this is only example for the hw I posted a little bit earlier

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The Home Depot

Home Depot was established in 1979 by Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus in Atlanta, Gerogia. Home Depot revolutionized home improvement industry in the United States of America very quickly. By 1990s, Home Depot had almost 35000 different well known products under its roof.

The first IPO of Home Depot was held on 1981 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange 3 years later under the tag HD. By 1986, Home Depot reached the sale of 1 billion dollars and soon it became one of the fastest growing home improvement retailer and reached 20 billion dollars sales by 1997 these sales increased to 20 billion dollars. Annual sales in growth at this time was 119% of the Home Depot. The success of the company can be imagined by noting that its 100th store was opened in 1989.

The Home Depot is considered to be one of the largest retailer of home improvement products that was established in 1979. The company kept on selling large volume of goods at a lower price. The company used warehouses as the mean of their selling points and revolutionized the market of the United States of America. It is also considered to be the only company that successfully brought off the union of low prices and high service.

The operating and financial performance of the company since the time of its establishment has been extraordinary. The earnings and stock price of the company continue to rise and by the end of the decade the company established itself as the largest home improvement retailer in the country and was still planning to increase its stores.

Home Depot was a fast growing company in the industry of home improvement products and was not drastically affected by economic variations. There were many competitors in the company but Home Depot occupied the largest market share among then by becoming the largest and competent retailer of this industry. There were several growth initiatives taken by the company to increase the earnings of the company. Few of the tactics used by the company were as follows

1- Reaching out professional customers

2- Changing store formats

3- Adding more products to product line

4- Generating and developing internet business

5- Taking risk

As the business expanded, the company also expanded to different countries such as Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico. In 1994, the company expanded to Canada which was its first international expansion. In 2001, Home Depot expanded to Mexico and later on expanded to other international markets.

By 2002, when a study on large publically traded was conducted, Home Depot was ranked first in the Quality of Earnings by Merrill Lynch. The company reported that by 2001, it had approximately 280,000 people working under it throughout the world. It was also cited by the Fortune Magazine as America’s Most Admired Specialty Retailer and was included in the ten best boards in the US by Business Week. The company continued its international expansion which helped the company to buy directly from the manufacturers and also helped the company to increase its purchasing power.

Home Depot’s Values and Vision

Associates play a vital part in Home Depot’s success and their values are part of the root of the company. Values are considered to be some beliefs that are not changed over time and they remain the same throughout the company. They are what they put their belief in, they do, and they represent their choices on an everyday premise. They are the standards and models for the structure whereupon Home Depot is constructed. Home Depot's special society is based on partner devotion and a pledge to an "orange-blooded" entrepreneurial soul.

Taking care of their people: The key to their prosperity is treating customers well. They do this by urging partners to talk up and go out on a limb, by perceiving and remunerating great execution and by driving and creating individuals so they may develop.

Giving back to our society: A vital part of the root of The Home Depot is giving their time, gifts, vitality and assets to beneficial causes in the society.

Doing the right thing: They practice trustworthiness by "making the best decision" rather than simply "doing things right." They endeavor to comprehend the effect of our choices, and they acknowledge obligation regarding their activities.

Excellent customer service: Alongside their quality items, administration, cost and choice, they should go the extra mile to give clients learned counsel about stock and to help them utilize those items to their greatest advantage.

Creating shareholder value: The investors who give the capital important to permit the organization to develop require and expect an arrival on their venture. They are focused and committed on giving it.

Building strong relationships: Solid connections are based on trust, genuineness and uprightness. They listen and react to the necessities of clients, partners, groups and merchants, regarding them as accomplices.

Entrepreneurial spirit: Home Depot partners are urged to start imaginative and inventive methods for serving our clients and enhancing the business and to spread best practices all through the organization.

Respect for all people: Keeping in mind the end goal to stay fruitful, the company's partners must work in a domain of shared appreciation, free of segregation and badgering where every partner is viewed as a part of the Home Depot group.

EXCLUSIVE BRANDS

There are many different brands under Home Depot but following are the few famous of them:

Name 2

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· Hampton Bay (lighting, ceiling fans & patio furniture)

· Pegasus (kitchen and bath items)

· Glacier Bay (faucets and bath)

· RIDGID (power tools)

· Husky (tools)

· Vigoro (fertilizer)

· Ryobi (power tools)

· Millstead

· Mill's Pride

· Workforce

· Thomasville cabinetry

· Behr (paint)

· Ralph Lauren paint

Home Depot Forecasting

Forecasting is one of the most important aspects of any business that wants to maintain its competitive edge and gain more market share. Due to current state of housing market, the Home Depot uses gross national product to forecast its demand for inventory.

Home Depot is a part of an industry that ranks inventory as top five business costs. Oversupply or undersupply of inventory at any point in time can have a detrimental impact on the company and can reduce the company’s profit significantly. Establishing and forecasting for the right amount of inventory is very important for Home Depot as it will insure that the company is taking care of its customers and growing as well. It will also diminish the overstock cost which most companies incur due to storage of unsold goods.

The company also takes in mind the major weather events and uncertain events that could occur in the country because of hurricanes or thunderstorms. The company forecasts includes planning of hurricanes and most of the company teams start by working with Home Depots head of logistics in the start of every year so that they can prepare and forecast for the upcoming uncertain events that could occur in the country. The company official say "We maintain several key locations that aren't in impact areas, but are close to them—from the Gulf of Mexico, around the tip of Florida, and up the Eastern Seaboard," Moore says. "We strategically place products so we can get goods to impacted areas quickly when an event occurs."

The supply chain and forecasting of Home Depot is getting more efficient and productive, helping the company achieve better gross margins. The key to company’s operation is inventory management and forecasting. Every store of the company stores almost 30000 to 40000 different products and forecasts product according to the requirements. Previous sales data is also an important tool used by Home Depot to forecast the inventory required. Different methods are combined to obtain best forecasting in the company.

Senior Vice President of Supply chain of Home Depot says that we should get ourselves ready with days of inventory not weeks which means that their forecasting will also become a little tougher.

Major Reasons for Home Depot Success

There are many factors that count to the success of the Home Depot business such as

1- The buying power of the Home Depot which allowed Home Depot to provide best prices to its customers for home improvement products.

2- It reduced the amount rate of the inventory while improving in stock rates on all items that are in store.

3- Different brand products could be found under one roof and in a lower price which was very convenient for buyers.

4- Going global helped the Home Depot to get quality products at a lower price and the savings were passed to the customers.

5- Continued to expand its business which helped the company to gain more market share.

6- The company continued to expand its sales force in order to provide better customer service to its customers.

7- Different credit options were provided by the company to increase its customer range.

8- Continuously updating its supply chain and forecasting processes to achieve the best business processes.

Home Depot is continuously making changes to make it forecasting and supply chain processes for the betterment of the business processes. The company is now conducting stock taking on days and forecasting on days basis as well. The strength of the company is also in high quantity buying and forecasting inventory. These initiatives together with better forecast demand have resulted in improved inventory turnover and generated better gross profit for the company.

References

Davies, Adrian. Best Practice In Corporate Governance: Building Reputation And Sustainable. 2016. Print.

"The Home Is Where Our Story Begins". The Home Depot. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 July 2016.

Ziobro, Paul. "Retailers Rethink Inventory Strategies". WSJ. N.p., 2016. Web. 31 July 2016.