current Strategies History Walgreens Co is the largest dug retailing chain in the nation. The first Walgreens store ever was just a drugstore at first. It all started in the year 1901 in Chicago by Charles Walgreen. His father lent him $2,000 in order to place a down payment for the drugstore. In 1909, he sold half interest in his first drug store and bought his second drugstore. The second drugstore served lunch and had a large soda fountain. About seven years later, seven stores joined under the corporate name Walgreen Co. Due to the fact of alcohol prohibition the 1920s was a successful time for Walgreen. Although alcohol was illegal prescription whiskey was available and was sold by Walgreen. Four years after that they opened up 20 more stores in Chicago and had an increase in sales of $1.55 million. In the year 1922, Walgreen Co introduced a malted milkshake which led to the future establishment of ice cream manufacturing plants. The firm was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1927. About two years later they opened up about 397 stores in 87 cities and had a $47 million increase on sales. During the Great Depression Walgreen Co did reasonably well, although their sales dropped between 1931 and 1935. In 1939 Charles Walgreen, Sr., founder of Walgreen Co died and left his son Charles R. Walgreen took over the Walgreen chain until his retirement. About 1 year later in 1940 Walgreen had about 489 stores. During World War II all...
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...Walgreens Co. is the largest drugstore chain in the United States in terms of sales, receiving most of its revenue from retail prescriptions. These drugstores sell prescription and non-prescription drugs, and general merchandise. Its general merchandise consists of beauty care, personal care, household items, candy, photofinishing, greeting cards, seasonal items, convenience food and Walgreens offers an old-fashioned tonic for fiscal fitness. While Walgreen has fewer stores than its closest rival CVS, it is #1 in the nation in sales (Hoover's Inc, 2007). Walgreens operates about 6,000 stores in 49 states and Puerto Rico, and has three mail order facilities. Walgreen usually builds rather than buys stores, so it can pick prime locations (Hoover's Inc, 2007). Most of their stores are freestanding locations with a few outlets in mall and mini-malls. Throughout this paper I would describe Walgreens physical assets and technology and determine whether or not the organization has optimized its organizational resources for effectiveness and efficiency. In 1901 Charles R. Walgreens Sr. purchased the Chicago drugstore he had been working in as a pharmacist. A second store was bought in 1909 and by 1915, there were five Walgreens drugstore. By 1916, there were four additional stores that were bought, all on Chicago’s South Side. The stores were consolidated as Walgreen Co. with the aim of assuring economies of scale (Walgreens History, 2004). In 1919 there were 20 Walgreens stores...
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...Walgreens was founded by Charles R. Walgreen in 1901 and the man who had shaken up the entire drugstore business. He would have never became a pharmacist, successful entrepreneur and business owner if he had not cut off the top joint of his middle finger ending his athletic competition. Walgreen had became a registered pharmacist in 1897 and worked for a pharmacist, working hard, raising money to opening up his first store located in the Barrett's hotel on Chicago's South Side in 1901. He changed the whole look of drugstores first by changing the layout of it all. He brought it brighter lights, expanded the aisles and personally greeted each customer as they entered the store, all of this so customers felt welcomed. Next, he improved and broaden...
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...Marketing Project: Walgreens Company Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………….3 Market Situation/External Analysis………………………………………………..3 Current Industry…………………………………………………………………….3 SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………………4 Major Changes and Trends…………………………………………………………6 Key Success Factors……………………………………………………………….…8 Marketing Strategy………………………………………………………………….9 Segmentation Strategy……………………………………………………………….9 Target Market Description and Strategy…………………………………………..13 Positioning……………………………………………………………………………15 Marketing Mix Strategy………………………………………………………….….18 Marketing Objectives………………………………………………………………..18 Product Strategy……………………………………………………………………..21 Pricing Strategy……………………………………………………………………...23 Promotion Strategy………………………………………………………………….25 Distribution Strategy………………………………………………………………..27 Forecast………………………………………………………………………………29 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………31 References……………………………………………………………………………32 Introduction Walgreens is established as one of the leading competitors in the drug store industry. Over the years, Walgreens has developed a very well-known and respectable name for itself through different marketing strategies and company strengths. Like any company in a competitive market, Walgreens has its share of opportunities and threats, and has continued to remain at the top of the industry. Providing such a wide variety of products and services to its very diverse customer base means Walgreens must stay up-to-date...
