SWOT Analysis – Staples
Staples, Inc. became incorporated in 1985 by founders Thomas G. Stemberg and Leo Kahn. 25 years later, Staples, Inc. is the world's largest office products company. The company primarily operates in the United States but also has locations in 26 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia serving businesses of all sizes and consumers. Their mission statement is, “We're committed to making it easy for our customers around the globe to buy a wide range of office products, supplies, technology, furniture, and business services, including computer repair and copying and printing, to help our customers run their offices efficiently” (Staples Inc., 2010).
The company believes its corporate responsibility is to “CARE,” which is an acronym that stands for the following; customers, associates, real communications, and execution. Value every customer, support them as valuable resources, share information with people when they need it, and achieve our business goals (Staples Inc., 2010). In 1998 Staples established their online superstore staples.com, and is now ranked 2nd worldwide in e-commerce sales. As of 2009 the company employs 91,000 associates and reported $24 billion sales.
Strengths and Weaknesses, as their names imply, are internal characteristics of an organization; things that your company does well or does poorly (Griffin, R. W., 2008, pages 239-241).Opportunities and Threats are external environmental forces that have an effect on an organization. They stem from the dimensions in the General Environment (Political/Legal, Sociocultural, International, Economic, and Technological) (Griffin, R. W., 2008, pages 241-243).
Strategies for attaining competitive advantages emphasize developing and configuring existing resource strengths into a valuable and unique resource base. If the firm's resources are unique, rare, valuable, and inimitable, they can be a source of core
References: Cheng, A. (2009, May 27). Staples: Market Watch. Retrieved November 11, 2010, from Market Watch Web site: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/staples-net-sags-33-hurt-by-durable-goods-sales CXO Media, Inc Griffin, R. W. (2008). Management, 10th Edition. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Market Watch. (2010, May 20). Unemployment: Market Watch. Retrieved November 12, 2010, from Market Watch Web site: https://secure.marketwatch.com/ Office Depot, Inc Office Max, Inc. (2010). About Us: Office Max, Inc. Retrieved November 1, 2010, from Office Max, Inc. Web site: http://about.officemax.com/html/index.shtml Staples Inc Steward, K. (2010, November 7). Staples, Inc. - Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit. (G. Green, Interviewer) The Wall Street Journal