Home Depot External Forces

The external forces that are taken into consideration for The Home Depot’s are the economic, sociocultural, and ecological. Similar forces were taken into consideration by Ford Motor Company which is the economic, ecological, and legal. Here both the companies worked on same forces except one. Coming to the economic and ecological forces, they both affect the companies adversely in terms of purchasing and recession. Due to this none of the companies would be able to make a profit as they can’t sell their products. In case of The Home Depot, projects like the DIY might be increasing which would result in the downfall of the economy. This had had its effect on its durable goods like the dishwashers at the time of recession (Choi, 2012, p. 1).

This is not the same in the case of Ford Motor Company as they produce only the motor vehicles.

And so the company may face trouble with strong ecological forces and they need to make lots of innovation and research in order to gain product improvisation which would take lots of time. When it comes to The Home Depot, the ecological forces might not be making a huge impact as they produce many other products which include not just the household products but also the lumber and gardening tools (Choi, 2012, p. 1).
Now considering the forces that are not similar the sociocultural and legal forces, Ford Motor Company might be viewing and giving more importance to the legal force compared to The Home Depot as they are stubborn in terms of following the regulations and guidelines strictly being an automobile industry. This is not applicable to a retail industry like The Home Depot. Instead, The Home Depot will be reviewing the other force sociocultural as they produce a wide variety of goods based on its demographics. It may also depend on the type of customer who lives in different regions and their interests (Choi, 2012, p. 1).

2.
Some people argue that the external force like the ecological awareness would pose a great threat when it comes to automobile company like the Ford and is a good opportunity to multi-product making company like The Home Depot.
 The reason why the stronger ecological awareness a major threat to Ford Motor Company is that it cannot afford to produce its products that are eco-friendly to the customers. Moreover, there are many other automobile companies that offer better products and so there is the possibility of the customer opting for other product.
 For The Home Depot, stronger ecological awareness would be a great opportunity as they can produce goods that are eco-friendly and also based on the needs of the customers. This would give an edge to its suppliers to improve and innovate their products and turn them eco-friendly (Choi, 2012, p. 1).
Chances are that most of the companies are turning their threats into their opportunities by reviewing their products based on the requirements of the customers. They are trying their best to produce greener products or work towards improving their existing products into eco-friendly ones.
3.
In terms of ‘catching the green wave,’ The Home Depot has earned a very good opportunity in order to meet the demands of its customers to produce greener products more and save the planet from global warming. They follow guidelines strictly to make their products achieve the label ‘Eco Options’.
In terms of ‘greenwashing,’ The Home Depot observed that there is a huge demand and market for the products that are eco-friendly which could lead to the promotion of the Earth Day in the year 2007 which is an opportunity for them to attract more customers with their eco-friendly segment of products (Morganbridges, 2016, p. 1).
4.
In case of yes, the customers need to pay more for the products that possess the ‘green’ certified label.
If it is no, then the customers are going for it as it is their basic need (Morganbridges, 2016, p. 1).
5.
It is clear that the economic value of a product is only created by the Eco Options brand as the options of the customer who needs ‘green’ product will be more interested to spend high on the goods that possess the label of Eco Options brand.

This label will be also having a positive note on the customer mind in terms of profitability, shareholder value, and the profitability if the products could able to earn more profits to the shareholders.
In this regards, The Home Depot is trying its best to make sure that their suppliers earn the label of Eco Options brand and their products meet the guidelines ecologically and strictly. This would help them develop their reputation in the market and achieve their desired results both socially and economically.
The Home Depot was responding well to the needs of the customers when they launched the Eco Options brand label. This is considered as one the favorable option from the customer point of view as they thought The Home Depot is caring the needs of them. And so the chances of purchase by a customer increased as the perceptions are more favorable to them. This led to the increase in the performance as well as the revenue which made the shareholders happier. By this, the balanced scorecard would be always on a positive note (Morganbridges, 2016, p. 1).

References
Choi, E. (2012). Home Depot: Case study. Retrieved from, https://www.slideshare.net/eunachoi/home-depot-case-study
Morganbridges, (2016). Home Depot case study. Retrieved from, https://morganbridgestexas.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/home-depot-case-study/