Home Depots Operation Management - 1507 Words

Company Background Founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, The Home Depot is a one stop shop, do-it-yourself home improvement retail store. The first two Home Depot stores opened in Atlanta, Georgia in 1979 as warehouses, each occupying a space of 60,000 square feet (The Home Depot, 2013). When it opened, The Home Depot was the largest hardware store, selling over 25,000 different products and offering various home improvement services (The Home Depot, 2013). From its inception, The Home Depot has provided the best customer service in the industry, as associated guide customers through various facets of home improvement projects. The company is able to provide such service because its associates attend product training, and†¦show more content†¦Because the company’s supply chain was flexible and responsive, it was able to adjust its inventory in order to meet the changes in demand. Area for improvement. Currently the shapes of The Home Depot’s cr oss-docking distribution centers are I-shaped. The â€Å"I† shape is the most popular, because it allows freight to be unloaded from an arriving trailer and carried the short distance across the dock to be loaded into an outbound trailer. I-shaped docks however become less efficient as operations grow either over time or in the design phase. Therefore, company should explore a T-shaped cross docking distribution center as experiments conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology suggest that a T and X shaped docks are more efficient and have lower labor costs (Bartholdi Gue, 2004). Competitive Advantage Low cost. The Home Depot offers customers its signature lowest price guarantee. If a customer finds a lower price for an identical, in-stock item, The Home Depot will not only price-match the merchandise, it will apply an additional 10% discount. This strategy ensures that the company prices its merchandise lower than its local competitors, ensuring a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Differentiation. The Home Depot differentiates itself through its customer service. A customer can receive professional advice while shopping. The company also offers free workshops to teach consumers how to tackleShow MoreRelatedHome Depot Supply Chain Management1480 Words   |  6 PagesHome Depot Supply Chain Management The History of Home Depot Growth of the Organization Home Depot (TheHomeDepot, n.d.) began as a two store operation in Atlanta, GA in 1979. The concept was the brainchild of Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, with inspiration from investment banker Ken Langone and well know merchandising expert Pat Farrah. They envisioned a one stop, do it yourself store that carried most of the products needed to do common home care projects. The first two Atlanta based storesRead MoreThe Home Depot s Position1437 Words   |  6 PagesFinancial statements are the primary way that public companies communicate its financial activities and position of the business to management, investors and other users of financial information. The Home Depot (NYSE symbol: HD) of the world giant home improvement retailer, has a complex business model that is characterized by its business philosophy, â€Å"stack it high, watch it fly† which reflected a primary focus on sales growth in consumers and construction professionals. At the same time, the companyRead MoreHome Depot2281 Words   |  10 Pages| | Home Depot’s Business Strategy Home Depot s target market is individual homeowners/small contractors. Even though the traditional ideology is that cost leadership and product differentiation business strategies are mutually exclusive, Home Depot was successful at using a combination strategy. 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The company operates 2,259 retail building supply/home improvement â€Å"warehouse† type stores all across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Home Depot has over 340,000 team members and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The average store size is just over 100,000 square feet along with an additional 24,000 square feet set aside for seasonalRead MoreThe third Case Study â€Å"Home Depot’s Blueprint for Culture Change† studied Mr. Robert Nardelli’s role1500 Words   |  6 PagesThe third Case Study â€Å"Home Depot’s Blueprint for Culture Change† studied Mr. Robert Nardelli’s role as the CEO of Home Depot. He approached management in an autocratic style, which was criticized by many. This paper will take a look at how Mr. Nardelli’s style follows Kotter and Cohen’s model of change. It seems that Mr. Nardelli and his team followed some of the steps of the Kotter and Cohen’s model, but not all. There are additional steps that his team could have taken to improve morale and developRead MoreSwot Analysis : Strategic Management1547 Words   |  7 Pagesthe external marketing environment of the company. Strategic management tool gauges the macro environmental factors. It is prudent to follow PESTEL framework since different macro-environmental factors can affect a business strategy. PESTEL framework are interdependent of each other, they are dependent factors. Understanding PESTEL is critical prior to entry into a new country. The fact that a strategy is compatible with PESTEL in the home environment is no guarantee that it would work in another countryRead MoreThe Home Depot, Inc.1629 Words   |  7 PagesThe Home Depot, Inc. has climbed its way up to being one of the world’s largest home improvement centers, one of the largest retailers in the United States, and rank in the top 100 in the Fortune 500 companies list provided by fortune.com. (Fortune 500, 2016) They operate 478 warehouse stores that sell thousands of items to customers and professionals. They have retail stores located throughout the United States, with stores in all 50 states, as well as in Mexico, Chile, and Canada. Their goal isRead MoreOffice Depot : Operations Management1252 Words   |  6 PagesOffice Depot: Operations is the Key to Success! Organizations large or small all strive to be successful through fostering a culture of great people, great processes, great products, and great results. Typically, three main functions play into an organization, marketing, operations, and financial accountability. Marketing generates the demand through the promotion of goods and services. Operations creates the goods, handles the movement of the goods, and ensures successful final delivery ofRead MoreHome Depot Analysis2960 Words   |  12 PagesHome Depot – 2010 Financial Report For fiscal year ended January  30, 2011 (fiscal 2010), Home Depot reported Net Earnings of $3.3  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share of $2.01 compared to Net Earnings of $2.7  billion and Diluted Earnings per Share of $1.57 for fiscal year ended January  31, 2010 (fiscal 2009). The results for fiscal 2010 included a $51 million pretax charge related to the extension of our guarantee of a senior secured loan of HD Supply, Inc. (the HD Supply Guarantee Extension)