Essay on Home Depot Text

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Project 3 home depot and hewlett packard: diagnosing change using the star four frame model the diagnostic model that i believe that the hewlett packard and home depot would fit the best is the four frame model. The four frame model consists of: structural, human resources, political, and symbolic. The structural frame is based on the rules, goals, policies of the organization, technology and the environment. The human resources frame involves the needs, skills and the relationships between the people and the organization. The political frame involves power, conflict and competition of the policies of the organization.

Lastly the symbolic frame involves the culture, rituals, heroes, meaning of the organization. Ii analysis of diagnostic model when meg whitman became ceo of hewlett packard she wanted to keep the same plan as her predecessor leo apotheker was doing. However in march of 2012 hewlett packard announced that it decided that it will realign the company by joining the imaging and printing group with personal systems group to make the printing and personal systems group as well as unifying global accounts sales will be known as hp enterprise group and include enterprise servers, storage, network, and technology services. By joining theses departments it was thought to help speed up decision making, improve efficiency, and increase production. Hp also announced that it would consolidate the marketing department to make run efficiently and simplify the buying experience for the consumer. Hewlett packard hoping that if unifying these departments they can come up new ideas while cutting costs. These changes also included moving todd bradley the executive vice president printing and personal systems and put him as vice president of strategic growth initiatives to help with the growth of hewlett packard in different countries around the world.

Whitman decided that bradley who has numerous contacts across the world and that his talent would be suited for growth globally. Home depot home depot had the reputation of excellent customer service however when nardelli was in charge the reputation of customer service was a bad joke that came with frustrated customers and bad experiences. However when frank blake took over he did a 180 degree change of his predecessor. Blake decided to get rid of the wholesale housing supply business acknowledging the backfire of getting into that niche when do it yourself people was their target. He decided to focus on quality and not quantity going back to the mission statement and the goals of the founders of home depot.

He brought back the pro back at home depot by training the employees to help with assisting the customers. He changed nardelli’s focus of aggressive approach by bringing founders blank and marcus and getting their advice which was to visit the stores and see what they want and need. When nardelli was in charge all the store carried the same merchandise and same amount of inventory no matter if a store sold a lot of that particular product or not. When blake became ceo he decided to give power of the store back to the store managers. Instead of having endless emails and weekly reports, he replaced it with a one page scorecard each week and ten page playbook for the week so that the managers can be free to take care of store and the customers. Blake wants to eliminate coupons and rebates so that the price the customer sees is the price without having to work for the savings like filling out rebate forms. Blake looked at home depot and decided that to go forward he had to bring back the culture that home depot was known for.

He put power back in the stores managers and training the employees so that they can assist the customers to. Few other companies have such a stranglehold over the home improvement and supply market, and home depot does very well for itself in terms of attracting new consumers. If you're interested in buying an essay online, this is a solid look at one of america's top chainstores for all things related to home improvement. If this isn't your cup of tea, feel free to check out our other essay writing services.

Please visit the ultius homepage to get started on your custom academic content solution today! the home depot was incorporated in 1978 as a home improvement retailer. The company runs warehouse style stores, and they sell a wide assortment of building supplies, home improvement supplies, gardening and lawn care supplies, as well as services such as dumpster and equipment rental. According to reuters 2013 , the home depot stores are approximately 104,0 square feet inside with a 24,0 square foot outside garden center. The home depot operates 1,974 stores in the us, and carries over 300,0 products between their stores and website reuters 2013. This caused the company to reevaluate their marketing strategy to see where improvements could be made. The home depot decided to change their marketing strategy to place a significantly greater emphasis on customer service. According to frank blake, chairman and ceo, their new goal is to take care of associates, put customers first and simplify the business mahoney 2009.

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As part of this effort, the company greatly reduced the amount of information, mail, and reports each store manager received mahoney 2009. The goal in doing this was to free up the managers’ time, so they could spend more time on the floor helping customers. They also instituted communication blackout days two days a week when stores would receive no corporate messages or emails mahoney 2009.

Once again, this was designed to get more members of management away from their desks and out helping customers and associates. The home depot also recognized that more people were struggling financially, so they worked to reduce the number of rebates, coupons, and sweepstakes mahoney 2009. Instead, they focused on offering the lowest price possible all the time without the need for extra paper or promotions. One thing they did, which has paid off was institute their on call experts program.

They have home depot employees, who write how to articles, blog posts and more on home repair advice, remodeling projects, gardening tips and more zmuda 2011. They are also present online, so if a customer has a question, they can ask an expert and get a real answer in a short period of time. Home depot now has a visible presence on facebook, twitter, and youtube zmuda 2011. They regularly post how to videos on youtube covering a wide range of projects from plumbing to gardening gallo 2009.

Of course all the videos demonstrate careful and deliberate product placement to promote the home depot brand. The home depot’s objective is to win back the customer base they lost and to build relationships with new customers. The home depot executives realized they were missing out on a large market because they were not effectively marketing to female shoppers. In response to this, they started offering do it herself workshops, which showed women how to use different tools and complete decorating or home improvement projects on their own walker 2008. They had over 200,0 women participate in workshops the first year, and they received a great deal of positive feedback from participants walker 2009. Aside from building better relationships with customers, home depot hoped to increase use of their services. The home depot’s target market segmentation consists of do it yourself diy customers, do it for me difm customers, and professional customers.

Within these target markets, they specifically market female diy and difm customers. Additionally, they are appealing to their target markets through the promise of low prices and great customer service. The home depot has positioned themselves to accomplish this marketing strategy through the do it herself workshops, the youtube instructional videos, the strong social media presence, and the increased presence of store associated ready to help customers figure out what they need for a project. The marketing mix comprised of the four ps have all been tailored to attract their target markets. They offer equipment rental for homeowners, who are unable to buy a piece of equipment they may only need once or twice. Their services also include a buy online, pick up in store option, which allows customers to forgo shipping costs by ordering something on the home depot website and picking it up at the nearest store reuters 2013.