CASE 10 ( Home Depot Implements Stakeholder Orientation )

When Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank opened the first Home Depot store in Atlanta in 1979, they forever changed the hardware and home-improvement retailing industry. Marcus and Blank envisioned huge warehouse-style stores stocked with an extensive selection of products offered at the lowest prices. Do-it-yourselfers and building contractors can browse among 40,000 different products for the home and yard, from kitchen and bathroom fixtures to carpeting, lumber, paint, tools, and plant and landscaping items. If a product is not provided in one of the stores, Home Depot offers 250,000 products that can be special ordered. Some Home Depot stores are open twenty-four hours a day, but customers can also order products online. Additionally, the company offers free homeimprovement clinics to teach customers how to tackle everyday projects like tiling a bathroom. For those customers who prefer not to do it yourself, most stores offer installation services. Knowledgeable employees, recognizable by their orange aprons, are on hand to help customers find items or to demonstrate the proper use of a particular tool. Currently, Home Depot employs more than 300,000 people and operates over 2,250 Home Depot stores in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, China, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and Canada. It also operates five wholly owned subsidiaries: Apex Supply Company, Georgia Lighting, Maintenance Warehouse, National Blinds and Wallpaper, and US Home Systems. The company is the largest home-improvement retailer in the world, with over $ 74 billion in revenues. Home Depot continues to do things on a grand scale, including putting its corporate muscle behind a tightly focused social responsibility agenda

CONCLUSION

Over the past 35 years, Home Depot has changed the do-it-yourself home improvement retail environment. Home Depot has even encouraged other retailers to use warehousestyle stores stocked with lower-priced products. The company started with a clear understanding of its various stakeholders and has developed a strong commitment to customers, communities, suppliers, employees, and the environment. As with most large organizations, Home Depot has made some mistakes but seems to be able to recover quickly and respond to ethical issues. The company has become a leader in sustainability, especially in sourcing its products. From the beginning Home Depot has had a strong commitment to communities and has always been ready to respond to disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Its support of Habitat for Humanity is an ongoing commitment to help those who are less fortunate have their own homes. Encouraging its employees to build houses for Habitat for Humanity has been beneficial in developing strong community relationships. Home Depot continues to pursue innovation and change to relate to its stakeholders. For instance, it is engaged in a strategic overhaul of its supply chain. The company recognizes that supply chain members need to adhere to strong ethical and sustainability practices to meet consumer standards. The company continues to upgrade and strengthen its competitive position and has earned a strong financial rating because of its effectiveness in implementing strategies targeted toward stakeholders. While Home Depots economic future depends on recovery in the housing market, the company maintains a solid track record of earnings per share growth. Today the company has 2,257 stores in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. It remains the worlds largest home-improvement retailer and is poised for substantial future growth. Its stock reached an all-time high in 2013, increasing 30 percent in value in the first six months of 2013. While the overall stock market was moving in a positive direction, Home Depot significantly outpaced the market. Research has found that the worlds most ethical companies are more profitable than the general stock market index over the long term. Home Depot is a good example of a company that has developed strong relationships with stakeholders and has tried to create an ethical corporate culture. The company recognizes that success is not limited to focusing on only one stakeholder, but that it must take a holistic approach to understand how other stakeholders, including suppliers and employees, can help the firm build trust with communities

Requiremwnt

CASE ANALYSIS WORKSHEET 1. What are the key issues or problems of the case? 2. Prioritize the issues or problems. 1) 2) 3) 3. Is it necessary to identify the cause of the problem? 4. Brainstorm the options available. 6. Select the optimum solution