This semester, our study organization will be Staples Inc. Corporation. Staples Inc., in essence, is a well-known international organization that provides office furniture, office machinery, technology, and business services both online and in physical stores (Kamau and Tetoro, 2017). Staple Inc. was formed in 1986 by Tom Stemberg. When Tom was working on a proposal for numerous firms, the concept for the company came to him. He needed a printer ribbon but couldn't get one because his local dealer was closed on a holiday ( Our story, n.d). It was then that Tom realized that there was a huge demand for a large store to sell large varieties of office products. A few months later, he opened the first Boston Staple office in 1986.
The company became an instant success
For less than ten years, the company became a member of Fortune 500 with its sales surpassing $ 3 billion from $37 million in 1989. Over the years, the company continues to show significant growth, spreading across the country and in countries. It has been able to acquire different Multinational Corporation, which includes Quill Corporation, Medical art Press, Corporate express, Office Max and Office Depot. According to Bloomberg (2017), the company makes $ 11.6 million of average a year and has approximately 45, 565 employees since 2002. At the start of 2017, the company reported operating 1583 retail stores in 46 states in the U.S and ten provinces and two territories in Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Australia.
Details of Services Provided by Staples Inc.
As noted, Staple Inc and its subsidiaries operate office products stores in various regions. The company operates in two segments; the retail segment, and delivery segment. Staples offer a range of office supplies, technology products, facilities supplies, computer products, and office furniture under its proprietary brands. Additionally, the company provides prints, marketing, and technology services. Other services include copying, installation, repairs, packing, and shipping.
How Staples Creates Value
Through differentiation, the company has been able to provide a wide range of products and services to businesses across the world. Today, the company has become the sustainable leader in the global retail community. The companies create value differently than the competing companies, firstly, by giving back to the community by supporting hundreds of organization and secondly by allowing customers to shop anytime through its integrated online and in store delivery method. In other words, the company understands the needs to suits people's need while lowering to more appealing costs when necessary and by creating a convenient way for businesses to access its products and services.
In its annual report, Staples Inc. emphasized that its mission is to offer unique opportunities for its clients to succeed through the wide range of products. Precisely, the company mission is to make the community, associates, and the planet a better place through the programs, policies and through the value, it lives by.
Model in Which Staples Inc. Creates Value
Staples Inc. Major Problems
Over the years, Staples Inc. has experienced major problems in its operational cost, forcing the company to close over 225 stores in North America in the year 2015. Presently, competition has become one of its principal problems. Precisely, the company's major traditional store-based retailers have suffered due to competition from online retailers such as Amazon and due to decreased demand for office supplies because of technological advances. A recent report shows that the office store market in the U.S declined by 5.5 percent from 2011 to 2016, particularly because products such as papers, inks, and toners are becoming less in demand and the industry is moving towards paperless ways of storing information (Kamau and Tetoro, 2017). Besides, accelerating its growth in an online industry has also proven to be difficult.
While Staples is actively working to reduce costs, there has not been an aggressive push to increase the revenues, which can be imperative in improving its profitability. To drive this change, the company should create more values for customers in its business-to-business segment. In particular, this is because the company service segment has shown significant growth over the years. The growth is in line with the recent plan to close the stores.
Control Innovation and Efficiency
According to the company's annual report, the company uses its official goals to guide itself to particular benchmarks in the market. Indeed, the company set numerous goals and used it to evaluate its performance. Notably, the company is struggling in market control as competing companies such as Walmart, Amazon, and Costco have consistently dominated the market. Regarding innovation, Staples has shown considerable effort in moving towards the online retail industry. The company is currently offering more than 500,000 different products on its major websites, much of which is in line with the modern needs of the market. In terms of efficiency, the company's financial performance shows concern. The company's sales continue to dwindle and without proper intervention strategies, this will likely continue in years to come.
References
Bloomberg (2017, Sep 17). Company Overview of Staples, Inc. Specialty retail. Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=34740
Kamau, A., and Tetoro. L, (2017, Feb 16)’. Staples: Changes Are That Easy. New Business Review.Retrieved from: http://iveybusinessreview.ca/cms/5547/staples-changes-easy-hope-remains-office-giant-pure-play/
Our Story,(n.d). “Staples Inc." Retrieved from: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/about_us/our-story.html
