Lowe's Organizational Structure

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Organizational Structure Paper Norman Maynard MGT/230 September 23, 2013 Patrick Tierney Organizational Structure Paper While Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Menards are all home improvement store chains in the Midwestern United States, all have different organizational structures. Menards is a privately held company headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and has approximately 270 stores in 14 states: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Kentucky. Because it is not publicly traded, it does not release its sales figures, but is generally believed to be the third largest (by sales) home improvement company in the United States. In 2009 Menard,…show more content…
Due to the size and nature of this large establishment, it is necessary to maintain enough senior managers to oversee all of the divisions (“Strategic Audit of Lowe's Companies, Inc.,” 2011.) Lowe’s expands across different regions and countries, which makes a divisional organizational structure ideal. A divisional organizational structure consists of different divisions grouped around specialized departments such as sales, marketing, safety, and human resources. This allows each division to have some autonomy when making decisions inside the division (“Organizational Structure,” 2013.) A number of approaches were considered to help Lowe’s lower expenses and increase profits. One approach was to grow Lowe’s brand recognition through new advertising approaches, such as social media, which will get the most out of the strengths. To overcome some key flaws, Lowe’s has a duty to provide cross training to all employees in all sections and jobs of the store prior to working alone. In addition, the execution of a quality assurance program to standardize the Total Quality Management (TQM) of products would help Lowe’s address various weaknesses and threats. Some of Lowe’s strengths include having the second largest market share in the industry, their creative ideas classes and videos, and their corporate social responsibility. Besides Home Depot, there are few competitors Lowe’s needs to worry about. Their…show more content…
Lowe's divisions are divided by geographic region. Stores vary in size based on location and profits. Profitable stores in populated geographic areas tend to be larger. Lowe's has created two new executive positions, with the goal of streamlining its operations to better serve its customers. The new positions are chief customer officer and chief operating officer. Lowe's stores are designed primarily for people who are looking for do-it-yourself home improvement projects. Lowe’s vision is to provide each customer – across any channel – with a personalized and relevant shopping experience enabled by technology (“Lowe's Wins 2012 Store Operations Superstar Award,” 2012, p. 1.) The Lowe’s Matrix Management System was developed to improve communication, increase vendor participation, and improve program execution. It is a flow of information from Lowe’s to the Grower Network as well as an opportunity to provide feedback to the Lowe’s Buying Team, Reference Page Lowe's Wins 2012 Store Operations Superstar Award. (2012, September). PRWEB, (), Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/9/prweb9898801.htm Organizational Structure. (2013, March). StudyMode.com, (), Retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Organizational-Structure-1540376.html
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