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Company culture and leadership
How the success of an organisation depends greatly on its culture
Determinants of the organizational culture
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Lowe’s is a home improvement warehouse that was founded in 1946 as a single store and since has grown to become the second largest in the world. As technology has evolved, Lowe’s has made many advances incorporating new systems and devices to stay competitive. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the information technology management systems used at Lowe’s. It will look at Porter’s Five Force Model, supply chain management; data base management system, five agent-based technologies, e-commerce and system development lifecycle. Furthermore, it will look at business continuity planning, emerging trends and security vulnerabilities relates to the organization to remain competitive. Information Systems Remaining Competitive Lowe’s employs more than 260,000 people in more than 1830 stores; these employees are trained to provide exceptional customer service as well as receiving up-to-date product knowledge to assist customers with their improvement needs. In addition, Lowe’s has upgraded store information technology infrastructure to assist employees in accessing product data faster and easier. This is accomplished by providing the sales team with computers that have Internet access, and Ipad’s and Iphone’s loaded with specialized apps (Lowes, 2014). Porter’s Five Forces Model Threat of Entry. Lowe’s is the second largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. and is expanding into other countries. Their stores carry a wide variety of major brands with “40,000 products in stock, 500,000 items available online at Lowes.com and more than 500,000 more products available by Special Order” (Lowe's, 2014). Rivalry. Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Menards are the biggest competition that Lowe’s faces. With Home Depot being the large... ... middle of paper ... ...: John Wiley & Sons. Real Results Magazine (2012). Leading the pack. Retrieved from http://www.jda.com/realresultsmagazine/view-article.cfm?did=2470#lowes Rudarakanchana, D. (2013). E-Commerce retailers foresee strong holiday sales, amazon besting traditional firms. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/e-commerce-retailers-foresee-strong-holiday-sales-amazon-besting-traditional-firms-1468146 Seeking Alpha (2012). Lowe's companies, inc. (low) news. Retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/1047981-lowes-companies-ceo-hosts-2012-analyst-and-investor-conference-transcript?part=single Traxler, D. (2013). Large retailers redefining e-commerce. Retrieved from http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/60699-Large-Retailers-Redefining-Ecommerce UPenn (2014). Mobile agent computing. Retrieved from www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/courses/629/papers/Concordia-WhitePaper.html
Established as the older company of the two, Lowe’s ranks forty-second as a Fortune 500 company. Established in 1946 as a small hardware business, Lowe’s has grown into a 40,000 product, global market enterprise that consist of 1,710 stores nationwide expanding into the countries of Canada, Mexico and Australia (Lowe's Internal, 2010) Home Depot, founded in 1978, is the fastest growing retailer in the United States. Ranked twenty-ninth as a Fortune 500 company, Home Depot continues to remain the number one do-it-yourself retail store in America. These two companies may sell products of the same nature, but comparing their Code of Ethics is their way of setting themselves apart. (Home Depot Internal, 2009)
Due to slow sales and less traffic at both Sears and Kmart, the two have decided to merge creating one entity named Sears Holdings. Kmart has agreed to buy Sears for $11 Billion. This puts Sears Holdings at the third largest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Although Wal-Mart is a direct competitor with Kmart, Sears Holdings goal is not to compete with Wal-Mart directly, but find areas that have been overlooked by other retailers, and take advantage of the expanded line of products the new company has to offer. Sears has had higher sales than Kmart, so hundreds of Kmart’s will be transformed into Sears stores. As of now, most of Sears 870 stores are only found in malls. The new strategy would be to open Sears stores in current Kmart locations, to offer consumers with a different variety of products than what’s currently available from large retailers like Kmart and Wal-Mart. Sears is known for selling items such as their exclusive line of craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances. In the future these Sears exclusives will be found in Kmart stores, and Kmart exclusives such as Martha Stewarts line of housewares will be found in Sears.
