FTC collected more direct empirical and statistical evidence to prove that the proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot can and will raise market price in a profitable way above competitive price level. Firstly, according to Staples own documents mentioned above, Staples management predicted that without this merger, the percentage of three-player markets would increase from 17% to 69% by 2000. More fierce competition will push Staples to lower office supply prices and improve product/service qualities. Besides, operating expenses will lower as two stores combine into just one. Secondly, according to relative companies’ operational statistical data of product prices across various local markets, when Staples competes with Office Depot in local markets, their office supply prices significantly lower than prices in the market with only Staples or Office Depot. Table 3 shows average price difference of office supply products among various markets. Staples’ office supply prices are 11.6% lower in the markets of both Staples and Office Depot …show more content…
In Empirical Methods in Merger Analysis: Econometric Analysis of Pricing in FTC v. Staples (2006), Orley Ashenfelter, David Ashmore, Johnathon B. Baker, Suzanne Gleason and Daniel S. Hosken leveraged extensive public record to provide a detailed discussion of the econometric models used in this merging case and to show how differences between the models led to the discrepancy between these estimates. Therefore, researchers employed store-level price data to estimate how market prices differed with the amount and identity of office superstore chains of every regional
Cost cutting, discontinuation of product or services ,technological changes, and consolidation due to mergers and acquisitions are commonly legal ac...
Home Depot operates in the home improvement retail industry that comprises of retailer that sell appliances, lumber, building material, kitten fittings and other home improvement products aimed at improving existing structures. Companies functioning in the home improvement industry buy products from retailer and manufacturer based all over the world, and then put those products for sale on the market to three types of buyers, generally characterized as: do-it-for-me, do-it-yourself, and professional customers. The home improvement retail industry is well established industry and is highly attractive and there is high level of price competition among the key players of the industry as the products lines are all the same.
Gaughan, P. A., 2002. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate restructuring. 3rd ed.New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to recompile information about the merger of two corporations; one of many taking places i...
Home Depot is the brainchild of Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank and came about after both men lost their job in the home improvement industry in 1978 (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot has acquired several smaller home improvement stores in both the U.S. and abroad through the years which enabled it to position itself as the world’s largest home improvement chain (Parnell, 2014). Home Depot focuses on the do-it-yourself segment of the market and sells sells tools, construction products and services. Marketing is a strong point for the company. They are able to maintain a competitive advantage by keeping themselves available to their customers at all times. Home Depot has been using both online and offline marketing efforts. The internet has become a very useful tool for the company and part of the reason that they are leading the market in DIY stores. Home Depot currently provides DIY videos on YouTube and Vine that cover current topics that consumers are likely to be interested in. They also have social media pages on Facebook and Twitter, where they have a huge following. They provide online communities where actual employees answer consumer’s questions and provide assistance on
Historically the personal computer (PC) industry has sold its products at reasonably high prices yet garnered only small profit margins. One reason for this is the high competition in the PC industry which led to competitive pricing among producers. Analyzing the competitive environment of the PC industry, it is evident that there is very little barrier to entry in this market. PC's have very low physical uniqueness and are made of standard components that require very little expertise to assemble.
Case Study of The Home Depot Preface This Essentials of Strategic Management assignment has been made by three persons which have been working together and individually to finish the assignment properly and in time. Secondly, we would like to thank the company whose websites we were able to visit and use, to get additional information that we could use for leading the assignment of Home Depot to a successful ending. We can say, that it was a pleasure to work on this assignment and would, in the third place, like to thank each other. The persons who worked on this assignment, for the effort and time that is put in the assignment, that brought us to this finished version.
The Home Depot learned the hard way that you must hire a leader that will stay true to the core values. The leader’s ethics and values will play a huge role in determining if the company will succeed or fail. The founders of The Home Depot built a culture on the foundation of respect, integrity, and compassion. The culture and customer service under the influence of the admired founders prospered.
On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection becoming the largest retailer ever to do so in U.S. history. Most industry analysts attributed the immediate cause of the company's bankruptcy filing to a dull holiday season and stiff competition from WalMart and Target as the chain's more fundamental problem. But competition wasn't the root cause of Kmart's consistently poor performance. The real reason for Kmart's poor performance is that Kmart never had a marketing strategy. Kmart completely misunderstood its market and was positioning itself in the wrong direction. Also, on the strategic side, there are issues of where stores were located. On the whole, Kmart stores did not seem to be sited as well as the stores of the competition. Then there was the issue of technology. While Wal-Mart was becoming the relentless efficiency engine that we know today by investing in technology and streamlining the supply chain, Kmart held back. As Wal-Mart developed an infrastructure that enabled it to lower prices, Kmart slipped into a price disadvantage. This paper discusses these strategic problems that led to Kmart's poor performance.
The framework that will compare Publix Super Markets and its competitors is the Five Forces Model of Competition. The five aspects that will be discussed are the threat of new entrants into the market, the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat of substitute products and rivalry among competing firms. Striving for the optimal position in each of these categories has given Publix Super Markets the reputation it has pride towards earning. It is important to every compa...
Hammond Cards, Inc. is a small player of the greeting cards industry in the United States of America due to the fact that their annual revenues equate to less than 1% of the industry leaders as described in the case. In their effort to stimulate growth, however, Wendy Hammond has employed me to analyze the potential acquisition of another company, Creative Designs. My analysis will firstly look at the main issue behind this acquisition and then further break it down into sub-issues that I will address individually. Since both of these companies follow a different strategy I will evaluate the two different companies and discuss the implications of their strategies on the merger. I will then perform various cost analysis to determine the cost structures of the two firms which will help me identify whether Wendy’s intentions can be carried out. In my analysis I will aim to figure out the practical capacity of the firms and get an indication on whether their current operations are using the optimal level of capacity and minimizing waste. This data will help me with my strategic recommendation of acquiring Creative Designs and fitting it in with the current strategy of Hammond C...
The retail discounters and departmental stores industry have been experiencing increasing consolidation, and the consolidation would lead to the formation of stronger and bigger entities, commanding greater bargaining power from suppliers which could adversely affect the Li & Fung's margin.
Rivalry among established firms is fierce. There are several factors that illustrate this: established market players (6.1). The product is highly standardized and the switching costs of the customers are low. Players are aggressive (6.2)
Given the dominance and fiercely competitive nature of Wal-Mart and Target within the big box discount retail industry, Dollar General avoided competing head-to-head with these larger rivals by differentiating a classic generic bu...
Once Home Depot’s marketing plan contains a thorough description of the scissor lift, it will then focus on the branding, pricing, and distribution of the lift. The plan will also need to include a product branding and pricing strategy, as well as examine how the pricing strategy supports the branding strategy. In addition, Home Depot will prepare a distribution channel analysis from which it will create a distribution strategy, determine whether the company is going to use a push or a pull strategy, and how the distribution strategy fits the product.