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)
Lowe’s begins their manual with an Introduction that includes employees’ and Board of Directors’ together. Lowe’s feels employees’ are equal and expects their executives to follow the same rules of conduct. Lowe’s includes ethics and code of conduct together as a framework of principles’ to guide employees’ in their day-to-day conduct. (Lowe's Internal, 2010)
Home Depot provides an Introduction as a message for their employees’ only. By sharing the responsibility for protecting and advancing the company’s reputation and ethics as well as values, drive business strategies and activities. Home Depot provides straightforward information about operating principles, and expectations for Associates of The Home Depot to conduct themselves. (Home Depot Internal, 2008)
Lowe’s and Home Depot introduce each other in a message that clarifies their own explanation of Code of Ethics. Both encourage doing the right thing while performing a job that may not always cover all situations. However, employees’ are provided a strategic map that may...
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...uct and Ethics. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Home Depot: http://ir.homedepot.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=63646&p=irol-govConduct
Home Depot Internal. (2010). Corporate Financial Overview. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Home Depot: http://corporate.homedepot.com/en_US/Corporate/Public_Relations/Online_Press_Kit/Docs/Corp_Financial_Overview.pdf
Home Depot Internal. (2009). Our History. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Home Depot: http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/History
Lowe's Internal. (2010). Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Lowe's: http://investor.shareholder.com/lowes/documentDisplay.cfm?DoucumentID=3627
Lowe's Internal. (2010). Company Overview. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Lowe's: http://medica.lowes.com/company+overview
Lowe's Internal. (2010). Our Heritage. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from Lowe's: http://media.lowes.com/history
Brooks, L.J. (2007) Business & Professional Ethics for Directors, Executives & Accountants. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.
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
Lowe’s tries to foster collaboration and strength in a variety of methods; many are through leadership training tracks and supporting employees and their families. During times economic uncertainty, it is important that individuals know that they an organization that cares and supports them. In a comprehensive report released by Lowes, the company detailed improvements Lowe’s achieved in important focus areas, including the health, safety and engagement of employees, the company’s advancement towards its 2020 goals and its partnership with suppliers to maintain the highest ethical standards and improve the products it sells (Lowe’s Companies, 2015a). According to Lowe’s Companies (2015a), “For the first time in Lowe’s annual Employee Opinion Survey, all of its U.S. stores, distribution centers and customer support centers all reached the company’s benchmark engagement goal of 65 percent, indicating a highly engaged and satisfied staff” (para 4).. “Career Bliss recognized Lowe’s as one of the 10 happiest retailers to work for in 2014” (Lowe’s Companies, 2015, para 5). To keep an organization running efficiently and effectively, you need a good customer base; you cannot achieve this without helpful, courteous and willing employees. Lowe’s understand that to keep up in the industry, they need to ensure they employees are taken care of
In the early 2000’s Lowe’s was rapidly intensifying its presence nationwide. The company carried a varied assortment of home improvement products and catered to the needs of retail as well as commercial business customers. Lowe’s expanded their reach by acquiring a 41-store chain, Eagle Hardware and Garden, and engaging in a strategic alliance with HGTV to obtain a more profound existence in their market (Rouse, 2005). By 2004, Lowe’s operated almost 1,000 stores with plans to continue expansion across the nation (Rouse, 2005). The company has a core competency in helping customers meet their home improvement needs at a low price. In order to use this core competency to gain a competitive advantage, the company has focused on key functional strategies. To continue their success, Lowe’s must specifically focus on marketing, logistics, and human resource management strategies.
By proactively addressing ethical issues with a code of conduct, Raiders Inc. can set the standard regarding how they want employees to behave. Employee can be trained on the company code of ethics so they understand how their company expects them to respond. They can also train them on the biases of decision making, to make sure they are aware of the pitfalls that exist. (Robbins & Coulter, 2012)
The founders of The Home Depot, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, set the foundation of their company on eight core values that are transferable to any business. Their tools for success included:
Rivalry. Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Menards are the biggest competition that Lowe’s faces. With Home Depot being the large...