The Home Depot organization has generated quick growth throughout its operating years. From the first store openings in 1979, the firm has created an exceptional growth pattern, opening their 100th store in 1989 and continuing on into the global market. The company feels that their unique culture and values are what gives them their competitive advantage in the marketplace. Their strengths are in the strong position they have with professional
Lowe’s is leading the way by example. Lowe’s believes that creating long-term partnerships is a win-win situation for both sides of the deal. Lowe’s is the second largest home appliance retailer in the country, by working hand in hand for twenty-six years with Whirlpool, the largest marketer and manufacturer of home appliances. Whirlpool and Lowe’s have worked together to become unmatched in bringing their customers a high quality product and a very low competitive price. Through a tremendous logistical effort Whirlpool and Lowe’s have created a one of a kind Innovation Tour. A semi-trailer transforms itself into a functioning kitchen to show customers cutting edge appliances that will be available at Lowe’s in the future from Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid. As Lowe’s motto states, Lowe’s truly is “Improving Home Improvement”. (http://www.businesswire.com/)
Home Depot is built on the principle of creating value for our stockholders while never forgetting our values. We seek to be profitable, responsible and balance the needs of our communities. Throughout our company, our associates are challenged with finding ways in which we can provide the best products for our customers, provide the best possible work environment for our associates, have a positive impact on the communities in which we operate, and provide excellent returns for our stockholders.
Before comparing each company’s benefits plan there should be some discussion on the three companies’ history. According to lowes.com, Lowes Home Improvement was founded in 1946, there are more than 1825 stores, they employ more than 240,000 people, and it is the second largest home improvement retailer in the world (n.d.). According to homedepot.com, The Home Depot was founded in 1978, which makes it fairly young when compared to the other two companies, yet it is the largest home improvement retailer in the world (n.d.). Acc...
Lowe’s excels in providing workers with the necessary communication and collaboration tools, and offer the support needed to maximize its effectiveness. Workers not only have access to the latest software and hardware, but the company also maintains its software and hardware to optimal service levels. In addition, virtual team members also have access to the company’s established and well-funded tiered support organizations.
Earlier this morning Lowe’s Companies, a home improvement store announced the acquisition of Canadian home improvement store Rona. The acquisition of this deal will cost Lowe’s Companies 3.2 billion Canadian dollars, or $2.3 billion, in cash. This offer has greatly increased from there previous offer of $1.8 billon in 2012. Lowe’s will acquire 500 corporate-owned and independent affiliate stores, including the Ace Hardware brand in Canada. Although Lowe’s has 37 stores in the Canadian market, this acquisition will allow it to run the home improvement market but it will also make Lowe’s Companies a global name.
Since the home improvement market is highly competitive, Lowe’s needs to apply the best strategies to deal with Home Depot’s rivalry. This rivalry is as a result of the identical nature of the products handles by the two companies. The company should structure its distribution framework to pull down costs as the firm adjusts to changes in demand. The company should set a 6-month budget for research and development projects. To outperform Home Depot, Lowe’s should seek to expand its in-store services as well as the international operations.
Lowe’s deliberately chooses a different set of activities from rivals to create trade-offs that sustain their competitive advantage against other home improvement stores and straddlers . Instead of setting up their store as warehouse style, Lowe’s sets up their products displayed in the store for customers to see while walking through. They are giving up store space, to target and serve their DIY- retail customer segments better rather than the professional service customers . Lowe’s has made the trade-off to frequently restock their stores to serve this type of customer experience and product variety. It is a costly decision, but this creates a risk for straddlers when trying to threaten the competitive advantage of
Their mission: ‘Customer service and community service are core commitments at Lowe's — and they have been for more than 60 years. Being a good neighbor means being committed to improving the places our employees and customers call home. We see that as an investment in our future. We've grown that investment as Lowe's has grown from a small-town hardware store in North Wilkesboro, N.C., to the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world.’
As a comparison in the industry, Lowe's culture is much more low-profile, collaborative, and collegial. However, many investment reports show that historically, Home Depot often is in front of Lowe’s (Grow 2006).
|Business |The Home Depot, Inc. is the world's largest home improvement retailer. The company incorporated in 1978 in |
Home Depot, well-known by its big, bright orange box logo, is a retailor of numerous popular brands of construction and home improvement products. Reach the Top® manufactures a popular brand of ladders and scaffolding already sold by Home Depot, and...
middle of paper ... ... Kharif, Olga. " Online Retailers: An Early Holiday Peak?." BusinessWeek Online (2009): 5.