3 Journal 1 (Concept and Case study 1

result in a far-orable pubtic image and rhat r]ri. .fr.;',Trt#HT:.::ff*TffiffiJ;l and will be adopted b1- imponant constituencies. \\}en rhe set of beliefs about a business at iLs inception is put into u'riting- the resultin-e document mirron the same basic ideas that underlie

DOLLAH GENERAL CORPORATION

Called a statement of purpose, Dolrar General's mission statement is as follows: "serving Others. For Customers A Better Life. For Shareholders A Superior Return. For Employees Respect and Opportunity.,, ln con_ trast, rival Family Dollarb mission statement reads as follows: ,,For Our Customers - A compelling place to shop...by providing convenience and low prices. For OurAssociates - A compelling place to work...by providing exceptional opportunities and rewards for achievement" For Our lnvestors - A compelling place to invest...by providing outstand_ ing returns. "

While many firms continued to struggle in 2011, Dollar General added 625 new stores and 6,000 new employees in 35 states, boost_ ing its total number of stores and employees to 9,200 and g8,000 respectively. Three new states where Dollar General added stores in 201 1 were Connecticut, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Dollar General also remodeled or relocated 550 other stores in 201 1. Dollar General,s profits increased an incredibre 214 percent to $339 miilion in 20j0, while the companys revenues increased 13 percent to $.1 1.g billion. Dollar General's excellent mass retairing strategy of buirding smalr stores in small communities has even mighty wal-Mart doing the same thing with their nery smaller Wal-Mart Express stores.

Founded in .l939 and headquartered near Nashville, Tennessee, Dollar General operates mainly as stand-alone stores jn communities too small for a wal-Mart. Fierce competitors incrude Famiry Doilar and Dollar Tree. Dollar Generar is the rargest of the deep-discount retair- ers, but Family Dollar is second with g7.g billion in sales. All heavily discounted variety stores are makrng significant inroads taking custom- ers away from Wal-Mart, K-mart, and Target. For the first iime ever, wal-Mart's 2010 revenues reveared the second straight year of decrin- ing domestic same-store sales-partly due to inroaJs made by Dollar General "Serving Others. "

ln addition to selling private la- bel brands, Dollar General sells prod- ucts from America's most trusted man- ufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Uni- lever, Kellogg3, Gen- eral Mills, Nabisco, Hanes, PepsiCo, and

Coca-Cola. More than 25 percent of items for sale in a Dorrar Generar store are $r.00 or ress. Two years after being taken private by KKR and Gordman sachs, Doilar Generar be- came a public company in 2009-just as the recession was sending millions of discount shoppers into their stores.

Dollar General recently launched a new promotion whereby shoppers could enter the ,,Fresh Start Every Day,, Sweepstakes foi the chance to pay off their bills, including a grind prize g100,000 home payoff Rick Dreiling, Dollar Generali cha-irman and CEO, says: "ln these challenging times, it,s exciting for us to give our customers an opportunity to pay off their bills.,, ln addition to the grand prize, the "Fresh Start Every Day,, Sweepstakes awards included: lst prize $20,000 Car payoff; 2nd prize $5,000 Credit Card payoff; and 3rd Prize $2,400 Utility Bills payoff.

Source: Based. on company documents.