Strategic Management - Staples - Essay Example

The company’s financials of 2010 reveal a disappointing result with only about 1.1% increase and sales accounting to $24.55billions. Stock prices of Staples fell by 7% in 2010. Staples end its financial year in January like most retailers and it was revealed that its quarterly net income for 2011 dropped by 28% and revenues slipped to 3.8%. Further, office supplies tend to represents about 50% of its revenue and business machines represent next 30% while the remaining revenues are derived from office furniture and computers.

Going back to its history, Staples was founded in 1985 by Thomas G. Stemberg and Leo Kahn and a year later they opened its first store. The original mission of Staples was to slash the costs, eliminate hassles of running an office and to make it easy for the customers to buy office products. In a way Staples was counted among the top office product companies (Grewal, 2008, p.459). SWOT Analysis Strength: Staples is considered to be the largest office Supplies Company Practices world class supply chain activities, extensive network of its retail stores along with strong relationship with its customers Strong marketing exposures leading the company to successfully create and embed into popular culture such as “Yeah, we’ve got that” and many more. . opportunity which Staples should utilize and apply to its business model in order to stay ahead of its competitors and create a stable market share Strategic acquisitions will help the company in boosting its sales and enhancing its brand value Threats Intense competition from other brands which have created a brand name and image and provides Staples with tough competition Economic slowdown can also be treated as a threat as it might lead to low sales and revenue for the company New entrants into the sector pose a threat for Staples New Vision & Mission The new vision for the company will be to provide its customers with best experience both in offline and online modes of shopping and thus create a benchmark for itself, to help the company grow in the long run with clear, easy to follow, secure payment methods along with quick and fast delivery.

This vision would be appropriate in the current situation because Staples is expanding its business into the online sector and deriving a vision statement which showcases that it is into online retailing, will further enhance the brand value and also put a list of its goals in the statement. The new vision states that the company not only wants to become the best online site, but also offer a list suggesting ways in which they would operate. The current mission statement for Staples will be to work for the betterment of the people and the society and create a global presence.

External Assessments Economic forces In general, the demand for office products is highly correlated with measures such as white collar employment, national GDP, spending of small sized businesses. In the sluggish economy, businesses and consumers tend to cut back on spending in order to save money and purchase few suppliers affecting the sale of Staples