Companies that do not take steps to ensure appropriate associate conduct will be penalized by their constituents and erode public confidence in our free enterprise system” (Kroger, 2014, p. 1). Therefore, as one of the largest retail grocers in the country, they are sincere about their obligation to follow the law and ensure transparency in their operations. Additionally, their core values support the goal of maintaining an ethical workplace, which includes: honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and
Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in Atlanta, Georgia. With their store, Marcus and Blank revolutionized the do-it-yourself home improvement market in the United States. Home Depot began as a very basic store, operated in a large, no-frills warehouse. Home Depot carries over 35,000 products, with national brand names along with the Home Depot brand. At the start, Home Depot was able to offer exceptional customer service with knowledgeable employees who could guide customers through home renovation projects. Since its opening, Home Depot has experienced incredible growth, and today is North America's second largest retailer, and the largest home improvement retailer. Internationally, Home Depot has expanded into Canada, Mexico, and is beginning to operate stores in China. Home Depot's competition includes Sears, Ace Hardware and Lowes (the main competitor).
There are a number of smaller players but lack the public existence and retail footprint of their larger counterparts. With such high levels of market absorption, both HD and LOW enjoy high bargaining power with suppliers of goods. The two companies vary significantly in terms of the strategies they employ to compel consumer traffic. Home Depot centre of attention is customer service, while Lowe’s offers discounts to improve sales. Home Depot has determined on customer service as a driver to grow customer traffic and sales, Lowe has battled mainly on the basis of lower prices. Home Depot has a status for lesser prices and more pro-friendly impression where Lowe’s is trying to capture the traditional do-it-yourself customer by trying to appeal the female customer, who the company declares, is responsible for eighty percent of home improvement
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is averaging the opening of about two stores per week. This is part of an unprecedented two billion dollar store expansion, which is the most aggressive expansion in the company’s fifty-five year history; thus, magnifying Lowe’s locality and customer convenience in the United Sates home improvement marketplace. Lowe’s new superstores are currently the largest in the home improvement marketplace, averaging a retail space of about 150,000 square feet. (http://www.lowes.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.
The movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” presented a series of ethical dilemmas that surround a group of salesmen working for a real estate company. The value of business ethics was clearly undermined and ignored in the movie as the salesmen find alternatives to keep their jobs. The movie is very effective in illustrating how unethical business practices can easily exist in the business world. Most of the time, unethical business practices remain strong in the business world because of the culture that exists within companies. In this film, the sudden demands from management forced employees to become irrational and commit unethical business practices. In fear of losing their jobs, employees were pressured to increase sales despite possible ethical ramifications. From the film, it is right to conclude that a business transaction should only be executed after all legal and ethical ramifications have been considered; and also if it will be determined legal and ethical to society.
Our Vision at AT&T – connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else – is what unifies us as a company. In order to fulfill that mission, each of us is responsible for protecting AT&T’s longstanding reputation as an ethical, reliable, and honest business. The employees of AT&T represent that reputation to the public. This Code of Business Conduct sets out certain fundamental commitments we make to each other, to our customers, to our shareholders, and to all who have a stake in AT&T’s success. No Code of Business Conduct can provide rules that cover every situation or challenge. This important document serves each of us as a guide to our ethical commitments and leads us to ethical decisions
GSK’s Code of Conduct was not only documented in order to comply with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations or to brief at board meetings but was developed and implanted throughout the company. It was standard operating policy that all GSK employees received Code of Conduct training as part of their induction into the company. In order to reinforce the importance of their policy, the training was recertified every year (Quelch & Rodriguez, 2013). The GSK ethics policy was distributed throughout the organizations departments and emphasized integrity in the following areas (Quelch & Rodriguez, 2013):