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...Walgreens Management Challenges Lauren Smith August 11, 2015 MGT2037 It all started with Charles R. Walgreen and an innovative idea to change the way pharmacies and drug stores were run. After leaving Dixon, Illinois Walgreen started his journey to Chicago where he worked a long side many innovative pharmacists of his time. He had a strong desire to give customers exceptional customer service, give customers a selection of many goods that were affordable, and to offer customers high quality prescriptions while keeping costs low. He decided to open Walgreens Drugstore and never imagined that one day Walgreens would be the largest drugstore chain in the United States. Walgreens may be the most successful drugstore chain, but it certainly didn’t get this way without its fair share of challenges along the way. By 1930 there were over 500 chains and was well on its way to becoming a major contender in the pharmacy business. When the Great Depression hit, like any other business his stores were affected by the slowing dying economy. However, he used this time to keep changing his business for the better. Upon his death in 1939, Walgreen left his company and well trained management team to his son, who continued to keep the chain alive and thriving and making it the Walgreens we know today. A major blow came to the iconic drugstore in 2011. For the first time since its opening, Walgreens faced financial hardships. Costs of operating were outrageous and were out weighing the...
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...* The two health care companies I chose were Walgreens and CVS, both have a long history in the pharmaceutical department and are in direct competition with one another for customers. Walgreens is America’s largest drugstore chain and as of January 31, 2014, it now has 8,678 stores in all 50 states and most districts. Walgreens issued more than 800 million prescriptions annually, which is about 20 percent of the United States market. (Walgreen Vs. CVS) As for online business, it has almost 17 million visitors per month. Walgreens’s strategy has evolved throughout the century it has been in business. As CVS, it is the second largest pharmacy chain in the United States. It has more 7600 stores, and it is ranked the 13 largest company in the world by Fortune 500 in 2013. (Walgreen Vs. CVS) This paper would examine the positioning and differentiation strategies between Walgreens and CVS. * The creation of remedies for illnesses and ailments have been discovered by people since the beginning of existence. The first organized apothecary had been credited to the Babylon. Later followed by the Roman, who discovered a system of pathology and therapy which became the standards for medicine for more than a 1,000 years. While pharmacy was consider as a shadowy and sketchy business of a long time, practiced by witch doctors. As the renaissance era entered in, medicine and treatments became more structured with a scientific approach. “In 1240, German Emperor Frederick II issued a proclamation...
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...Walgreens: Strategic Evolution 1 America’s largest drugstore chain, Walgreens, had 8,210 locations by 2011, including 7,761 drugstores. Almost 75 percent of Americans lived within five miles of a Walgreens pharmacy, and more than 6 million customers were served each day. Walgreens issued more than 800 million prescriptions annually, representing 20 percent of the U.S. market. Its online business, Walgreens.com, had almost 17 million visitors per month. Walgreens’ strategy had evolved for more than a century in business. By 2012, the company faced a number of major strategic questions, including international expansion and a changing health care environment. History of Pharmacy2 People have been trying to create remedies for illnesses and ailments since the beginning of time, but most historians credit Babylon with the first organized apothecary. This was followed by the Romans, who created a system of pathology and therapy that became standards for Western medicine for more than 1,000 years. For the most part, though, pharmacy remained a sketchy and shadowy business for centuries, practiced by (among others) witch doctors and alchemists. Advances in medicine and the Renaissance era led to more structured and scientific approaches. In 1240, German Emperor Frederick II issued a proclamation establishing the practice of pharmacy along three tenets: (1) separation of the pharmaceutical profession from the medical profession; (2) official supervision (regulation) of pharmacy; and...
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...Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………………...…3 Situation Analysis Market Summary……………………………………………………………………………………..4 SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………....5 Competition………………………………………………………………………………………....10 Macro-environment……………………………………………………………………………….....11 Target Markets……………………………………………………………………………………....11 Reference Page……………………………………………………………………………………………....12 Executive Summary In this marketing plan I look at Walgreen’s as a company. I analyzed the market as a whole including the demographics, needs, trends, and growth. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are all listed for Walgreen’s and is also compared to some of their competitors. I looked into the macro-markets for Walgreen’s and also the target markets to wrap the entire marketing plan up. I found that Walgreen’s is a very successful company and has done well with their research as far as their customers go. Situation Analysis Market Summary Market Demographics- The market demographics for retail pharmacy are very broad. The market includes all age groups from newborn babies to seniors. The demographics also include all races and genders as well as individuals of all income levels. There are long-term care patients and short-term care patients. There are patients who need health tests, help with choosing an insurance plan, immunization and travel consultations and so much more. Market Needs- The market needs for retail pharmacies...
