Case write- up of Costco Corporation Company Case Study Costco Corporation Company Overview Costco Company Costco Wholesale Corporation is the 5th largest retailer in the United States. This company buys the large quantities of consumer products from manufacturers or suppliers and sells them back in smaller quantities to the end users. Costco was founded in 1983 by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman in Seattle, Washington (Costco website). According to Costco 2008 Annual Report, Costco is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the world based on sales volume. With 142,000 employees and more than 500 branches worldwide, Costco focus on providing inexpensive product in big box.
In 1984, they renamed the store Tanglewood and decided to spread out to the northwest. The business grew in the 90s by buying existing stores. Currently, there are 243 stores in the United States with Emerson and Wood in the positions of CEO and President of the company. Business Strategy/Goals Tanglewood is a moderately sized organization in the retail industry that accounts for $4 trillion in annual sales. They have a strong financial growth potential which is indicated by all three profit ratio figures shown below.
Lowe’s being apart of the top four retailers with home center segment represented 90% of their industry revenues, which was highly concentrated. Since many home centers were located close to one another, the industry was competitive, extremely within their price points. Lowe’s however by economic growth the company was extremely affected, for about seventy five per cent of homeowners completed a renovation project on their property annually. Lowe’s enlarge its store and product selection in the 1990s to cater to the do-it-yourself homeowner. The rapid growth of Lowe’s leaded to opening stores in Mexico and Canada within 2008.
By the end of 1989, Nordstrom department stores sales were close to $3 billion with one of the highest profit margins in the industry. Nordstrom which went public in 1971 (NYSE: JWN), has been managed by the Nordstrom family, who until present day still own about half of the company. The family has maintained the philosophy of the company’s founder: “offer the customer the best in service, selection, quality, and value”. This philosophy has helped Nordstrom gain a considerable market share while enjoying over 20 years of uninterrupted earnings growth [Stevenson 1989]. During
They are some of the major national and regional retailers in United States: some of which have international presence. The company was bought for $42 million by Tucker Hansson which invested $25 million of its own money. Tucker had carefully built and managed the firm for the past 15 years. In 2007 HPL had four plants that operated at 90 percent capacity and revenue of $681 million. HPL products are part of a $21.6 billion personal care products market in the United States.
Home Depot’s Financial Statement Analysis Introduction In 1978 a couple of interested men started Home Depot Inc. who is Arthur Black and Bernie Marcus. The two men needed someone to invest in them and their idea so they found Ken Langone an investment banker from after that the three manned team needed someone to help them understand merchandising and handle that part of the business so Pat Farah got on board and these three all very skillful in their section of the business took Home Depot Inc. and made it into the world’s largest home improvement retailer based upon fiscal year 2014 at 5.4 billion in net sales. Having so many locations in so many different countries, Home Depot owns over 2,200 locations just in the United States and globally they own stores in the Virgin Islands, Guam, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Home depot stores have an average of 105,000 square feet per store with an approximate additional square feet of 23,000 that covers the huge garden area on the outside of the store. Home Depot’s inventory equals to over 40,000 different types of material for home building and basically building of any kind, also including beautiful and decorative materials and major appliances.
Customer loyalty will increase as will market share, revenues, and profits. Background The first “Consumer Value Store” (CVS) opened in 1963, growing quickly both organically and by acquisition to become one of America’s largest retail drugstores with $20 billion in revenue in FY2000. Over two-thirds of that revenue came from CVS’s pharmacy operations. At the start of FY2000, CVS had 29.5 million pharmacy members and over the course of the year the company attracted 8.5 million new pharmacy members. However, over that same period the company also lost 7.2 million regular pharmacy customers who took with them an estimated 55 million annual prescriptions that would have contributed $2.5 billion to CVS revenue.
Foot Locker is on the 2nd year of their self-proclaimed 5 year plan of becoming the global leader of retail in athletic wear. They received 5.6 billion dollars in sales last year along with an improvement from $333 of sales per square foot to $406. Since Foot Locker has already achieved several of their financial goals in the five year plan, they have implanted new strategic priorities. They include: Create a clear customer focus to drive performance in its core athletic banners Make its stores and internet sites more exciting, relevant places to shop Deliver exceptional growth in high-potential business segments Aggressively pursue brand expansion opportunities Increase the productivity of all of its assets Build on its Industry Leading Retail Team The company also made financial objectives for the updated 5 year plan: * Sales of $7.5 billion * Sales per Gross Square Foot of $500 * EBIT Margin of 11 percent * Net Income Margin of 7 percent * Return on Invested Capital of 14 percent * Inventory Turnover of 3+ times According to Mr. Hicks, they have put
Target is #38 on the Fortune 500’s annual ranking of America’s largest corporations. While Target Corporation is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States behind Wal-Mart it still does pretty well for itself. Chairman, President, and CEO Gregg Steinhafel expressed how well they were doing and continuing to grow in his letter to Target’s shareholders in the 2011 annual report. Steinhafel discusses their differentiated product assortment, ambitious store remodel program, increased investment, and their fun and aspirational marketing approach. Steinhafel goes on to say that they have set goals for the future.
Strategic HR Management Final Project Wegmans Food Markets Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction 2 History of Wegmans 2 Why Employees Enjoy Working at Wegmans 3 How Wegmans Attracts, Retains and Develops Employees 4 Strength of HR 7 HR Competitive Advantage 8 Other Important Learning about Wegmans 11 Company Developments 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Abstract Wegmans has done many things over the years to achieve the reputation as being one of the best employers in the United States. The company operates 67 stores in four states, employing over 30,000 people, and close to two and a half million customers per year. Since 1981, the company has given $56 million dollars in scholarships to more than 25,000 full-time and part-time employees. Wegmans turnover rate is only 6%, which is considerably lower than the industry average. Wegmans HR function is strength because they take a strategic approach that not only covers standard functions but they also capitalize on interpersonal functions as well.