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...Florida) includes coverage of the address by George Riedl, General Manager of E-Commerce for Walgreen Company at the Retailing Smarter 2000 Symposium in Orlando. Mr. Riedel PLAN:told the symposium the order from Walgreen CEO, Dan Jorndt, was: “Don’t let our executives build our customer website, let our customers build their own website.” So the strategy was to create a customer-oriented website. In the 3rd quarter of 1999 Walgreens began organizing resources to build their Internet Pharmacy. Walgreens brought in external resources. An August 17, 1999 online news release from Interwoven, a California-based provider of software for building websites, announced Walgreens chose Interwoven to develop a highly personalized consumer-oriented Internet pharmacy. Walgreens organized their website development through multiple outside sources. In addition to Interwoven, Walgreens chose Arcot Systems to ensure online security for customer privacy and payments and Net Results Corporation’s ProblemTracker, a software package to track and resolve website problems. The Walgreen team(s) seem to have been highly motivated because the sources listed above show Walgreen began moving to the Internet in August 1999, and Mr. Riel’s address to the Orlando symposium says the Walgreen Internet Pharmacy was taking online orders from customers by the Summer of 2000. Walgreens seems intent on streamlining all their business because CRM Today, an online new...
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...Introduction Walgreen Co. and CVS/Caremark are two of the largest retail drugstore chains in the United States, offering consumers a variety of basic consumer goods including household products, convenience foods, personal care, beauty care, photofinishing, and seasonal items, as well as over-the-counter and prescription medication. In addition to their well-known retail pharmacies, both companies also operate a health services health and wellness division. Within the retail pharmacy industry CVS/Caremark and Walgreens continually battle for the retail position. This document will offer an overview and basic competitive analysis of the two companies. Background Location & Type of presence (brick and mortar, or internet) According to the CVS/Caremark 2011Annaul Report, page 23; as of December 31, 2011, the CVS/Caremark Retail Pharmacy segment operated 7,327 retail drugstores with 7,271of these retail stores operating a full service pharmacy. Their stores are located in 41 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Additionally, within these retail stores operate 657 health care clinics conducting business under the Minute Clinic name. The retail pharmacy stores operate primarily under the CVS/pharmacy or Longs Drugs names. In addition, the Pharmacy Services segment operates under the names CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, Care Plus CVS/pharmacy, Care Plus, and Rx America to providing pharmacy benefit management services to employers, insurance...
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...----------------------------Page 4 Literature Review------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 5 Analysis-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 7 Suggestive Solutions--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 8 Conclusion & Reflection --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 9 Work Cited------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page 10 INTRODUCTION Walgreens is one of the fortune 500 companies and among the fastest growing retailers in the country. Walgreens as of April 30 operated 8307 location in all 50 states including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This includes 7855 drugstores, 146 more than a year ago, including 21 stores acquired over the last 12 months. The company also operates infusion and respiratory services facilities, specialty pharmacy and mail service facilities. They also have a take care health system subsidiary which manages more than 700 in-store convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness canters. This research is based on the problem facing the company on how executive decision making in the company has caused a negative impact and low productivity level among employees due to their decision...
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...Environmental Analysis Organizational Structure: According to the organizational structure (Figure 1), the executive team of CVS includes one President and twelve Vice Presidents. This team reports to the Board, which including nine directors. , CVS has established a management structure that is aligned to support the company's goal of providing quality services and quality products. Five Vice Presidents are in charge of products and services relevant functions and six are supervising supporting functions, such as accounting and human resource. Compared with the organizational structure in 2011, CVS has nominated its new CEO and changed six Vice Presidents. (The changes are highlighted in red in Figure 1.) The former CEO Thomas M. Ryan was also Chairman of Board. However, in 2013, CVS separated the CEO from Chairman of Board. Also, Helena Foulkes, who has been with CVS for over 15 years, has started a new position in Chief Health Care Strategy since 2011. This shows CVS’s attempt to intensify its ability of dealing with the ever-changing health care market demand and policies as well as its ambitious to keep leading the market. Customers and Services CVS’s business is comprised of Pharmacy Services segment, Retail pharmacy segment, and corporate segment. The Pharmacy Service provides a full range of pharmacy benefit management (“PBM”) services including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management and...
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...Organizational Structure of Walgreens This week’s learning team assignment focused on the organizational structure and design. Team C will examine the organizational chart of Walgreens and restructure it to make it more efficient and beneficial for the company. The students have decided the CEO of the organization is overwhelmed with departments reporting to him. Therefore, some departments will be consolidated and moved to more specialized officers under the CEO for a more productive company. The officers to receiver these additional departments will be Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Chief Informational Officer (CIO). This paper will discuss structural changes, the work to be completed and how this work can be done effectively. Financial Reorganization Currently, the Administration and the Human Resources departments report directly to the Chief Executive Officer. We have proposed a change to the chain of command with Human Resources being combined with the Administration department and have that new, combined department report directly the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Human Capital Management (Human Resources) directly affects the bottom line of an organization through the workforce, benefits costs, training and development and finally employee engagement. The Administration department manages the overall direction of Walgreens. Since the management of the workforce is one of the main driving factors that directly relate to the...
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